Marcus Freeman met with reporters on Monday morning for his weekly press conference.

Freeman was asked about offensive play-calling in Notre Dame’s 33-20 loss to Louisville last week. Offensive coordinator Gerad Parker was target of criticism from Notre Dame fans during the game as the Irish averaged just 4.5 yards per play.

However, Freeman said play-calling was not a problem and instead chose to focus on “execution.”

“I have no issues with the play-calling,” Freeman said. “I have issues with the execution. And that’s what we have to attack. We can blame it on a call. We can blame it on anything we want but the reality is, if we feel strongly enough to call that play, then we have to answers for why it did or doesn’t work. That’s what I’m attacking is, ‘why didn’t it work?’

“We have to make sure our guys are crystal-clear on what they have to do and don’t make mistakes.”

Execution was certainly an issue for the Fighting Irish as well vs. Louisville. Quarterback Sam Hartman turned the ball over 5 times and threw a pair of fourth-quarter interceptions in the loss. He was also constantly pressured by Louisville’s pass rush and ended up taking 5 sacks in the game.

It was a third-consecutive lackluster offensive performance for a Notre Dame team that began the season with four straight wins with 40+ points.

Notre Dame will try to get its offense back on track this weekend against USC at home.