Notre Dame Notebook: Marcus Freeman Talks 4th Down Decision, Turnovers, OL Rotation

Notre Dame was everything it could not afford to be in Saturday’s 33-20 loss to Louisville. Playing their third consecutive night game against and unbeaten and ranked opponent, the Fighting Irish were mistake prone and flat in front of a record crowd of 59,081 at L&N Federal Credit Union Stadium.

No stat was more glaring in the loss than the turnover column. The Irish protected the ball at times like their life depended on it, committing just two turnovers through the first six games. They needed to be protected from themselves on Saturday, coughing up the ball an alarming five times. That included a bad handoff exchange between Sam Hartman and Chris Tyree on a 3rd and 1 attempt late in the first half.

"It was a play we worked in practice,” Irish head coach Marcus Freeman said afterward of the doomed play. "It wasn’t a jet sweep. We faked the toss and kind of ran a counter. They pressured it and we didn’t get the guy blocked and obviously caused a fumble there. But it was a situation where I think, I can’t remember exactly, but I think we’re going to go if it was within one or two yards. So, that’s probably why we decided to do that play at that moment.”

The play contributed to Notre Dame going just 3 for 13 on 3rd downs in the loss. They were also 0 for 2 on 4th downs.

4th and 11

With just under 10 minutes to play, Freeman made a pivotal decision to go for it on 4th and 11 from his own 35-yard line. The Irish were trailing 24-13 and Hartman had just thrown the second of his three interceptions to end the previous drive.

Hartman had to escape pressure in the pocket and fired incomplete on the 4th down play to give Louisville the ball at the Irish 35 with 9:49 remaining. They settled for a field goal and a 27-13 lead.

"Two score game, right,” Freeman said as he began to explain his decision. "You play the percentages. We’ve either got to get a three and out if we punt the ball and hope that we get enough time to go have two separate possessions or you try to convert right there and play the percentages of, okay, so even if you don’t convert here, you go three and out, you force them to kick the field goal. It’s still a two-point game. So, that went into my decision.”

Rotating Guards

Pat Coogan and Rocco Spindler started at left and right guard, respectively, as they have all season, but Notre Dame rotated Andrew Kristofic and Billy Schrauth in at those positions. Louisville bullied the middle of the line all night, both with pass rush and stopping the run.

"We had made that decision throughout the week,” Freeman said of the guard rotation. "Again, we have to be better at the guard position and that was something that was evident last game and we said, hey we’re going to roll some guys at the guard position, and we’ve got to do a better job at protecting our quarterback. So, we’ll have to go and watch the film and see how each guard did, but we didn’t protect the quarterback the way we needed to.”

The Irish ran the ball for just 44 yards and 1.6 yards per carry. Hartman was sacked a season-worst five times.

Defense

Notre Dame’s defense played a solid game to start, but Louisville was able to make a couple of big second-half plays to put the game away. After the Cardinals drove 75 yards for a touchdown on their first drive of the night (after Hartman’s first interception) the Irish defense forced four straight punts, followed by a missed field goal and forced a fumble on Louisville’s next six possessions.

"I thought our defense battled for the most part,” Freeman remarked. "Put in some bad situations late in the game. But for the most part, I thought they did a pretty good job. The third series of the second half was the long touchdown run. Then we get them off the field on third down and we get the penalty. That hurt, you can’t have that, man. We finally get them off the field, we had a face mask I think they had on Marist and then they drove, and we missed the tackle in the hole and he scored again. So, we’ve got to clean up every aspect of it. Not just the touchdown but the plays that led to the touchdown.”

The inability of the Irish offense to sustain its own drives contributed to Louisville scoring on six straight possessions. Four were field goals, but two were touchdown runs of 45 and 21 yards by Jawhar Jordan.

No Thomas Harper

Notre Dame announced before the game that nickel back Thomas Harper would not play. Clarence Lewis saw the bulk of his duties on the night.

"He was out with a concussion,” Freeman said of Harper. "So, he’s in concussion protocol and wasn’t ready to return to play. C-Lew did a good job of stepping in there and Cam Hart had some nickel reps. So, obviously, you don’t want to lose a great player like Thomas Harper but expect him to be back next week.”

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