game was going. We felt like there
was enough time, and we still had
three timeouts. We felt like we just
needed one more stop.
"I didn't feel like giving them any
field [position] advantage at that
time in the game. We have quick-
strike capabilities of scoring, so it
wasn't at the forefront of the tactical
decisions I would have made at that
point."
Fifth-year senior linebacker Joe
Schmidt …
On the biggest thing the defense
can improve on: "I don't think
there's a team in the country that this
team couldn't have played with this
year. We took Clemson to the very
end, took Stanford to the very end,
and we were in this ballgame the
whole game even after giving them
14 points to start it off.
"I don't think physically there's
an issue. Coach Kelly has brought in
some incredible players, and they're
doing great things. I'm very confi-
dent in this football program and
where it's at, and I think anyone that
says we're not ready to compete in
big games isn't really watching the
tape.
"I'm excited to see where this pro-
gram goes in the future."
On his time at Notre Dame:
"There are no guys I'd rather play
this game with. It didn't matter if it
was practice, a game, or doing the
program in the offseason. I've never
had more fun.
"These last five years have been
