Dec. 1, 2001
Notre Dame head coach Bob Davie
On the Game
“I never saw things that happened in other games that happened in this game. The testimony of players in the locker room at the end of the game helped us to motivate ourselves. I appreciate this game, it’s the greatest game in the world. It’s almost like a life lesson.”
Negative Press
“I think they deserve better as a team. There have been a lot we’ve had to defend against and I apologized to the players due to the negative circulation. We do what we do before every game. We honor each senior, and each senior talks about his situation and each coach talks about the players. I’m really proud of this team. We won tonight like we have won nine games last year. We’re the same team, same coaches, we are what we are.”
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Notre Dame Tailback Terrance Howard
On the game
“It felt good to win the last game of the season as a senior. Coach told me and my fellow seniors to come out here as men tonight. He made us motivated and coached his butt off. Coach told us not to worry about mistakes, just let loose and make big plays. We have to keep this positive mindset in every game. This win was good for our younger class, and especially our seniors.”
Notre Dame Tailback Julius Jones
On the game
“It was a team motivation to win. We came out here for that reason and for coach today and we won. We got the outcome that any team would want, regardless of the season.”
Purdue head coach Joe Tiller
On the offense
“We had our chances offensively. That sounds like a broken record. It was disappointing to lose and was disappointing to have penalties that impacted our field position. Still, we had a chance to win the game, but were unable to convert our opportunities when we needed to.”
On the positives in today’s game
“Defensively we played well. They scored once off of our kicking game and once off of our offense. Offensively, we threw the ball as well as we have all year. Our quarterback took another step today.”
On Notre Dame’s interception return for a touchdown
“The interception that Kyle (Orton) threw did not surprise me. He went to well one too many times on that pass route after having success with it prior to that play. The corner was there waiting for him to throw the same pass. Young people have a tendency to do things like that. I was disappointed in that play, but not surprised that it happened.”
On going to a fifth consecutive bowl game
“I am pleased with the thought of playing another game. Our players will benefit greatly from the experience, especially our young players. We get the chance to ‘tee it up’ again and play another game when a lot of teams have already put their gear away. We live to fight another fight and are very appreciative of that.”
On Travis Dorsch
“Travis did a lot of positive things for us. He kicked the ball extremely well and made some clutch kicks for us. He did an outstanding job for us both this season and throughout his career. The most pleasing thing is that he came full-circle with his kicking.”
Freshman quarterback Kyle Orton
On the effectiveness of the passing game
“Their defense pressured us more but our receivers did a great job of catching the ball and running after the catch. I just got to make plays. The interception I threw was something I cannot do or it will come back to haunt us.”
On abandoning the running game in second half
“In the second half we needed to score quickly and that is why we got away from the run. We had a good game plan coming in. Coach Chaney called plays he thought would help us. He is great at his job so you cannot second-guess him”
Sophomore wide receiver John Standeford
On the passing game
“We worked hard offensively against the pressure defense this week. We came into the game knowing we could throw, we were just trying to win the game for the seniors.”
On playing Indiana and Notre Dame in consecutive weeks
“It is tough to lose to Indiana, but we had to come in here and keep our heads up and play hard. We knew this would be a difficult game also.”
Senior tight end Tim Stratton
On the game
“It is disappointing to lose but it was a good game for the fans. That is the one good thing. It is disappointing because we made too many mistakes that have gone on all season long.”
On facing rivals in consecutive weeks
“I do not think it was that difficult to get up for each game. Personally, I did not feel that it was. I do not think that the guys did either. It was a matter of guys making plays and we did not make enough.”
On the passing game
“They played more of a two-deep coverage and we tried to exploit it. When you have a quarterback like Orton that can ‘chuck’ the ball 100 miles an hour, you can take some chances.”
On his touchdown reception off a deflection
“I always try to get over to the ball, wherever it is thrown. It just happened to tip-off to me. I was in the right place at the right time.”
Senior kicker-punter Travis Dorsch
On breaking the Big Ten’s career field goal and points records
“That is something you look back on and reflect when your career is over. Right now we are just trying to concentrate as a team on how we can go out and win a ballgame. Hopefully, we are lucky enough to get invited to the postseason.”
On close losses in the last two games
“It is a tough to put a nail in that. Rivalry games are always going to be close, they are always going to be hard fought and are usually going to come down to the end. We just have to give credit to Indiana and Notre Dame both. They had good game plans and beat us. We need to look forward to the future. Hopefully, we can have one more game and go out of here as winners.”
Junior running back Montrell Lowe
On the last two games
“I think that we went out and stalled on a few drives. We came back and played well, but we put ourselves in a hole. Things happen, they went and made plays and we did not. We made plays, but they made them early. Unfortunately, time ran out on us.”
On the offense’s improved production in the second half
“We knew that we could exploit Notre Dame is different areas. We could go out there and make certain plays. We executed what was discussed at halftime and I think our team came out with a little bit more fire.”