Notre Dame will host BYU on Saturday, as Notre Dame seeks to build off of its two-game winning streak before the bye week. Notre Dame is coming off its best offensive performance of the season against North Carolina. The bye week gave this coaching staff a much-needed break for self-evaluation. Coach Freeman had this to say about evaluating his team over the bye week…
“I think as a leader, you got to start by looking at yourself. So all of the sudden, you sit here and you talk about finishing, but then you go back and evaluate and there's plays in the first quarter that we weren't executing the way we were supposed to. That's kind of where me as the leader said, hold on, take all the emphasis off of finishing and really look at every play of the game and focus on execution and execution in our preparation and really take a deep dive into the way we prepare and the point of emphasis in being are we executing in practice the way we need to to help us execute in the game. I kind of just took the focus and it's not about finishing, it’s about finishing every play. You got to make sure you execute on play one, no matter if you're up or down, as you do in the fourth quarter. I wanted to make sure that our focus is on every play of this game and not just finishing in fourth."
Will the defense finish games by eliminating late-game touchdowns? Can Notre Dame build off that momentum moving forward? Irish fans will get an opportunity to find out on Saturday for the annual Shamrock Series game. As most Irish fans know, the Shamrock Series began in 2009 as a recruiting tool for Notre Dame, but it has evolved into playing at unique locations and wearing alternative jerseys. Even though some of the games have come down to the wire, the Irish have never lost a Shamrock Series game to date. Coach Freeman has this to say in preparation for Saturday’s matchup…
“Obviously, coming off the bye week and hope everybody is feeling refreshed. I think our players, our coaches are, we're ready to roll. We know we have an extremely difficult opponent coming up and we're looking forward to it. Obviously, the Shamrock series is what makes Notre Dame unique. It's one of our distinctions and the chance to go and play a home game in Las Vegas is an extremely exciting opportunity vs. a really good opponent. We're looking forward to it.”
📷 Credit: @ndfootball and @byufootball on Instagram
Game Details
Date: Saturday, October 8
Time: 7:30 PM ET
Where to Watch: NBC/Peacock
Breaking Down BYU
The Cougars (4-1) are led by head coach Kilani Sitake, who finds himself in his seventh season at BYU. Sitake is very familiar with the BYU program as he played for the Cougars back in the 1990s as well. After a few rough years, Kilani has this football program rolling and should be a tough matchup for the Irish.
Stacking Up Notre Dame vs North Carolina
3 Offensive Players to Know
Jaren Hall— QB #3
2022 Stats: 1438 passing yards, 12 touchdowns; 64 rushing yards; 28 receiving yards, 1 touchdown
Christopher Brooks — RB #2
2022 Stats: 294 rushing yards, 4 touchdowns; 46 receiving yards
Keanu Hill— WR #1
2022 Stats: 329 receiving yards, 4 touchdowns; 1 punt return touchdown
3 Defensive Players to Know
Ben Bywater — LB #2
2022 Stats: 37 tackles, 1 sack, 2 interceptions
Max Tooley — LB #31
2022 Stats: 29 tackles, 1 sack, 2 interceptions, 2 touchdowns
John Nelson — DL #94
2022 Stats: 13 tackles, 2 sacks
📷 Credit: @byufootball on Instagram
Final Take
If the Fighting Irish is to win their third game of the season this coming Saturday, they must continue to dominate both lines and put together more scoring drives likes they did against North Carolina. Coach Freeman had this to say in preparation for Saturday’s Shamrock Series game…
“Well, I think for me probably more than anything I was looking back at last year's Shamrock Series game vs. Wisconsin. At a neutral site but it's technically a home game for us in Vegas, but I'm sure there's gonna be a lot of BYU fans there too. Enjoy the experience. That's what makes Notre Dame unique. It's the distinction that we have a home game in Las Vegas, but don't distract from what it takes to get the desired outcome. I'll say it again, it's just your preparation and the execution. The approach is still the same and the preparation and taking that field and taking it all in. Just focus on the things that really matter and that's the execution.”
Go Irish!
