Marcus Freeman: 'We play in big games like this. It's not David vs Goliath'
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Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman and the 5-3 Irish will host No. 5 Clemson on Saturday at 7:30 p.m.
Freeman held his weekly press conference on Monday to preview the game.
Notre Dame was ranked fifth when they traveled to Columbus to face No. 2 Ohio State in the season opener. The Irish played well, only trailing 14-10 at the start of the final period, but eventually took a 10-21 loss. Since that game, it's been a mixed bag of tricks and treats with wins over UNC, No. 16 BYU, and No. 16 Syracuse and head-scratching home losses to Marshall and Stanford.
Freeman on what a win over the Tigers would do for Notre Dame:
"Victories. They do two things for you. One, they get you a great feeling. And anybody in this room who has been victorious no matter what you've done, you get a feeling, an emotional feeling of being victorious. The other thing it builds confidence. Those two things are important.
"So what a win like this would do for our program is going to continue to help us gain confidence in what we're doing, who we are, but also, it's that emotional feeling that you get when you're victorious. There's no better feeling in the world."
In 2017, Georgia packed Notre Dame Stadium, seemingly occupying about half of the available seats. In 2020, when No. 1 Clemson lost 47-40 to No. 4 Notre Dame in double overtime, fans didn't have a full opportunity to travel to South Bend because attendance was capped at 11,000 due to COVID-19 restrictions.
On if he's prepared his team for a stadium that could have many Clemson fans in seats:
"I don't know if it'll be any different. We played Cincinnati last year here and there was some red. It sticks out when a bright color, maybe red or orange in Notre Dame Stadium. But that's a home-field advantage to play a team like Clemson in Notre Dame Stadium. It's a huge advantage for us."
Notre Dame’s offensive line has mauled the last two defensive lines from the ACC. They ran for 287 yards against UNC and added 246 in the road victory over Syracuse.
On the offensive line facing Clemson's deep, talented defensive line:
"We're gonna find out, you're gonna go against the best, and who's the best? I mean, there's a lot of really good defensive [lines], not a lot, but there are a few schools that have elite defensive lines. This is one of them and I know Ohio State did too but across the board they are so deep, and they're talented. They're disruptive and it's not just one guy. So it's gonna be a big challenge. Our offensive line is playing at a high level and is getting better but let's measure ourselves against the best. They got NFL defensive linemen across the board, that's going to be a huge challenge, but I know our guys are ready. They're excited."
Freeman was a position coach (Linebackers) for three years before spending five years as a defensive coordinator, one as co-coordinator at Purdue, three in Cincinnati, and last season at Notre Dame. Like Swinney, his first head coaching job is at a well-known Power Five school.
On if he sees any similarities in the two programs and between his and Swinney’s early coaching career:
"If that is it, it's going to be a great story. And that's the reality of it, Pete. I have the utmost respect for that guy. I don't know him, never talked to Dabo Swinney, but have really paid attention from afar. You only hear great things from his players about the type of leadership. The results speak for itself, you know, and he's done great things for that football program and college football period. If you got a chance to say hey, your career can reciprocate Dabo Swinney's, then you're going to be dang happy."
Freeman was in his third year as defensive coordinator at Cincinnati when the Tigers and The Irish faced each other in 2020. Quarterback D.J Uiagalelei, a true freshman, started in place of Trevor Lawrence, who tested positive for COVID days ahead of the matchup. Ugialelei passed for 439 yards with two touchdowns.
On whether he was able to watch the 2020 game:
"Yeah, I did watch the majority of it. It was one of those games that I remember going in, I think it went overtime, right? It was double overtime and they found a way to pull it out even though it was the COVID year, you saw some students run out on the field. It was really cool to me, but that's a heavyweight battle. That's what you get when you get teams like Notre Dame and Clemson. It's a heavyweight battle. Two great, historic programs that get to clash it out that it's probably going to be one of those games that come down to the last couple series and who executes the most."
The Tigers are coming off of a bye week and a comeback win over Syracuse on Oct. 22. They trailed Syracuse 7-21 with 1:53 remaining in the third quarter but took control in the second half to win 27-21.
On what he has seen from Clemson on film that tells him that's a top 5 undefeated team:
"I think one, the ability to run the ball, the ability to stop the run, and they're talented. One thing that kind of spoke to me is they never seemed out of it versus Syracuse. They were down 21 to seven and you could look at their sideline. I like to watch sidelines and when the quarterback, DJ, when he got taken out of the game, to watch that quarterback be the first one cheering the group on, the first one to clap. That tells you they got a family, they got a team. It's not a bunch of selfish individuals. It's a team.
"I know we got a tall task coming ahead of us but I want our guys to say, you're Notre Dame. This is what we do. We play in big games like this. It's not a David vs Goliath. This is a heavyweight fight. And we got a dang good football team. When we do exactly what we're supposed to do, we're a good enough football team to win every game we play."
Notre Dame wide receivers coach Chansi Stuckey, a former two-time All-ACC receiver at Clemson from 2003-2006, got his coaching career started with the Tigers in 2019 as a graduate assistant.
On the growth of Stuckey as a coach:
"He might say a couple of words to the team this week on what it's like to be at Clemson. Maybe, we'll see what I have in my back pocket. But he's an energetic guy. There's been times I've told him to calm down. He's running up and down the sidelines. I'm like, 'hey, get out of the way, can't get a penalty.' He almost takes it personally that the play of his room is a reflection of him. And the same challenges you present to that group -- those individuals in that room -- you can see their position coach takes the lead, and he views it as a challenge on himself. And so those dudes work tirelessly.
"I love Coach Stuck and the energy he brings, the work ethic, the mentality he brings to that room in this program has been tremendous."