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UNIVERSITY OF NOTRE DAME FOOTBALL MEDIA CONFERENCE

October 29, 2016

DeShone Kizer

South Bend, Indiana

Miami - 27, Notre Dame - 30

DESHONE KIZER: That first pass, the way the offense was clicking and the defense (indiscernible). I just missed the feeling of winning. It was somewhere we want to be for the rest of the season.

Q. How important is it for you guys to close out a close game in the fourth quarter?
DESHONE KIZER: (No microphone). To have the early success I did early in my career last year to get those games and feel like that. To feel what it's like to win in a close game like that was awesome. But after experiencing a losing side of things, it definitely allows me to appreciate this more, to come up big at the end of the game.

Q. What is it like at the bottom of the pile?
DESHONE KIZER: It's awful. I don't know if it's possible, but I think a guy bit me. Actually, the guy whose leg was under there was kicking at the ball as we were going after it, and I was just trying to lock his leg up as long as I can. The ref came in and yelled white. As soon as I heard one yell blue, I let go of the ball. It allows them to not see any more of it. Obviously, that guy had one leg, all ten fingers, and maybe a chin on the ball to hold the ball.

But it was fun. Obviously, it was a key point of the game. Obviously, we don't want to tumble down there, but you look at it from an outsider's point of view, burn two time-outs, leave 30 seconds on the clock, you never know what happens with a guy like Brad Kaaya out there with more than a minute and two time-outs. It led us to victory.

Q. You were ten yards back. How do you see everything going on, and how do you wedge yourself in there?
DESHONE KIZER: I threw it. Even in the huddle, we knew that was the play to call. My momentum was taking me that way so I could go up and do a click or something fun. The ball just came flying out. Caught it on the corner of my eye and went over there. Went through probably two or three Miami guys' hands. Saw Brown and went over there.

Q. Is it a sense of relief for you guys to get this off your backs?
DESHONE KIZER: Absolutely. As much as you want to look at each game as one individually, to have the season that we've had so far, all of that builds up, whether you know it or not. To go in that locker room and sing the fight song the way we do when we win, it's a great feeling. It's the reason we come here to play, to win games, and represent the university in the best way we can.

Q. How do you guys build on this?
DESHONE KIZER: To take this, and a lot of this will be our motivation. You forget what it's like to get out there and take the victory. You start taking the small things for granted. Now, having the setback we had in the first half, we learned not to take the small things for granted. Now having the "W," it will allow us to get back to winning the way we need to.

Q. (No microphone.) What was that conversation like?
DESHONE KIZER: Coach Kelly challenged me this week. He told me we're going to throw the ball around. We're going to use as much quick plays as we possibly could to get ahead of the sticks, and we did. He said, hey, look, we don't need to you go out and make crazy plays. These are all simple things. The only way is to have the mental toughness and the discipline to make the throws every time you need to.

Obviously, the second to last drive, I lost that. Coach Kelly came over and challenged me again. He said, I told you, those are the plays we have to make to win this game. Go out there the last drive and make those same plays, and that's what leads us to victory.

Q. Do you think that recovery makes a statement about mental toughness?
DESHONE KIZER: Yeah, it's a lot down there. I feel like there's only white jerseys all around me. That's probably my favorite play of the season, going down there and doing what it takes to win for my team. There's big guys down in there, but for a quarterback to be down in there, it's awesome to come up big.

Q. How long did it seem like you were down there?
DESHONE KIZER: Oh, my gosh, it took forever. The whole time I was waiting for the crowd to cheer, in a sense I thought we were already in the end zone. All the work I was doing down there, I thought I was going to get up and start cheering. Once I figured out it was on me to get the ball, that's when I held on for dear life. I had his arm and had his whole body mangled up in there. As soon as I heard the referee come in and say white at the beginning, that's when you heard all those Miami cheers. Then one guy said blue, and I let go of the ball so they didn't evaluate anymore.

Q. You're up 20-0, you're down 27-20. That happened several times this year --
DESHONE KIZER: We won tonight. That's all that matters. I don't know how they came back. I don't care how they came back. I don't care what it took for them to come back, the lull we were having on offense. Whatever it takes to win the game. It all led to those issues. Special teams play, fumbling on the 1 yard line, all of those things allowed us to have the motivation and the mindset to come back and get the win.

I don't care how pretty it looks. I don't care how many yards I threw. I don't care how many trick plays we run. I just want to make sure we win games. That's the only thing on my mind.

Q. Did it feel like a duel with Brad? He went out in the second half and was lighting it up. Did you feel like it was a one-on-one?
DESHONE KIZER: Not necessarily. There's so much going on on our side of the ball. I stuck to my responsibilities. I knew at halftime they have one of the best quarterbacks in the country, and they're not going to give up. It's hard to leave an animal caged the way that he was in the first half. We knew he was going to come out and play good ball, and he did. We knew on the last drive, they'd have the ball. Obviously, they got rolling, as we expected them to, and defense came up big for us to make the plays they needed to at the end.

Q. (Indiscernible.)
DESHONE KIZER: It's all motivational based. To actually feel what it's like to get a win kind of propels you into the week to do whatever it takes to get back to that feeling. Practices can be long and tough when you're losing games. Now we have the motivation to get out there, fix the things we need to, and work on trying to peak at the right time to continue to have these wins.

Q. What did you say (indiscernible).
DESHONE KIZER: We're going to tell our kids about this one. So many times, when you hear one of the guys are playing and you have the potential of playing against those guys, obviously, you never know when your time is going to come to be the starter, but you always hope that you and your friend are going to be out there. Another conversation we had back in junior year, and now we're out there and playing, obviously, two of the elite quarterbacks in the country right now.

So to have that opportunity to play against a guy you've been tight with your whole life is awesome. We made sure we acknowledged that, and then I went out there and challenged him. Now I think I have the skill to go out there and challenge him again.

Q. Was that line play lucky, or was there skill to go in there and get it?
DESHONE KIZER: It's pretty lucky for me to get in there. After you're down there, it's all will power. The way the recovery rule is, it's not the first guy who jumps on it, it's the last guy who has it. All the guys in there are screaming and yelling. Guys pulling on you and scratching. It's all will power and toughness to remain strong and hold on to the football.

Q. (No microphone.)
DESHONE KIZER: This season's been so rough, especially at the quarterback position. I've had highs and lows. To have individual success and then still losing games, and to have close games where you're not playing the best. This is just a cherry on top of a long first seven weeks of the season, eight weeks of the season. That was just us allowing the emotions to come out, and hopefully that feeling I had there will propel me to move forward and get back to those feelings.

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