It took some time for Notre Dame to shake off its opener jitters, but in the end, it was the Irish who came out victorious in a 41-13 triumph over Wisconsin in the Shamrock Series game on Sunday at Lambeau Field.
The College Football Playoff hype is real surrounding Notre Dame. Coach Marcus Freeman knows how that can impact an entire team, especially with how the Irish were snubbed out of the CFP last season. When the Irish were up 13-10 at the half, Freeman said in his postgame on-field interview with NBC Sports that his message was clear in the locker room.
“I told them it’s going to be a struggle,” Freeman said. “Luke Fickell-coached teams are going to fight you and they’re going to be tough. We really had to let go of the emotion, everything
that’s gone on in the past and just focus on execution.”
While Freeman said Notre Dame’s defense was “pressing a little bit,” he needed to see more from both sides of the ball. The Irish answered with a 28-3 scoring margin in the second half.
“We needed to relax and focus on doing our job, it's as simple as that,” Freeman said. “We did a bunch better job of execution (in the second half).”
Freeman said the Irish offense clicked in the second half when the team started running the ball more. Junior Aneyas Williams led with 90 rushing yards and two touchdowns on 20 carries.
The run game opened up opportunities for quarterback CJ Carr, who completed 19-of-29 of his passes for 239 yards and two TDs. “It helped tremendously,” Freeman said. “The offense stayed on track because we had some successful runs. It gave CJ a chance to dissect what he wanted to do in the pass game.”
Playing at Lambeau Field was the icing on the cake for Freeman and the Irish.
“You think of the history with Curly Lambeau and Notre Dame and the history with the Green Bay Packers, there’s a lot of parallels in football,” Freeman said. “It’s a gratitude to be on this field and to play (Wisconsin).”
Caroline Pineda catches up with Marcus Freeman after the Irish's first victory of the season! ☘️ pic.twitter.com/7jKqVnNYgp
— NBC Sports (@NBCSports) September 7, 2026
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This article originally appeared on Fighting Irish Wire: Freeman: ‘execution’ over ‘emotion’ for Notre Dame to beat Wisconsin
