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UNIVERSITY OF NOTRE DAME MEDIA CONFERENCE

November 7, 2009

Golden Tate

Q. Can you talk about the red zone and why it just did not work out for you guys today?
GOLDEN TATE: I'm not sure why we couldn't get them in the red zone. That's definitely something we're going to be focused on working on next week and hopefully change that around.

Q. How much of a detriment was that to you?
GOLDEN TATE: It was huge. I don't think we even punted today, so that means we were in the red zone a bunch of times. We've just got to be better.

Q. How crushing is this loss?
GOLDEN TATE: For me personally it hurts a lot. You know, from the start of the game I didn't feel like us as a whole were as excited as we usually are, so I think we've just got to step up our intensity, focus on one game at a time, and just finish the season off.

Q. Was the team looking ahead to Pittsburgh do you think?
GOLDEN TATE: I really don't know. Personally I tried to stay focused on tonight's game. I don't know.

Q. Were you expecting your number to be called a little bit more in the first half?
GOLDEN TATE: No, I expected Coach to give me the ball, which he did. I knew that Mike was coming in, so it would go back to the way it was at the first. I knew I was going to get the ball, and I did get the ball, so I'm happy with getting the ball.

Q. Is there a reason why it took a half to get yourself involved more?
GOLDEN TATE: No, I don't know. We came in at halftime and readjusted a little bit, so we kind of saw what they were doing and went from there.

Q. How was it different what they were doing compared to what the defense were doing when Michael was playing?
GOLDEN TATE: For instance, one side they played soft two, my side they played hard two, vice versa, just simple things.

Q. What's the difference between hard and soft?
GOLDEN TATE: Hard is around five yards the corner is going to jam you, soft is the corner is going to run with you, backpedal so get some of your other options.

Q. What went into the decision to have you return punts instead of (Inaudible.)
GOLDEN TATE: I'm not sure. I guess Coach commented that if Goodman could get back there and break some tackles, so maybe it was to give me some more rest. I'm not sure what it is.

Q. Did you know going into the game that he was --
GOLDEN TATE: Yeah, I practiced it at all week, give it him a chance, see what he's got, so I think he did a good job.

Q. Did he talk to you about it? What did he say?
GOLDEN TATE: Not really. He told me plus 50 and safes, I was going to be out there catching it, but not really.

Q. You talked about how tough it was for you personally. What do you think it means for the team for the rest of the season as you guys move forward now?
GOLDEN TATE: Obviously this one hurts. It hurts. Navy, they showed up and played really well. We knew they were going to play hard the whole game. But from here we've just got to come in and fix our problems and look to Pittsburgh. One game at a time, one step. If we can do that, I think we can still finish strong.

Q. Their coach said he thought they had you in a perfect storm, meaning the team, because of all the BCS talk, not from you guys but from everyone around you. Did you feel like maybe you guys were listening or hearing that stuff?
GOLDEN TATE: Like I said, I can speak for myself, I try to look at each game, next game as the most important opponent on our schedule. That's the way I look at it. I'm not sure how other guys looked at it.

Q. How do you assess Michael's return?
GOLDEN TATE: I think he played hard. There were a few balls him and I both thought we should have caught. That just means we need to catch more balls after practice, during practice. I think he did pretty well the first game back. After a shoulder injury, a lot of guys are kind of scared and not sure if they should land on the shoulder. But I think he came in, made some plays and definitely helped us out a little bit.

Q. How frustrating is it not to get the ball back? Until the very end there, it seemed like Navy just had the ball so much.
GOLDEN TATE: Yeah, we knew this going into the game, that they take a lot of time on offense, and we knew that we weren't going to get very many chances on offense. We knew that going into the game, and we knew we needed to make -- every time we got the ball happen.

Q. I know Coach wants you to look ahead and just look at Pittsburgh, but is this going to set in, Navy has got us twice at home now, or do you just move on?
GOLDEN TATE: Me, I try to have a short-term memory. Tonight I might lose some sleep and it might hurt, but tomorrow I'm coming in and I'm ready to correct what I did wrong. I'm going to start watching film on Pittsburgh and my focus is on Pittsburgh. It's going to be a big game away, so I'm just focusing on them and hopefully we can get it done next week.

Q. How do you keep negativity from kind of seeping into this team after a loss like this?
GOLDEN TATE: We've got leaders on the team like myself. We just keep telling people that the season is not over. The season is not over. We've got to show up, we've got to work harder, remember how it felt, and just make sure it doesn't happen again. I think with the leadership on our team we can do that.

Q. Did it feel flat in the first quarter? I know you didn't get on the field as much as you wanted to anyway, but did the whole atmosphere feel flat?
GOLDEN TATE: Yeah, I think it did feel a little flat. I'm not sure why. I definitely did feel it, but I'm not sure why we felt that way, why I felt that way.

End of FastScripts

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