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00:00 - Yep.
00:00 - Your brother responded to one of Alexis' questions
00:06 with it's important to coach with importance
00:12 and it's important for players to play with importance.
00:16 As a coach yourself, which is more important to you?
00:20 - Which part?
00:22 - Like, which one?
00:25 - To coach with it?
00:26 - Which one is more important, like, in the game?
00:29 Like, coaches coaching with importance
00:32 or the players playing with importance?
00:35 - I think we all gotta do our part, right?
00:40 I think it's important that every aspect of the team
00:44 is treating everything as seriously as they can,
00:50 giving it all their effort 'cause it takes everybody.
00:53 It takes all the coaches, all the players.
00:57 It takes the signalers, everybody being at the top
01:00 of their game for us to execute at a high level.
01:02 Yeah, that's important.
01:04 - Yep, when you look at Notre Dame and their personnel,
01:12 what stands out to you in terms of the strengths
01:15 of their defense?
01:16 - Yeah, they got good personnel.
01:19 They do, they play a lot of one-on-one football.
01:25 They play quite a bit of man coverage
01:27 and let their pass rushers rush the passer.
01:30 They're very good in the interior, 56 and 99 inside
01:36 are two really good defensive tacklers.
01:40 They have some explosion, they have some quickness
01:43 that have been trouble so far this season.
01:46 Center and guards have had trouble blocking them,
01:48 so we definitely gotta be keyed into those guys.
01:51 I think number 27, the linebacker runs the ball
01:55 fast, number eight, he's got some speed,
01:58 he's running down guys on film.
02:03 And then their secondary, they cover well.
02:06 So it's definitely gonna be a challenge for our offense.
02:09 I think we're up for the challenge,
02:12 but this is definitely one of the faster
02:15 and more physical defenses that we've played to date.
02:20 - As I recall, you gave some pretty serious consideration
02:23 to attending Notre Dame here, but can you sort of explain,
02:27 especially going out in the Catholic environment,
02:30 the mystique, so to speak, of Notre Dame,
02:33 and is it still out there?
02:35 - Yeah, I mean, I think Notre Dame,
02:36 just obviously the history that they have
02:40 in their football program, dating all the way back
02:43 to basically when football began.
02:46 They've always had good teams, good players,
02:48 good side and trophy winners.
02:51 And then obviously, being Catholic,
02:53 and being a raised Catholic, an institution like Notre Dame
02:57 with being Catholic and being so good at football,
03:02 it's definitely a big draw, I think,
03:03 for any young man, especially a good football player,
03:07 or also a Catholic, to go there and to play
03:13 in that big time atmosphere.
03:14 It's a national program, we've got a national following.
03:18 They'll probably have, I know we're gonna pack the stadium,
03:21 they'll probably have some fans sneak in here
03:24 for the game as well.
03:26 So, that's a big time place to play,
03:29 and it's a big time program to play against.
03:30 I think our guys are excited to be on that national stage.
03:34 Obviously, Notre Dame, it raises the stakes just a little bit
03:38 when they come to town, where everyone gets excited
03:43 to play 'em, because they're a good football team,
03:46 number one, but also the history behind the program.
03:49 Just seeing that name on the jersey,
03:52 it makes the game a little bit more fun,
03:55 it makes it a little more exciting,
03:57 and our guys will be up for it.
04:00 - Brian, early in that NC State game,
04:02 you guys got the ball to Nate and Josh Lipson
04:05 early and often, or tried to early and often.
04:07 Was that based on what you saw against NC State
04:10 and how you wanted to attack them,
04:11 or were you guys trying to get the tight ends
04:13 more involved in the passing game as the season goes on?
04:15 - It's kind of just the way it goes sometimes.
04:18 We're always trying to get those guys involved.
04:22 We're a big feed the studs type of offense,
04:23 we're trying to get the ball to our playmakers,
04:25 but the ball got spread around quite a bit.
04:28 I think 11 guys got passes against NC State,
04:30 so it got spread around a good amount.
04:34 I think our offense just does that,
04:35 it's naturally built in, where those guys
04:36 should be getting some balls, getting some catches.
04:39 They did a good job with their opportunities,
04:41 making the catches when the ball's come to them.
04:46 - Brian, you mentioned obviously
04:47 this is a pretty high profile game,
04:49 and it always raises stakes for the other team.
04:51 Your number's gonna be honored before this game.
04:55 How much more does it add to that honor
04:57 that you get it done before a game like this?
05:00 - It's a huge honor to have my jersey number
05:04 going up in the ring of honor.
05:09 Obviously a lot of great players have played in this program.
05:13 A lot of great names that are up there on the ring,
05:16 and a lot of great names that haven't been up there,
05:18 that are gonna go up there at some point.
05:22 No matter what game it was before,
05:24 or when it happened, if it was now,
05:25 or 20 years from now, I think it's just a huge honor to have.
05:30 Had a lot of good times playing in this program.
05:37 Had some good teams when I was playing,
05:39 a lot of good players that have played with us.
05:41 A lot of credit goes to a lot of other people
05:44 that helped me get up there.
05:47 But definitely it's a huge honor.
05:48 It makes it a little extra fun
05:51 to have it on such a big game.
05:54 - Do you have any initial playing memories
05:56 that come back to you when you look back
05:58 on your career, anything that jumps out?
06:01 - A lot of memories have been flooding back
06:04 since being back here coaching.
06:07 It's kind of funny, they have actually,
06:09 I don't know, I didn't ask them to do this or what,
06:12 but they have the film on the system
06:14 all the way back to 2004.
06:16 Things I probably wouldn't remember,
06:19 coaching somewhere else, we'll be talking about something,
06:22 "You know what, I think we ran this play."
06:23 And I can actually pull it up and show the guys.
06:27 So that's been kind of fun and kind of cool
06:30 being back here.
06:32 Definitely it jogs your memory a little bit,
06:35 obviously being back in the same building
06:37 that we were in when we were playing.
06:39 - Ryan, you guys have been able to obviously
06:42 put up a lot of scoring, as you say it's a little different,
06:44 but just in terms of this offense
06:46 and what you guys have been able to do,
06:47 what is the key to getting everybody to gel,
06:49 and especially when you have so many new guys coming in,
06:53 and just kind of getting them--
06:54 - Yeah, it's always a work in progress.
06:57 You're always trying to get better,
06:58 you're always trying to gel better.
07:01 You want to make sure everybody's on the same page,
07:02 that we're all tuned in, we're executing a high level.
07:05 We've been really good at times this year.
07:09 I think the Boston College game,
07:11 execute at a high level.
07:13 The first half against Indiana,
07:16 I thought we were executing at a super high level.
07:19 We want that to be how we are all the time.
07:22 Now, we know that that obviously is not realistic,
07:25 probably, to do it every single time,
07:27 every single quarter, every single time you're out there.
07:30 But I think we've shown what we can do.
07:32 We're locked in, everyone's doing the right thing,
07:34 everyone's on the same page, and we're gelled together.
07:37 So we need to make sure that that's happening
07:39 most of the time, if not all the time.
07:41 We've had a little slower game last week,
07:46 so I think guys know that we can play better,
07:49 and hopefully they come out this week
07:51 and practice and make it happen this week.
07:53 - Notre Dame currently ranks 12th in the nation
07:57 with only allowing 9.7 yards per pass.
08:01 Given your experience at the quarterback position,
08:04 how do you plan on counter-reacting that?
08:07 Are you planning on running any special plays?
08:09 - Oh, we always get some special plays.
08:11 (laughing)
08:13 I always get some special plays.
08:13 But they're very good on defense.
08:15 I mean, that's very evident when you watch them film.
08:17 They're very fast.
08:19 They're very physical.
08:22 And they're a good defense.
08:25 And they're gonna be a challenge for us
08:26 offensively, but we're up for it.
08:29 We're looking forward to that challenge
08:31 and see how we match up against these guys.
08:32 But they got good players, and they play fast,
08:35 and they're coached well.
08:36 So definitely gonna be a challenge.
08:38 - Jeff had mentioned he thinks he could've done
08:45 a better job maybe helping Jack handle the blitz
08:48 a little bit better against NC State.
08:50 Is that what you saw when you look back at it,
08:52 or is it, you know, do you make a better check
08:54 at the line, what'd you see?
08:56 - Yeah, yeah, yeah, we got, obviously they brought
08:58 a lot of pressure, NC State obviously brought
09:01 a lot of pressure.
09:02 And there were some moments there where we could've
09:05 done a better job of maybe putting them in a little bit
09:08 of a better situation of maybe adding a few extra
09:11 blockers in there to give us a little bit extra time.
09:14 You know, there was a time where we were in a wrong route
09:16 and something, and then we ended up fumbling.
09:19 So Jack, you know, I think Jack's play, yeah,
09:23 he has been a little bit up and down.
09:26 Obviously the Boston College game shows you
09:28 what he can do.
09:28 In this game, in NC State, he actually,
09:32 if you break it down play by play,
09:33 he made a lot of very good plays.
09:36 It was just the, I told him this in the meetup,
09:37 that the bad ones were just very bad.
09:40 Like, they were, those ones we can't have, right?
09:43 So, we gotta protect the football.
09:46 We can't have some of those turnovers.
09:49 Definitely down in the red zone.
09:51 And he knows that, and he understands that.
09:53 He's aware enough to where I know that he knows that
09:57 before I tell him, even so.
10:00 So, I think he's gonna come out
10:02 and have a great week of practice.
10:03 He's gonna be fired.
10:05 This is his third time playing Notre Dame.
10:07 So he's gonna be fired up and ready to go.
10:09 And he's, you know, looking forward to trying to finally
10:13 get over that hurdle and beat these guys.
10:15 - All right.
10:17 - Yeah.
10:18 - All right, thanks, Brian.