Sept. 4, 2001

COACH DAVIE: Well, I think obviously the start of this press conference, the first press conference of the season is here. A lot of you don’t realize there’s a couple of huge games this week. We have Schmucker, Spartan’s 8th grade team opening up with Northside tomorrow. The Irish going out to Lincoln. A couple of those big games has Joanne confused. I was scrambling around coming over here. I was looking forward to that lunch. I opened up that bag lunch today, peanut butter and jelly sandwich, a Pop Tart, a couple of Gummie Bears and a banana. I think she got Clay’s lunch mixed up with mine, either that or she’s trying to save money with us building that house right now. It’s a long time since I had a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.

The reality is not much has changed since we had that opening press conference on media day. Things have gone pretty much according to plan. And we’ve had several minor injuries that I think probably everybody has, some different muscle pulls, things that have kept players out of practice. The bottom line, we’d like to think our preparation has been as good as it possibly can be. I think the players have done everything we can ask. Now it’s time to go find out.

I’m as anxious as you guys are to go see what kind of team we have and go see how we’re going to be able to coach under the situation we’re going to be in. I don’t think it gets much better

I was thinking driving over here, it doesn’t get much better than going to Lincoln, Nebraska, being undefeated, playing Nebraska, which who is the 4th or 5th ranked team in the country. It’s our first game of the year, which changes things a little bit. You’d like to go out being undefeated and being your 7th or 8th game, playing in one of these games that you’ve seen, the OU, Nebraska game or the Texas, Nebraska game, later in the season. It isn’t that way.

We’re playing our first game of the year. I don’t think we have to play perfect to win, but obviously there’s not much margin for error. And I think that’s the message you try to instill in your team. You realize that you can’t make mistakes, if you have an opportunity to win this game. But at the same time you can’t go out and play so tight that you think you have to play perfect.

But where I am, I’m just anxious to see us play. I really am, just like all of you. There’s a bunch of new guys that I’m anxious to see play. There’s some old guys back in different roles, Grant Irons is back after a year off, Arnaz is back, playing in a different position. Young players like Courtney Watson and Andrew Wisne who hasn’t played a lot, Hilliard, certainly some young corners. The players on offense, Matt LoVecchio is a year older. John Owens, a tight end that’s done a great job. Sean Mahan is playing for the first time, Milligan. I’m anxious so see us play. I’m anxious to coach under these conditions. Rather than do a bunch of talking about things, that probably have already been talked about, I’d rather open it up for questions and go from there

Q. Bob, I asked Frank Solich today also, when you go looking for quarterbacks, how big is the talent pool? He runs similar offensive ends. He probably can’t get guys because of what you run. How hard is that to evaluate guys and get them in?

COACH DAVIE: Well, I’m not sure exactly what the question is. I don’t think it’s difficult for us to recruit quarterbacks. Obviously we’ve had pretty good success when you look at the three we have in the program right now, particularly getting all three of them the same year.

I think if you look at college football right now there’s certainly a premium on quarterbacks that can run. Everybody seems to be spreading the field. A lot of single wing type offenses, with the quarterback really being the tailback in some of those offenses. You know for us, we never really looked for the quarterback that was big and just couldn’t run at all. You need someone that can be balanced that can run and throw.

I think Notre Dame is an attractive place for a quarterback, and so is Nebraska. They’ve had tremendous quarterbacks. I think of the big?time quarterbacks at both places that have played several years, they’re always in the Heisman consideration, and they get a lot of attention. I think so much resolves around the quarterbacks in both places.

Q. Obviously the Battle’s role is a little different. How has he adapted to wide receiver?

COACH DAVIE: We’ll find out when the lights come on. In practice it’s been a positive move for us, Dick. He’s shown very consistent hands catching the football. To be honest, he’s made some acrobatic catches. He runs well with the ball after the catch. It will be his first time playing wide receiver in a game, but he’s played in big football games before. So I’m anxious so see him. We’ve all been encouraged by how he’s played. I think he’s embraced the position, his family has embraced the position so much.

Q. And also, how does playing a tough schedule year in and year out prepare you for a game like this Saturday?

COACH DAVIE: You know, I think it definitely has to help from the atmosphere standpoint. I know what kind of atmosphere that’s going to be in Lincoln. I think our football team is looking forward to it, as I’m sure Nebraska’s football team is looking for it. I would like to think it helps, particularly with some of the experiences our quarterback has been through, who is now a sophomore for us, who played an awful lot last year.

As I said when we started media day with the first press conference, you really wipe the slate clean. That’s the thing that’s so difficult to try to evaluate what’s going to happen in a football game. It’s almost impossible. I’m out there every day. I’m on top of everything that happens with our team. We evaluate every tape every night. We’d like to think we benefit from experience. But there’s a fine line, with momentum things that happen in football games. I’d like to think we’re better, more experienced, but you wipe the slate clean going into the first game. A lot depends on how we react to situations, and how the flow of the game goes. But certainly we’ve been in big games before.

But in a way that can be a little bit overrated. You look at college football right now, with McNeese State going to play A&M, UNLV, Arkansas. Bowling Green goes and beats Missouri. Cincinnati and Purdue look like two pretty evenly matched teams. Fresno State and what they did to Oregon State. You know, there’s such a fine line now that I don’t know that, it’s all as big a thing as it used to be because of schemes and a lot of different situations. Anyone can win.

I’d like to think that our experience has helped, but the reality it’s probably wiping the slate clean, and whatever is going to happen Saturday is going to be based on what happens Saturday, not what happened a week ago or a year ago.

Q. I was looking in the Lincoln and Omaha papers, and there’s quite a few classified ads for tickets. Would you like some of your people snapping them up, give them what they gave you last year?

COACH DAVIE: I don’t think we’re going to outnumber them. I really haven’t put a whole lot of thought into it. That’s the first time that question has been raised. I don’t think that’s going to have a whole lot to do with it. Just like last year, I don’t think that had a whole lot to do with the outcome of the game last year. I’m surprised there’s that many ads in the paper. They must be going for a pretty good price. They’re asking a pretty good price.

Q. There’s a place in Kansas City, over $600 for one ticket. John Teasdale, being from Kansas City, what has he meant, being a senior?

COACH DAVIE: John started tackle for us last year and played fairly consistently for us. He’s had some shoulder problems that he had surgery in the off season. He’s come back this year. We moved him to offensive guard. He right now is a backup offensive guard for us. He’ll probably play in this game. Depending on how he plays, how the other young guys, he’ll have a chance to be a starter. He’s one of our 3 offensive guards. He’s been a solid guy. His teammates call him Governor because his dad used to be the governor out there. He’s a good young man and has had a good, solid career.

Q. My question is can you talk about the development of Matt LoVecchio from last year to this year, and what you’d like to see out of him this year that, perhaps, he wasn’t comfortable or capable of doing last year?

COACH DAVIE: First of all, what you’d like to see out of him first and foremost is what he did last year, to continue that, and that’s protect the football, not turn the football over. With the exception of the Fiesta Bowl, he did an outstanding job of that.

As far as the development standpoint, I think people will see that his arm strength is better than it was a year ago. I think also he releases the football a lot quicker, where last year he almost tried to make a perfect throw and the perfect read. He almost held on to the football a little at times. And so I think it would be overall strength, particularly arm strength, and then I think his release is a little quicker than it was a year ago, as far as development. He’s always had a good grasp of the offense. That’s one of the reasons he was the quarterback last year.

Q. How has been the last couple of weeks, trying to simulate their offense? You don’t want anybody taking shots at the quarterback. When you’re going up against an option offense, how hard is to get the players ready for that?

COACH DAVIE: It’s difficult. It’s probably not quite as difficult for us in some ways just because we have some option in our offense, but it is difficult. And we tried to go as full speed as we can, good against good, but we have not tackled the quarterbacks. So going into the first football game, No. 7 comes down the line, we have not tackled quarterbacks live in practice because you just can’t, when you go good against good. So certainly you bring up a good point. By the same token I’m not sure, but I noticed Nebraska has their quarterbacks in green jerseys. They may have the same problem with us.

So I guess the advantage would be that they played two games. But anytime tackling is a concern in the first football game, particularly when you’re playing a quarterback like Eric Crouch and the tailbacks, but particularly Eric Crouch and his cut?back ability.

Q. Have you made any decisions at corner, have you opted for your starters there yet?

COACH DAVIE: We have three corners right now that are all about equal, and that would be Clifford Jefferson, Vontez Duff, and Jason Beckstrom. All three of those young guys ?? not young guys ?? all three of these players will play. As to who starts the game right now, we’re going to let that play out the rest of the week.

It’s kind of like the tailback, I don’t know that it really matters. One of those guys is going to have to step up, and if he plays better than the other ones, he’ll be the starter next week. It’s more important at corner who starts next week than this week because it’s too close to call.

Q. In the spring and going into the summer you were talking about scenarios where you could see all three quarterbacks playing as the season progressed. Where are you at right now with that?

COACH DAVIE: Well, I knew that question would come up. I don’t think it’s in our best interests as a football team to really say where we are right now. I want to give our football team every advantage we can to win. And we certainly have a plan right now. Our players know the plan. But I don’t think it’s in my best interests or the team’s best interests to disclose that right now. I think you’ll see how it unfolds in the first game. The reality is how much it’s an advantage or not, I’d like to keep that under wraps and let that thing ?? let everybody find out about the same time. But we do have a plan. The players know the plan, but I’m going to keep that between us until we go play a game.

Q. What have you seen in Carlyle Holiday in the summer, since you’ve cut back with the preseason stuff?

COACH DAVIE: We love Carlyle. He’s an extremely smart young man. He picks things up very well. Obviously he’s an athlete that can run the football. He’s explosive and he throws the ball. He’s improved throwing, and he came in with a strong arm. He has all the tools, there’s no question about that. We really like him.

Q. Some of their players were talking today about how the fact that you guys haven’t played and the fact they have played, it sort of neutralizes itself out because you get to watch tape of them. I would imagine that you don’t agree with that, do you?

COACH DAVIE: Well, I try to sell our team on it, because we certainly aren’t going to whine about them playing two games. The first thing, and I’d like to think that we have some advantage with the quarterback situation, but they’ve played two games. I know who their quarterback is going to be. The problem is stopping their quarterback. The fact that we haven’t played a game, that we’ve had closed practices, maybe that gives us a slight advantage. I know they have to prepare for an awful lot of things in that first football game, depending on who the quarterback is in the game, maybe.

As far as what we’ve tried to sell our players on, the first thing is they had a chance to be home for ten days in the summer and come back and be excited about playing football. We sold our players on the fact that Nebraska did have two games, certainly they had to prepare for those games. We’ve not just prepared for Nebraska, but we’ve probably put more time on Nebraska obviously than the rest of our schedules, so we had to have our sights on them. You take the hand you’re dealt and turn it into a positive. And I’m sure they looked at us a little bit in the preseason, too. I know they played CCU, and Tri?State. But I’m sure they had time to look at Notre Dame. The schedule is what it is, and we’re going to try to make it an advantage.

Q. Saturday’s game is a night game at 7:00. You’re used to playing in the day. As a coach do you worry at all as how the players fill their time during the day, and do you do anything to fill up that team?

COACH DAVIE: Essentially what we try to do, we have two scrimmages that we had at 7:00 at night. One of those days was a Sunday in which it was freshman orientation. There were a lot things going on on campus, not only for the freshman, but for the seniors. There were some distractions and things they had to do. We brought them in about the same time that we would have the pre?game meal.

The other Friday we scrimmaged, it was a day of school. They had a lot of distractions that day, as well. There were some games on television this Sunday that we scrimmaged. There will be some games on Saturday afternoon they have to watch. We tried to have a plan for the scrimmage days, just like a game day plan would be. But in the end, I’ve been in a lot of big games at night and in the afternoon, and I don’t think it’s going to make a whole lot of difference. We’ve got a pretty mature football team that’s played some night games. I don’t think that’s going to be much different in the end.

Q. Playing Nebraska, you mentioned about the quarterback situation where all three are going to play, past coverage has been paramount as to who plays. But playing a team like Nebraska, does run support and tackling ability enter into that, too?

COACH DAVIE: Your corners don’t support the run like they did years ago, when you played a lot of cloud coverage, and you had the corners rolled up to take the pitch on the option and that type of thing. They don’t get it as much as they used to get. But they do in some situations with two tight ends in the game, a short yardage situation, and then you have to tackle after the ball is thrown.

One of the biggest hitting yardages in football is run after the catch. So short tackling is a big factor. But the first priority is to be able to lock up and cover man to man. But certainly that’s a factor, John.

Q. Looks like you have Irons back on the field?

COACH DAVIE: What Grant is is a tremendous effort player. What you see is what you get in that he plays football the same way you think he would play football when you meet him in person. He’s a great young man and works extremely hard. It’s good to have Grant back, but also Grant has all he can handle with Ryan Roberts. Ryan Roberts is a great football player, and he played a lot of football players for us last year. It’s great to have them both back. But certainly Grant, his personality and leadership is something that I don’t take for granted.

Q. Is he a different type of captain this year?

COACH DAVIE: Grant is Grant. Grant is probably exactly the same. Obviously you’re going to lead a lot better when you’re out there playing than you do when you’re standing over there cheerleading. But Grant was the same positive guy that he was ?? as he is now as last year. He’s a remarkable guy.

Q. What about last year, watching him come in every day with his jersey and helmet and shoulder pads on? What do you think that was like, for the players, an inspiration, maybe?

COACH DAVIE: Yeah, I remember the Monday after Nebraska game he was out there. He did not miss a day of practice. So it shows what kind of person he is, I think, is the biggest thing. Every player in our football game respects Grant Irons, and I’m sure everybody on campus that’s been around him feels the same way.

Q. Are the adjustments or the plan of quarterback involve personnel or scheme or do you want to go that far? You worry about the players not discussing it out of the practice field?

COACH DAVIE: Once again, I’m not like it’s locked away in a vault or something, because you and I both know that it’s not going to be some dramatic thing that changes the whole outcome of this game. Obviously each one of those quarterbacks does a little something better. But also with that said, when we recruited these quarterbacks, the premium was to have continuity in our offense. It’s not the difference between ?? Arnaz ?? all three of these quarterbacks are pretty close in the big picture of this.

Now with that said, each one of them has a little bit different thing that makes him a little bit more attractive. So certainly they’re going to do what they can do best to move the ball.

But there’s not like a different package for who’s in the game. Our package is our package, because that’s something we did not want to go down that path. And we felt so good about all three of them being so similar. It’s not going to be like all of a sudden it’s a different team on the field because there’s a different quarterback in there. Matt LoVecchio is the starter, and that’s how it is. He is the starting quarterback.

Q. So much of special teams has to do with chemistry. How would you assess where you are now? How concerned are you that you’re not going to duplicate the same chemistry or do you see the same signs from last year carrying over?

COACH DAVIE: It’s going to be hard to have the same statistics we had in special teams, probably be hard to have the same statistics with turnovers, those are remarkable things there. But the encouraging thing is our players realize that that’s what it takes to win. These kids are excited about special teams.

What concerns me is you don’t have Joey Getherall. You look at the punt return Joey made against Nebraska. I’d like to tell you we had great blocking scheme, but Joey Getherall just broke the thing. With chemistry and all those things also comes a guy that’s a play maker when he touches the ball. It also comes with a field goal kicker making it or a punter punting it. It all comes down to individual efforts.

But I know our players are sold on special teams, and it’s going to be more difficult because you know Nebraska and Purdue, right on down the line, there’s going to be a special emphasis put on special teams when they play us. I don’t know if we can duplicate what we did last year, but I know we’re going to try because we’re going to have to, playing the kind of teams we play.

Q. If you were eating peanut butter and jelly (inaudible)?

COACH DAVIE: Good question, I always try to be surprised a little bit. But usually there’s some kind of meat on that sandwich, or at least a piece of chicken on there that will get me through the day. So that’s right, he probably got the big time lunch today, the filet mignon.

Q. One of the things that makes Notre Dame special is its tradition. Can you talk about Nebraska tradition, what that means when you go up to Lincoln?

COACH DAVIE: You know, I’ve only been out there one time. I was a graduate assistant at Pittsburg, back in the late ’70s, and actually went out and watched them play at Florida State and scouted the game. But just knowing about Nebraska, first thing is when you look in their press guide, it’s amazing to me. I’m glad we’re not playing them in a nutrition contest. They have to have a whole nutrition department. So many nutritionists. They do a tremendous job developing players. I think that’s the first thing you see. Their system has been intact, whether it’s offense, defensive or the off?the?field part of it, the weight lifting and nutrition. They do a tremendous job.

The second thing I think they do, scheme?wise, I’m really impressed with what they do. They present the hardest things on offense, defense, and they’ve done a great job in special teams over the years.

And the third thing is talking to people that play there. They have great fans. They have great fans. And they have fans that appreciate football and appreciate good football.

All in all it’s a heck of a challenge to go play there. And it’s no secret that we’ve done some of the things, we’ve tried to do some of the things that Nebraska has done over the years. If you look at our weight program, I think we’ve had good results in our weight program over the last several years. We’ve tried to do things with nutrition and play close attention to that. We’ve tried to keep players in the program and develop players. So we pattern ourselves after them a little bit. And I think they just do a tremendous job, I really do.

Q. (Inaudible.)

COACH DAVIE: I hope so, it drove us crazy. If they’re as loud as that crowd noise, man ?? we put some money into a whole new sound system, as John knows, and we could have you come in on our practice field, and they wouldn’t skip a beat. Hopefully we get a trade off with all the money. I’m sure all the neighbors around our practice fields ?? I haven’t opened my mail ?? Jan probably has a whole file of neighborhood mail, with that noise coming off the practice field. But we’ve made it as hard as we can. We made it as hard as we can. We tried to get the coaches back. We’ve tried to let them play. It’s been as loud as I’ve ever been around.

Q. Do we have any freshman stand?outs in practice, and any freshman coming in during the Nebraska game?

COACH DAVIE: We’ll take some freshman with us. We’re not taking all the freshman. Ryan Grant is going to travel. I hope I don’t leave anyone off. Dwight Ellick, Matt Root, those three for sure. It seems like there’s someone else. How much they play I’m not sure. I don’t know that any of them will get ?? Carlos Campbell, also. Carlos Campbell might have the first opportunity to get in the game.

Q. Brandon Hoyte, will he travel?

COACH DAVIE: No, we’re not going to take Brandon.

Q. I know you won’t know until you get in the game situation, but based upon what you’ve seen in scrimmages, how far along are you in terms of developing the chemistry that you want along the offensive line, especially in light of some of the injuries you had?

COACH DAVIE: It’s gone pretty good, really. Vollers has really pushed through some injuries to stay out there. And Jordan Black really ?? when he tweaked his knee a little bit, he only missed a day or two. Curtin has been there the whole time. Our tackles have really stayed consistent. Faine really hasn’t missed a beat. We held him out of the one scrimmage. Mahan, he’s a solid guy. He’s just the one guard that I’m concerned about. But from a chemistry standpoint and a call standpoint, scheme standpoint, we’re much further along. We’re further along now than we were a year ago, even with Jim Jones and Mike Gandy, just as far as identifying fronts and getting the right call. Jeff Faine was playing the first time last year. We’re much farther along.

Q. What has Milligan done, other than he stayed healthy, by and large through the spring? Here’s a guy that’s played two games and played 6 minutes and 7 seconds.

COACH DAVIE: He’s athletic and he has some punch. He can run, hit a moving target. It’s athleticism. It’s simply that. And the upside for him is pretty high, because he’s a good athlete. He can move.

Q. JW Jordan, how long do you anticipate him being out?

COACH DAVIE: I think about four weeks. And so ??.

Q. You’re saying four games?

COACH DAVIE: I think ?? yeah, probably four weeks from this week. It’s in the four? or five?week category.

Q. Did he have a tear?

COACH DAVIE: No. I’m not sure of the exact diagnosis. We can get that for you. I think it was a sprain. There’s no surgery or anything.

Q. When you talked earlier about the tradition and everything that they have, with the continuity of their system year after year, does that make it easier to get ready, not necessarily dealing with personnel, but knowing what to expect from them having that?

COACH DAVIE: It helps that we’ve played them, just from the standpoint ?? the first time you play Nebraska, they can overwhelm you a little bit in preparation. You look at their defense, you do a lot of different things. They’ll walk the linebacker up and present a double eagle scheme, not many college teams do that. On offense, their offense is an accumulation of a bunch of years.

They’ve got little things they can bring out and dust out of archives and execute at a high level. It’s impressive. There’s things that they pull out and run two or three times a game, but yet they execute at a high level whenever they do it. I think the fact that we played them and we are a little bit like them, at least from a knowledge standpoint, you feel a little more stable going into it. But obviously it’s not what you know, it’s how you do it. So it comes down to stopping it.

But I think a year ago you were a little bit rattled going in from just a scheme standpoint, with all the multitude of things they do.

Q. Since January 2nd you’ve been looking forward to Nebraska, through the spring, through the summer. Come Sunday morning you’ll look forward to Purdue. Do you worry about a letdown after focusing on this game for so long, looking at this one item?

COACH DAVIE: We can’t. I talked about that with our team. I talked about maturity, and the maturity standpoint of ?? regardless of what happens against Nebraska, Purdue, Michigan State, A&M, it’s the next game. It is always on to the next game. And we’ve been careful not to just go all Nebraska from day one. I think sometimes you have a tendency to do that. And with us ?? it wasn’t any different last year. We had Purdue after Nebraska a year ago, as well. And I don’t think people understand what that is, that transition.

So certainly having been it through before, we’re not going to go in and spend all three or four weeks of training camp just on Nebraska. I mean there’s just too much football left. We’ve, I think, been pretty balanced when it comes to that. Like all of them, this is a huge game. And certainly being able to bounce back after a huge win or a huge loss, that’s what maturity is. So when you talk about chemistry and you talk about those things, that’s what we’ll find out as we go down the path. I’d like to think that would be a strength of ours.

Q. What is Alice Cooper really like?

COACH DAVIE: A heck of a guy. He really is. I enjoyed him. I’ll probably get some mail in Notre Dame fans now. They have ?? what is it called, two?minute drill? ?? Two?minute drill on ESPN, and it’s down to quarter finals. And I guess the show is on at 6:00. I’m not live doing that show. I don’t want any fan mail from Notre Dame, saying what’s he doing on the two?minute drill? No wonder he can’t coach. We taped this back in May, so I’m not doing that live. I don’t need any fan mail on that. He’s a heck of a guy. He’s a big?time golfer, big?time sports guy. He’s from Ann Arbor, Michigan. He wants to come to a game this year. And Jerry Tarkanian was there, as well. He’s coming to our Michigan State game. He’s a pretty sharp guy, Al. I call him Coop. He’s my homeboy now, I call him Coop.

Q. Speaking of tradition, you mentioned a lot of coaches and teams like to wipe the slate clean when the season starts. And I’ve been hearing and reading a lot of people saying that Notre Dame or the Notre Dame mystique is dead. But how much of some of those games that your teams ?? Notre Dame teams have played, the big ones at Oklahoma and Michigan State and LSU, will they take with them to Nebraska?

COACH DAVIE: Well, you know, there’s some of that aura still alive, because obviously this is a huge game in Lincoln, Nebraska as well. People have been talking about this for a long time. What that aura has been is going into winning big games. Maybe for whatever reason your team was the underdog, you were going in as a player, as a coach as an underdog. And that’s what I think we have to do.

At some point we’ve got to go in. We need to go in, and in all seriousness, we had the stage set and the Fiesta Bowl, we were a 9 and 2 team, we didn’t get it done. We got slapped out there. That’s why in a lot of ways I realize we could be opening up against easier teams, we could be opening up in a lot easier situation, in our own stadium and things like that. For us to get it back, we’ve got to go do this. We have to go win. And that’s where it is. So if people are saying that, I can understand that a little bit, because we need to go win a game like this.

We’ve won some good games, beating LSU, and beating Michigan when they were coming off the national championship. But this is a different time now. We’re in the program. We’ve got some good players. We’ve got some continuity. We have some leadership. We’ve got to go win. And that’s where we are right now.

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