SOUTH BEND, Ind. — Marcus Freeman is not sure where he was or the exact circumstances that left an opening in his schedule, but the then-University of Cincinnati defensive coordinator made a point to watch Notre Dame’s epic takedown of No. 1 Clemson on the night of Nov. 5, 2020.
His motivation? To see how his former high school teammate and former UC cornerbacks coach, Mike Mickens, fared in the latter role for the Irish.
Freshman fill-in quarterback DJ Uiagalelei, in his second college start, torched the Irish defense for a Notre Dame opponent-record 439 passing yards in No. 4 ND’s 47-40 double-overtime win at Notre Dame Stadium, a feat offset by a crushing Irish advantage in rushing yardage — 209-34.
“I know there were parts of the game I was in my head saying, ‘Oof. Coach Mickens might be getting an earful right now from somebody.’” Freeman, now the first-year head coach of the Irish, said during his weekly Monday press conference.
The two teams meet again at Notre Dame Stadium on Saturday night (7:30 p.m. EDT; NBC), with Uiagalelei now a junior starter for No. 5 Clemson (8-0) facing an unranked Irish team (5-3), coming off a 41-24 conquest of a Syracuse team the Tigers struggled to rally past (27-21) the previous Saturday.
“I know we have a battle coming, a tall task coming ahead of us,” Freeman said. “I want our guys to understand, ‘You’re Notre Dame. This is what we do. We play in big games like this. It’s not a David versus Goliath. This is a heavyweight fight. We have a dang good football team.’”
Uiagalelei, the Rivals No. 1 prospect at any position in the 2020 class, was subbing in 2020 for eventual first-pick of the 2021 NFL Draft Trevor Lawrence, who was recovering from a bout with COVID-19 and watched from the visitors’ sideline.
Last Saturday against Syracuse, though, the 6-foot-4, 235-pound Uiagalelei was benched after throwing two picks and losing a fumble that was returned 90 yards for a TD with Clemson trailing the visiting Orange 21-10 through three quarters.
Freshman Cade Klubnik, Rivals’ No. 3 prospect and top QB in the 2022 class, took over and Clemson rallied with 17 fourth-quarter points, though Klubnik's passing numbers were modest (2-of-4 for 19 yards).
"DJ is our quarterback,” Clemson coach Dabo Swinney said after the game and heading into a bye week. “There ain't no question about that. That's our guy. That's our leader. You can write that right now. DJ is our guy. He's got to play better, and he will."
Notre Dame junior QB Drew Pyne continues to slump, but here's no five-star alternative waiting in the wings. His nine completions in 19 attempts for 116 yards with a TD and an interception against Syracuse on Saturday were the fewest pass completions by an Irish team in a decade.
Pyne completed just one pass after halftime — for 11 yards — in five attempts.
For the season in six starts and a relief appearance since replacing injured QB1 Tyler Buchner, Pyne is 102-of-165 for 1,193 yards and 13 TDs with four intercpetions, good for 52nd nationally in pass effieciency (143.7).
Uigalelei is seven spots higher with a 148.7 passer rating after finishing 107th out of 110 qualifiers a year ago (108.7). In 2022, he has completed 150 of 235 attempts for 2,764 yards and 17 TDs with four picks.
“He has to improve,” Freeman said of Pyne. “He has to improve his accuracy. But there’s a whole bunch more that goes into that. We have to continue to improve our protection. And it’s not just the offensive line. Protection can be with running backs. People being in the throwing lane.
“I wrote down a couple notes, as we were watching film as an offensive staff, and just saying, ‘OK, we have to get the running back here to step up or step out of his way so the quarterback has a lane.’
“The precision of routes, that’s so important. To the eye just watching the game, they won’t understand. But to the coaches, the precision of routes are so important. That’s a challenge for Michael Mayer. That’s a challenge for every tight end. That’s a challenge for the wideouts to be precise exactly where you’re supposed to be when you run routes.
“Then the other thing is at some point if we’re not running the ball so well, we’re going to throw it more. Right now, we’re running the ball pretty well. If we don’t run the ball really well, it’s going to force us to take more opportunities in the passing game.”
At No. 7 against the run nationally, Clemson is the third top 10 run defense the Irish will face this season, after taking on Ohio State’s 10th-ranked rush defense in the Sept. 3 season opener and the No. 6 run defense the following weekend in a 26-21 loss to Marshall.
Overall, Clemson is 27th nationally in total defense, while Notre Dame has surged, recently and dramatically, to 28th.
Swinney sequel?
Since the 2011 season, Clemson coach Dabo Swinney has led his team to double-digits wins in every completed season, and is two wins away this year.
But in 2008, Swinney as an interim coach, went 4-3 after replacing Tommy Bowden, who resigned at midseason. After being promoted to permanent head coach, Swinney went 9-5 his first full season, and 6-7 the next, in 2010.
The Tigers’ wide receivers coach at the time Swinney was given the interim job over two coaches on the staff with head coaching experience. His first move was to fire his offensive coordinator.
His recruiting prowess weighed heavily in his favor in both the interim and permanent moves, as he not only had no previous head coaching experience, he had never been a coordinator either.
Swinney was 38 years old when Bowden stepped down. His promotion was hardly universally applauded.
"The people who followed recruiting knew how important to the program he was," said longtime former Clemson sports information director Tim Bourret. "But a lot of people wondered what the program was doing hiring someone who had never called a play before.
"In his last regular-season game of the interim season in 2008, he beat South Carolina (31-13) and a Hall of Fame coach in Steve Spurrier in a big rivalry game. Had he not won that game, I don't think he gets the job on a permanent basis, and Clemson's history takes a different path."
At least the beginning of the Swinney saga has some parallels to Freeman succeeding Brian Kelly in December of 2021 at age 35. Might the next chapters line up as well?
“If (so), it will be a great story,” Freeman said. “That’s the reality of it. I have the utmost respect for that guy. I don’t know him. I’ve never talked to Dabo Swinney but have really paid attention from afar.
“You only hear great things from his players about the type of leadership. The results speak for themselves. He’s done great things for that football program and college football, period. To sit here and if you have a chance to say, ‘Hey, your career can reciprocate Dabo Swinney’s,’ you’re going to be dang happy.”
We're talkin' 'bout practice
Junior vyper end Jordan Botelho’s 13 snaps on defense Saturday against Syracuse and two sacks were a reminder that no one’s truly buried on Freeman’s depth chart.
The 6-3, 245-pound Hawaii product had only a special teams role the past three games before his opportunity came Saturday at Syracuse.
“He's a great example of a message I said to the team yesterday," Freeman said. "We're going into week nine, and (there's) the ability at certain positions to still have that healthy competition that we don't know who's going to start. We’ll decide after this week of practice.
“We'll decide based off the way we practice, and it's a way to continue to remind those guys how important practice is. Jordan had a great week of practice, and he got the opportunity to play in the game. And with that opportunity, he was productive.
“But that doesn't have anything to do with this week. And so, the message will be the same thing: Your playing time will be determined by how you practice. But, as I’ve said before, there’s no room for ‘gamers’. We need great practice players. That's what our team needs it to be.”
Estimé's esteem
After three lost fumbles in four games and being benched Oct. 22 against UNLV for lost fumble No. 3, Notre Dame leading rusher Audric Estimé was back in the starting lineup for last Saturday’s road test at Syracuse.
The 6-foot, 229-pound sophomore, in fact, was lined up as a fullback in the retro two-back I-formation and carried the ball on ND’s first two offensive plays. He finished with 123 yards and two TDs and a career-high 20 carries.
“I think it's really important, as a coach, to make sure your players know you believe in them,” Freeman said.” And that's the one thing that never wavered with Audric, is the belief in him being productive and the things he can do as a running back.”
But that belief was earned back during Notre Dame’s practices leading up to the game.
“We're insane if we don't think we don't change the sort of things that we do in practice to get the results we want,” Freeman said. “So, this week in practice we did some different things in terms of ball security with Audric and with all the running backs.
“(Running backs) coach (Deland) McCullough brought some different ideas, and it was really good, but it's going to be continuous work in practice that we do, the intentional work to make sure that we don't let fumbling the football become something that’s a staple of our program. We can't.”
Squibs
• Upon further review, an official scoring change awarded senior defensive end Isaiah Foskey with another half a sack Saturday at Syracuse, giving him 1.5 for the game, 7.5 for the season and 23 for his career.
Foskey is now tied for the second most in the FBS, a half a sack behind leader Jose Ramirez of Eastern Michigan. And he moved out of a tie for second with Kory Minor on the Notre Dame career list, with only record-holder Justin Tuck (24.5) ahead of him.
• Freeman on Monday announced Notre Dame’s players of the game for the Syracuse win. Grad senior offensive guard Jarrett Patterson was named the offensive player of the game, though Freeman said the whole offensive line deserved it.
Senior safety Brandon Joseph, with a pick-6 and two tackles, got the award on defense, while junior Clarence Lewis’ blocked punt earned him special teams honors.
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