Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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just a remarkable experience. I wouldn't trade it for absolutely any- thing in the world." Sophomore quarterback DeShone Kizer … On if he felt the Irish belonged on the field: "One-hundred percent. We're a team that believes when we're executing, we're one of the best teams in the country, if not the best. "This is a game of execution, though, and me personally, I wasn't able to execute the way I wanted to. I came up a little short on some plays I wish I could have back. As long as we can continue to buy into the system that Coach Kelly has, and the coaching staff that he brings around, we'll be successful." On what he needs to do to im- prove next year: "I have to take ev- erything I've learned from this sea- son, all the experiences I've had, and learn from them to become a consis- tently good quarterback. "There were a lot of spurts where I looked good this year, but also some spurts where I looked awful, and those have to go away. I have to become a consistent quarterback to become anywhere near the guy that can go out and win those big games that we're talking about." Fifth-year senior center Nick Mar- tin … On his time at Notre Dame: "It's been very special. It went above and beyond my expectations com- ing in. These past four years have been unbelievable. "I couldn't be more proud or hon- ored to be a part of this team. Selfless guys that really care about everyone else more than themselves." Ohio State head coach Urban Meyer … On Irish junior linebacker Jaylon Smith: "He's a monster. He's a dude. He's a guy that is going to be playing in the NFL for a long time. I wish I had the chance to shake his hand. I know his family." On grabbing a 14-0 lead to start the game fast: "That was our chal- lenge. I tucked every guy in last night. I just remember looking them all right in the eye and saying, 'We need a fast start.' Not that that is the reason we did it. "We were more open in the offense. We were throwing it around a little bit in the first drive, getting good spacing, spreading the defense out. That was a very good drive to start the game." Ohio State redshirt sophomore quarterback J.T. Barrett … On what he saw from Notre Dame's defense: "Being able to spread them out. I think what they try to do is not let us take deep shots, find windows underneath. When they did get depth in their drops, just being able to scramble from there. "They tried to make sure they took away our shots. We were able to try to hit things underneath. We did a good job of that." — Jordan Wells