(Notre Dame) — Marcus Freeman was asked what Notre Dame’s football team worked on during the bye week after a  season-opening loss to Miami.

A better question might have been what didn’t they work on.

“There was a lot,” sighed Freeman. “Takeaways, ball security, tackling, third down on both sides, short yardage, two minute…those are things we didn’t really execute well in last week’s game.”

That will have to change, as the Irish face their second consecutive top-20 opponent when #16 Texas A&M comes to Notre Dame Stadium Saturday night.

“A&M is 2-0, playing really well in  all three phases,” stated Freeman, who saw his team prevail over the Aggies last year at Kyle Field. “Mike Elko-coached teams are tough, physical and they won’t beat themselves. On offense, they’re a veteran group led by their O-line. Really good quarterback (Marcel Reed) who can hurt you with both his legs and his arm. As you evaluate their defense, they’ve got guys on all three levels that are talented and productive.”

However, most of the press conference was focused on Notre Dame, and what the Irish are doing to improve from a disappointing performance in the season opener.

“As we evaluate that game, we didn’t say we had a personnel issue…not at all,” said Freeman. “I said it to the team after the game…there were plays in that game where Notre Dame beat Notre Dame, which is inexcusable. We can’t beat ourselves.”

While the Irish head coach frequently discussed his team’s lack of execution against the Hurricanes, he repeatedly put the onus on his coaching staff to do better.

“We have to play gap-sound football. We cant be displaced out of our gaps,” rued Freeman. “We’ve got to be aggressive when we need to be aggressive. We’ve got to be able to get four-man pass rush on the quarterback. We’ve got to execute on a higher level and that’s on us — that’s not on the players — that’s on us as coaches to get them to execute at a higher level.”

Many fans were not pleased with offensive coordinator Mike Denbrock’s game plan against Miami, and Freeman said adjustments will be made.

“We were very intentional about trying to get the ball in J-Love’s hands, or making him the primary target and some of those included RPO’s,” recalled the fourth-year Irish head coach. “We talked to the coaching staff about are there times when we take away the read and say ‘this is what we want to do’ and hand the ball off. We know we want to focalize (sic) our offense around J-Love. He’s a special player.”

That doesn’t mean Freeman was displeased with redshirt freshman quarterback CJ Carr, who made his first start in Miami.

“We were very intentional about trying to protect a first-time starter early in the game,” noted Freeman. “He showed that he is ready. We feel like CJ can execute the entire game plan, the entire playbook. He’s a special player.”

You can hear more from Freeman and get a scouting report on A&M on Notre Dame Federal Credit Union’s Irish Football Fix, which airs Monday night at 7 on Pulse FM and is also available after 8 pm Monday on Apple (https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/irish-football-fix/id1702976751)and Spotify (https://open.spotify.com/show/7wf73qPiiwlbmLxGh4uklY).