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UNIVERSITY OF NOTRE DAME FOOTBALL MEDIA CONFERENCE

September 29, 2018

Brian Kelly

South Bend, Indiana

Notre Dame - 38, Stanford - 17

COACH KELLY: Well, great win. Obviously two top 10 teams playing at Notre Dame Stadium, this is why our kids come to Notre Dame to play in these big games. And they responded in kind.

They started fast. I thought their attention to detail was great. Great enthusiasm out there. And then we finished strong. And, so, you have to put together four quarters when you play Stanford.

We have, you know, a history with this football team. And the fourth quarter has not been strong for us. And we knew, especially last week and the way they came back that we would have to play four quarters if we were going to win this football game.

So really proud of the way our guys handled the mental game as much as the physical game and certainly the execution part. You have to have all these three phases working for you today. And they did a great job.

Stanford is a great opponent. But we were up to the task today. And we had guys making plays and controlled the second half in particular and put them in tough situations.

That's a very talented team. If they can control down and distance, then they make it very difficult for you. We were able to control first down, put them in predictable situations, which allowed us to do a lot of things today that gave us the kind of outcome that we got today. So with that we'll open up to questions.

Q. Would you say that this is the most complete victory, complete game you guys have played so far this season?
COACH KELLY: Yeah, I think our kids -- you know, when you look at victories, as a football coach, as a head coach, you know, there's always things that we can look at.

I think -- I like the fact that we finished the game. We started fast, but we finished. And that's where you, as a football coach, when you're looking at your team, you see a resolve, a mental toughness that you're really trying to build with your group, and we saw that today. So, yes, affirmatively.

Q. Having Dexter Williams tonight obviously must have been a pretty good feeling for you, 100-some-odd yards touchdown. What was it like having him back and out there playing for you guys?
COACH KELLY: Well, you know, I'm really proud of his growth and his maturity. Those come first. If he wasn't growing as a young man, as a student-athlete here at Notre Dame he wouldn't have the chance that he got here tonight.

It's a privilege to play here. And he recognizes that. And when he got his chance, he made the best of it. And we needed him. We got unexpected news late Thursday that Jafar Armstrong was not going to be able to play. And so put him in an even brighter light, in a sense. But he was up to the task.

And you know, he had been practicing with us and stayed on top of everything. And he did the right things.

Q. You mentioned Armstrong. Any idea of a timetable on him? And information on Bars or Jones?
COACH KELLY: I think Armstrong is probably a couple of weeks. We have to go in there surgically and clean up the infection. So that wound's gotta heal, especially -- it was a bursa sac infection. So that's going to be a couple of weeks.

So I would say if we're really truthful here I'd say that we probably don't get him back until after the bye week.

Q. And Bars --
COACH KELLY: Alex Bars, it's a knee injury. He was able to walk off. That was good news. But we won't know until we get the MRI. We'll get the MRI and get a better understanding of his situation.

Tony Jones has an ankle sprain. We'll see how he responds to treatment tomorrow and then moving forward that is as tolerated.

Q. Back to the game, did you ever in your wildest dreams think you'd run 55 times against a Stanford/David Shaw defense?
COACH KELLY: Look, we're football coaches and that's what we do for a living. So we go home thinking we're going to win 65-0, right?

Q. In your wildest dreams.
COACH KELLY: Right, (laughter) so it's hard for me to really, yeah, we have no chance to win football games against great competition, especially top 10, unless you can find a running game. And we felt like this was a team that if you're going to have a chance to beat them you have to run the football. They're really good in the back end. They do some really good things. They mix things up. And our chance to really control the football game started up front.

I don't know that we ever put a number on it. We think success starts around controlling down and distance with the running game, and we were able to do that today.

Q. Two weeks ago when we were here with you, you talked about this team's identity still coming into play. Last week you really identified and talked to the team with Ian Book starting his quarterback. After today's result, what is this team's identity offensively and defensively?
COACH KELLY: Balance on offense, the ability to run it and throw it with great balance. It certainly is a group now that is playing with a lot more confidence. I don't think that you can walk away saying it's not a physical group. We block out on the perimeter with a physicality.

But I think the balance that we can run it, throw it, I don't know what the numbers were exactly. But we threw it for 278. And we ran it for 272. Pretty good balance there. And I think that physical component is part of it as well.

Defensively, I don't know if they get enough credit for who they are as a defense. They've been really good of taking away what your strengths are. Wake Forest, you know, was a very difficult team to play, because of their tempo. We got them off the field.

This team is really good -- if they can control down and distance -- we put them behind the chains and made them predictable. The defense has to exert themselves in a fashion to do that in all three parts of the defense, on the "D" line, linebacker and defensive back.

So I think it's starting to come together. Man, we've got a long way to go. We're going to go to Blacksburg, Virginia and play in a tough environment. And then we have to play Pittsburgh, who is tough to play. Oh, then we've got to play Navy, by the way; Northwestern, who just beat Duke.

We've got a long season ahead of us. So if we're going to walk out of here thinking that we just are the best team, we're going to get beat and it's going to diminish this victory.

So I told our team, I'm proud of what you accomplished tonight, but if we don't embrace how hard this is going to be, we're climbing Mount Everest with this schedule. So take one step at a time and get ready for a tough opponent in Virginia Tech.

Q. Stanford's real strength this year anyway is normally defense, but offensively the things that they can do, you held them to 51 snaps, 229 yards. How high is the ceiling for this defense and what would the next step be?
COACH KELLY: You know, I think they're just -- here's where we want them to go: To continue to play with a sense of urgency but a little bit more patience -- patience in the sense of playing smart. We're getting there. And that comes with knowledge of the defensive structure and what we're asking you to do.

And I know that sounds kind of -- there's a lot of moving pieces there. But that's experience and savviness and those little things that sometimes you don't see. They're building that. So I think there's a lot of growth there on a day-to-day basis and on the practice field.

Q. Bryce Love had the touchdown run, but otherwise you really contained him --
COACH KELLY: That was an error up front. Our structure -- we had a structural error there. It was the only one we had all night. It was kind of disappointing.

Q. Overall, what was the key to your success? How do you stop a Bryce Love?
COACH KELLY: We talked about it all week. We were going to play with a sense of urgency, one play at a time and the play didn't end until at least two players had him on the ground. Because that's where he was so difficult is that you thought he was down and then he goes.

And our guys were committed to that end in terms of making sure he was on the ground.

Q. And how do you think you played against -- the big receivers have given people a lot of trouble and will continue -- how do you think you played against them?
COACH KELLY: Really well. We kept them out of high leverage situations for us in terms of -- look, you've got to play them on the back shoulder. You've got to play them like you're playing a post-up. And we got a little bit too much friction on them. You can't body them up. You have to stay away from bodying them.

And we got a little bit too much friction on them and we got boxed out a little bit. Julian tried to play the back shoulder, got maybe a little too much friction and they were able to get the ball to the outside. But I thought by and large everywhere else on the field our guys were on it, did a nice job.

Q. You want them to create separation from the receiver so they can't body you?
COACH KELLY: Correct, a little bit. Can't be too much, but you have to create a little bit of separation so you can use your own ability. What they do is a great job is they box you out and you can't use your own ability to get to the football.

Q. Evaluate Ian Book tonight, particularly his play in that two-minute drill in the first half?
COACH KELLY: What I liked the most about Book tonight was if it didn't look right to him he didn't enter into that picture; he got out of it. And he got out of it with his feet. And so what we did all week is really tell him if he didn't like what he saw, just solve it with your feet today.

As you get more of these snaps -- they're a three-own defense. There's multiple droppers. They can roll coverages. They play a lot of robber coverage with a free hat. And it can be troublesome if you're not exactly sure where that free dropper is.

And when he didn't like it he took off. When he was sure what he saw and he was decisive, he put the ball where it needed to be. And I was proud of him because of it.

Q. The explosiveness of your defensive line, particularly Jerry Tillery?
COACH KELLY: You can't block him one-on-one. He showed that tonight. He was outstanding. He got the game ball tonight. He had four sacks. So anytime you have that kind of performance that just says about his development.

Look, he came back for his final season because he wanted to continue to develop as a football player and as a young man as well as take classes. (Laughter).

He has his degree from Notre Dame already. So he wanted to develop, though, a pass rush that would really take off and I think he's done a great job there.

Q. What's Book brought to your offense now, two games in to evaluate? And secondly are you ready to name him the starter at this point?
COACH KELLY: I haven't named him?

Q. You've got an "or" on the depth chart, and he's below Brandon.
COACH KELLY: We'll have to have a conversation with our media people because they like the game that we play. You're not here all the time, but they love coming in on Thursday and quizzing me about it, and we go back and forth on it. So I think they know who the starter is. Could you ask the question again?

Q. So he is the starter? (Laughter) what's he brought to your offense (inaudible)?
COACH KELLY: You know, I mentioned earlier about a sense of urgency. He has that urgency in what he does. There's an energy that he brings. But in a practicality sense, he delivers the ball to a number of different receivers, which obviously -- may be a bad analogy -- but a pitcher that's a ground ball pitcher keeps everybody in the infield alive. I mean, all those guys are crisp and running routes and looking for the football, and so he brings that kind of energy to the entire offense.

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