Marcus Freeman Talks Sideline Discussion, Notre Dame Offensive Line, Javontae Jean-Baptiste

The final score of Notre Dame’s regular season-ending win over Stanford glosses over a lot of little things that happened on the way. Anyone who didn’t see the game either in person or on the low distribution of the final football game on the Pac-12 Network would likely think the Fighting Irish flat out dominated the hapless Cardinal in their 56-23 victory.

Anyone who watched the game knows otherwise. The Fighting Irish committed three first half turnovers and a fourth in the fourth quarter before picking up their play to pound a now 3-9 team into submission.

The game was a bit of a microcosm of Marcus Freeman’s second full season as head coach. The final record says 9-3. A good season by some standards but not the standard of a program that aspires to national championships. Improvement was made over the course of the season, but too many self-inflicted steps back were also visible throughout the year.

"If you don’t look at the outcomes you say, hey this team definitely has improved tremendously,” Freeman said after the win when asked if his team has improved since week two. "There’s a couple games between Tennessee State and now that we wish we could run it back and do it over, but we can’t. But we’ve learned and we’ve grown from those mistakes and those opportunities. I’m so proud of this team. .... We’re chasing reaching our full potential. That’s something you’ll hear me say. We haven’t totally got there but dang, we were pretty close today and we’ve got a couple weeks to get ready for this bowl game, whichever one we go to.”

A Heated Sideline

Irish running back Audric Estime finished the night with career highs of 26 carries, 238 yards and four touchdown runs. He had 140 yards and two touchdowns before halftime. TV cameras caught what appeared to be a heated discussion between Estime, Freeman and running back coach Deland McCullough after what was originally ruled a Gi’Bran Payne fumble at the goal line before the replay booth overturned the call on the field and gave Payne a touchdown.

There was speculation on if that discussion was because Estime was on the sideline rather than on the field instead of Payne.

"We have communication before that series that it’s a two-minute situation,” Freeman explained. "Gi’Bran’s been our two-minute back, I said 'Good, let’s go, keep him in there.' I get a little bit frustrated when we put the ball on the ground and kind of got on (Audric) and Coach McCullough a little bit. Like 'Hey, the standard of the room is to hand the ball to the official, and I know they reviewed it and called it a touchdown, but they have a high standard for making sure we have great ball security. I kind of reminded them of the standard that we have.”

The Irish O-Line

For the second week in a row Ashton Craig started at center and Billy Schrauth at right guard on the offensive line. Craig was in for Zeke Correll, who has missed the last two games due to a concussion. Schrauth is in for Rocco Spindler, who is out the rest of the season with a knee injury. The line helped pave the way for Estime’s big running night and allowed no sacks in the process.

"To see Ashton Craig and Billy Schrauth and they played obviously for us last week in their first starts,” Freeman began. "They’re just getting better and better and better. It’s a great testament, you don’t know when your number’s going to be called but you’ve got to be ready, and their number was called last week, and they performed at a high level and you see them this week continue stack on that performance they had last week. Coach (Joe Rudolph) has done a great job with that offensive line. That unit it’s tough because it’s such a cohesive unit and when you add two new guys week 11 to the starting lineup, it’s a challenge. But they put the work in and they performed really well.”

Javontae Jean-Baptiste

Defensive end Javontae Jean-Baptiste put an exclamation point on his lone season at Notre Dame by returning a blocked punt 60 yards for a touchdown. The grad transfer from Ohio State had 1.5 sacks and 2.5 tackles for loss as well. He is Notre Dame’s fourth-leading tackler with 47 through 12 games, with 9.5 tackles for loss and 4.0 sacks. The most productive of his seasons at Ohio State was last year when he had 19 tackles and 4.0 sacks.

"I’m so proud of him,” Freeman proclaimed. "He came here for an opportunity that he’s taken full advantage of and he’s truly been a great example a guy that has improved throughout this season that’s playing his highest level of football right now. It’s a testament to his hard work and his relationship with his coach and what Coach (Al Washington) has done with him. I’m glad to see he’s reaping the fruits of his labor.”