Geoffrey Clark
September 14, 2024 8:24 pm ET
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – Notre Dame needed to show that the loss to Northern Illinois was a fluke. There might still be some doubters out there, but the Irish took a step in the right direction as far as proving those doubters wrong. They handed the Boilermakers their worst defeat in program history, 66-7.
Marcus Freeman clearly was in a much better mood than when he met with the media after their last game. He felt a sense of pride and accomplishment that only can be felt by a coach that lays down such a beating after suffering such a disappointing defeat the week before.
Riley Leonard also addressed the media in a better mood from the week before, but that shouldn’t be a surprising after running for 100 yards and three touchdowns.
With Jordan Botelho injured during the game, it was time for Boubacar Traore to step up. All he did with that opportunity was pick off a Hudson Card pass and return it 34 yards for a touchdown.
Jeremiyah Love had only one touchdown, but his 109 yards on the ground led the Irish in all-purpose yardage.
Here are some of the things these four gentlemen said after the game was over:
Freeman's opening statement
“Obviously proud of the way our guys played. Prepared the mindset, the mentality in terms of preparing for a good opponent. And obviously, you go to run the ball on offense, two takeaways on defense. We just played lights out. It was good to be part of. I’m most proud of the way they came out of the locker room in the second half. As we told them last week to handle success in the second half, we outscored them, 24-7, which is huge. And after being up, 42-0, to be able to come out and no matter who’s in the game, to be able to perform. They really performed really good. So proud of the guys. Enjoy this victory. As I told them, it’s hard to win. Like we saw last week, it’s hard to win. And so, enjoy it. We’ll get back to work on Sunday or Monday and be ready for our next opponent.”
Freeman on how he felt after the game
“Happy now. Happy that we went out and performed the way we did. And so, as I told the players, we have to celebrate and enjoy the victory and get back to work tomorrow and make sure we’re handling success the right way.”
Leonard's postgame thoughts
“I thought last week was tough for me. It was pretty awful. I felt like the biggest thing for me was I didn’t do a good job of handling the success after Week 1, and I learned from that. I learned the hard way last Saturday. But I think it’s important that I learned from that. And after a game like this, you can’t get too high, you can’t get too low. My coaches and teammates, all credit to them, all credit to Coach Free for bringing me to his offense and every day, saying, ‘Hey, you’re the guy. I trust you. I have all the confidence in the world in you.’ That kind of stuff built me up, and for this game, I was extremely prepared all week. I was just itching to get out to the field to prove myself, right? It’s a long time Saturday to Saturday just sitting around and thinking about the last game like, ‘Man, I just want another opportunity to get back out there.’ So this game was not only big for me but big for the whole team.”
Traore on his pick-six
“I didn’t even think it was gonna come to me. I see the ball, I just try to make the best out of the situation, so I got the ball and just ran.”
Love on the team's first-half production
“Shoot. It was great, man. All practice this week, we practiced hard, trusted our guys, and to come out in the first half and to do that well rushing, it’s a great thing to see. I’m proud of everybody. All the backs did well. The quarterbacks did well. Shoot, our O-line blocked great. I had lots of holes, so seeing that and seeing our preparation led to that outcome, it’s great, man.”
