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UNIVERSITY OF NOTRE DAME FOOTBALL MEDIA CONFERENCE

November 15, 2017

Drew Tranquill

South Bend, Indiana

Q. Drew, I know you talked I think it was a week ago about making a decision whether to come back again if you had the opportunity. The fact that you could run out of the tunnel this Saturday, and maybe next year at the same time, what are your thoughts about coming into your last home game right now?
DREW TRANQUILL: Yeah, I mean I cherish every opportunity I get to run out of that tunnel. And so whether this is my last game or not, I'm going to cherish it and really enjoy going out there and getting a win for our seniors.

Q. What about what makes this Navy offense that you're going to play this Saturday so difficult to come up against when you're playing a lot of spread offenses and things like that? I know that Coach Kelly said yesterday that you did take some time during the off week to maybe get a little familiar with this.
DREW TRANQUILL: Yeah, I mean Navy runs their offense no matter who they play. And so their business is about executing. And so they know how to adjust every line movement, every front you give them. They just know how to execute their offense. And so I think that's what makes them difficult is they know their offense inside and out. And so you have to change your defense to adjust to that and to play against that. And so just the usual things, eye discipline, execution that are going to be key.

Q. I know it's difficult playing all those spread offenses. What's the one thing that you've gotta do to have success against that Navy offense?
DREW TRANQUILL: I mean against Navy you have to tackle, whether it's tackling the dive, tackling in space against the quarterback or their A back, you have to tackle. And that's how you beat Navy is downing the ball.

Q. What's the motivation?
DREW TRANQUILL: I think the motivation hasn't changed. I mean we've been in this together since January, and we know what we've gone through, and so to let anything just go at this point is just -- you know, that's just insane. And so obviously Miami was the better team on Saturday. And they beat us, and they beat us -- they beat us well. And it hurt, because we felt like we prepared the right way. We felt like all the pieces were in place. And we came in with a dominant mindset. But this Saturday moving forward we can't really focus on that. We gotta focus on the intricacies of Navy's offense and what they're doing defensively to stop our offense. And we gotta focus on those details to win the game.

Q. Do the goals change a little bit with National Championship obviously, bowl championship a little bit slimmer? Do you guys look at goals differently now?
DREW TRANQUILL: I mean so really all we can focus on is winning these next two games, and whether the teams lose for us to get back in the playoffs, I don't know. I can't really have the foresight of that. But I know Notre Dame hasn't won a New Year's Six bowl in 20 something odd years. And so we have to win these next two games and we'll definitely be in a New Year's Six bowl. But whether that's the playoffs, I guess we'll figure out these next two weeks.

Q. Obviously we don't know what we'll be doing next year, what your decision is going to be. You talked about how you cherish each home game that you have here. Is this one going to be a little bit different, even though your decision is on the fence? Are you going to try to take everything in a little bit more if it happens to be your last game at Notre Dame Stadium?
DREW TRANQUILL: I mean I think what I've been through at Notre Dame, just with having two knee injuries and kind of everything I've gone through, like I said, to just go out of that tunnel and walk out on that field is a special moment each and every opportunity I get because whether it's a decision to leave or whether it's a decision, you know, to do something else or whether it's an injury, you never know, like when your last snap is. And so this Saturday will be a little different, obviously with my parents being down on the field and getting to run out to them. And I think it'll be kind of a culmination of everything I've accomplished to this point, and I'll try not to cry, man. This thing means a lot to me. And so yeah, it'll be special for sure.

Q. And of course, this rivalry, how much do you expect from Navy?
DREW TRANQUILL: Yeah, I mean when you talk about our traits of excellence, that's something Navy has done and is constantly doing. They're a team that isn't going to quit. They don't really care what the score is on the scoreboard. They kind of just put their heads down and work and at the end of the game they'll look up and see what the score is. So I really respect them. They're our nation's leaders. They're in that next generation. And so you have to respect them as men and as players and what they do.

Q. Coach Kelly was talking about just the importance of refocussing after Miami. How have you personally refocused? What is your process after that?
DREW TRANQUILL: Yeah. So I typically -- I journaled on the plane ride home just kind of how I felt, kind of frustrations, what I kind of -- what that environment, what that atmosphere felt like, kind of what my body felt like in response to that. And then Sunday obviously just evaluation of film and I think getting treatment even and kind of coming back and saying, okay, whatever happened on Saturday, win or lose, like it's a fresh start. And so almost like refreshing myself to start the next week. And then kind of just, you know, coming in with a fresh mindset on Monday, ready to take in the next opponent's film and get on to the next game plan.

Q. And how do you observe (indiscernible)?
DREW TRANQUILL: Yeah. I mean I think guys do similar things. I think we've taken a look internally and said, you know, that isn't how we want to play against Miami. It's not the outcome we want. It's not how we want to play defensively, offensively all across the board and so I think it's guys realizing like how much we've put into this thing and we can only control what we can control. We can't control what's happened in the past but we have an opportunity to go out these next two games and do something special.

Q. Coach Kelly also used the example of USC kind of turning around their season after they lost to you guys. Does that resonate with you all? Do you use that as a good example?
DREW TRANQUILL: Yeah. I think it comes down to a choice, and USC came in here and got throttled by us, similar to what happened when we went down to Miami. But they made a choice that they weren't going to allow that to define their season. They refocused and haven't lost a game since. So you gotta respect a team for doing that, especially a team like USC who had National Championship hopes coming into the season. To be able to refocus like that and have won out so far is a testament to I think the character of guys they have on their group. And I'd like to think we have the same character guys on our team and we'll do the same as they did.

Q. I'm curious about the environment as a lesson for the program moving forward. B. K. referenced how the buzz down there kind of made your body feel differently than maybe some other games you may have had. What's the key to either channelling that differently, blocking it out better? What do you think the program needs to do next time around to be better in that respect?
DREW TRANQUILL: Yeah. We always talk about you gotta be self aware before you can enhance. Whether that's cranking the music up in practice or talking about it more. You know, in meetings of expect this, expect that so that your bodies are prepared and you're able to control those reactions. Those are I think some small things that you can do. I think it's just more communication, more awareness and maybe more music integrated into practice and louder atmosphere and sounds so that guys can get accustomed to communicating. But when it comes down to it, you can't necessarily prepare for cannons being shot off and beer cans thrown at your buses and all the stuff that kind of could have been a distraction in that environment. And when it comes down to it, like you come to Notre Dame to play in those environments. And so it was a lesson learned for our young guys, and our guys coming back. And we hope to be put in that environment again, and I sure -- I'd sure like to think having played in that will definitely help prepare us for next time.

Q. What is sort of the connection between the environment and how you play? Like how does that affect you in more of like a specific way?
DREW TRANQUILL: I don't know that in terms -- obviously I think energy is contagious. And so when you feel energy, whether it's at home, I think that's where you get this idea of this home field advantage of kind of this energy of your fans behind you and kind of this just energy prospering. But when you're on the road and in a hostile environment, it can -- I think in the way it hurts you is it becomes distracting and guys are almost like, you know, oh, yeah, bring it on, bring it on instead of focusing on their execution. And it's kind of like this idea of maybe getting caught up in the hype instead of focusing on the details that actually allow you to win college football games.

Q. And kind of Xs and Os, but they hit you guys pretty good with the quarterback draw on Saturday. What's hard about stopping that as a linebacker?
DREW TRANQUILL: Yeah. I mean we struggled with that a little bit against Wake as well. I think it's just the nature of college offenses, and when they can spread you out and the quarterback has the ability to deliver the ball outside, you have to defend that. And then when the quarterback can add the aspect of running the ball, you create five- and six-man boxes where they have good numbers and they have a hat for a hat, and some guys gotta get off the block and make the play to win. And we weren't able to do that on Saturday. And it starts with our linebackers. It starts with me having my eyes inside and being able to fall off and come off and make plays. It starts with our secondary coming downhill and making tackles, but at the end of the day to stop that, someone's gotta win and someone's gotta tackle.

Q. You talked a lot about refocusing. How do you rebuild the mental confidence in your teammates and yourself that you need to refocus?
DREW TRANQUILL: Yeah, I don't think there was a loss of confidence, and I don't think there will be a loss of confidence moving forward this week. Confidence is a choice. That's what we've learned and what we've told ourselves, and we know the type of defense we can play. Being a defensive player I'm speaking for the defense. I know Brandon and the offense feel the exact same way. And you know, people can say Brandon struggled, whatever. Like Brandon's got like the utmost confidence, we have the utmost confidence in him, and we're all going to come back this week with the knowledge of what we've done and what we're capable of, and we're going to go out and execute in that fashion.

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