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UNIVERSITY OF NOTRE DAME MEDIA CONFERENCE

September 8, 2010

BRIAN HARDIN: We've got tight end, Kyle Rudolph, and quarterback, Dayne Crist, here at the table. Questions for the student-athletes.

Q. In relation to Tyler Eifert, Coach Kelly said they need to find more ways to get him on the field. How can Tyler help you be a better player?
KYLE RUDOLPH: Tyler brings a lot to the table as far as the player. He can do a lot of things, stuff you guys have been hearing about all through fall training camp. You saw a little bit on Saturday. Just makes our offense better. Getting him on the field, that's our goal.
If we want to get the best 11 guys on the field, it doesn't matter what your position is, we just want to make our offense better.

Q. Dayne, Michigan runs a 3-3-5 alignment. How much does that force you to adjust? How different is that for a quarterback to deal with?
DAYNE CRIST: I think it's just something that will be taken care of through film study. I think it will really come into play in our pass checks and things like that. Just knowing where they're bringing pressure from.
But it will be something that I feel I'll be pretty confident with going into the game on Saturday.

Q. When you see that alignment, is that a natural assumption that you can have a little more success with the running game?
DAYNE CRIST: It really depends how you attack it, and exploit it. I'm confident that Coach Kelly and Coach Molnar will be drawing stuff up that will really exploit that. But at the same time you have to go play your game.
It's really how your players play. X's and O's are great, but it really just comes down to how we end up playing on Saturday.

Q. Kyle how does that defensive alignment impact what you do with your routes?
KYLE RUDOLPH: It's just like Dayne mentioned before, their pressures and recognizing pressures versus bluffs and when guys are coming and just being aware.
As far as the three-down part, we've gone against three-down all training camp. Going against our own defense, so that won't be as big of an adjustment. But the three and the five, just being able to recognize where people are on the field and are out running.

Q. Coach Kelly mentioned in the preseason, I think it was that if you guys can run the football effectively, that opens things up more for you specifically. How so?
KYLE RUDOLPH: It makes our offense run better. Being able to run the football opens my game up. They can't just keep two safeties. They have to bring another guy down in the box and bring another guy down to stop the run. When you're playing two safeties, you have to have help over the top not from linebackers who have the run on bottom.

Q. For both of you, yesterday Coach Kelly was talking in the spring he noticed Armando's attitude and work ethic in practice wasn't where he wanted it to be. Then he says once fall camp started it was completely different. What was your observation of the metamorphosis that Armando made from spring to fall to where he is right now?
KYLE RUDOLPH: Armando just came to work every day in the summer. He put a lot of time in as well as the rest of us. But just coming to work every day and having a purpose about it.
DAYNE CRIST: I think also you take into consideration that he's a senior, and he's got a different sense of urgency than some of the other guys. He realizes this is his last go around at things.
I don't know if he had an epiphany or anything like that, but you could see a change in his urgency come fall camp.

Q. The Michigan game, fans consider it a rivalry. Do you consider it a rivalry? Are you two focused on everything you've got to do to really get wrapped up into the periphery of everything else?
DAYNE CRIST: I think it's definitely a rivalry and something that Kyle and I have both watched growing up. It was always a big game watching college football.
But we've got a very tough schedule, And we're really focused on taking one game at a time and just preparing each week with the task at hand. And right now it's Michigan. They do some really challenging things on defense, and it will take a great week of preparation and practice for us to be successful.
Now that other stuff with rivalries and everything like that, sure it's an added bonus, and you'd like to go out there ask compete, but we'll get ready to go for any game regardless if we were playing.
KYLE RUDOLPH: Going along with what Dayne said, if you look at our schedule, last week was a rivalry. As well with Purdue. This week's a rivalry. Next week's a rivalry with Michigan State . We have all these games against teams that we play year in and year out. You just kind of take it week by week and prepare yourself for each game.

Q. As you go into your second game, how much does it help having a first game as a full-time starter under your belt in terms of your confidence level?
DAYNE CRIST: I think it helps tremendously. You know, before I hadn't had a full game. You know, just being able to start a game and finish a game, and then obviously just happy to get my first win as a starter, that was really big.
But, again, we like that. We celebrated that. But now it's making the necessary steps to improving from week one to week two. That is my personal goal going into this week is making as many improvements as I can from how I played Saturday to how I will play this upcoming Saturday.

Q. Were there moments during the game where you realized and saw yourself maturing or was it a matter of there's just too much happening to worry about that?
DAYNE CRIST: That's kind of tough to assess while you're playing. I think taking a step back and thinking and reminiscing after the game you can kind of see that. But it was more just familiarity and comfort level more than maturity. More than anything, I was just happy to go in and get the win. I mean, that was the biggest thing for my confidence.

Q. I was going to say it's been a long time since a first time starter at Notre Dame got a win. How much does that help going forward now as you continue to progress as a quarterback?
DAYNE CRIST: I mean, the win's just important overall. Whether you tie it in with that stat or whatever, that's not as important for me. The most important thing was that this team got a win. We're 1-0 right now, and we're going to do everything in our power to be 2-0.

Q. Kyle, what did you see from Dayne as the game went on in his first start?
KYLE RUDOLPH: I think he did very well. Coming out right away, being calm. You didn't really see the jitters and stuff that you would expect from a first time starter on the biggest stage in the world.
You know, Dayne has prepared himself since the day he got here for that opportunity. You could tell when he went in there, he was ready.

Q. He said you couldn't see the jitters, but did you have the jitters inside that you chose not to show your teammates?
DAYNE CRIST: I'm sure before the game, but once the game starts, and Kyle experienced the same thing. But once the game starts, you don't have time to think about anything else except your assignment, and amplify that by the fact that we play fast. There is not a lot of idle time where you're sitting around thinking about what's going on. I think that helped, but again, there was a little bit, but it left pretty quickly.

Q. I know you talked about after the game a little bit about how the team didn't necessarily react in celebration after the game, and Coach Kelly had to remind you guys about that. Can you talk a little bit about the moments after the game and what exactly happened there?
KYLE RUDOLPH: Coach Kelly was just big on reminding us that wins are tough things to come by. You really need to celebrate and cherish the wins that you get, because they're hard-fought and there was so much blood, sweat and tear that's went into it. A Saturday after a win is really a time to celebrate, and obviously, celebrate within reason.
But you've got such competitive guys on the team that we're always aiming at perfection. There's always guys trying to figure out what they did wrong and what they could have done to make themselves play better and in turn make the team play better. But he was quick to remind us that Saturday's not the time for that. That's when Sunday comes around. Just really putting the emphasis on cherishing the win and celebrating with your teammates.

Q. Coach Kelly was talking yesterday about the hill out back here. What were your first impressions when you saw that?
KYLE RUDOLPH: It's cool. It's something that since they've gotten here they've provided us with the best of the best. We had great facilities before they got here, and they just kind of put their twist on it, adding the sand pit and the hill and the other things in the weight room.
That is just something that is another tool in our toolbox to be able to utilize to get ourselves in the best shape as possible.
DAYNE CRIST: Going along with what Kyle was saying, some of the change in pace and just kind of the change in schedule, being able to go out and run hills instead of running sprints or whatever.
Just the way that Coach Longo and his staff changed everything up, it just helps kind of break any sort of monotony that was there or anything like that. Those are things that are tough. At the time we were like, man, we've got to go do this. This kind of stinks or whatever. But at the end of it we know we're coming out better for it, and just helps build camaraderie and team chemistry when you're competing and sweating with your teammates.

Q. Have either of you ever done any training in a sand pit or hill before?
DAYNE CRIST: A little bit. Coach Longo and his staff have a clear picture of what they want and what they want to get out of it. But had some experience with it, but not what they were asking of us.
KYLE RUDOLPH: I ran sand hills a couple times training in the off-season, but nothing with a team and competing with guys every day.

Q. Any interesting or memorable experiences that you've seen teammates do on it?
DAYNE CRIST: It's real competitive. I think unless you're out there watching guys, I mean, they really turn it into races and stuff like that. Changing the whole mentality of it being a conditioning approach to a competitive approach. Competing on every rep or every sprint like that just helps in the overall grand scheme of things every day.
KYLE RUDOLPH: I would reiterate what Dayne said, it more turns into a competition than conditioning. It's a three, four guy race to the top of the hill. Next thing you know you finish with ten of your hills and you weren't even focused on that, you were focused on winning every rep and beating the guy next to you.

Q. This is sort of a new beginning. You know that you have at least a year of eligibility after this. But what do you sense from seniors like Chris Stewart, and Gary Gray and Darrin Walls as the season begins?
DAYNE CRIST: They've just got that added sense of urgency like I said when we were talking about Armando. I guess I can't really speak on it fully because I haven't experienced it. But the only thing I can really relate it to is your senior year of high school and you don't have any time left. It just kind of hits you that your days here are numbered, and you really want to do everything in your power to make the most of them.
Sure everyone comes in and says that's what they want to do from day one. But there are definitely days that you let go, and there is so much idle time that you forget that your clock is winding down at all times. If anything, I think it makes the team better. It adds a sense of urgency.
Speaking for the guys on offense, I've seen their performance has definitely gone up since last year. They're playing great, and in turn they're making the offense better.
KYLE RUDOLPH: To go along with what Dayne said, every year after a season you have the guys who are going to be fifth year guys and going to be seniors who have that extra sense of urgency.
But this year when Coach Kelly and all the new staff got here in his first meeting with us he talked about his five-minute plan that he's mentioned to everyone. And those guys really bought into that and realized that, hey, we can win now. We don't have to wait four or five years. We have the guys here. We're going to be leaders to this team and we're going to be the ones that get us back to the top.

Q. Kyle, it may be overblown, but I remember at the end of the Purdue game last year it was fourth down and Jimmy sort of talked to you in the huddle. What is the difference in going in a no-huddle in terms of rhythm or even camaraderie once you're out on the field?
KYLE RUDOLPH: Just, obviously, the tempo's faster. But at the same time if there is some kind of miscommunication or something, it's all about communicating. You can run the no-huddle as fast as you want, but if you're not communicating effectively, it's not going to work. That is something that we work on every day in practice is going as fast as we can but at the same time communicating whether it's Dayne to me or me to a receiver and making sure everyone's on the same page.

Q. Dayne, Joe Montana was on your buddy's dad's television program yesterday, Mike Golic. And he was saying that the advice he had for a quarterback in the system is you have to stay almost intense because when you're just back there it almost starts to feel like a video game. Have you noticed that difference?
DAYNE CRIST: I think so. I definitely agree with that statement. I think that intensity comes through practice, and you have to practice doing those sorts of things all week. It's really how the game plays out, and how it's a different style of offense. You just need to make sure that the intensity and the coaching and the overall leadership really takes place during practice. So that way when the game rolls around and when it's less communication, so to speak of the huddle or whatever, those things are taken care of and guys are really playing sound football. You really just kind of push through that intensity and draw blood on the field.

Q. Do the sideline moments in a game become that much more important for the offense when the defense is on the field then?
DAYNE CRIST: I think they're pretty critical. I think we do a great job of communicating on the sideline. Again, as soon as we're coming off the sideline we're talking about what we saw. Just from whether it be from Kyle's perspective what he's seeing as opposed to what I'm seeing or anyone else on the field. That time is definitely valuable. We're not just sitting there drinking water. There is a lot of stuff going on now.

Q. Dayne, talk about Coach Molnar yesterday said he felt like you could have watched the Purdue tape every day this week and taken away something new every time you watched it. What were some of the things you did take away when you watched it in that quarterback meeting that were things that you just couldn't pick up live in the heat of the moment?
DAYNE CRIST: Are you talking about the game?

Q. Yeah, the tape of the game. When you watched the tape of the game what did you take away that you didn't feel on Saturday?
DAYNE CRIST: You know, that's a good question. Really just, you know, kind of seeing how different situations in the game played out. Obviously, you're going back and looking at generic corrections and things we would have corrected whether it be in a game or practice. But then just applying that to certain situations of the game.
Knowing instead of applying play A versus defense, and this is what you should have done. Well, okay, we've got third and long, so maybe you're going to your second or third progression because we need more yardage, things like that. I think that will come with time.
But overall we were just happy of the way we took care of the ball and were able to just play a sound football game and execute in a pretty good fashion.

Q. Another thing Coach Molnar said he said he felt like your game on Saturday was not as aggressive as a quarterback typically would be in their system. Did you feel like you just wanted to get rhythm early on? Was that just what the defense was giving you?
DAYNE CRIST: Probably a combination of both of those things. Definitely wanted to make sure -- we talked about it all week and since the coaching staff was in here taking care of the ball. I think the aggressiveness will come. I'm not worried about that. But for me it was about protecting the football and just making sure we were moving the chain.

Q. This goes back to Coach Kelly mentioning Theo and Tyler and wanting to get them in the game more. Do you feel you have a lot of untapped, unused weapons at this point that people haven't seen what this offense could be?
DAYNE CRIST: I definitely think so. Whether it be just because of the first game or whatever it was. I think the aggressiveness will come. I think that we do a good job of spreading the ball off to different guys.
But there is definitely things that we've seen in practice and just potential in guys that we've seen in the spring, summer and fall that have, I guess, been untapped. We look forward to those guys stepping up and making big plays pretty soon.
KYLE RUDOLPH: Going along with that, it's something that we see every day in practice. Six or seven guys making plays and, you know, when their opportunity is called on Saturday, it will be your opportunity to see as well.

Q. Dayne, what did T.J. do on Saturday to make such an impact in his first college game?
DAYNE CRIST: The way he prepared. You don't just do things in a game and surprise people. That's what he's been doing in practice since he's been here. T.J.'s one of those guys that you forget that he came here early because of how mature he handles himself. His preparation is just very mature. But it's the way that he practices all week. His work ethic.

Q. Coach Kelly had said that he's very hands on when it comes to his quarterbacks. How is your relationship with him and the rest of the coaching staff developed since you first met them back in December?
DAYNE CRIST: It's like any relationship, it grows and matures with time. I think this relationship is no different. We've definitely gone through phases of just getting to know each other both on and off the field, then as we know more and more about each other, we understand what makes each other tick. Just certain ins and outs of everything. As a result, the relationship continues to grow and will do so as the season continues and as long as I'm here.

Q. One more on being aggressive. Was there one point in particular looking back in the game where you thought you could have taken more of a chance?
DAYNE CRIST: There were a couple of plays where I thought I could have taken a little bit more of a chance. But those come and go. Both plays that I'm thinking of we completed the ball, so it's kind of a catch 22 on that one.
But those things will come. Again, I'm not worried about it. I'm not going to play scared or anything like that. I'll do whatever is asked of me and that's how I've been since I've been here, and I don't see that changing any time soon.

Q. Do you feel that this offense maybe is better suited to your skills than even what Charlie was running when you first got here?
DAYNE CRIST: It's completely, completely different. I think that there were plenty of systems like this that I looked at out of high school and things of that nature. But they're just so different. I see the benefits in both of them. But it's just night and day between the two. I'm just doing what's asked of me.

Q. I was talking to another one of your teammates yesterday and they said the thing that you've improved on the most is the touch on your ball from when you first got there. Do you feel like that as well? Is that something that you've really focused on?
DAYNE CRIST: I think that's something that just kind of occurs naturally with repetition with your receivers. Understanding different speeds of guys and how they run routes and things like that. That's really just timing and repetition more than anything.
But, again, it's a pretty big part of the game, and something that I'll continue to work on and just doing everything in my power to be as accurate as possible.

Q. Kyle, you talked about Coach Kelly's five-minute plan, and obviously that's been a big topic with him coming in. How important is this Michigan game in that five-minute plan and where you want to go this year?
KYLE RUDOLPH: I definitely think it's important, but at the same time it's just as important as last week was, and it's just as important as next week will be. This is just another step in the direction that we want to get going.
Obviously, if you look back on the last couple seasons we've been here, we've come out fast in our first game, and even the second game. We've always had kind of a bump in if the road early in the year, and this will be a great opportunity for us to get things rolling and build momentum into the season.

Q. If Dayne could answer as well.
DAYNE CRIST: I think there is a definite sense of urgency around this place that everyone kind of identifies with. And like Kyle was saying, we don't have time to sit around and wait and see where this thing can go in a couple months or couple years. Everyone on this team wants to win right now. The coaches want to win right now. It really comes down to the way we prepare each week, and that is something that is at the top of our list of priorities in everything that we do.

End of FastScripts

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