This afternoon, the 21st-ranked Notre Dame Fighting Irish beat the Boise State Broncos at home 28-7 in this sloppy outing in South Bend. The Irish finished the afternoon with 389 total yards of offense, scored 28 points and the defense seemingly took another step in the right direction. Chris Ash's defense ended the afternoon holding this Boise State offense to seven total points and picked off quarterback Maddux Madsen four times. Notre Dame's defense also came away with 4.0 sacks on the afternoon. The Irish offense played sloppy at times, but put points on the board when they needed to. The defense shined in this outing and will have to continue building on this performance as they prepare to host the NC State Wolfpack and the USC Trojans in back to back weeks.
You can watch the full press conference here:
Here are some of Freeman's main quotes from the post-game press conference:
Freeman On What Leonard Moore Brings To The Defense
"You talk about a guy that's been out and hasn't been able to practice much," Freeman said about Moore. "He's been able to do some work with our strength staff but not practice much. And this week he was able to limit his practice reps. We were able to get him in there but he didn't practice full. It shows you he's a special player. I don't want to say this too loud because we've got players in here, but practice is important, and we preach how important practice is. Leonard [Moore] got enough work that he can go out there and do his job. It's just a confidence that we, as a coaching staff and the team has, when he's out there."
Freeman On Marrying Up The Rush And The Coverage
"It felt better," Freeman stated. "There was still times in the fourth quarter of the game I felt like the quarterback was scrambling a little bit too much for my liking. I've got to go back see how he got out. But we got some sacks; we got some pressure on the quarterback. I'm a perfection guy. We have to make sure we get him down all the time. But it's definitely improving."
Freeman On The Offensive Performance
"They're competitive," Freeman said about his offense. "They're upset because they're competitors. And they want to be perfect. That's the type of competitors we have in that locker room. That's how I expect them to respond, because when you get upset, you understand that there are answers. If they weren't upset, it's okay; next play. Those probably are not the competitors that I believe we should have. They own it. They find the answers. They go out there and attack. You're not going to be perfect, but they executed when it mattered the most."
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