(Notre Dame) — Respect for the Navy offense and disrespect for Notre Dame’s kickers were the dominant topics of Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman’s Monday press conference.

Freeman was quick to bring up Navy’s offense in his opening remarks. “Their offense is even more challenging as you prepare for them this year compared to last year,” remarked Freeman. “They run more gun and pistol, but still the traditional triple option attack. I think their quarterback, Blake Horvath, is an experienced guy and he makes the whole thing go. He’s a special player.”

Indeed, Horvath is fifth in the nation in rushing yards, but has also thrown for over one thousand yards on the season.  Navy’s offense has proven difficult for Irish defensive coordinators in the past, and Freeman knows it will be a challenge for current DC Chris Ash.

“It isn’t (an offense) where you can have a whole bucket list of calls defensively, because they do so much,” stated Freeman. “It’s a unique offense and you have to make sure your eyes are in the right spot. You’re not going to have your normal call sheet that you would have when you play a typical offense.”

Meanwhile, there was almost no talk about either the Irish offense or defense. Rather, a kicking game that saw three different kickers miss PAT’s or field goals in Saturday’s win over Boston College received the bulk of the questions.

“We owe it to the team to be able to make extra points if we’re going to attempt it,” said a stern Freeman. “As I evaluate the issues, it’s both physical and mental, but I think it’s tilting towards the mental side. We’ve been working hand in hand with our sports psychologist. He meets with our specialists weekly, but we need to do more. We’re gonna put as much work into the mental plan as the physical one, so they can practice the tools that can help them.”

Freeman was asked about bringing in a player from the soccer team to help out, but pointed out “It’s an NCAA rule that before the season you set your roster at 105. Once your roster is set, you can’t add anybody to your roster. That’s why we can’t do anything about that right now.”

Freeman was aked if that might lead the Irish to try more two-point conversions, to which he replied, “If there’s a confidence that you can’t make an extra point, you can either be insane and keep missing extra points or you can go for two. Right now, there’s confidence that we’ll be able to make an extra point, but if we don’t, then I’ll have some decisions to make about going for two.”

The Irish coach did say he would make decisions about his kickers later in the week.

Saturday night’s game with Navy is sold out. It’s a kickoff shortly after 7:30 on NBC and Peacock.

For more Notre Dame football talk, listen to Notre Dame Federal Credit Union’s Irish Football Fix Monday night at 7 on Pulse FM.