Notre Dame football has a new plan to avoid future game-losing scenarios after Ohio State
Marcus Freeman, coach of the Notre Dame football team, accepted responsibility Monday for the goal-line breakdown that allowed Ohio State to run its last two plays, including a 1-yard run for the winning score, against a 10-man Irish defense.
“There’s a whole bunch of systems in place to make sure that doesn’t happen, but ultimately it falls on me, and that’s the reality of it,” Freeman said after the Buckeyes’ 17-14 loss on Saturday. “I’m not going to stand here and say this person or that person should have done this or that.” Finally, as a head coach, I need to do a better job of ensuring that the processes we have in place are followed.”
The 13th-ranked Irish will have a new sideline signal when they face No. 16 Duke on Saturday night in Durham, North Carolina, as part of that process. The signal instructs defensive players to intentionally commit an offsides penalty, causing the officials to whistle the play dead.
“As we talked as a staff (Sunday), obviously we can’t let that happen,” Freeman stated. “We are aware of this. We couldn’t have 10 players on the field and not notice it, so we devised a call, a signal to say, ‘Hey, you have to jump offsides and contact somebody on offense so (the referee) can stop the play.’
After a Game 2 blunder against Tennessee State, Freeman was not asked why such a signal wasn’t already in place. The Irish, on the other hand, had a timeout at their disposal in such a case.
Notre Dame used their final timeout against the Buckeyes after seeing Ohio State’s second-down setup. During the timeout, defensive lineman Gabriel Rubio and linebacker Jack Kiser were brought off the field, but only nickel safety Thomas Harper was replaced.
“We as coaching staff should be held to the exact same standard,” Freeman stated. “We tell our players all the time, ‘Fight the drift.” You are not allowed to be caught viewing the game. In this play, everyone has a role to play. Coaches must also win the interval.”
Freeman mentioned the time factor and the ball’s placement on the far hashmark as reasons for not making a last-second change.
“It was too late,” remarked Freeman. “By the time we realized there were 10 guys on the field, there’s no time to get someone from the sidelines when the ball is on the 1-yard line on the far hash.” You must make contact with someone on offense in order for them to halt the play. By the time we noticed it, running someone out there would have resulted in a penalty, but Ohio State would have refused and still scored a touchdown.”
In an emergency, one of the Irish cornerbacks, Benjamin Morrison or Cam Hart, may have been told from the sidelines to intercept one of the Buckeyes’ receivers before the snap.
“It was a learning experience for myself and everyone involved with our program,” said Freeman, who just finished his 19th game as a head coach at any level. “We all have to own that and make sure that never happens.”
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