Notre Dame Notebook: Marcus Freeman Talks Play Calling, O-Line, Audibles

After a game where not much seemed to work right, Notre Dame has a lot to get right before hosting Southern Cal this weekend. The offense had its worst game to date under first-year offensive coordinator Gerad Parker and graduate transfer quarterback Sam Hartman in their 33-20 loss at Louisville.

Hartman’s first three interceptions as the Irish quarterback contributed to a season-worst five turnovers after committing only two turnovers through the first six games. Hartman was just 22 of 38 for 254 yards, while the offense also tallied a season-low 44 rushing yards and 1.6 yards per carry.

Play calling and predictability appeared to be a key factor in Notre Dame’s lack of offensive success against an average Louisville defense, but Fighting Irish head coach Marcus Freeman pushed back at that idea this week.

"I have no issue with the play calling,” Freeman proclaimed. "I have issues with the execution and that's what we have to attack. We can blame it on a call. We can blame it on anything we want. But the reality is if we feel strongly enough to call that play, then we have to have answers for why it did or doesn't work. So, that's where I'm attacking is why didn't it work? If this guy was supposed to do that, he was supposed to that, then that's the issue. We have to make sure our guys are crystal clear on what they need to do and don't make mistakes.”

Can Hartman Change Calls?

Most of Notre Dame’s 23 true rushing attempts (taking out the five times Hartman was sacked that were designed pass plays) were against eight and nine defenders in the box. The most obvious counter to that would be for a sixth-year veteran quarterback like Hartman to check out of a called run play and audible to a pass play at the line of scrimmage...if Hartman has the go-ahead to do so....

“We give him freedom in certain aspects to change the call, but sometimes there's no option to change the call,” Freeman said when asked if Hartman has the approval to audible at the line of scrimmage. “If we want to run the ball, we've got to run the ball and, a lot of times those situations I'll tell Coach Parker that hey, this is a four-down situation. You've got two plays to the first down here.

"But then all the sudden, twice it happened we got tackled for loss and when we get tackles for loss, and I have to decide to punt or take a field goal," Freeman continued. "So, what we've got to do is figure out why those tackle for losses happened and that's what I told Coach Parker and his staff. It's not as much the play call, it's how do we make sure that if we call this play, we can execute it. Because if we can't, if we don't have an answer for what they're doing, then we probably shouldn't call that play.”

Offensive Line Roulette

Notre Dame made the curious decision to rotate offensive linemen against Louisville. It is the first time this season that has happened. Pat Coogan still started at left guard, Rocco Spindler at right guard and Zeke Correll at center, but Billy Schrauth and Andrew Kristofic rotated into the interior positions (Tosh Baker also replaced right tackle Blake Fisher for Notre Dame’s last two drives, but Freeman said it was due to a hand injury Fisher suffered in the game).

"The performance of the offensive line was decent,” Freeman opined. “We’ve got to get better. That's the reality. We've got to get better, and we had a plan going into that game to roll guys in to see if we could elevate the play as a whole. I was really pleased with the way Zeke stepped up and was challenged obviously from the week before, with a couple of false start penalties and he really stepped up. You know, the guards were solid, we have to continue to get better. But across the board we have to continue to improve. So, I can't say it was great. I don't want to say it was terrible. Just you know the solid. We've got to get better.”

The Schedule

Notre Dame’s schedule has become a talking point as well. The Irish opened the season on Aug. 26 in Ireland in week zero against Navy. They will not have their first bye until after this week’s game and are the only team in the top 25 that has already played seven games. In fact, Navy has had two bye weeks already and has played only five games to date.

Adding to the degree of difficulty, the Irish are about to play their fourth consecutive night game for the first time in program history and all four of those games (including USC) will have been against an undefeated and ranked team.

"I don't use that as a reason for a lack of performance,” Freeman said. "Now, every week you evaluate how you prepare and that's something that we'll continuously do. What do we feel is best to get our guys prepared for this game? So, as the head coach, I take ownership of saying they weren't prepared the way we needed to be prepared to play. So as I go back to this week and the preparations, okay, what do I believe, what do we believe it's going to take to make sure Saturday night at Notre Dame Stadium, we're ready to go?

"So, what I don't want to do is use being tired as an excuse, right and I don't want our players to use as an excuse. We're not tired. You play Saturday night you got all day to rest. That's one part of being at and playing Notre Dame is about, we're fortunate, we get four prime time games, and that's how we got to look at it. We get another primetime game versus USC at Notre Dame Stadium and if you're not... if you don't have the bubbles in your stomach, then you're not the elite competitor we need you to be. I think when you say that man, they were tired, it's our fourth primetime game versus a ranked opponent and all these things, that just leaves room for excuses and that's something that I won't let our guys do.”

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