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UNIVERSITY OF NOTRE DAME FOOTBALL MEDIA CONFERENCE

September 24, 2016

DeShone Kizer

South Bend, Indiana

Duke - 38, Notre Dame - 35

Q. What did coach say to you guys after the game?
DESHONE KIZER: He kind of pushed the message to us that we're going to have to put something new together for us to figure this out. Obviously, 1-3 is a horrible way to start a season and in order to move forward from here there's going to have to be some changes. What we're doing isn't working right now.

Q. He's been pretty quick to shoulder the blame himself after the last couple losses. Today he kind of pushed it on you guys. Do you feel like you guys need to be held to a higher standard?
DESHONE KIZER: We're always held to a higher standard. What he comes in and tells the media is one thing, but we understand that in order for to us win football games we're going to have to come out with a fire and a sense of urgency, the thing that's he's been preaching all week.

And this week we came out with a little more, but we have to execute what we do and today we didn't. Come out with a great start and we hit another low. For us, on offensive side of the ball, to move forward we're going to have to execute better than what we're doing.

Q. How do you feel about the way you played?
DESHONE KIZER: I got to execute what I'm doing better.

Q. (No microphone.)
DESHONE KIZER: They wanted it more than us. From warmups to the fourth quarter, they came out to play and we didn't. We didn't execute the way we were supposed to and it's clear as day that they came in here ready to win the game. They had a really good game plan for us on both sides of the ball and they executed what they were supposed to do.

And if you're going to come out here with a travel roster of a bunch of D-1 athletes and you're going to execute what you're going to do your game plan against a team that you've been watching all week, you're going to win a football game and that's what they did.

We didn't execute what we needed to do. It was the same roster of 22 guys on the field and we're going to lose games if we're not going to execute the way we're supposed to.

Q. You say they wanted it more. How do you make you and your teammates want it more?
DESHONE KIZER: It's a mindset. It's a fire that you see out of a guy like Dexter Williams today. It's a fire that you're supposed to have every time you step on the field and the passion for the game and that passion just lacked today. We didn't have it. And that's going to be something that we're going to have to adjust moving forward if we want to make one of those big changes to turn this season around.

I've never been one 1-4 and I don't know how you go about it, but there's clearly things that need to change and there's definitely going to have to, we're going to have to have more passion if we're going to want to win games.

Q. After the game, coach said every position is up for grabs. How do you feel about that?
DESHONE KIZER: I'm going to go in tomorrow, watch the film, make the adjustments I need to make and try to prepare myself to be a better quarterback next week than I was this week.

Q. (No microphone.)
DESHONE KIZER: No, we work on not trying to have rhythm and being able to evaluate drives from a drive by drive basis.

And at that point, we give up a special teams touchdown and you can blame momentum to anything. But for us, we went out there and we started turning the ball over and not executing what we were supposed to do and that's the number one initiative is take the game plan that's put in front of you and do your best to play that game plan your best.

Q. Do coaches consult with you about what you would like to do on a fourth and one?
DESHONE KIZER: No, no, that's a hierarchy decision. They will talk about that and make on their own. I just try to play when they tell me to play.

Q. He says everybody's job is up for grabs.
DESHONE KIZER: I'm in a competition every time I step on that practice field. There's a great quarterback behind me. My job is up for grabs every day I step on that field and I'm going to continue to grind out the way that I've been grinding out since the day I got here when there was two guys in front of me. Now there's a great guy behind me and I know I have to go out and make myself better. If I can be a better guy than I was this week, next week, I'm sure I'll be on the field.

Q. (No microphone.)
DESHONE KIZER: He's given me the keys. He's definitely kind of given me the offense and letting me run with it. To go 1-3 and not come up on some big drives at the end of games, that all falls on me as the commander of this offense, it is my job to execute it every time I touch the ball, and I haven't done that well lately. I have to play complete games and be more consistent if we're going to win games from here on out. We're going to have to make good adjustments this week to find some consistency.

Q. (No microphone.)
DESHONE KIZER: The quarterback's the leader and, yes, what he does and how he goes about his job is definitely going to affect the whole team, but there's everyone out on that field, there's leaders all the way across the board. It's a complete team mentality, it's not one guy that's going to have to take the whole energy thing and put it in his own hands.

Q. As one of the leaders on this team, do you feel like you need to change the way you do anything going forward?
DESHONE KIZER: Yeah, I need to remain focused and work on my consistency. I think my mentality and my poise is something that this team isn't benefiting from. I'm going to have to be more verbal, I'm going to have to make sure that I take my job and put a little more effort into it, in the sense of the energy side of things. Guys are going to go out there and feed off of me and I need to make sure that I have the energy that it takes for all 11 guys to go out and play well, not just myself.

Q. You said you never really been in that situation before. So how do you move forward? Obviously it's kind of uncharted territory for you.
DESHONE KIZER: You look to the leadership. There's coaches for a reason. They're going to tell us the best way to go about it and I'm going to trust in whatever they have to say and they're going to spend, it's their job to go in and evaluate what we're supposed to do and how we're going to move forward, so I'm going to rely on those guys and trust in those guys who have been doing it for a countless amount of years. So if we can just trust in whatever they have to say, then I'll follow suit.

Q. Did you feel the other team wanted it more than you guys did?
DESHONE KIZER: Yeah, I think that was, that became apparent today. I think that we are a team who has the ability to score every time we step on the field, but that's only when everyone on the field's locked into their job. And I clearly have the position now where people are going to feed off of me. So I have to make sure that I have the energy for all 11 guys out on the field, rather than just me and allowing those guys to rely on themselves. That's a big difference from last year's team to this year's team is that you had a bunch of veterans out there last year who are going to be able to thrive on their own and it's clear now after being 1-3 with some of these young guys I'm going to have to bring the energy for them.

Q. Where would you say your confidence is and the team confidence is at this point in the season?
DESHONE KIZER: I think there's a lot of elite guys in there who have been playing elite football they're whole life and there's probably not a lot of us who have been 1-4. So we're going to have to rely on the leadership of the coaches to figure out who we are and then build that confidence back up. But at the same time we all are capable of being great and if we can go out and better ourselves next week and focus how we're going to go 1-0 next week then I think that's going to allow us to build the confidence we need to win games.

Q. Coach talked about having more fire and passion. How do you deal with being 1-3?
DESHONE KIZER: I've never been through it. You have to rely on your previous experiences, we have lost before, everyone here has lost before, so you go to your typical way of going about a loss and then you make the adjustments moving forward when you're trying to prepare for the next game. Confidence is something that you're going to have to have to win games, with the schedule that we play, and when we go out and compete, on Tuesday with our first practice out there, I think everyone's going to hop back into their football mode and have the confidence that they have always had.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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