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UNIVERSITY OF NOTRE DAME FOOTBALL MEDIA CONFERENCE

September 30, 2017

Brandon Wimbush

South Bend, Indiana

Notre Dame - 52, Miami (OH) - 17

Q. Brandon, I just noticed that you had your left hand wrapped, and I was wondering if that was an injury or something there.
BRANDON WIMBUSH: No, it was my thumb, just got jammed up a little bit, but it's all good now.

Q. Brandon, Coach Kelly was talking about the mental toughness that you guys exhibited today. If you could expand on that a little bit and what you saw from your guys throughout the game from start to finish?
BRANDON WIMBUSH: Yeah, he challenged us at the beginning of the week to come out and not put a face to a team and to go out there and execute our plays and be mentally tough and execute at the highest of our ability, and I think we did that. So I think we met his challenge this week through our preparation, and we came out here and did what we had to do.

Q. When you guys get out to a 14-0 lead less than five minutes into the game for the second week in a row, how helpful is that when you're looking to win a game?
BRANDON WIMBUSH: Yeah, it definitely gives us a good kind of momentum early in the game to kind of build off of, and to be up 14-0 early in the game, you know, it helps us mentally, and we just really wanted to just keep our foot on the gas throughout the rest of the game.

Q. Brandon, this is three blowouts in a row for you guys. How much fun is the offense having right now?
BRANDON WIMBUSH: Offense is having a lot of fun. I think we're coming together week by week. Obviously there's so much more to improve on personally for myself and as a whole unit. I think we'll make those leaps in necessary due time and look to build on this win.

Q. You said a few times now that you think you guys haven't really hit your ceiling. What steps do you need to take to get to that level?
BRANDON WIMBUSH: I think just playing clean ball. I mean, we took care of the ball today, no turnovers, as well as last week, so that's a huge kind of leap in our progression as the year goes on. But I think things can be clicking at a higher level, and you really just feel that. As a quarterback you know when your offense is clicking, so we have some tough challenges coming up and approaching us, so we'll look to clean things up.

Q. In the second and third quarter you had a pretty significant lead but you continued to throw the ball. How much does that register with you and being able to build your confidence, still being able to go out there and complete some passes?
BRANDON WIMBUSH: I don't think it was a confidence thing. I think that Coach Long just wanted to -- we wanted to run some of the plays that we practiced throughout the week. Some of it was new stuff, some of it carried over from Michigan State. They kind of ran a similar defense. To be able to go out there and throw the ball against any defense is -- it's good practice, and obviously we can run the ball pretty efficiently, so that was good for us.

Q. The touchdown pass to Chase Claypool has got to be pretty hard to defend. Is he the best fade catcher on the team?
BRANDON WIMBUSH: I couldn't tell you. I've had a couple opportunities to throw them up, but man, those guys, 6'5", all big bodies, so all able to go up there and do what Chase did today. When those guys get the opportunity to go do that, they definitely go do that, so I have tons of weapons out there.

Q. Was Equanimeous begging for a touchdown on his birthday?
BRANDON WIMBUSH: No, that's my roommate. I told him I'm going to get you the ball, and I want you to go score here, so we did that, and he's pretty excited, so we're going to go celebrate.

Q. To follow up on the comments about some of the different throws maybe that you were asked to make today, how would you assess how that went, and how do you feel that takes you to the next level of your development?
BRANDON WIMBUSH: In terms of making different throws just off different platforms? I think I'm able to make every throw that the coaches want me to make. Obviously those guys are able to go make plays. Like I said, a lot of the offensive plays that we ran this week kind of carried over from last week against Michigan State and Miami Ohio did play a similar defense. We felt comfortable with our game plan, and I think the guys executed it really well. The throws were there for us.

Q. Now that you're five games into this as the starting quarterback at Notre Dame, how do you feel you've done, what's your comfort level compared to last week, the week before, the week before that?
BRANDON WIMBUSH: I just feel like I have so much more to -- I have another level of my game that I haven't hit yet, and I know I'm on the way to doing that, and just -- I have so many great players around me, so it's not all on myself, and the coaching staff puts us in a great position each and every week. Like I said, we'll keep progressing throughout, and tougher challenges coming up ahead, so look forward to those.

Q. It's not always easy to dominate when you're expected to beat a team like you guys were this week, but the really good teams do that, they put teams away early and kind of execute like you did. How important is it for the growth of this team that you guys were able to go out there today and do what a lot of people expected you to do?
BRANDON WIMBUSH: Yeah, that goes back to what Coach Kelly challenged us in the early week and not putting a face to a team, and whether it's USC, whether it's Georgia, whether it's Miami Ohio, you just want to go out there and execute, and we took care of business tonight, and I think we could have even put some more points up on the board, and the defense did a great job. Just building our confidence, like I said, we have a couple tougher challenges coming up ahead of us, so looking forward to keep building on this win and keep getting better.

Q. Brandon, I'm curious about your progress you feel you've made with your pre-snap stuff, your protections, changing into different plays, what you're seeing and recognizing things.
BRANDON WIMBUSH: As you go along and as you build more on your experience, like you said, I'm five games in now, you see things that you didn't see week 1 and week 2, and I was able to get us out of some of our blitzes, and Josh was able to hit a couple big runs, and obviously up front they did a hell of a job. I'm seeing things. I'm able to protect myself first, which is the biggest part, and then deliver a good ball.

Q. And then Kevin Stepherson kind of jumped in, this was his first game. What's your chemistry like for him, what are your thoughts about what he might be able to bring to your team?
BRANDON WIMBUSH: He just adds to our explosive unit outside, and it's awesome to see him back in the lineup, and he had a great week with preparation. We weren't able to get him the ball in the first half, but just want to get him a couple of touches and get him up to speed with what we're trying to do on the offensive side of the ball.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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