Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/181992
From The Locker Room Notre Dame head coach Brian Kelly … On sticking with his game plan: "We didn't abandon anything down 14‑0. We stayed with our game plan. We stayed with it, and we moved [senior quarterback Andrew] Hendrix into the game. "I thought we stayed within ourselves and got another score on the board. We didn't change much at all. I thought we stayed patient with it." On improvements Notre Dame needs to make: "The guys that you saw out on the field are the guys that we have. We have to get them to play better consistently. "I'm really proud of the way they competed in the second half." Notre Dame senior quarterback Tommy Rees … On falling behind 14-0 in the first three minutes: "With the group of guys that we have, it's not too tough to fight back. Obviously, you can't spot a team 14 points like that right off the bat. It's tough to fight back. "But I'm proud of the way we did. Obviously, the start hurt us in the long run." On the improved running game: "We knew we had some good run looks coming into the game, and our backs were running hard. We had some checks at the line that gave us favorable looks. "Up front we did a great job block- ing, and our running backs ran hard." On going on the road to face Arizona State: "We just need to get ready next week regardless where we're playing. We love playing at home, but we're ready to go for this week, and we have another tough challenge ahead of us. "We'll have a great week of practice, and get prepared and ready to go." Notre Dame senior wide receiver TJ Jones … On the final interception before halftime: "It wasn't the wrong route. DaVaris [Daniels] may have been a little deep on his route, I may have been a yard or two shallow. You add him too deep, me a yard short and it's a cluster. "It's not running the wrong routes; it's paying attention to detail." On BCS expectations after a 3-2 start to the year: "Right now, more importantly, we're focusing on the loss in general. How we lost, why we lost. Our odds of making it to the BCS championship is not really the focus right now. … We're disappointed just like we would be with any loss, but especially this one where we feel we gave them 14 points." Notre Dame senior cornerback Bennett Jackson … On what he learned from the loss: