Notre Dame Fighting Irish VS USC Trojans: Depth charts and coach speak

The Notre Dame Fighting Irish return home this week to take on its biggest rival, the USC Trojans in the Battle for the Jeweled Shillelagh. It was a disastrous night in Louisville last week, and there is a long list of blame to go around. Much of that blame went toward Gerad Parker and his playcalling, but Marcus Freeman thinks about it differently.

“Everything we do as an offensive staff is a collaborative effort. We talk about it. I have no issues with the play calling. I have issues with the execution. That’s what we have to attack. We can blame it on a call. We can blame it on anything we want, but the reality is, if we feel strongly enough to call that play, we have to have answers for why it did or doesn’t work. That’s where I’m attacking. We have to make sure our guys are crystal clear on what they need to do and don’t make mistakes.”

Honestly... I feel like most of Freeman’s press conference was just more coach speak. Have a listen if you like:

As far as the depth charts are concerned... nothing publicly has changed. Clearly, however, there are issues along the offensive line and at wide receiver. The offensive line got shifted around with a rotation against Louisville — especially at guard where we got a better look at Billy Schrauth.

“We had a plan for two reasons last week to roll guys. Coogs (Pat Coogan) had a knee injury that he really didn’t practice Tuesday. He practiced Wednesday and Thursday, but didn’t do everything we needed on Tuesday. We had a plan to roll Billy in there. We wanted to get (Andrew) Kristofic) a couple plays at center to really create competition, but also to see how Zeke and those guys would respond. They responded well. Billy played well when he was in there. I thought the guards played well. We all have to continue to improve.”

Wide receiver Jordan Faison (now with a football scholarship in hand) isn’t listed on the depth chart, and was the only receiver to actually make a play against Louisville.

“Jordan had gotten scholarship offers out of high school by a lot of different football programs. He’s a national lacrosse prospect and he was committed to play lacrosse. We wanted him as part of our football program. He’s been a talented individual from the moment he stepped on this campus in fall camp. He has shown he has a lot of ability. He’s continued to improve throughout the first six/seven weeks of this season. He was on scout team three weeks ago and we had some injuries and we started moving him up to travel squad. He’s continuously gotten better and gained the trust of his coaches. We knew going into the game we were going to play him. I couldn’t tell you he was going to go score a touchdown and have another big catch, but we had a lot of faith and trust that he could perform or we wouldn’t have put him in there.It was really good to see him make those plays. To do it in practice is one, but to make them in the game is another thing and he did it.”

So... take them for what they are.