Notre Dame (9-2) is gearing up to play their final game of the regular season when they travel out west to take on the Stanford Cardinal (4-7). This will be the 39th all time meeting between these two programs and head coach Marcus Freeman's second time making the trip out to Stanford, California. Freeman is 2-1 against Stanford with the only loss coming in a shocking upset in 2022 when the Cardinal beat the Irish 16-14 in South Bend.
Fortunately, this is a completely different program than it was a few years prior and Notre Dame is one of the hottest teams in college football right now. They've won nine straight games and are coming off of their most dominant victory in the Freeman Era after decimating Syracuse 70-7 last weekend on Senior Day. Today, Freeman spoke about this chaotic regular season, their dominant 63-point win over the Orange and their final regular season game against Stanford.
You can watch the full press conference here:
Here are some of Freeman's quotes from today's press conference:
Freeman On How Jeremiyah Love Impacts Opponents
"You look at Jeremiyah Love and say, one, every time he gets the ball he could go all the way," Freeman said. "Yes, he's not going to get all the carries the other running backs in the country will get, but what he does when he gets the carry is tremendous. Then, you see what he does in the pass game. He doesn't always get the ball but he's a legitimate threat as a running back out of the backfield. The thing I'm most please about, which people that watch him don't care about, is the pride he takes in protecting the quarterback.
There were times, in his first or second year, if it was a passing situation we might put someone else in there," Freeman continued. "There's never a time where we say 'take him off the field.' Just watch every time we run QB power and Jeremiyah Love is in there, what he does to that linebacker or that safety. He tried to punish them; that's what I respect about it. Every play he's in there, he's trying to do his job with physicality. He's a true, complete running back."
Freeman On Challenges Playing A Game This Late
"It's going to start with the mental approach," Freeman explained. "I have to make sure that the mental approach to this 7:30 Pacific kickoff time is that it's Notre Dame time. That's the mindset we have to have. There's also small adjustments that we'll do towards the end of the week to make sure our guys, physically, are ready at 7:30. We have a long flight out there, we know that. Saturday is going to be a little bit different to the body in terms of wake up time. There's little things we do as a sports performance staff to make sure we can help them be ready at 7:30. They have to be ready to go, but, to me, the number one thing is the mental approach to it."
Freeman On What He Liked About Madden Faraimo's Performance
"He is an ascending player," Freeman said about the true freshman linebacker. "The more he's out there, the better he continues to play. He's preparing in a really positive way. The greatest thing Kyngstonn Viliamu-Asa did for Madden Faraimo was that they hung out a lot. Madden learned how to prepare in a similar way that Kyngstonn did. But he's getting better at all facets of playing the linebacker position. He's doing a really good job of what we're asking him to do on special teams. His role will increase, as well as Kahanu Kia's and some of those other guys that have been playing."
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