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✦ quoting kelly "Both teams want to be the smartest, toughest football teams in the country. Stanford right now is ranked eighth in the country. We are ranked 25th. We get a chance to decide it on the football field, and last year we were able to get Stanford. Now we've got a chance to settle it again on Saturday. It's a great rivalry." On fifth-year senior tackle Zack Martin's legacy and how he built a foundation for offensive line success at Notre Dame: "He brought his lunch pail to work every day. He was just consistent every single day. And he brought energy. He brought a workmanlike demeanor that was unmistakable. "And if you talk about the way our offensive line now works and how they work together in the summer, and how we are able to plug in guys and still be effective, a lot of that has to do with Zack Martin and his approach to every day. "Every single day is the same day: Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and that's why he's a 50-game starter, and I think the 36 wins put him with the third most in the history of Notre Dame football. "It's a testament to him. He's left an indelible mark at Notre Dame." On the 2012 overtime win against Stanford that ended in a defensive goal-line stand: "The whole game, we were fighting for every inch. Both teams were fighting literally, and the game was talked about in that sense. "The game was decided by inches … and it's going to be similar on Saturday. Both teams will be fighting for inches and not yards." On the reasons for Stanford head coach David Shaw's sustained success after the departure of Jim Harbaugh: "First of all, he's very smart. He's a smart To view this video you must log in at BlueGoldOnline.com with your print subscription username and password VIDEO: Head coach Brian Kelly spoke to the media Nov. 26 about the win over BYU and Saturday's regular-season finale at Stanford. football coach, and he knows what he wants. He's a graduate, he knows Stanford and he knows what he's looking for. He sticks with the plan. I think any coach that has a plan and sticks with it and knows what he's looking for, especially at a university like Stanford, has a great chance for success. "And you can see that in the way they play. They have a plan, they stick with it and they recruit to that plan, and he's put together a very good staff around him." On forcing Stanford quarterback Kevin Hogan, typically strong at protecting the football, to turn it over against a defense that does not produce many takeaways: "I'd love to get some turnovers, but I don't look at that as we can't win if we don't get a turnover. It's not a marker for us. It doesn't mean we are not going to win if we don't get a turnover. ✦ Page 10 "What's more concerning is if we give up big-play touchdowns defensively. We need to keep the points down. I'd love to get a couple of turnovers along the way, because that just accentuates the opportunity for winning for us. We focus more on those markers that equal winning with this 2013 team." On 230-pound freshman linebacker Jaylon Smith going up against a physical Stanford front that often uses extra offensive linemen on the field: "He'll be one-eleventh of it, and we'll put him in a position where we can utilize some of his skill sets. He's going to play a tight end that we think he can match up with. The pulling guard, no, he can't match up with. No question about it. "But where we have him positioned, we think we can neutralize that end of things, but he's going to need some help along the way." ✦