Notre Dame coach Marcus Freeman is considering taking a bigger role with the Irish defense after an 0-2 start to the season.
Freeman said Monday he’s willing to spend more time with the defensive unit if that’s what it takes to turn things around.
“I spend a lot of time with our defense, that’s obviously where my background is,” Freeman said. “Will I spend more time? Maybe. If that’s what’s necessary, I will, I’ll spend more time there. I’m going to do whatever it takes to make sure that we improve and we have a performance that we believe is the standard for Notre Dame football.”
The Fighting Irish are looking for their first win of the season after close losses to ranked opponents. Freeman knows changes are needed to save what’s left of the campaign.
Freeman has the background to make it work. The former Ohio State linebacker served as Notre Dame’s defensive coordinator in 2021 before getting promoted to head coach. He also coordinated Cincinnati’s defense before arriving in South Bend.
Notre Dame’s defense has struggled mightily this season. The Irish have given up 68 points and 827 yards through two games, ranking 109th in FBS for total defense.
Those numbers are a sharp drop from last year when Notre Dame reached the national championship game. The losses to No. 4 Miami and No. 10 Texas A&M came by a combined four points, showing how close the Irish are to being undefeated.
The Irish are missing Al Golden, who left to become the Cincinnati Bengals defensive coordinator during the offseason. Golden’s Notre Dame defense ranked in the top 15 nationally last season, allowing just 15.5 points per game and 307.4 yards per game.
Golden won the Broyles Award as the nation’s top assistant coach.
Freeman is going back to the drawing board to make adjustments quickly. He’s focused on fixing the explosive plays that have hurt Notre Dame early in the season.
“We’ve had to figure out why those explosive plays occurred,” Freeman said. “I could get up here and say it’s execution, and it is. But what does a lack of execution come down to? … It falls on us as coaches to make sure our guys can execute.”
No. 24 Notre Dame hosts Purdue on Saturday at 3:30 p.m. ET on NBC.
