Notre Dame plans to keep the momentum going after their bye week

 

SOUTH BEND, Ind -- The Irish hosting a 2-5 Pitt team that doesn't reflect their record and could be a thorn in Notre Dame's side in week nine.

The Irish ended their eight week stretch on a good note beating USC 48-20 but can they produce the same game after a bye in the 73rd matchup against Pitt?

If you ask players and coaches, the season started on July 25th when fall camp kicked off, so it’s been more like 12 weeks of no rest for this team and to have a record of 6-2 and beat 2 out 4 ranked opponents says a lot for this team.  

The question now is, after Notre Dame’s best defensive game of the year, snagging three interceptions, sacking the quarterback six times and doing it against the best offense in the country, how do they prepare for a team that's not as talented without losing momentum?

"We wanted to one get better, but also to make sure our guys are fresh, and they come back from this bye week, mentally and physically ready to roll. And so the challenge for me was to okay, when they get back, we had to create some friction, we had to make it difficult. Oh, we would practice Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday," head coach Marcus Freeman said.

It's not normal for Freeman to require his team to practice on Monday, that's typically used as a walk-through day. But the way the season is shaping up, you can't be to careful if you're Freeman.