​Notre Dame football’s head coach Marcus Freeman met with the media on Monday afternoon, wrapping up the win over Michigan State and previewing another Big Ten opponent, Purdue. The Irish didn’t see any change to its poll rankings, but did see some movement along the expert analysts with their College Football Playoff predictions after Week 3. Notre Dame is sitting firmly in the field, if it were to start today, at 3-0, is looking to complete September without a loss. Freeman spoke on a number of different topics, from what he saw against the Spartans, to the challenges of facing the Boilermakers a second consecutive season. Find out below my biggest takeaways from Notre Dame’s head coach meeting with the media. Good tough win, but areas to improve for Notre DameFreeman kicks things off by saying there was a lot of good film to evaluate and many areas for the team to improve. There were chances to put the game away that the team didn’t take advantage of, including the fake punt and a holding call.— Irish Illustrated (@irishillustratd) September 21, 2026Freeman noted it was a tough win for the Irish, but wasn’t happy about the way that the team could have finished the game earlier than it did. Sure, a 17-point win is a good result against a Big Ten team, but it was a learning experience for this team. Hard to disagree with Freeman’s comments, this game could have been a much easier one for Notre Dame, but they missed more than a few opportunities to do so. Purdue is an ascending team, but Notre Dame will be ready Freeman notes Purdue’s new defensive coordinator and says that the staff has been able to see their schematic adjustments compared to last year. Praises the Boilermakers running game and their WRs out of the slot.— Irish Illustrated (@irishillustratd) September 21, 2026The first true road test happens to be a rivalry game against yet another Big Ten opponent. This will be the third team this fall that the Irish have faced through four games, giving them an idea of what it would be like to be part of the conference. The probability of Notre Dame joining is small, but it does look like they’d be near the top it was to join. Purdue poses different challenges to the others, and it will take another good week of practice to knock off the Boilermakers. Freeman wasn’t happy with his response to Aneyas Williams‘ penaltyMarcus Freeman says he went back and watched the Aneyas Williams celebration. Said he was “too choreographed” but Freeman said he watched his own reaction and “I didn’t like it” because it was seen on television by everybody else. Freeman apologized to Williams afterward.— Pete Sampson (@PeteSampson_) September 21, 2026After watching the film of the celebration that caused the penalty and his reaction, Freeman wasn’t happy with the way he responded. He doesn’t want outsides to see that, as they will make their own narrative and opinion of the relationship that the has with players. Freeman apologized to Wil