Notebook: The science of prepping for a run of ranked Notre Dame opponents

SOUTH BEND, Ind. — Getting offensive reinforcements will make Marcus Freeman’s job easier Saturday night, when 10th-ranked Notre Dame faces its third Top 25 opponent in as many weeks.

Easier, but not easy by any means.

Notre Dame’s two most productive wide receivers this season, Jayden Thomas and Jaden Greathouse, are on track to play on the road against 25th-ranked Louisville (5-0) in another night game and in front of yet another sold-out crowd.

And sophomore tight end Eli Raridon, roughly a year removed from a retorn ACL in his right knee, is expected to make his season debut at L&N Federal Credit Union Stadium in Louisville, Ky.

But the psychology of getting the Irish (5-1) up for a third straight ranked opponent and week of hyperbolic buildup — with a fourth, No. 9 USC, waiting in the wings — is a task no Notre Dame football coach has had to deal with since Bob Davie got ranked Texas A&M, Nebraska, Purdue and Michigan State teams in succession in 2000 and went 2-2 against them.

And then there’s the physical challenge, including layering four consecutive night games for the first time in school history, and two road trips in this four-game block that will see Notre Dame either play itself back into the College Football Playoff or be dismissed from it until 2024.

“We got back probably at 3-something in the morning,” Freeman said during his weekly Monday press conference of the aftermath of ND’s dramatic 21-14 comeback win at then-No. 17 Duke on Saturday night. “You have to take in and factor some of the requirements they have for school. I’ve adjusted.

“I adjust each week based off the loads that I get back from the game [through workload-monitoring devices], based off what the previous week looked like and based off the demands they have this week. We move some of the lifts around. Hey, what time are they getting up?

“It’s specific for actual individuals more than it is a team. What does this individual need to make sure on Saturday he’s ready to reach his full potential? We’ve made some tweaks to take into account the night game, take into account the late arrival, with Tuesday’s and Wednesday’s practices.”

It’s a combination of instincts and a large dose of sports science, with Freeman informed by head trainer Rob Hunt, team physician Dr. Matt Leiszler and associate athletic director for sports performance John Wagle.

“It’s kind of broken down to the 101 version for me,” Freeman said. “By the time it gets to me, I say, ‘Listen, I just need to know who’s high? Who’s low? Where are these lows are at? How do I need to adjust? Who’s going to be fatigued? Who had an extremely high/low game? I look at it on an individual, then a position basis. Then make the adjustments accordingly. I get it by Sunday.

“John Wagle and his team take all the numbers and get it to me. Then we meet on Mondays between that sports performance team of Wagle and Rob Hunt and Dr. Leiszler. There’s like four or five of them who meet. I have a structure. Hey, here’s what I’m thinking for this week in practice based off the numbers that I got and what our team needs. Any feedback? Any opinions? And I utilize it and say, ‘OK. Great. Understand it. Here’s what we’re going to do.’ And then I make a decision.”

Players wear a Catapult GPS monitoring device to produce the raw numbers.

“It gets you total loads, gets you sprint volume,” Freeman said. “It gets you jogging volume. It gets impacts — all those different things that give you feedback on the wear and tear on each player.”

Then there’s the mental side. And Freeman sticks to the script he’s been working from all season. Keep the big picture in the background and immerse the players into the details of the little picture — fixing problems and incrementally improving.

And despite emerging with a victory against a top 25 team on the road, there are plenty of issues to address this week, including 12 penalties committed and a 3-for-15 conversion rate on third down.

“Every college football team will improve throughout the season,” Freeman said. “The ones that improve the fastest are the ones that usually play for championships and are playing at the end of the year for things that are extremely important.”

For the third time in three years, Freeman gets to game-plan for Louisville quarterback Jack Plummer, in 2021 as Notre Dame’s defensive coordinator, and in 2022 and this season as its head coach.

For Plummer, Louisville is his third team in the past three years. The now-23-year-old and sixth-year grad senior went 25-of-36 for 187 yards and a TD (122.2 efficiency rating), while getting sacked twice, starting for Purdue in a 27-13 Irish home win in 2021.

Plummer was replaced by Aidan O’Connell late in that game, a player who eventually overtook him as the starter and coaxed Plummer’s first trip to the transfer portal.

Last season, when Cal came to town last September, Plummer faced Drew Pyne, making his first college start for the Irish. Plummer completed 16 of 37 passes for 184 yards and a TD (93.9 efficiency), while getting sacked six times in a 24-17 ND victory, Freeman’s first as a head coach.

This season Plummer has been at his best, ranking 17th nationally in pass efficiency (173.0), though his six interceptions are one off the national lead,

“We're going to try to give him some different looks, but it’s hard to confuse him, because he's seen everything,” Freeman said. “There’s no substitution for experience, so he's seen a lot of different things defensively, and he makes decisions quickly.

“That's the one thing that I've noticed, even just watching him through these couple of games of Louisville. He's making fast decisions. He knows exactly where he's going with the ball, and he's doing a good job of putting where it needs to be.

“So, we’ve got to be good in our pre-snap disguises and try to give him some different looks and not just give him one or two looks, and try to get him to hold [the ball] a little bit. And if we can get him to hold it, we’ll try to get pressure on him and try to affect him that way.”

Ahead of Duke’s go-ahead scoring drive early in the fourth quarter Saturday night, Notre Dame punter Bryce McFerson angled a punt that was ruled to have gone out of bounds inside the Duke 1-yard line.

The ACC officiating crew then allowed a review of the play, which by rule wasn’t reviewable, and awarded Duke the ball at the 20 on a touchback.

“They owned it and said it shouldn’t have been reviewed,” Freeman said of his subsequent communications with the league office. “We appreciate the honesty. What can you do now? The game’s over. The communication that we can have with the ACC officials is extremely important.

“That we can go back and forth, and they can tell us why something happened or they can own a mistake. At least we can learn from it, too. We talked to them immediately after the game. They told us that it wasn’t reviewable.”

• Notre Dame’s Players of the Week were junior tight end Mitchell Evans on offense, grad senior nose guard Howard Cross III on defense, and Jack Kiser on special teams. Cross was also the Reese’s Senior Bowl national Defensive Player of the Week.

“He is internally confident in his skill set,” Freeman said of Cross. “And Howard Cross is a great practice player. And that's not what everybody gets the chance to see.”

Speaking of great practice players, Notre Dame’s scout-team standouts were senior tackle Michael Carmody on offense and freshman linebacker Preston Zinter on defense and special teams.

• Notre Dame is shooting for its 31st consecutive regular-season win against ACC competition on Saturday night and its 16th straight ACC road win.

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