3 things we learned from college football coaches after Week 2

Week 3 of university football will see two classified teams coming in the region.

The n ° 4 of Oregon visits Northwestern, while the No. 16 Texas A&M will play at n ° 8 Notre Dame. Meanwhile, the Illinois n ° 9 welcomes western Michigan.

While the teams are preparing for their weekend tests, here are three things that we have heard of weekly press conferences from Notre Dame Marcus Freeman’s coach, Illinois Bret Bielema and David Braun from Northwestern.

1. The coach of Notre Dame, Marcus Freeman, said that the Irish transformed their frustration into work.

Due to his Bye of the week 2, Notre Dame had all last week to treat her defeat of 27-24, opening the season against Miami n ° 5. And in some respects, it was not ideal.

“The first thing you want to do after losing is to leave,” said Freeman. “You want to show everyone that we are good, we have a good team. But we did not have this opportunity.

“When you invest a lot in carrying out a certain result and the work they have devoted, and you do not get the result you want, it hurts. There are white nights. There is a loss of appetite. We had to transform this frustration into work, and we did.”

Bye gave the Irish a chance to be healthy, to be competitive in practice with what Freeman called “good” representatives and to talk about some of the problems against Miami.

In defense, the lack of take -out dishes in the opening of a group that led the nation in this category last season was a goal.

“We have to play games,” said Freeman. “Balls in the air, if a ball does not come to you, you must go get it. We have really worked to try to point the ball, to go get it, not to let it come to you, to be aggressive and to obtain the ball at its highest point.”

In attack, a point of discussion was how to guarantee that the ball carrier Jeremiyah Love is sufficiently affected while taking advantage of what a present defense. LOVE had only 10 races for 33 yards, while Jadarian Price had six races for 45 yards against Miami, partly a product of the sleight of hand in quarter-arre recruit CJ Carr.

“I think there are RPOs that you read a defender. As if they put an eighth man in the box, then we have to throw him away to really enjoy the figures,” said Freeman. “But there is sometimes where it is a little gray, and we must be very clear with our quarters. If it’s gray, what do we want them to do? Do we want them to put it back? Do we want them to throw it?

“We know that we want to concentrate our attack around J-Love. He is a special player. But we have to make sure that we take advantage of what each defense tries to do with us.”

2. Illini are trying to focus on weekly improvement – and not their top 10.

Illinois coach Bret Bielema was on the phone with sports director Josh Whitman on Sunday, traveling a long list of subjects. Towards the end, Whitman remembered something he meant.

“He said,” Oh yes, you are classified in the top 10. Congratulations! “” Remember Bielema. “I laughed a little and he laughed because it really was not part of our conversation. Obviously, very excited and there are a lot of great things for people whose people can talk about. … But I really think that these guys are all about the game in front of them.”

The victory of Illinois 45-19 against Duke helped to legitimize the beaten media that surrounded the program before the season. He also pushed the 2-0 Illini to No. 9 of the Associated Press survey, their highest ranking since December 2001.

Bielema said he had shared the ranking with his team on Sunday, but reminded them, with a home game against Western Michigan in the tap on Saturday, that “every week is an opportunity to improve”.

After examining the film Duke, Bielema was particularly satisfied with the way the Illini turned things in the second period.

Illini had fewer yards on the ground of less than 5 in the first half, and the quarter-Arrière Luke Altmyer was dismissed four times before half-time against what Bielema said he was a defensive front of the “very talented” duke. But they rebounded to finish with 123 yards on the ground and three touched on the ground, and Altmyer did not take a bag.

“Super excited not only the results of the game, but the things we had to go through to get there,” said Bielema. “I spoke after the match, that’s not what happened, that’s how you react to what’s going on.

3. Running Back Cam Porter was released for the season.

Cam Porter, in his sixth year in Northwestern, suffered an injury to the lower body in Friday’s victory against Western Illinois.

Coach David Braun announced on Monday that Porter will no longer play this season.

“We are all crushed for Cam,” said Braun. “There is no one who worked harder, nobody invested in this program than Cam Porter. What I will say too is that there is no one more suitable and ready to have a deep impact on their team with these types of circumstances that Cam Porter.”

Porter is only the second captain three times in the history of the North West, with the former secondary of the Wildcats Paddy Fisher. He was in meetings on Monday morning, and Braun expects him to continue to be present to help direct the team.

“This guy will continue to be one of the best captains we have ever had and will continue to lead this football team,” said Braun.

The injury to wear is an obvious blow for the offense of the Wildcats while they are preparing to face Oregon n ° 4. He rushed to 1,908 yards and 18 affected in more than four seasons in Northwestern, including 651 yards in 2023 and 501 last season.

Caleb Komolafe (20 races, 97 yards) and Joseph Himon II (16 races, 78 yards) are then online to get more races with wear.

“We are going to have to be based on solutions here,” said Braun. “But the ball in the hands of Caleb Komolafe, the ball in the hands of Joe Himon, these are things that fascinate us, and they will have to have a heavier load with the loss of CAM for sure.”

Originally published: September 8, 2025 at 5:20 p.m. CDT