Fresh off a bye week, head coach Marcus Freeman and the Notre Dame football program have their eyes forward, preparing for this weekend’s matchup against the Texas A&M Aggies. Over the last week, Fighting Irish fans from across the country had the chance to work through their frustrations following the week one loss to Miami. Among the most pressing conversation points was the offensive line, and its frustrating performance against the Hurricanes down in Hard Rock Stadium.

Joe Rudolph’s group did not have a solid showing against Miami overall, especially in pass protection. Left tackle Anthonie Knapp and right tackle Aamil Wagner had arguably their worst games as starters up front, and the right guard tandem of Guerby Lambert and Sullivan Absher also had a rough day. It was a troubling performance, especially with so much starting experience and talent returning up front.

Coach Freeman spoke to the media on Monday, and some were hoping to hear any sort of frustration in his voice when talking about the offensive line. He wasn’t, and shouldn’t have been expected to talk negatively about any individual player, but it would have been nice to hear that the offensive line did not perform to expectation. It would have been nice to hear that the Fighting Irish offensive line needs to play a lot better, and there is accountability that needs to be had moving forward.

We got very little of that from Coach Freeman during this press conference.

South Bend, we may have a problem

“I thought overall they played well,” Freeman told the media. “The standard is to play higher. We know that. Part of it is credit to their defensive line. They are good players. Sometimes you can get paralyzed due to movement. Their defensive line moved a little bit, and did some different things. What we don’t want to do is paralyze the velocity and the aggression that our offensive line plays with. You have to be able to collect some of that movement as you move vertically. At times, I thought we did get too lateral in terms of how we want to play, how we want our offensive line to play. I’m as confident in that group as any on our team. They will be fine.”

Giving some words of encouragement is important as a coach, and you should always think that “they will be fine.” To say that the offensive line played well, however, is slightly insulting to the Notre Dame fans who watch each and every Saturday (and an occasional Sunday night). Everyone knows that the unit didn’t play well, and it is okay to say so. Saying it also doesn’t mean that the unit can’t improve, while also signaling that you still do believe that they will be okay.

On the very next question, Coach Freeman was asked about the personnel up front. Knapp playing left tackle has been a major point of conversation around the Notre Dame fans, and many have wanted to see true freshman Will Black getting a shot to compete on the blindside, or for Charles Jagusah to get a look when he returns from injury. It doesn’t appear that anyone should expect any changes up front to happen, at least not for now.

“It is something you always evaluate,” explained Coach Freeman. “You evaluate it in practice. You evaluate it in a game. I don’t think as we evaluated that game we said that we have a personnel issue, not at all. It is continuously executing at a high level. That’s what we have to be able to do. I think I said it to the team after the game. There were plays in that game where Notre Dame beat Notre Dame, which is inexcusable. We can’t beat ourselves, but there were plays where Miami out-executed us at a higher level. That is why practice is so important. You have to evaluate those things schematically in practice. That is why good on good is really important. I think when you go against scout team, it can be a little bit of fit ball instead of football. At the end of the day, I am as confident in our personnel as I have ever been.”

At the end of the day, there is a large portion of the fan base that fully trusts Coach Freeman and the decisions he makes. Perhaps he is right, and the fans have been a bit too negative about that offensive line performance. It might simply be one outing against a really good defensive line, and things will get a lot better moving forward. Regardless of if that’s what you believe, Coach Freeman’s lack of critique for that unit does come off like he doesn’t see a potential issue. That unit didn’t perform close to standard in their first game, and that was very easy to see.

This upcoming game against Texas A&M is going to be a telling one for that offensive line. They will once again face a very talented front led by pass rusher Cashius Howell. Depending on how they play will prove Coach Freeman right, or show once again that there may be a deeper issue than the Notre Dame staff is letting on.

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Ryan Roberts