Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/179040
✦ News & notes They Said It "They're still a really good defense for sure. I appreciate as a coach their structure, their fundamentals and discipline. You rarely see a guy not in position, so you can tell they're coached well and they play hard." — Oklahoma head coach Bob Stoop on Notre Dame's defense "Nothing's cooler than pulling up in a bus to a bad visitor's locker room and going on a field; we do it all the time. I'm giving Notre Dame respect, I'm not discounting that, I'm just saying as a coach, you're Oklahoma head coach Bob Stoops is 0-2 not involved in that part of it. Once you're pulling against the Irish, losing 34-30 at South up, you're pulling up to compete and you're not Bend in 1999 and 30-13 last year in worried about anything else. You don't care what Norman, Okla. photo courtesy oklahoma the band looks like or anyone else. You're just in work mode and go." — Stoops on playing at Notre Dame Stadium "They're going to put it up in every game a good number of times. He puts up an excellent ball, and they have those receivers going up and getting it, so definitely that's something we're aware of and need to be able to defend." — Stoops on senior Tommy Rees and the Irish passing attack "They've got a great passing attack. I already know that, so I'm going to be ready for them. I'm going to prepare and watch a lot of film on them — see their passing concepts and try to get an early break on these guys." — Irish sophomore cornerback KeiVarae Russell on facing Oklahoma "The biggest progress is just feeling comfortable out there. I do think that progress is showing itself, and I think it has a ways to go also. We were confident out there. Guys were having a lot of fun. We were making plays, and I think that's the biggest thing we have to keep working on. This system has been in place for multiple years now. We just have to let our game flow." — Notre Dame junior linebacker Jarett Grace on the defense improving "Saturday's 17-13 Irish victory was hardly a sign from above that all is well. Notre Dame still can't run the ball when it wants; quarterback Tommy Rees was high and outside way too often; too many whiffs on tackles; and the defense got bullied in the critical third quarter. But when push comes to shove, as it often does on a fall afternoon in Notre Dame Stadium (especially between cornerbacks and receivers), it was Irish coach Brian Kelly who stood tall." — Al Lesar, South Bend Tribune "Notre Dame arrives just when all of college football needs it, too, after the week that was. The fourth week of 2013 was defined by a lack of marquee matchups. … There's no such absurdity in South Bend, this or most any other Saturday. Notre Dame doesn't schedule I-AA opponents. The Irish go only so far down the food chain." — Berry Tramel, The Oklahoman ✦ Page 15