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UNIVERSITY OF NOTRE DAME FOOTBALL MEDIA CONFERENCE

September 17, 2016

DeShone Kizer

South Bend, Indiana

Michigan State - 36, Notre Dame - 28

Q. (No microphone.)
DeSHONE KIZER: We focus on winning each week and didn't come out successful. It hurts as much as any other loss we've had, and in a rivalry game against a team like Michigan State, we like to protect our house, and obviously that's not what we did.

Q. Do you feel like you guys had things rolling there in the third quarter, late, into the fourth quarter?
DeSHONE KIZER: We were executing what we were supposed to do, and I was executing what I was supposed to do. It's not like we weren't running good plays before that. We were running great plays, but as a commander of the offense, I failed to execute my job. In the third quarter when we hit that low, that's 100% on me, from communication errors to balls in the dirt to not making the plays on my feet like I'm supposed to.

I take this 100% on my back. We didn't score as many points as we should have to win the game and as the commander of the offense that's 100% on me.

Q. You're down 36-7. How tough is it to stay mentally into it and make the come-back?
DeSHONE KIZER: Not tough at all. When you know you are executing what you're supposed to do, and you simply do your job, you're going to score points. It's not tough at all. You just go out and do your job. Only reason we hit the low is because I wasn't doing mine, that simple.

Obviously going into the second half you like to be up but we were definitely in a position to win the game coming out of the tunnel, to start the second half, and that first couple of drives was unacceptable from the quarterback position.

Q. (No microphone.)
DeSHONE KIZER: They're exactly what we expected. They pressured just as we expected them to pressure. They did a really good job of holding their shelves, but we had outs. That's my biggest thing is every situation there was an out for me to get to, whether it be checking a play or simply throwing the ball out or getting us to the right run play, there was always an out for whatever look they gave us, and I didn't necessarily execute those outs. It's that simple.

We knew what we were getting, and they gave it to us and we didn't execute -- I didn't execute the way I was supposed to, which led to the offense not executing the way they were supposed to.

Q. (No microphone.)
DeSHONE KIZER: Yeah, they rolled down, played us press, Michigan State plays everyone press, ran a quick game concept, went to the boundary and decided to reverse fields all the way to the field, something that you don't do in a quick game, and at that point in time my time ran out and took us back. If I read out that play the way I'm supposed to, we got Equanimeous one-on-one down the sideline, and we know we can make a play, or I can simply give it to the back who is running down the seam, wide open.

Q. Did you want to go for it on 4th and 7?
DeSHONE KIZER: You know, in that situation they're talking a lot more than I am on the field, so they understand it a little bit than I do. I just assumed that it was going to be the last drive, so I figured we were going to go for it on fourth, but the way that the time situation was set up if we do go out there and get a stop on the first drive of Michigan State's drive, we probably get an opportunity to go down and score again.

My opinion doesn't matter, they're the ones who have the sheets on the back of their call sheet that says what they're supposed to do, and they went on a good instinct, I 100% trusted in that. They wanted the ball back to go down and score and unfortunately we put ourselves in a position to lose.

Q. Was it frustrating when your defense wasn't able to get you that stop and give you the chance to get one more drive?
DeSHONE KIZER: No, what's frustrating is when you go out there and you don't execute your job. I was asked to do a couple things, and they weren't done right today. That's the frustrating part. We can go out there and score every drive and put up 70 points, and I truly believe in that, and we fell short of that, and that has a lot to do with me.

Q. How do you refocus on the two losses this early?
DeSHONE KIZER: I have no idea how to refocus. We just got done losing. I have to reevaluate the situation and figure out what we have in front of us. We were focused right now on beating Michigan State. We didn't do it, and we will game plan tomorrow and figure out how to go about it. We have a 24-hour rule, so we will figure out what we did wrong against Michigan State and go from there.

Q. (No microphone.)
DeSHONE KIZER: You know, once again that's on me. There's plays to get to, there is always an out, and in the system that we have the quarterback has the complete reign to go out there and get us to the right play, and there was a couple of situations in which I didn't get us to the right play and that hurts. But at the same time when their defense comes out physical and we come out lackadaisical in the second half, that's what going to happen.

Q. Where do you feel like the game got away from you guys?
DeSHONE KIZER: I don't know if there is an exact time. We had a couple of turnovers that second quarter with the punting situation, and a fumble and then a move on a pick. All those things add up. In a game like this you can't do that.

Along those lines, I'm a true believer that every drive is its own independent drive. So to say that it got away from us at a single point would be wrong. We went out and had a great first drive and a decent second drive, and a bad third, and then sporadic from there, so to define a point where it went wrong, you can't. We've just gotta execute what we do. Thanks.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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