Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1431491
www.BLUEANDGOLD.com NOV. 27, 2021 11 UNDER THE DOME THEY SAID IT THEY SAID IT "I've been here for too long. It's cool. Not many people can say they've beaten a record at Notre Dame, and I did." — Graduate student defensive lineman Kurt Hinish joking about playing his school-record 59th game for Notre Dame vs. Georgia Tech Nov. 20 "I'd say it's definitely exceeded expectations. You're not really sure, when you come to a program like Notre Dame, exactly how everything's going to be run. From the coaching staff to the strength staff, just to see the way everyone's worked has been special for me, and it's been cool to learn about this win- ning culture." — Graduate student quarterback Jack Coan on his Notre Dame journey "I'm very respectful for all of those who have been awarded these trophies and those who have been nominated for them. Our players have seemed to have not been significant in these for some reasons. "You look at the schedule that we play, the competition that we play each and every week, that doesn't seem to be a factor. It seems that stats are very, very important. It's disappointing. "… We'll just keep playing and look for the team award at the end." — Notre Dame head coach Brian Kelly on Kyren Williams not being named a finalist for the Doak Walker Award (nation's top running back) "Beating Georgia Tech and Stanford will send Notre Dame to a New Year's Six bowl at worst, which is important. Only slightly less significant is that Notre Dame has poured the foundation of its next great team, at least on offense. The fact Notre Dame will end this season knowing what it has in [freshman quarterback] Tyler Buchner, [freshman running back] Logan Diggs, [freshman wide receiver] Deion Colzie, [freshman wide receiver] Lorenzo Styles, [fresh- man offensive tackle] Joe Alt and [freshman offensive tackle] Blake Fisher is good business. "If [freshman linebacker] Prince Kollie, [freshman wide receiver] Jayden Thomas, [freshman offensive guard] Rocco Spindler and [freshman linebacker] Kahuna Kia show a little more in the next month in practices, Notre Dame could be looking at an unusually high hit rate in the freshman class that would make the upcoming seasons with home-and-homes against Ohio State and Clemson hit a little differently." — The Athletic's Pete Sampson on Notre Dame's success- ful youth movement this season "Speaking of Cincinnati, there has been some speculation in various places that Notre Dame at 11-1 could jump the undefeated Bearcats for a spot in the playoff. That belief is based on the Fighting Irish having a much stronger schedule and the committee already ignoring head-to-head once this season by putting Michigan ahead of Michigan State. "Let me make this as clear as possible: Even though Notre Dame crept one spot closer in the rankings this week, there is no chance that the Irish will finish ahead of an unbeaten Bearcats team. "This situation is different than the one between Michigan and Michigan State. The Spartans did not fall behind the Wolverines until MSU lost and each program had one loss. When Michigan State was still undefeated, it was ahead of Michigan. In this case with Cincinnati and Notre Dame, the Bearcats will be 1.5 games better than the Irish and will have beaten Notre Dame in South Bend, Indiana. No strength of schedule differential is overcoming that." — CBS Sports bowls expert Jerry Palm "Notre Dame doesn't have anything left on its schedule to impress the committee, so the group simply would have to think the Irish are better based on what they see in those games against Georgia Tech and Stanford, opponents that are a combined 6-13. To avoid losing that debate, the Irish need even more help. They need a two-loss Pac-12 champion. They need a two-loss Big Ten champion. Or they need Georgia to beat Alabama so badly it's impossible for the committee to justify a two-loss Tide in the top four. Most of all, Notre Dame needs to look like a top-four team in its final two games." — ESPN.com's Heather Dinish on Notre Dame's College Football Playoff chances following Week 11 PHOTO BY CHAD WEAVER OF THE WEEK ➤"Not bad for @CitronSonia's first week! #GoIrish " — @Fighting Irish on Nov. 15