Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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FROM THE LOCKER ROOM kids were confident. They came in well prepared. I told them that I was very confident in their ability to go out on the road and play very good football. "I thought that they exhibited that Notre Dame head coach Brian Kelly … On his team's preparation: "Our ett Golson's night: "Communication. And he led. You could sense that he was leading. He was communicat- ing and he was talking; he was do- ing things that you hope, as you go through this process, that you start to see. "He was confident; he was calm — confidence in the first half, and in the second half the focus was on physical and mental toughness. The team that would win this game would control it in that manner. I thought we did it." trated on in the days prior to the game: "The whole week they didn't talk about Oklahoma. They talked about what they needed to do to play well today. They've handled them- selves very well, and that's why I was confident. "They put in the time and prepara- On what Notre Dame concen- tion to be successful today. Now you have to go out and make plays. We made some plays out there today." On sophomore Kyle Brindza's field goal kicking performance: "I told him on the sideline, 'I'm proud of the way you hung in there.' Some may have hung their head, but he bounced back and came back strong for us. "I said to him, 'I'm proud of you, all the things you need to see from your quarterback when you're on the road against very good opposition." Notre Dame junior cornerback Bennett Jackson … On remaining undefeated: "It's a great feeling. Every game, it's a great feeling to win. We take each game one game at a time and we're just happy we got a win." On motivation that came from Oklahoma being heavily favored: "It just shows that everyone doubts us and doesn't respect us. But we go out each week and play to the best of our ability, and try and pull out the win." Notre Dame senior linebacker Manti Te'o … On handling the Sooners' no-hud- dle offense: "We understand that every team will have a surge and we prepare for that every week. We responded and came up with a stop." On Notre Dame chewing up the but you're shaking my confidence. Don't do it anymore.' He promised that he won't." On what impressed him most about sophomore quarterback Ever- clock: "That was a big help. It kept us fresh and allowed us to make cor- rections that we needed to. It was a great team win." Notre Dame junior wide receiver