Takeaways from Notre Dame HC Marcus Freeman recapping Purdue and previewing Arkansas

As Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman does every Monday during the regular season, he spoke with the media to recap the win over Purdue and preview this weekend’s contest at Arkansas.

While he didn’t say much about the Razorbacks, Freeman did go into a lot of the issues that they have seen, and we have as well during the first three games of this year. It hasn’t been pretty, as there are more than a few areas that the Irish have to clean up, and Freeman knows that.

Check out below a few takeaways from what Freeman said on Monday, as he really expanded on the idea of changing who will be making the defensive calls.

Much needed victory, but to continue to grow

Freeman started off by saying it was a win that this team needed, but growth has to continue. He singled out that man-coverage has been an issue, as they’re trying to work on techniques and fundamentals to fix the issues. Pass rush was also mentioned, with the same aspects of trying to fix it. Freeman isn’t happy with the zone coverage as well, and it’s looking like most of the issues that he still sees are on the defensive side of the ball. He’s confident that this unit can get it fixed, but have a big challenge this weekend against Arkansas.

Madden Faraimo and Elijah Hughes have earned the time

It’s great to see players emerging during the season, and it’s looking like Faraimo and Hughes are doing exactly that. They got much more playing time against Purdue than they had in the previous two, and Freeman credited their practice work ethic. Expect to see much more of these two going forward.

Goal is to score one more point than opponent

It was odd to hear Freeman talking about being in potential shoot outs, but he gets the fact that all the offense needs to do is score one more and the defense give up one less. It doesn’t seem like a great philosophy, but at this point, it looks like this will be the case this year. Win regardless of the situation, and while it might not be pretty, a win is still a win.

Dallas Golden stepped up at nickel

Freeman spoke highly about Golden, saying that he was just as good of an offensive player as defensive when he was in high school. They moved him to nickel on Monday, which wasn’t much time to get him prepared, but it didn’t matter as he played very well. Like the other two, we should be seeing a lot more of Golden going forward.

Jared Dawson was held out due to not practicing

Hughes was the benefactor here, and many were wondering why Dawson didn’t play on Saturday. Freeman said that he didn’t practice much of the week, which made the coaches a bit uncomfortable to put him out there against Purdue. Freeman doesn’t expect the injury to hold out this weekend.

Will Leonard Moore start shadowing opposing team’s best receiver?

Freeman didn’t commit to having Moore shadow the other team’s best receiver, as the defense didn’t want to give away coverage by doing that. If the Irish opted to do that, it’d be a dead giveaway as to if they were playing man or zone. There will be times when Moore does that, but not exclusively. There was a caveat of him being healthy enough to be out there.

Defense has to be better at winning 1 vs. 1 when bringing pressure

This team hasn’t gotten to the quarterback enough this fall, and while it did improve against Purdue, there still were times when it wasn’t good enough. Freeman noted that when the team does send pressure, those players have to win their one-on-one battles, which will help the secondary in coverage. This is what he’s been talking about for a few weeks, marrying the pressure with the coverage, and it seems like this is still a work in progress.

We have the answers on defense

Marcus Freeman gave a nearly four-minute answer to why he won't take over defensive play-calling: pic.twitter.com/YEoTYLhaB3

— Matt Fortuna (@Matt_Fortuna) September 22, 2025

Once again, Freeman was asked if he would take the defensive play-calling away from Chris Ash, but kept with his original statement on the matter, it’s not going to happen. It was a long answer, you can see his whole response able. Freeman went back to making sure that the players are executing properly, but if there is a bad play given up, he’s looking for the reason why. Fundamentals play a part in that, but Freeman wants the players to buy into the defense. There is no finger pointing, aside from at themselves, as he wants all of the player held accountable. He doesn’t think that this is what the defense will look like at the end of the year, Freeman will get this fixed and wants to create the buy in for the players.

Did Jadarian Price think about leaving?

He’s not a “me guy” which is what Freeman said following the Purdue game, giving credit to his family, specifically his mother for raising him the right way. Price surely had options to leave, but he believes in the program, and he’s a team-first guy. Freeman would take a full roster of Price’s.

Have to live with some growing pains

There was a defensive meeting on Sunday, and it wasn’t a comfortable meeting, Freeman didn’t want that. The accountability needed to be there, and he knows that somebody has to take the blame. He knows that the defense isn’t playing to its standards, but did say “we have to understand, great things take time.”

CJ Carr is starting to recognize what defenses are trying to do

There was some doubt when Freeman opted to go with CJ Carr over Kenny Minchey, but the first three games have proven that the gut decision was correct. The offense is humming, and a large part of that is due to the quarterback play. Freeman went on to say that ”he’s (Carr) at the point where he’s recognizing what he’s seeing defensively, that he can put a lot on his plate.. and not depend on a coordinator.” This is very high praise as it seems like the Irish offense has a few more levels to reach. That should be very fun to watch.

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This article originally appeared on Fighting Irish Wire: Takeaways from Marcus Freeman recapping Purdue and previewing Arkansas