Marcus Freeman Prepping For Big Showdown with No. 4 Ohio State
Notre Dame and Ohio State have combined to play seven games this season but as far as most are concerned the season really starts for both teams this Saturday when the No. 9 Fighting Irish host the No. 4 Buckeyes. With all due respect to the Youngstown States and Central Michigans of the world they were all just opening acts on the way to the main event that awaits this weekend.
"Obviously, we have a great opponent coming in,” Irish head coach Marcus Freeman said on Monday. "We’re excited about the chance to go against a top-tier opponent, for sure.”
These same two teams played in Columbus to open last season. The Irish played well in a 21-10 loss to a Buckeye team that would eventually lose by just a point to eventual national champion Georgia.
Freeman was breaking in first-time starting quarterback Tyler Buchner, while Ryan Day’s Buckeyes had eventual Heisman Trophy finalist and No. 2 overall NFL draft pick CJ Stroud leading his offense. The roles are reversed this year, with Sam Hartman entering his 53rd career game, while OSU’s Kyle McCord making his fourth career start.
McCord has been solid, but not spectacular in Ohio State’s three wins, while his backup, Devin Brown, has seen spot duty in all three games as well.
"We plan on seeing McCord,” Freeman said. "He’s named the starter and that’s who we plan on seeing but you have to have a plan. You have to have a plan for anybody you might see. Same thing that happened last Saturday (against Central Michigan). I still think their offense is very similar no matter who’s at quarterback. So, we’ll have a plan for both guys but it’s really not going to change based off of who’s in the game.”
McCord has completed nearly 70% of his passes with six touchdowns through three games. Three of the touchdowns have gone to Marvin Harrison, Jr and the other three to Emeka Egbuka. Both receivers are considered to be two of the top pass catchers in recent years in a program that has churned out NFL receivers like Jaxon Smith-Njigba, Chris Olave and Garrett Wilson, to name a few.
"They’re good players, man,” Freeman said of Harrison and Egbuka. "You’ve just got to turn on the film. Harrison’s body type, skill set, he’s fast, he can go up and get the ball, great route runner, great hands, well coached. Hartline's done a great job of developing that wide out room Year after year they’ve got first rounders and first rounders. Egbuka is the same way. He’s, again, a playmaker. (He is) more utilized in the slot, dangerous returner. I could go on and on, man. Those guys are good football players.”
Harrison led the Buckeyes with 77 receptions for 1,263 yards and 14 touchdowns last season. Egbuka was right behind him with 74 catches for 1,151 yards and 10 touchdowns.
"You’ve seen their offense kind of evolve over the first three games and it’s explosive,” Freeman remarked. "You see a lot of tempo. I think I’ve seen more tempo recently. But listen, they have playmakers, they can run the ball. They’ve got a stable of running backs that truly can do some things in the run game.
The Buckeye defense is led by linebacker Tommy Eichenberg, who is the younger brother of former Notre Dame offensive tackle Liam Eichenberg. He leads the team with 20 tackles. The defensive line, with players like defensive end JT Tuimoloau stand out as well.
"It’s impressive,” Freeman said of the Buckeye defensive line. "They’ve got guys. It’s deep and they rotate a lot of guys in there. So, (Tuimoloau is) an impressive football player. He’s big, he’s powerful, explosive. All those big words that you like to say about your D-linemen, he’s got a lot of those traits. They’ve got a bunch of guys that are really disruptive. So, we have to be good up front. We’ve got to make sure we’re good at the line of scrimmage.”
Ohio State is averaging 40 points on offense while allowing just 6.6 points defensively through three games. Notre Dame leads the nation in pass efficiency defense. Ohio State is No. 8 in that same category.
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