- Freeman stressed “delay gratification” as his theme of the week.
- Losses sting, but he said the focus must remain on long-term growth.
- Players turned frustration into a strong week of practice.
- Emphasis on tackling, ball security, third downs, and starting faster.
- Freeman: The goal is reaching Notre Dame’s full potential, not quick validation.
The sting of Notre Dame’s season-opening loss to Miami still lingers, but Marcus Freeman is determined not to let one result define his team’s trajectory. Coming out of a bye week, the Irish head coach wasn’t interested in excuses or quick fixes when he met with the media on Monday. Instead, he hammered home a cultural message to his players: patience, maturity, and the discipline to delay gratification. Freeman believes that focusing only on wins and losses misses the bigger picture of growth, and that the real challenge for his program is turning frustration into fuel for improvement.
Delaying Gratification
Freeman admitted that bouncing back from an early loss isn’t easy for players who want immediate redemption.
“Kind of my message to the team over the past week, and I’ll kind of share with you, is delay gratification,” Freeman said. “I said it’s a difficult thing to really understand and to talk about, especially when you don’t get the outcome you want.”
He contrasted the outside world’s obsession with results with the internal focus he wants his team to adopt.
“Outside of our building, you’re evaluated off one thing, and that’s wins and losses. But inside the building, we must continue to be mature enough to understand that momentary success or failure is not what the goal is. Our goal and our focus has to be to reach our full potential.”
For Freeman, patience means not seeking validation in the next immediate game — even if the Irish would love nothing more than to erase the sting of Miami.
“The first thing you want to do after you lose is go play again. You want to show everybody that we’re good. We got a good team. But we didn’t get that opportunity this week, obviously, with a bye. But that shouldn’t be where our focus is. Our focus must continue to be on improving, elevating, and doing the things it takes to get our program closer to its full potential.”
Turning Frustration Into Work
Freeman acknowledged that the team’s emotions after Miami were raw.
“They’re disappointed, frustrated. When you invest a lot into achieving a certain outcome and the work they put in, and you don’t get the outcome that you desire, it hurts and there’s sleepless nights. There’s loss of appetite,” he said.
But Freeman insisted that the team’s response was what mattered most moving forward.
“We had to turn that frustration into work, and we did. I was really pleased with the work that was put in by our players, our coaching staff, this past week in terms of how to elevate. How do we find a way to get better?”
Freeman reminded his players not to let one outcome — good or bad — cloud their judgment of progress.
“We can’t let the outcome, good or bad, distract our eyes from the reality of where we’re at as a program,” he said. “Take away the outcome, like where are we as a program in terms of trying to reach our full potential?”
Fixing the Details
That pursuit of “full potential” led directly to a sharper focus in practice. Freeman listed the specific areas Notre Dame targeted.
“There was a lot, takeaways, ball security, tackling, third down on both sides, short yardage, two-minute. Those are things that we didn’t really execute well in last week’s game,” Freeman said.
He especially pointed to the slow starts in both halves.
“Really starting fast out of each half, right? The first half starting fast – we didn’t start fast. And in the second half, coming out of the locker room, we didn’t start fast. And so starting fast is I think a general term. How do you change that, if you are the focus and the intention is where it needs to be on that play at that given moment, and the execution will follow.”
Tackling was also a major point of emphasis.
“Most of our missed tackles probably weren’t in space. They were more in the box and the ability to make sure we’re driving our feet, we’re wrapping up,” Freeman explained. “We can’t go live tackling just for the safety of our team, but we have to be intentional about finding ways to tackle. And then when you thud, you got to thud, right? And thuding means you stop the ball carrier’s feet. That doesn’t mean you take them to the ground, but you got to stop their momentum before you let them go.”
Eye on the Bigger Picture
Freeman knows patience isn’t what fans want to hear after a crushing loss, but he believes his message is vital if Notre Dame is going to grow into the team he envisions.
“As I told them, you look at last year and this year, we’re 1 and 0 and 0 and 1, but take away the outcome, like where are we as a program in terms of trying to reach our full potential?” he said.
The focus is now on showing progress against Texas A&M, where Freeman expects a physical, disciplined opponent.
“A&M is 2 and 0, playing really well in all three phases,” Freeman said. “Mike Elko teams are tough, physical, and they won’t beat themselves. On offense, they’re a veteran group led by their O line, really good quarterback that can hurt you with both his legs and his arm, deep running back room and fast and talented skill on their offense. Defensively, it starts with their D line, and they’ve got guys on all three levels that are talented and productive. This will be another great challenge Saturday night for our program.”
What It Means
Notre Dame isn’t looking for shortcuts. Freeman is asking his players to buy into patience, maturity, and long-term improvement. The Miami loss hurt, but the Irish head coach insists his team’s response in practice proves to him that his message is sinking in.
On Saturday night, under the lights at Notre Dame Stadium, fans will find out if delay of gratification has translated into immediate payoff.
