Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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From The Locker Room Notre Dame head coach Brian Kelly … On sophomore running back George Atkinson III not getting many touches: “Purdue made up their mind that they were going to have a loaded box today. They said, ‘You’re not going to run the football. We’re going to make it so difficult.’ So we had to manage it by throwing the football. “George is very gifted, but Theo [Riddick] is a little bit better at that receiver position — that slot position. He got a little bit more work than George today because of the way they decided to play the game.” On preparing for multiple Purdue quarterbacks: “Our calls are pretty standard. We’re going to activate some zone read calls and some things to keep an eye on the quarterback if they’re going to run the quarterback quite a bit. [Robert] Marve was as elusive as [Caleb] TerBush today, keeping plays alive. It really didn’t change much of our game plan. We knew what we were going to get with all three.” On sophomore quarterback Everett Golson pleading his case to play on the final drive: “He wouldn’t have a chance to plead his case. We made the decision. I want a guy that’s upset he wasn’t in the game, but he’s not selfish. He understands that we support whoever goes in the game. Just like Tommy [Rees] and Andrew [Hendrix] supported Everett, it’s his turn now to support his teammates. “That’s the way we roll. If you don’t support each other, then you won’t be part of what we do. That’s what we expect from him, and that’s what we got.” Notre Dame senior linebacker Manti Te’o … On defensive players getting banged up: “We understand that people go down. We work hard. We train hard to prepare ourselves for any situation that may appear in the game. Losing [Kapron Lewis-Moore] and [Jamoris] Slaughter early in the game was a big loss for our team. “But the guys who backed them up really came in and did a great job for us and helped us come out with a victory today.” On sophomore Kyle Brindza’s winning field goal after missing early in the game: “It just goes to show his confidence is getting there, his confidence grew. It shows a lot of maturity on his part to miss the field goal, then come back in and kick possibly the most important field goal of his career so far.” Notre Dame senior left tackle Zack Martin … On if Purdue’s stout defensive line was as good as advertised: “Absolutely. We watched tape on them. They had a lot of the same guys — pretty much every guy they had last year was back. We knew they were going to be better than last year. “They gave us a tough game. Hats off to them. They gave us some challenges all day with different looks. They played very hard. We definitely expected them to come out and play like that.” On all the Irish injuries Saturday: “Try to get the guys who are going in ready. You know Coach Kelly’s motto is ‘next man in.’ I don’t think there’s a better example of that than today’s game. “A few years before this, the game wouldn’t have gone down like this; we wouldn’t have won. The resilience of those guys when their number was called, it was a full team effort.” Purdue head coach Danny Hope … On Notre Dame switching gears and throwing more: “I talked to the defensive staff. We weren’t sure because they ran it an inordinate amount of times last week. I assumed they wouldn’t come out and just run the ball at us. I think we’re too big and strong to run the football at us. They threw it more times consecutively in a row than I anticipated. But I thought they would come out and try to manufacture the passing game early to try to loosen us up some. “They had some good running plays, but I thought our defensive front shut down their run game for the most part today. I think out of necessity they had to try to throw it today.” Purdue sixth-year senior quarterback Robert Marve … On the game in general: “We needed a couple more plays today. It was encouraging the way we played, and hopefully we can pull that game out later on in the season.” On what today’s game taught him about his team: “Nothing I didn’t know already. I knew we were hard fighters. I knew it was going to be a close game coming into it. You’ve got Notre Dame backed up with a minute 30 or two minutes left. It’s a game you’ve got to come out with.”