Notre Dame Notebook: Marcus Freeman Talks Schedule Grind, Turnover Focus, Howard Cross III

Notre Dame has already reached the halfway point of its 2023 football season. The Fighting Irish have not even played a game in the month of October yet, but six games are in the books and the team just picked up its fifth win of the season before the calendar swung to the tenth month of the year.

Games seven and eight will be played before the Irish get to the first of their two bye weeks this season. The eight-game stretch without a break to open the season was always going to be a grind and adding to that is the four-game prime time stretch against four ranked and unbeaten teams (assuming Southern Cal does not get upset by Arizona this weekend).

Notre Dame has historically done well adjusting to the rigors of travel and time zone jumping. The five-game stretch in late October and into November in 2018 that saw them play games in San Diego, Chicagoland, South Bend, New York, and Los Angeles en-route to the program’s first College Football Playoff appearance is one of the more recent examples.

Fighting Irish head coach Marcus Freeman was not on staff for that stretch, but he is well aware of the individual adjustments he needs to make to keep his team fresh.

"I adjust each week based off the loads that I get back from the game, based off what the previous week looked like and based off the demands they have this week,” Freeman explained this week. "We moved some of the lifts around. Hey, what time are they getting up? It’s specific for actually individuals more than it is a team. Like, what does this individual need to make sure on Saturday he’s ready to reach his full potential. So, we’ve made some tweaks to take into account the night game, take into account the late arrival (home) with Tuesday and Wednesday’s practice just how we’ve adjusted a little bit.”

Winning The Turnover Battle

Notre Dame went into last week’s game against Duke knowing it would see an opponent that is prolific in causing turnovers. The Blue Devils were an astounding +16 in turnover margin in head coach Mike Elko’s first season in 2022 and they entered last week’s game with a +5 margin. The Irish knew they would have to take care of the ball to win.

"That’s a point of emphasis every week for us all year,” Freeman remarked. "But specifically, that game, we had known how well they’ve done in taking the ball away and not turning it over. So, offensively every week we say, hand the ball to the official. What does that mean? Zero turnovers and I think we have one this year on offense, which has been amazing. They’ve done a great job with ball security.

"Defensively, the challenge was we have to get two this game,” Freeman explained. "Each week it changes. This week we said we have to get two and we’ve been close. We force fumbles, we just...we’ve forced more fumbles than a lot of teams in the country, but we haven’t recovered them. The interception was huge by Xavier (Watts) but to force the fumble and then get it, because we forced a fumble earlier in the game, but we didn’t get it and it was this close and it’s like every week that happens. But to end it that way was a sweet feeling for our entire defense.”

The Irish defense has forced 11 fumbles this season, but the one Howard Cross III forced and Marist Liufau recovered on Duke’s final offensive play is the first one they have recovered this season.

Speaking Of Cross...

Nose guard Howard Cross III had a game for the ages against Duke. His career-high 13 tackles included 3.5 for loss and vaulted him to the top of the team leaderboard in both of those departments. He also had his first sack of the season in the game on the same play that forced Riley Leonard’s fumble on Duke’s final play.

"He is a confident individual,” Freeman said of Cross. "He is internally confident in his skillset and Howard Cross is a great practice player and that’s not what everybody gets a chance to see like I see every day in practice. Because a lot of times I get to work with the scout team O-line. One of the best joys of being the head coach is on Tuesday and Wednesdays working with the scout team O-line and it’s always a challenge when I know we’re double-teaming Howard Cross. We’re blocking one on one, I challenge our scout team O-line, we’ve got to block him. 

"I don’t want Howard Cross near the quarterback, and he finds a way," continued Freeman. "But that shows you his intent in practice. Like the purposeful ways he practices and if we can get everybody on our team to practice with that intent and that mindset, we’ll get better faster than a lot of teams in the country. So, that’s what you’re most pleased about is that his mindset in practice is one of very driven and works extremely hard.”

Junior Tuihalamaka and Josh Burnham

Vyper defensive end Jordan Botelho will have to sit out the first half of the Louisville game after being flagged for targeting in the second half of the Duke game. That means reserves Junior Tuihalamaka and Josh Burnham will be counted on more in the first half.

Burnham has 10 tackles, 2.5 tackles for loss and one sack this season, while Tuihalamaka has seven tackles.

"Both of them are continuously getting better,” Freeman commented. "I know that’s not the answer you guys love to hear but they are. The only way you get better is through reps, intentional reps, through practice. Josh was playing at a really high level and then some of his reps decreased, just because of the game and those things. But he went in there Saturday and did a really good job and made some big plays for us. Same with Junior. He’s a consistent football player for us and I have a lot of confidence in both of those two guys to fill-in.”