Notre Dame Notebook: Marcus Freeman Talks Self-Scouting, Offensive Line, Boubacar Traore

Notre Dame heads into the stretch drive of the season this weekend after last week’s bye week. With four games to go, there is a stop and go nature to the remainder of the schedule that is a bit unusual. The Irish host Pittsburgh this week, then go to Clemson next weekend, then have a second bye week, and then play a final home game against Wake Forest on Nov. 18 before finishing the regular season at Stanford Thanksgiving weekend.

Regardless of Clemson’s 4-3 record, the Tigers still figure to be the toughest of Notre Dame’s four remaining opponents. Clemson ranks No. 7 in the nation in total defense and No. 9 in pass efficiency defense.

This week’s opponent, Pitt, is No. 26 and No. 62, respectively, in those two defensive categories. Wake Forest is No. 60/62 and Stanford is a lowly No. 127/126.

Regardless of opponent, Notre Dame’s offense is trying to get back to the form that saw the Irish average 46.0 points through its first four games and not the one that sputtered to average 18.3 points against Ohio State, Duke and Louisville before exploding for 48 points against Southern Cal.

Fighting Irish head coach Marcus Freeman and his staff had extra time during the bye week to find the cause of what’s been ailing the offense, but he says it still comes back to one thing.

"It’s the execution,” Freeman said when asked if bye week self-scouting revealed any unforeseen offensive deficiencies. "We’ve got to be better on 3rd down but part of being better on 3rd down is being more efficient on 1st and 2nd down. There’s not just the one common theme in the last three or four games that we say this is the reason. Each game has its own different story.

"Five turnovers in one game (Louisville),” Freeman continued. "That's a different story than last week (USC). So, we have to continue to build confidence in taking shots, especially playing the defense we’ll play this week. You’re going to take some shots and some play-action shots. We’re continuously looking at the things we do but the biggest thing is the execution. So, the challenge will continuously be hey we have to simplify so the execution is at the standard we need it to be and it’s not more, more, more it’s clear, clear, clear.”

The Line Remains The Same

One thing that won’t change this week is Notre Dame’s offensive line. The Irish experimented by rotating guards against Louisville but stuck with the starters against USC. They were Joe Alt at left tackle, Pat Coogan at left guard, Zeke Correll at center, Rocco Spindler at right guard, and Blake Fisher at right tackle.

"We’ll stay with the five we have,” Freeman said of the line. "They’ve all been healthy and practiced well. It was good to see some of those young guys, Billy (Schrauth) and Ashton Craig and some of those guys get a lot of meaningful reps in practice this week.”

"It starts with what we’re asking them to do,” Freeman continued. "There’s still areas of improvement, as you really look at the fine details of things. But I thought they battled their tails off versus a really good front. USC’s front four is as good as you’ll see. So, I thought our guys battled and we continuously ask them to do things they can do well.”

More Boubacar Traore?

Freshman defensive end Boubacar Traore made his presence known quickly at the end of the first half against USC. Time was winding down in the half when Traore sacked Caleb Williams. Traore and some of his Irish teammates continued to celebrate as USC was lining up to either spike the ball or run a final play of the half. Freeman had to call timeout to avoid a penalty and it allowed the Trojans to kick a 48-yard field goal but it didn’t negate the play Traore made.

"Boubacar is a really good pass rusher,” Freeman said. "He’s continuing to develop trust in the coaching staff. It’s great to see him go out there and make a huge play, obviously, in that two-minute situation. We all know what happened after that but more importantly, man it’s good to see him put himself in the position to make that play for sure.”

Playing Time Conversations

Freeman was asked if the bye week is a time when players and/or even their families might come to him to address playing time issues.

"I think you have those conversations every week,” Freeman stated. "You don’t save those for a bye week. To me, I’ve always challenged our coaches to continuously have a relationship with the guys in your room, so you know and they know exactly where they stand and why they stand there. I think it’s important you don’t wait until the bye week to have that conversation. So, I take a lot of pride in making sure all of our players understand where they’re at, why they’re in that position and having that dialogue with their position coach.

"We’re going on week nine, so guys that want a chance to redshirt that chance is probably already over in terms of playing more than four games,” Freeman continued. "But again, I think we have to have those conversations every week and it’s so important that our kids understand exactly what we’re thinking, here’s where I think you need to improve. We have to have that open dialogue. There is no blind obedience anymore. There is honest conversations that aren’t always pleasant to have but they must happen so our kids understand why they’re in the position they’re in.”