Marcus Freeman Talks Beating Cal, Drew Pyne, Defensive Line, More

Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman picked up his first career win, which he discussed after the game, along with several other topics

NOTRE DAME, Ind. - It was bound to happen sooner or later. Saturday, it finally happened for Marcus Freeman. After starting his career as the only Notre Dame football coach to ever lose his first three games, Freeman led his Fighting Irish to a 24-17 win over California.

Win No. 1 Is In the Books

“(We) found a way to finish and I’m proud of those guys,” said a visibly excited Freeman after the win. “You know what? It's hard to win football games. It’s hard. You've seen it in the first three games. It's hard. I’m so proud of that group of guys to find a way to finish. Obviously, there’s a lot of work to do. We have to get better.

“It’s an honor to do it here at this university with this supports system,” he continued. “This is a special day for me, personally.”

Nothing comes easy. The final result was a victory. The record books will show it 100 years from now. But what ended in victory began with a slow churn on an upward slope to nowhere.

The Fighting Irish punted on their first four possessions and first-time starting quarterback Drew Pyne fumbled a snap on the second play of Notre Dame’s fifth drive. Notre Dame totaled 15 plays and just 16 yards on those drives, but they scored three touchdowns and netted a 47-yard field goal from Blake Grupe on four of their next five possessions to pull away for the win.

“I keep telling myself to try to enjoy it,” Freeman said of the hard-fought triumph. “There’s a lot of coaching that happened on that field today that we can learn from. But listen, if you don’t take a minute to enjoy these things, you’re going to regret it. So, I keep reminding myself, man, to enjoy this victory.

“I want to celebrate with those guys,” he continued. “This is about those guys that work and prepare, those coaches that prepared their tails off. This is something special we’re all going to share together.”

On Drew Pyne

The junior’s first career start was anything but a work of art, especially early. Pyne was just 7 for 12 for 47 yards in the first half. His biggest connection was a 21-yard touchdown pass up the seam to Chris Tyree for Notre Dame’s first points of the day.

Pyne fumbled the snap on the drive prior to that though. He didn’t throw a pick, but his throws were erratic. He threw short in the flat early to tight end Michael Mayer and later overthrew him down field on a seam, both times with Notre Dame’s best offensive player wide open.

Freeman took a softer approach with Pyne when things weren’t working for him early on. The head coach tapped the first-time starter on the shoulder pad with a word of encouragement. When that didn’t work, he took a harder approach, barking at Pyne after he fumbled the snap to set up Cal’s first touchdown of the game in the second quarter.

“I told Drew ‘Relax, man’,” Freeman said. “Go out and be Drew Pyne and execute. And it helped, because you gained a little confidence in the running game in the second half and then he started making those passes.

“But he is a warrior, man,” Freeman continued. “He is a competitor. He is a great example for everyone in that locker room, because you never know when your number is going to be called and Drew Pyne always prepared as a starter.”

Pyne was 10 of 11 for 103 yards in the second half. He hit Mayer for a six-yard touchdown pass to provide the final margin of victory.

Notre Dame Dominates The Trenches Late

Neither Notre Dame’s offensive nor defensive lines dominated early, but as the game wore on they got better and better. The Irish ran for just 61 yards in the half, while the defensive line kept just missing out on bringing down Cal quarterback Jack Plummer, only to see him scramble for back breaking first down runs.

“To see those guys come out in the second half and the offensive line, really, dictate the running game,” Freeman said. “To see that and the D-line get after the quarterback .... that’s going to be our backbone. We’re going to depend and rely on our O-line and D-line, and I was really proud of the way they stepped up to the challenge in the second half.”

The defensive line was especially impressive, and it was at its best in the fourth quarter. They continually got to Plummer, finishing with all six of the team's sacks. Senior defensive tackle Jacob Lacey led the way with two sacks, and the line added four more hurries.

“It’s a deep unit,” Freeman said. “I was hard on them. Coach (Al) Washington, I was hard on that unit. Even after the first half, a couple QB scrambles, but they know I believe in them.

“There was one point, Jayson Ademilola in the second half, he walked over to me and said, Coach I got you, I got you," continued the Irish head coach. "(He) went out and made a sack. That’s what you want, man. You want some guys to take ownership in the performance on the field.”

On Chris Tyree, Audric Estime, Irish Ground Attack

Fans and media alike have been clamoring for bigger doses of running back Chris Tyree and they finally got their wish Saturday. Tyree had a total of 12 touches through Notre Dame’s first two games, but he tallied 22 touches for 108 total yards from scrimmage against the Golden Bears.

Tyree getting the ball wasn’t just about him, though. Freeman said after the game that fellow running back Logan Diggs was out, due to an illness he came down with Thursday.

“In our minds it was like, okay, we’re going to have to ride the back of Chris and Audric, right now,” Freeman explained. “They both ran the ball really well. I don’t know how many yards they had, but I thought they both did a good job in the backfield with the ball.”

Audric Estime had his best game as well. The sophomore ran for a career high of 76 yards on a career high 18 carries. He added three receptions for 43 yards.

The bulk of the offense came in the second half, when Notre Dame made a more concerted effort to run the ball at Cal, while also mixing in short passes. The game plan worked against this opponent, but Freeman says it won’t necessarily be the same game plan every week.

“For this game, that’s what we had to do,” Freeman stated. “I’m not saying this is going to be who we are every game this year. We have to take advantage of what we feel like we can have success against the defense we play. Today it was .... we weren’t having success early in the first part of the game with our quick game and handling snaps.

“So, we said right now the edge we have is being able to run the ball. So, to me, that’s what we’ve got to be able to do. Listen, our identity, yep, we’re an O-line, D-line driven program. We’ve got to be able to run the ball, but you can’t just say, this is what we’re going to do, that’s it.”

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