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UNIVERSITY OF NOTRE DAME MEDIA CONFERENCE

October 29, 2011

Tommy Rees

NOTRE DAME 56
NAVY 14

Q. Talk about how the way Jonas ran today.
TOMMY REES: Hard. It was a big thing, ran three tackles, offensive line did a good job up front, but those two guys ran really hard today, especially down by the goal line.

Q. Navy got it to 14-7 and your next play, your longest completion. -
TOMMY REES: Yeah, it was good. We saw something we could take advantage of, and the coaches had a great game -- had a great call, and things worked out.

Q. How good did it feel?
TOMMY REES: Awesome, just to get some of the momentum back after they had just scored and I think we got the next kickoff, got the ball back.
Yeah, it felt great to get that momentum.

Q. Coach Kelly said that Michael Floyd all week looked like he was ready to play. Did you sense that?
TOMMY REES: Yeah, that was something we had talked about, you know, he kind of wanted to bounce back. And he gets that look in his eye where he can go out there and make some plays for us. Just getting the ball in his hands is huge for us.

Q. Does that feed into other players like Wood and Gray?
TOMMY REES: Yeah, I think it just feeds into the whole team. They see that kind of energy and that desire from one of the team's best players, I think it just kind of feeds everyone and gets everyone going.

Q. Inaudible.
TOMMY REES: Just got to keep pushing throughout the week in practice. Can't get complacent. We have a long way to go and we just have to keep working and getting better.

Q. What did you see on the quick hitter, the wide receiver screens?
TOMMY REES: Yeah, those are things that have been built into our offense, and you know, Mike and Theo did a great job of just making plays, and downfield blocking with the receivers, just not creating a lane for them.

Q. Something you saw on film during the week.
TOMMY REES: Yeah, just reading the defense and knowing when to give it out and throw it out. So just being confident in guys out on the perimeter to make plays.

Q. Talk about Dayne coming in and leading the touchdown drive.
TOMMY REES: It was great, great to see him out there. He's been through a couple of tough times but to see him bounce back like that and go down the field, I feel great for him. I couldn't be happier.

Q. What was the mood on the sideline?
TOMMY REES: Everyone was pumped. Everyone wanted to see him do well. And George in the end zone again, has been a great playmaker for us all year; to see those guys get a score, it really helps the morale of the team.

Q. The score -- was it more you guys or the coaches during the week --
TOMMY REES: When you play a team like that, you have so much ball control. Your possessions are limited. You want to get out to an early lead and you want to get out and not be chasing from behind, not knowing how many possessions you're going to get. And just to be able to jump out first against Air Force, and now Navy, as well, it helps out a lot..

Q. Getting to 14-7, what did you see, the next play --
TOMMY REES: We had a specific look we wanted to get and take advantage of what they were doing and the playaction helped.

Q. Can you talk about getting two years of the monkey off your back after beating Navy for a couple of years?
TOMMY REES: It's a great rivalry and one we wanted to win a little bit more in recent history. And to be able to go out there and play as well as we did, to win against them; we have so much respect for them and their program, it feels really good to go out there and get that W.

Q. On the other side of the ball, defense was able to do a lot better than they have in the past couple of games.
TOMMY REES: The defense, if it wasn't for myself, would have had potentially a shutout. We had two turnovers and I take accountability for those. I can't say enough for how well they played. You don't see teams stop triple option that well, very infrequently. They played very well.

Q. What's the intangible that he brings --
TOMMY REES: The biggest thing that's overlooked is his work ethic. How he prepares and how he works week-to-week, guys don't really see, he pushes everybody in practice to be better. When your best player is the hardest-working guy, you have a great chance. He does a great job of preparing for him during the week and that's why things work out for him on game day.

Q. How is -- inaudible.
TOMMY REES: Improving and just getting better. Obviously the offense is clicking a little better.

Q. Do you think the team was less prepared or do you think you just --
TOMMY REES: I think we just made plays when we needed to, and I think everyone wanted to buckle down and get the win.

Q. How do you feel right now after this win?
TOMMY REES: Great.

Q. Best win of the season?
TOMMY REES: All wins feel about the same. So you just take it one game at a time you and keep moving forward.

Q. Talk about how big of a win it is for you today?
TOMMY REES: Just getting back on winning track, it's getting back momentum for our season and every game now is important. Just try to keep winning to keep getting better prepared over the week.

Q. The end zone, talk about the efficiency you're able to move the football.
TOMMY REES: Scoring down in the red zone is a little bit of an issue, but today things were clicking and being able to run the ball down there really helped. Jonas and Cierre ran really hard to get in the end zone and things were clicking.

Q. Coach talked about good fielding and good idea of consistency week-to-week; what does a week like that do?
TOMMY REES: Just another step. Just another way to show how we can play and be consistent. We have got to keep that going here on forward and just knowing that we can just put points out there and keep it going.

Q. You had a pretty good day, too. How would you grade your performance?
TOMMY REES: Things were going well until the last drive. You're never happy with that. Turnover early in the game. I'm pretty tough on myself but at the end of the day we got a win and that's all that really matters.
I think it just helps getting back on the winning track and getting momentum back. The guys never really got down. We knew we would come out and play well, so it's just another step to build off.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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