Oct. 30, 1999

NOTRE DAME PLAYER QUOTES

Jay Johnson on his game winning touchdown reception
“I was the third look (of Jarious Jackson). I just made the catch, and after I caught it, I was too close for them to stop me from scoring.”

Jay Johnson on Navy
“Navy played a great game. We were not making the blocks. We won the game, though, and that is all that matters.

Rocky Boiman on the rash of Irish penalties
“Sometimes you think that you cannot control the penalties. This shows that we have a lot of work to do. We have to play better than this.”

Rocky Boiman on Navy
“Their formations gave us a lot of problems with our assignments. We have a great defense and we won the game. That is all we needed to do.”

Terrance Howard on the penalties
“It seems like on every drive there was a penalty of some kind. I knew we were going to come back and win the game, though.”

John Merandi on the game and the performance of Julius Jones
“We are just happy to get the win. Now it is time to move on to the Tennessee game. Julius is special – he reminds me of Autry Denson. His ability to read the holes is amazing.”

Navy Head Coach Charlie Weatherbie

On the game-
“We played a great team today. You can’t afford to turn the ball over to a team of that caliber. I felt we did a great job defensively, but you need to score more points if you are going to beat Notre Dame. We felt we could win the game, and the effort was definitely there. These boys played their hearts out today and they continue to fight every week.”

On the fourth down conversion on the final drive-
“When (Notre Dame’s Bobby) Brown caught the ball I thought he came up about six inches short of the first down. I felt like the game was over, but football is a game of inches and the inches went their way.”

On the play of quarterback Brian Madden-
“Brian played a very good game for his first start, however, no matter how experienced you are, you can’t turn the ball over. I felt he did a great job of leading the team, and I believe the rest of the team responded extremely well to him.”

On the losing streak-
“We don’t worry about the streak. This team does not have a 36-game losing streak to Notre Dame, Navy does. We do not think about breaking the streak, we thought about winning this week.”