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UNIVERSITY OF NOTRE DAME FOOTBALL MEDIA CONFERENCESeptember 20, 2017Drue TranquillSouth Bend, Indiana Q. What does a road win last week do for the confidence of the team going on the road again this week? DRUE TRANQUILL: You know, it was our first road game, so I think for the young guys to get the experience and old guys to experience a win on the road after not having many in a while, I think was big, and we'll learn from it and move forward into this road game. Q. What do you feel you still have to do better? DRUE TRANQUILL: I think we just need to play from start to finish. We showed flashes of brilliance, and we showed flashes where we're up 35-13 and we let their offense march right down the field and score, and that's not acceptable as a defense. So just playing with a laser focus throughout the entirety of the game I think is definitely an area we've been focusing on this week. Q. What's part of your road routine where you go on the road and you feel like you need to do this, this and this before kickoff? DRUE TRANQUILL: What's my what? Q. Your road routine, what you do away from here before a game. DRUE TRANQUILL: I mean, I don't change up too much from road to home. I think we do a good job of we go to the Doubletree downtown and stay in a hotel, so it feels similar. Obviously you have the plane and the travel, but in terms of my routine, I don't really change much up. I like my Epsom salt bath the night before, and I like taking my cold shower before the game. Just kind of stays consistent. Q. Except you don't get a plane this week, you get a bus. DRUE TRANQUILL: Exactly, we get a bus. Q. Playing a night game on the road, is there a little change to playing a day game on the road, and does that move up your Epsom salt bath? DRUE TRANQUILL: Yeah, my Epsom salt bath is going to be Friday night like usual, but I think we've already had a night game this year. We kind of stick to our routine of having a walk-through and meetings, and so the schedule of the day stays pretty consistent from week to week. We like to develop that as a team, have a routine game in and game out. Q. It was obvious leading up to the season that you guys were a better defense entering the season; now that you've played three games in this defense for Coach Elko, what do you think that you've improved upon as a unit defensively? DRUE TRANQUILL: I mean, I think back to this past game, and it just seems like I like guys' preparation a lot more. I think when big moments arise in the games, we're able to execute, and we haven't allowed the moment to get the best of us. I think back to sudden changes when we come out in the second half against Boston College and our offense fumbles the football and we're faced with we have to bow our necks and we were able to make them kick the field goal; I think the 4th down stops with Te'von and Myron getting incredible penetration there and coming up with the 4th down stop. So I think just our execution in big moments and our ability to get off the field and sudden change and not allow the other team to get momentum I think has been huge. But it's a consistent message. We just want to execute within our role, execute within the defense on a week-to-week basis. Q. How about in terms of stamina and strength as you go into the fourth quarter? Do you feel a difference now compared to the past? DRUE TRANQUILL: Absolutely. I remember walking around telling guys as the fourth quarter came this past week, I was like, I feel great, and guys were absolutely in agreement with that. We feel strong. Our legs feel -- obviously you don't feel fresh in the fourth quarter, but you feel good and you feel ready to go, and that's definitely different than maybe how we felt in some games last year. Q. It's also obvious that collectively you guys are a better tackling team, but Coach Kelly mentioned when we talked to him on Sunday that he was not real happy with some of the missed tackles along the way. How difficult is it to be a consistent tackling team series after series, game after game, different style of athlete you're going against, et cetera? DRUE TRANQUILL: Yeah, I think it's more difficult when you're under duress and under fatigue, definitely. Tackling is. It's all about body position and making sure your pad level is low. And so as you get fatigued, I remember talking to Greer, and he's like, man, I missed a tackle, I was just so fatigued. So I think learning to play under duress and under fatigue is key for that, and I think our coaches do a great job of putting us in those situations during practice, which is probably why we've seen better results in the game. We play with a higher intensity. We play more physical in practice. We really emphasize fitting the ball carrier, and that can be eight guys on a given play fitting the ball carrier, whether it's in pursuit, and so shout-out to our scout team running backs. They do have to take a beating when all the guys are fitting the ball, but I think emphasizing that has really shown in the games and our ability to tackle well. Q. Two weeks ago you had the one-two punch with Georgia, Michigan State will use three. How do you assess those three backs, and are there significant differences among them, or are they -- they're all pretty powerful backs. DRUE TRANQUILL: Yeah, you know, they all bring their traits. L.J. Scott is going to be a little more downhill, want to get north and south, whereas their other backs may be a little bit more shifty, but they definitely complement one another well, and it's definitely -- whenever you play a team with multiple backs, I think you see it on our offense, they're able to potentially wear the defense down by keeping each other fresh, and so we're definitely putting an emphasis on being physical and tackling yet again this week as we go to face great backs again. We've already done it this year on multiple occasions, and so we're looking forward to the next challenge, and they obviously present that. Q. Michigan State Coach Dantonio likes to do -- they had R.J. Shelton last year where they kind of like jet sweep action -- DRUE TRANQUILL: Believe me, I know, I missed a tackle. Q. They've got a new guy this year, Stewart, who is probably even faster. DRUE TRANQUILL: Yeah. Q. What are the keys to containing them? DRUE TRANQUILL: I think it's just guys understanding their assignment and playing with great leverage. When guys want to get their eyes in the backfield, that's when you tend to get reached and tend to lose your leverage and the ball gets outside. So as long as each guy does their role, we'll have a guy for the jet, we'll have a guy for the zone, and if those guys execute, we'll be fine. Q. You mentioned Greer a moment ago; he seems to fly under the radar a little bit outside of around here, but what is his value on that defense, and what kind of teammate is he? DRUE TRANQUILL: Well, first, he's an incredible teammate. He's a guy that I think everyone on the team absolutely respects in the highest regard. He's a guy that relates well with absolutely every guy and is an incredible support and rock for every guy on the team. In terms of his playing ability, he's almost as versatile as they come: Fast, physical, can line him up at multiple spots, and he can get the job done. I mean, geez, he had, what, 10 tackles last week, played on three of the four special teams, is just making plays all over the field for us. And so he really brings a lot of value to our defense. Extremely smart kid, able to teach the young guys, and just continues to thrive in his role defensively. He's a guy that doesn't necessarily want to be in the spotlight or want a lot of praise, he just wants to get the job done and do it with his boys. Q. What are your memories of last year's game? DRUE TRANQUILL: With Michigan State? I mean, it was one of my worst games in my career, I think, and so I have a bigger, I think, chip and mentality going into this game. I was very disappointed with the way I played against them last year and disappointed at the way we played against them as a team. But we can't control that. We can control what happens this Saturday, though. We can control our preparation heading in. So our focus isn't so much on the outcome of last year's game as it is controlling what we can control heading into this game. Q. How far do you feel you and this defense have come from that point a year ago? DRUE TRANQUILL: That would take some reflection on my part. I think we try to focus on the moment and focus on daily improvements on being better than we were yesterday. So if I reflected and looked back on how we've improved day-to-day from last year, I think I would see significant improvement, and we all see significant improvement, obviously, in the results that we're getting defensively. But we're focused with getting better today. We've got gritty Wednesday today, and we've got to go make our improvements from attitude Tuesday yesterday in order to be the best team we can be coming out this Saturday. Q. This series is going away for a little bit, obviously a while because there's no future games scheduled. Do you think this is a game that's important to be on the schedule in the future, and if so, why? DRUE TRANQUILL: I mean, I've enjoyed playing Michigan State in the time I've been here. It's a great rivalry, a great game. I know guys enjoy it. But in terms of scheduling, that would have to be taken up with Jack Swarbrick and crew. I don't really speak too much to that. I know they do a terrific job of putting together great games and putting us on great stages in a year-to-year basis, but Michigan State is a great program, historic program, and we always enjoy it when we get to play them. Q. What do you enjoy about playing them? DRUE TRANQUILL: I mean, I think they're just a tough, physical football team. It's what you come here to do. They're a perennial big Power Five school, and to have the opportunity to play them, just a great coach, a great program, it's always a great game, and so we always look forward to playing teams of that caliber, and we'll look forward to the rest of the season the rest of our career. Q. You were asked about the difference between a road night game and home night game, but what about atmosphere-wise, the difference between being in a road game at night versus a road game during the day or a home game at night? Is there a difference in that do you think? DRUE TRANQUILL: I mean, maybe the fans come in a with a little more excitement for night games just because it's primetime or whatever. So you'll definitely feel the energy of the crowd a little bit differently. But as games tend to go on, it seems to level out, whether you're playing at 3:30 or whether you're playing at 8:00. The consistency of everything kind of coming in -- I said it last week, but equilibrium, it always tends to happen. You definitely feel a different type of energy early, but it tends to kind of level out. Q. Another guy who had a great game against Boston College, Shaun Crawford, two picks. From what you've seen from him in practice, was it just a matter of time until he had a big game? DRUE TRANQUILL: Yeah, he's playing -- this is his fifth game and he's got three interceptions? The kid is a baller. He's a great friend of mine. I love Shaun. I really respect him and the work that he does, the preparation that he puts in, and it's exciting for people to finally see his hard work paying off because, I mean, the two and a half, three years he's been here, people necessarily haven't seen all the work he's been putting in because he hasn't been on the field much, but it's cool to kind of see that come to fruition. Q. I was curious about sort of the nickel looks that you guys have been in in 3rd and long. It's been highly effective. Why do you think that works so well? What do you like about playing with that personnel group, especially with Trumbetti, Hayes, Okwara and Tillery in front of you? DRUE TRANQUILL: Yeah, they're able to get after the passer, which makes it easier on the back end to cover guys. I think adding Shaun to the mix has been very effective for us, and his ability to shut down the slot receiver, which is huge for quarterbacks in college who can't necessarily throw it outside as well as NFL passers could. But a lot of teams like to work the slot. They get to like on the Mike linebacker with three, and so we've just been able to vary our looks. Coach Elko has an incredible scheme and we can throw different looks. We've got guys that can get after the passer and guys that can cover, so when you put those together, it tends to give good results. Q. I'm sure you felt like that was going to be an advantageous situation for you guys, anything and long is good, but have you guys been even better in that set than you would have thought? DRUE TRANQUILL: Absolutely. And I think you hit it there in terms of the idea as a defense is to get the offense in 3rd and long, and I think we've done an incredible job on 1st and 2nd down to put teams in that situation, which has allowed us to be effective on 3rd down. And so we'll continue to move forward with that idea of stopping them on 1st and 2nd down and putting them in just advantageous situations so that we can then open up our entire playbook to throw them on 3rd and long. Q. How much of maybe a difference is having Daelin and Julian out there because I don't think in the past you guys have had multiple body types like that that could really just fly to the edge. DRUE TRANQUILL: Yeah, I definitely think it probably complicates the offense's protection a little bit in terms of who they're going to slide to. If you slide away from one of them, you're putting one of them on a back, and so I think just having the ability to have multiple pass rushers out there can confuse the offense's protection a little bit and complicate it. Q. Can you give maybe a specific example of a play that you or one of your teammates has made over the last three games that kind of shows that this defense clearly is different and you guys are playing much better, where you maybe thought, wow, we would not have done this last year? DRUE TRANQUILL: I mean, I think back to the 4th down stop this past game against Boston College where they kind of hurry it up and we're rotating personnel and trying to get people lined up and they snap the ball and we're all not even necessarily set, but two or three guys absolutely penetrate the gap, Myron and Te'von comes up with a big stop for us, so just our ability to execute within our game plan and guys making big plays in big moments is probably a big difference. Q. Did you have like any sort of just internal reaction after that, like huh, we didn't do this last year? DRUE TRANQUILL: Definitely not in the game. I wasn't thinking that. But it was exciting to have the stop. I think I was more excited to get our offense back on the field and give them the opportunity to score again. And so that's more so what was going through my mind. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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