Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/750885
www.BLUEANDGOLD.com NOV. 21, 2016 31 Notre Dame head coach Brian Kelly … On playing against a service academy: "This is the second week now in terms of the academies —and it's tough to play these games, first of all. Navy and Army are tough teams to play. "But when you're done playing the game, there's just a natural respect that you have for them, and for how they do their business, in the classroom, out of the classroom, their preparation, their sacrifice. To go on the football field and compete against them and then share in sing- ing the alma mater together, it just makes it a special event." On senior tight end Durham Smythe: "Durham is a veteran. He's seen a lot of things, played a lot of football. He's a guy that has to do a lot for us, whether he's block- ing or running vertical routes or option routes. "He's asked to do a lot. He's a committed player. He's high character and well-respected by his teammates." Notre Dame junior quarterback DeShone Kizer … On winning comfortably against Army: "This season has been definitely one to learn from, and with that we challenge ourselves to build off of each other, both of- fensively and defensively, to sustain success. All of those games that we've lost and all those games that we've gone to the fourth quarter, we had great spurts feeding off of each other. "In order for us to be the team we want to be, we have to continue that throughout a whole game. Today was the perfect example of us feeding off of the defense and the defense feeding off of the offense, as well as one big special teams play." Notre Dame sophomore wide receiver C.J. Sand- ers … On his kick return to open the game: "It was a big lift for the team and also for me. Just showing the guys that despite my mistake early in the season I'm still going out for them, I'm still going to make plays. "They believed in me no matter what the situation was." On how he was able to come back after a shaky game against Miami: "I had to go back to playing football as far as being C.J. Sanders. Coaches coach, players play, and I can't be a robot. "I have to play — and play how I've played since I was a kid." Army head coach Jeff Monken … On why Notre Dame has struggled this season: "I coach my team. Coach Kelly is a great football coach, and all you've got to do is look at his record and what he's done since he's been there, and look at his record over his career and the success that they've had. He does a great job. "If you look at all their losses, all of them are pretty close, too. They had chances to win just about every one of them. They played some good teams, too. Stanford has got good players. Duke has got good players." FROM THE LOCKER ROOM Senior tight end Durham Smythe hauled in 10- and 31-yard touchdown receptions to help build Notre Dame's 38-6 halftime lead, and now has scored four times this season. PHOTO BY BILL PANZICA