Irish's Freeman won't take over struggling D

Notre Dame coach Marcus Freeman likens the team's early defensive struggles to a flight-or-flight situation. Freeman intends to fight together rather than blaming any individual or removing playcalling from first-year coordinator Chris Ash.

The Irish have allowed 27 points or more in all three of their games this season and rank 117th nationally in points allowed and 99th in yards per play allowed. This week, Notre Dame will visit an Arkansas team that ranks fifth nationally in yards per play, and 15th in both scoring and passing.

"Trust me, I know the definition of insanity and, if that was the case, you've got to do what's best for the program," Freeman said when asked about possibly taking over playcalling. "That's not, to me, the issue when I'm evaluating our defensive play. It's not what we're calling at this time, or why we're calling it. It's why aren't we executing it?"

Ash took over as defensive coordinator and playcaller from Al Golden, who won the 2024 Broyles Award as the nation's top assistant coach before leaving to oversee the Cincinnati Bengals' defense. Freeman has defensive playcalling experience from both Notre Dame and the University of Cincinnati. Ash, the former Rutgers head coach, most recently had been a defensive coordinator in 2020 at Texas.

"During tough times, like, there's two options -- you fight or flight -- and the guys that flight blame other people," Freeman said. "It's the call. It's his fault. It's this coach's fault, or it's that player's fault. That's the flight mode: You deflect and blame other people. But the fight mode is, 'Gosh, call man [coverage] again. Call man again. I promise you my man's not going to catch the ball.'"

Freeman gathered Notre Dame's defensive staff Sunday -- "not a comfortable meeting, and I didn't want it to be comfortable" -- and reiterated that the coaches need to find solutions together. The head coach on Monday referred to the criticism he received in his first two games as Notre Dame's defensive coordinator in 2021, when the team allowed 67 points.

"We've got one of two options, as I told them: 'We're going to do this and get our guys better and believe in what we're doing, or we'll separate. And if we separate, it's not going to be good for anybody,'" Freeman said. "That's got to trickle down to our players."

The Fighting Irish hope to regain star cornerback Leonard Moore, who missed the Purdue game with an ankle injury. Freeman said Moore is questionable for the Arkansas game. Nickelback DeVonta Smith is also questionable with an ankle injury.