Freeman has plan to stop triple-option
Notre Dame head coach has defended offense well in past
Cincinnati and Navy first met as members of the American Athletic Conference in 2017. The Bearcats got gashed big-time in their first attempt at defending the Midshipmen’s triple-option offense.
Quarterback Zach Abey led Navy to 569 rushing yards on the way to a 42-32 win. It was the second-most rushing yards in program history with Abey and sophomore slotback Malcolm Perry doing most of the damage.
It was an eye-opening experience for the Bearcats and first-year defensive coordinator Marcus Freeman.
Freeman and Cincinnati were much better prepared for Navy the following season. Defensive tackle Cortez Broughton was a disruptive force, finishing with 10 tackles (1 ½ for loss) as the Bearcats limited the Mids to 124 rushing yards in a 42-0 rout.
Of course, Cincinnati had improved personnel across the board in 2018, which was Luke Fickell’s second season as head coach and saw him direct a dramatic turnaround from 4-8 to 11-2. Meanwhile, Navy struggled offensively throughout that season on the way to finishing 3-10, its worst record since 2002.
Freeman’s success at Cincinnati led to his hiring at Notre Dame and he schemed against Navy again last season. The Midshipmen once again struggled offensively, managing only 184 yards in a 34-6 loss.
Coach Ken Niumatalolo alluded to Navy’s struggles against defenses directed by Freeman.
“We’ve struggled going against his defenses since that first game [in 2017). He’s given us a ton of trouble,” Niumatalolo said Monday during his weekly media session. “The defenses he’s led have pretty much shut us down. It’s like they have something against option football.”
Speaking Thursday after practice, Niumatalolo noted that Freeman’s defensive mastery isn’t limited solely to option teams. Freeman’s Cincinnati and Notre Dame defenses have been just as impressive versus conventional college football offenses.
“Coach Freeman has defended a lot of people well, not just the option. The reason he got the Notre Dame defensive coordinator job is because Coach [Brian] Kelly saw how good [the Cincinnati] defense was,” Niumatalolo said. “He’s got a really good package for both conventional offenses and option offenses.”
Last season, Notre Dame kept Navy off balance by constantly changing from five-,
six- and eight-man fronts. Freeman sometimes switched the front from play to play, making it difficult for the Midshipmen to get into any rhythm.
Naturally, Niumatalolo did not want to talk about what other tactics Freeman has employed to stop the Navy option, but did say “other teams have tried to replicate what they do without the same results.”
Of course, the dynamic has changed this season as Freeman is now the head coach — having been promoted to replace Kelly after he departed for LSU.
Al Golden is now the Notre Dame defensive coordinator and that adds further intrigue. Golden played against Navy while head coach at Temple (2006-10) and against Georgia Tech while head coach at Miami (2011-15).
Niumatalolo admitted the Navy offensive staff has reviewed how Golden defended the Midshipmen and Yellow Jackets, who were coached at the time by triple-option guru Paul Johnson.
“I’m sure Coach Freeman is going to have a lot of say in what they do, but we’re going to wait and see because Coach Golden knows option football, too,” Niumatalolo said. “We’ll see if it’s going to be predominantly Golden, predominantly Freeman or a combination of the two.”
Freeman made it clear during his weekly news conference that Golden would have considerable input into the game plan. However, the first-year head coach sounded like he did not want to stray too far from what worked a year ago.
“There are a lot of good ideas [Golden] has from previously facing triple-option teams,” Freeman said. “There are some things we did last year that we had some success with, but there are a lot of good enhancements we’ll have from his expertise with defending the triple-option.”
Freeman noted that it’s difficult to properly prepare for the triple-option because the scout team cannot replicate the speed at which it operates. Kelly made a habit of recruiting walk-on quarterbacks who had run option offenses in high school to direct the scout offense. Two of them — Justin Fisher and Chase Ketterer — are still around to fill that role.
Notre Dame’s defensive front is stout as usual, ranking 27th nationally in both points (29.1 per game) and total yards (328.6) allowed. JD Bertrand leads the team with
60 tackles (6.5 for loss), while fellow linebacker Jack Kiser has 37 (3.5 for loss). Defensive end Isaiah Foskey has proven adept at getting penetration into the backfield and is one sack away from setting the Notre Dame career record.
Senior tackle Kip Frankland was a member of the offensive line that was unable to consistently win the line of scrimmage against Notre Dame last season. Frankland said this year’s unit draws confidence from the fact it got the fullback going last Saturday against a Cincinnati defensive front that was just as formidable.
“Notre Dame is going to be really good up front. It’s going to be the same caliber as last week,” Frankland said. “We draw hope from last week. We got those guys off the ball. We just have to bring the same low pad level, high energy and battle-until-the-whistle type of mentality.”
Pro Football Focus ranks nose guard Dontay Corleone (6-2, 320), tackle Jowan Briggs (6-1, 313) and inside linebacker Ivan Pace Jr. among the best in college football. Frankland praised the performance of the interior trio of left guard Connor McMahon, center Lirion Murtezi and right guard Josh Pena.
“It’s really good that Connor, Lirion and Josh got a taste of what it’s all about. We just have to work together and try to get these guys moving backward,” Frankland said.