UNIVERSITY OF NOTRE DAME FOOTBALL MEDIA CONFERENCE

November 7, 2026

Marcus Freeman

Press Conference

Notre Dame - 31, Miami - 24

MARCUS FREEMAN: What a night, what a moment for this program, for this university, for so many people that love this place -- a special moment. It's hard to describe. You try to imagine what it will be. It's hard to describe.

But you're grateful for the people that help your team get to that point and to find a way to get that victory, and you're grateful for all the support that you have, man. So proud of those guys, the way they battled.

And it's crazy because I talked about this before the game started, at some point, it's going to be a struggle. I don't know how it's going to go. It always happens that way. It always happens that way.

You just forget sometimes, as you look back, you forget how hard it is to achieve special nights like tonight, but it hit us. It hit us late in the second half. It hit us at the end of the third and the fourth, and they just kept battling, and said, okay, if we get one more chance, we'll get it done, and they did.

So I'm really proud of them. We're going to enjoy this night and this moment, and we'll get moving tomorrow for Boston College.

Q. Marcus, only so many opportunities ever come around to beat a top ranked team. What was your message to your team before and after the game, and what did you learn about your team tonight with the way they fought through that second half adversity to win?

MARCUS FREEMAN: Yeah, I told them the same things I tell them before every game. There's certain things we've got to do to win this football game. Don't let the pageantry, don't let the environment, don't let the opponent distract you from what's reality. At 7:31, it's a football game, and we've got to do what it takes to win a football game.

Our formula doesn't change. Remember, we talk about our keys to victory, which could change depending upon the opponent, but we've got to stay in the moment and win the interval. That was my message.

Then after the game, I just wanted them to enjoy it because they worked extremely hard to get that and I'm extremely proud of them.

Q. You sent a message early, I think, to your team when you went for it on fourth down near midfield or so, first possession of the game. What were you -- what was your thought process like there? What were your nerves like in that moment, and what was the message you hoped your team took from that?

MARCUS FREEMAN: See, that's the misconception, that the game makes you have these nerves you don't have any other time. If you're nervous on a fourth down call versus Navy, you're going to be nervous versus Miami, right? Like the decisions I make when we go for it on fourth down have nothing to do with the opponent. It had to do with what we believe, what I believe in terms of when we go for it on fourth and nine.

So I didn't want the game to influence decisions. We have a plan. We've just got to go out there and execute, and our guys executed when it mattered the most.

Q. What does a win like this do for the rest of the season?

MARCUS FREEMAN: I mean, it's a special moment. Enjoy the moment because tomorrow when you wake up, it's time to get ready for the next one.

I know it's a big one. This is big. This is special. I'm not going to sit here and say this is like the other ones. No, this is different. There was a lot of emotion, a lot of physical preparation, but mental preparation we put into this.

I want them to enjoy it, but tomorrow it doesn't do anything for the future. We've got to go and work starting tomorrow for the opportunity we have next Saturday. That's what's important. No matter what you did today has nothing to do with what you're going to do next Saturday. The work you put in Monday through Friday will dictate how you play on Saturday.

Q. Earlier in the week you said about the college football playoff poll, that whatever happened, you wanted your team to use it. How much had you felt that in practice leading up to this game?

MARCUS FREEMAN: Again, if they found themself listening or watching it or whatever, I hope you use it to get into the moment. I was asked the same question on GameDay, like it really doesn't matter who we're ranked. We learned that last year. It doesn't matter what you're ranked until the last week, and that's the truth.

We don't need to focus on it. We don't need to talk about it. Our job was to leave no doubt today, and they did.

Q. When you walked in the door to be the head coach, you said, I want this to be an offensive line-defensive line driven program. How would you say those units played in this game?

MARCUS FREEMAN: They played relentless, man. They did. It was going to be a challenge because that program we just faced, they pride themselves on the same thing and it was a challenge.

It was a challenge to block them, especially their inside guys, and it was a challenge to get to that quarterback. I thought we got really good pressure, but to actually get him down was a challenge.

I'm extremely proud of them guys, and we wouldn't be in this position without our O-line and D-line.

Q. What did you see from CJ this week? What has he learned over the season that let him be ready for this moment?

MARCUS FREEMAN: It wasn't anything different than the previous weeks in the way he's prepared. We always challenge each other, how do we continue to elevate the way we prepare? But our process is our process, right? How do we do it better?

That's who CJ Carr is, man. He prepares -- I said this three years ago, the dude prepared like he was a starter. So he's not going to do anything different this week because we're playing Miami. We've just got to continue to do what we do and do it better.

Because it doesn't -- you lose hope and you lose faith in what you've done previously if you do something better and different this week because it's a different opponent. No, you've got to trust that your process produces the results you want, and if it doesn't, we've got to look how to make it better.

Q. You said at halftime on TV that you knew this was going to be a battle even though the score said what it was. What did you see from the guys as far as keeping their composure and staying in the moment as Miami kind of mounted the comeback?

MARCUS FREEMAN: I mean, I had to continue to try to keep my composure. Sometimes what's on the inside, you've got to keep it on the inside, you can't always let it come out. You had to embrace like it's going to be a challenge.

That's what I kept reminding them, like as much as I was like questioning myself -- it was 24-3, and I'm like, oh, man, we're doing pretty good. But in the back of my head, I said, I said it to the group before the game, it's college football. There's going to be a struggle, and there's no success without a struggle.

When it hit, I kept saying, this is the fall. This is what we're talking about. You heard them reiterate to each other, okay, let's win this play. We talked about this. Let's win this play. I thought they did a really good job doing that.

(Celebration.)

I'm glad they get to do that. You all earned that, man. Enjoy it. You all earned it. I'm proud of you all, man.

Q. Now that he just walked in, we've seen what Luke did tonight pretty much all season. What did what you saw from him in the fourth quarter kind of tell you about the player he is?

MARCUS FREEMAN: You all keep acting like I'm going to do something different. Luke Talich did what Luke Talich did. CJ Carr did what CJ Carr did. Boubacar did what Boubacar does.

These guys, they prepare. They're really gifted players. They prepare tremendously, and they go out and they play. Sometimes their stats don't reflect maybe a great performance in your eyes, but these guys are as consistent as anyone on our team. When you look at their grades, their grades show that.

Tonight might reflect he had an interception, Boubacar did some great things, and CJ did some great things, but these guys are as consistent of football players as I've ever been around, and it's because of the way they prepare.

Q. Now that the results are in the books, could you give us some insight, when you learned Tony was not going to play, how much did you have to change the game plan you already put in? What did we see tonight that was bits and pieces of what you wanted to do, or how much did you have to just sort of rip it up?

MARCUS FREEMAN: It was bits and pieces when you say, Leonard, you're going to travel with Malachi Toney, and at times you're going to play man and at times you're going to play zone.

Then you go through this phase of is it real or is it not? We don't want to get caught preparing for a guy that isn't going to be there and then he actually shows up.

As we got into the day, I thought they started executing extremely well to start the game. It really started going down when Leonard went down. Leonard goes down with a -- he got poked in the eye, and they tried to attack us in man coverage. We were playing a lot of man coverage today. That was something we went into the game saying, we have to be able to do. Our guys want to do it. Let's do it.

We got to the point where it's the definition of insanity. If we keep playing man coverage, this thing won't stop. So we had to adjust at that point and start playing some zone and mix in some man. It was a pivot from what we had been planning for half of the week, but it was a pivot.

Q. Was this as good of a complementary performance as you've had, mostly offense/defense. Luke gets the pick, you go down and score right away, like the sides were sort of playing well off each other?

MARCUS FREEMAN: I'll answer that on Monday when I watch it, but this is as good of a win as I've ever been a part of, and as special of a moment, as special of an outcome that I've been a part of since I've been the head coach here. A lot has to do with these guys that are in this room.

Q. Coach, you mentioned Leonard going down. Sanders also went down. What's the conversation when Barkate starts getting loose and you've got two starting corners out? One's already sitting out. Did Leonard come up and say, Coach, I can go back in? Because he's icing his face on the TV screen.

MARCUS FREEMAN: The trainers will let you know when he can go back in. The trainers, they'll let us know Leonard's available, and as soon as he was available, we put him in.

Q. It seemed like a game you needed the grit of Nolan James, the way he runs the football against defensive tackles that are penetrating and the Number 1 ranked rush defense in the country. What did Nolan James give you today?

MARCUS FREEMAN: He ran the ball hard, man. He did. He most importantly took care of the football, ran it to the referee. He ran the ball extremely hard when we needed it the most. Jonaz did the exact same thing. Those two guys did a tremendous job, when we needed them the most, of continuing to move those sticks and get valuable rushing yards.

Q. You mentioned how special this is and you understand history, just the fact that it's Miami and it's kind of another chapter of that rivalry, how significant is that to obviously be a part of and then come out with the win?

MARCUS FREEMAN: Yeah, you study the history to value the opportunity you have in the present. I kind of showed those guys a little bit of the '98 game -- I mean, the '88 game, in terms of just the story line. I didn't show them video. We talked about it, the important statistics that produced the outcome.

But today is about today, and this team and what they accomplished today. As we continue to move forward in life, I'm sure we'll remember this moment, but I just want to -- I want time to stop right now because I know tomorrow's coming. I know I'm going to wake up tomorrow, and unfortunately, I've got to move -- you've got to let this one go. You've got to get ready for the next one.

But I'm going to try to extend tonight as long as I can, and then we'll move forward tomorrow.

Q. And then your defensive front, how would you assess how they played in applying pretty steady pressure all night?

MARCUS FREEMAN: Yeah, they were relentless, relentless, in the run and the pass. They weren't always perfect, but they continued to be relentless in their effort to stop the run and to get after the quarterback.