Nov. 18, 2006
Recap | Final Stats | Notes | Photo Gallery 
COACH WEIS: Fire away. By the way, it’s 35 24 at the end of the third quarter. (Referring to Ohio State/Michigan game.) (Laughter).
Just figured I would help you out a little. And yes, I did hold the score from being announced during the game, if that was the next question, because I thought that our players would be scoreboard watching rather than focusing in on the game. And I said that I said that we would call up when the game was near an end and go ahead and announce it.
Q. What about the green uniforms? What brought that on, the green jerseys? COACH WEIS: You really want the story behind that?
Q. Please.
COACH WEIS: Two nights ago I was sitting there with my wife and my son. My son actually brought it up he said, “Dad we should wear the green uniforms.” “Charlie, that’s an unwritten rule, uniforms you never wear when you’re playing against the No. 1 ranked team in the country.”
“He goes, well, Dad you tell me how special this senior class is. It just doesn’t seem right that they don’t get an opportunity to be honored as seniors going out.” I thought for a 13 year old kid to make a statement like that, I thought it made a lot of sense.
So I sat down with our captains and I brought it up and we went over the pros and cons of wearing green. I felt that we would get a little juice in the locker room and by the fans when we went out there, which I was definitely concerned with us being flat. Even though we had a couple holding penalties in the first couple drives, I thought the fans were into the game and I thought the players were into the game, even though the offensive production in the first two drives didn’t indicate it.
But I thought more importantly, it gave an opportunity to let this special group of seniors, which we really feel that this is a special group, is kind of like our gift from the team, the coaching staff, the under classmen, to our seniors.
Q. Just wondering if you’ve spent any time looking into USC yet?
COACH WEIS: Well, would you like for me to lie? (Laughter).
Q. The truth is preferable, but
COACH WEIS: I’ve watched every game, every play, offense, defense, special teams no, I have not watched every play on special teams. But I’ve watched every play on offense and defense. That, I can tell you.
Q. You just mentioned how your son could see how the senior class is special. What is it about this class that has been so special, what they have accomplished?
COACH WEIS: Well, we can go over like say a fifth year guy. A fifth year guy has been through a whole bunch of coaches now and a whole bunch of assistant coaches. They have had highs and lows. These emotional roller coasters are not necessarily a good thing.
But more than anything else, more than me liking these guys, which I do; I like these guys. I’m really happy for them. Usually you’re proud of them first. I’m actually happy for them. I’m just happy that they get to end their college experience like this, you know, on a high.
As I told them, we still have two more games to go, but to be able to play the last time at your stadium in front of your family and friends and students that you’ve been with for the last four or five years, I think it’s something special.
Q. Earlier you posted a sign inaudible?
COACH WEIS: No, but I think that I don’t think we would be content to end up 10 3. I don’t think we would be content now. I know we’re one game better but we still have two more big games.
Obviously USC, we know how good they are and whoever we’re matched up in a Bowl game, we’re going to come up against a top flight team in the country. Whether it’s the first team or whether it’s not, that’s not the point. We’re up against two tough opponents to go. As I tell these guys you’re always remembered how you go out the end of the year. You’re not going to be remembered by beating Army 41 9. They are going to be remembered by that game out in California and what happens in that Bowl game. We have a lot of work yet to do.
Q. What would have been the cons of wearing the green jerseys?
COACH WEIS: I started with what I said to him, the unwritten rule, the rationale. He said, well, where is that it was almost like implied, well, is that etched in stone; we can’t set our own rules?
I thought it was a very good suggestion. I always get leery, to be honest with you, the media, like, oh, here Weis goes again. But I really thought bringing it to the captains and asking them about it. As a matter of fact when I asked Quinn, he said that was the toughest question he was asked all week, whether to wear the green jerseys or not. And then I called him a wimp and he said, okay, I want to wear them.
But they were unanimous, the captains were, and they didn’t tell anyone, even Zbi, would was able to not tell Samardzija which is a miracle in its own right, you know, that he was able to do that. (Laughter)
But I think that what we actually did is I had a video guy go in the locker room, one of our video guys go in the locker room before the game, because I never get to see their reaction when they go in there and see in their lockers, so I’m looking forward to watching that myself.
Q. (Will you wear the green jerseys again?)
COACH WEIS: That’s a good question and I think that’s too early for me to answer. We won, so we got that out of the way, you know. So we can’t say, if we’re in the green, we’re going to lose, so at least they got that stigma out of the way. We’ll have to see how it goes.
Q. You don’t often see a coach get teary eyed or misty on the field. How proud were you, and it seemed like you were soaking the moment in when the players were coming around?
COACH WEIS: You know, I think when you come here, the older guys have already had, you know, a couple coaches already. They have already had position coaches and head coaches. You know, people always say, when you get to recruit your own guys; they are my own guys. These are my guys.
Like I said, I’m proud of them, but more importantly, I’m just happy for them. I’m happy they are where we are and they know we have a lot of work to do. I think tonight is the last time they will ever play at home for most of those guys. I know some of them have a fifth year we’ll discuss yet but that’s not the point. For most of these guys it’s the last time they will ever play here but to enjoy the evening with their family and friends after a big win is special, and I’ll be watching the USC Cal game in case you’re wondering.
Q. It looked like Mike got together with the offense and then Brady, did he get a nudge from you to go over and talk to them?
COACH WEIS: I told them they were playing soft on defense; that we had just gotten two holding penalties and we had, you know, an interception. I said now if they are going to play soft, they are going to have to nickel and dime you, if they are not going to feel that we have the patience to just do that. I went and told them, you have to be patient, fellas. We’re not going to score in big chunks here. We are going to nickel and dime them because that’s what they have been dictating for you to do.
The general tendency for an offense is to press, they want to score in a hurry. That’s not the way the coverage was being dictated. What I told them after the two drives is relax, it’s 3 0; you’re not down 100 3. Let’s just get things under control, realize I’m going to run the ball and throw short intermediate routes, which is what I told them we were going to do and what we did most of the rest of the game. I just wanted them to know it was a change of game plan. I’ve always told you the type of person that waits long to change the game plan well, we changed it after two drives because we had a bunch of downfield throws designed to go in there and they were not going to work. And we got out of it after the third drive and we got it on the third drive, and that was pretty much it the rest of the game. We could pretty much control the ball the rest of the game.
Q. What went through your mind when the students and the seniors and fans were chanting “Beat SC” when you first heard it?
COACH WEIS: I agree with them. (Laughter) That’s what was going through my mind. They could have been louder.
Q. What did you like what you saw in X’s and O’s in today’s game and what makes you say, we need to do some work?
COACH WEIS: Well, we were very simple in this game plan because, you know, the players didn’t know that part of what we practiced this week was for next week. But they didn’t know that. Because then they would be thinking that I’m thinking towards next week. So about two thirds of what we practiced this week, they didn’t see in this game; well, why did we practice all this stuff?
He thought out bread and butter no huddle package on the offense and our bread and butter package on the defense, we played sound, fundamental football would be enough to win the game. I think, you know, you have to tie these things in together. You never can look past one opponent and get yourself caught short. But I think that that’s basically what I’m getting at. You have to look at these in sequence and kind of fit them all together.
Q. I asked you this earlier if you thought this year’s team was better than last year; is it still too early to tell?
COACH WEIS: It is getting close. It is too early to tell, though. Last year we ended up with Syracuse, 34 10, somewhere in that neighborhood, very similar game, other than the fact last year the offense didn’t perform well in that game, it was more of a defensive game. Defense played well today. Offense, Darius ran the ball for 160. Brady really had one bad throw the whole day well, he threw one in the dirt. The one interception earlier where we forced it and we quickly got out of that mentality and went into more short, intermediate passes and run and said, just be patient, don’t be impatient here.
Q. Did you have any special intention to get the ball to Marcus more today? Could you assess his play as far as you saw it?
COACH WEIS: I can’t tell you. I know he blocked pretty well. I don’t know we don’t design to throw the ball to anyone. When we call a play, it’s all based on where the coverage is, and therefore, the ball goes to the guys based on what coverage.
Today Samardzija has nine catches and Rhema had three catches. It could have the coverage was different; it could have just been the opposite. It could have been Rhema with nine catches and Jeff with three. We don’t design to get the ball to anyone. Whoever is open off the coverage gets the ball. I just know he blocked pretty well.
Q. Were you concerned at all toward the end of the game that the offense was not going to get another series?
COACH WEIS: Oh, no, I know we would get the ball back but I wanted to give John Lyons a carry, I wanted to get Aldrige a carry, I wanted to get McConnell a carry. After that pass interference call, I know it was going to get it was getting kind of close, getting kind of close to not getting in there.
But I think the most important thing for me was to make sure I got the guys, you know, try to get those guys on the field to at least be part of that experience.
Q. Were you glad to see Brady soak up a lot of it? He jumped in the stands, and I think some of his friends jumped out of the stands, too.
COACH WEIS: I think he’s been watching his brother in law and that Green Bay stuff they do. Isn’t his brother in law in Green Bay where they dive into the stands? I think he’s been watching too many Packer games.
Brady really enjoys being part of the experience and enjoys being part of the student body. For a guy that’s of his stature, he could very easily, very easily act like a prima donna, and he doesn’t have one ounce of that in his body. I think he wanted to share that moment with the fans, especially the student body at the end. He’s really a special person.
COACH ROSS: Okay. You all know this and I don’t have to say, this Notre Dame is really a great football team, and you’ve got to give Charlie and their whole program a tremendous amount of credit. They are good. I mean, they are very good. You know, we are still struggling and trying to build. I wasn’t displeased with some things, and I thought there were some things that we did reasonably well, or at least better.
We’re really struggling there and you can tell it at the quarterback position. We’re young there. We tried two or three different combinations and stayed with Pevoto in the second half. It’s an awful lot to ask of a freshman to come in here and deliver and make the plays that we would have thought would he would have to have make.
We didn’t do very well. We didn’t protect well up front. I think that was one of our big problems in the game is we didn’t protect well. We wanted to run the ball as much as we possibly could. We started off well with that, and then we started moving their line a little, did a little slanting, etc. Their quickness was a little bit too much for us to handle.
Defensively I thought we did some decent things. Our problem is we can’t generate a pass rush. Pass rush, it’s not there. Brady Quinn, just he had all day. I mean, he could just stand back there. There were a couple times where we forced him to scramble on a 3rd and 10 and he scrambled for 10, 12, 15 yards and that type of thing. And the coverage was decent. But our problem is pass rush and defensively, that’s a big part of it, right now, at least what I saw in this football game today.
We were trying to slant, do a lot of different things pressure wise to get something on him. And when we do that, we open up running lanes, and that’s something we don’t have the necessary quickness and speed to get off and handle that type of thing.
Our kicking game was good. I was pleased with that, I thought we played well, punted well I was very pleased with what our kickoff team did for the day.
That’s pretty much it in nutshell. Notre Dame is better than we are. We all know that. They have a great program and in Quinn, they have a premiere football player. And the wide outs, all three of them today, I think they had a heck of a day against us. We were trying to take a couple things away from the two big ones. When you do that, they are smart enough, they can counter that, and they did. They did a very great job with it. They are a great football program, and we wish them nothing but the best in the future. Questions?
Q. One of the things that you were able to do was prevent longest pass they got off was 24 yards. Can you talk about what the secondary was able to do to keep everything in front of them?
COACH ROSS: That was the plan. The plan was not to give them anything deep. Whatever we did, we were not going to give them something cheap. If they have to drive, they drove and they are capable of doing that, too.
But we did try to take that away, and if there was an element to the plan that did work, that would have been it. We are minus a very, very good safety, maybe our best defensive football player. I thought the kids stepped in there and did a pretty good job and very pleased with the way number 19 played. He’s been out most of the year and he came back in the last couple of ballgames and played the way I thought he could play and I thought he was the one that had the nice interception early in the ballgame.
Q. You’ve coached a National Champion, the team you played today have National Championship quality?
COACH ROSS: Oh, written all over it, all over it. I don’t know that there would be a weakness to their team. They have great speed, and their defense has changed a little from the beginning of the season. They got to more of a pressure package and they have the people to do that.
Their quickness was just they are not you know, they are not what you call massive in size, but they are not small, either, but they have great, great quickness and that’s what was giving us such a difficult time. We were running plays that sometimes and when they started slanting and moving, and the pressure of course was a couple of things. We had a couple of things to try to hit them on the pressure, but just our quarterback, our youngster, he had a little trouble with it. He’s young and he just wasn’t ready for that type of speed. We can’t simulate their speed in practice, there’s no question about that.
Q. Is the reciprocation on Army’s part, going over for Notre Dame’s alma mater
COACH ROSS: We have great respect for their program, I know I do, and have for many, many years. We would certainly have done that, and really would have done it with any team you feel that way about.
Q. You obviously have coached a lot of great quarterbacks in your day, can you just talk about Brady Quinn, what separates him, what makes him a little different? COACH ROSS: I think you know with Quinn, obviously he’s got a cannon of an arm. Many, many years ago when I first went into pro coaching as an assistant I saw a great arm in a guy named Burke Jones (ph). He had strength to his arm and I believe Brady Quinn’s arm reminds me of that. That’s the first thing that comes to focus. He can put that ball down to 35 yards on a line and that’s very difficult. I mean, he’s got to have a very strong arm to do that.
The other facet to it is he can run. There were times our coverage was pretty good, third down, third and 10 or 11, I think I made reference to it earlier but he scrambled and made the necessary yardage. He’s certainly very, very high in my mind as far as the Heisman Trophy winner.
Player Quotes
2006 Notre Dame Football Post-Game Quotes Notre Dame vs. Army Saturday, Nov. 18, 2006, Notre Dame Stadium, Notre Dame, Ind.
Notre Dame Player Quotes
Senior QB Brady Quinn
On his reaction to senior day …
“I did my best today to take it all in. Ryan Harris caught me trying to look up into the stands at the end, and I was just taking mental pictures. It’s hard to understand the impact, because [the media] doesn’t get a chance to see the support your fans can give you. Obviously there’s the game, but aside from that you don’t see it. Today was special moment when I looked up in the stands and everyone is still there. 80,000 Notre Dame fans are up anticipating the final lap around the field. It makes me realize how special this place is.”
On his first interception in 226 pass attempts …
“The linebacker rode with Jeff more than I thought he would. I tried to anticipate him breaking towards the middle, but the safety made a good play on the ball. It was one of the things where you try to set a precedent early in the game, but the safety just made a good play. It’s sad that something like that kind of streak has to end, but at the same point in time if it’s going to go to any player, it’s one of the service academy guys. I’d rather it go to them than anyone else.”
Senior WR Jeff Samardzijia
On Brady Quinn’s celebration…
“Brady is kind of shy. It was cool to see him get crazy like that. Sometimes he just needs some help with that.”
On the offensive sideline meeting…
“Coach Haywood said some things and was mostly just calming everyone down. After that first scoring drive, he told us to go out there and make a nice drive. He told us to put seven on the board and said we’ll go from there. We just kept our heads high. It’s not the first time we have stared out the game down. We have a lot of veteran guys and we took care of it.”
Senior DB Chinedum Ndukwe
On the defense’s beginning of the game…
“I think it was the excitement of the game. We had those jerseys on and everyone was really pumped to play. We tried to get out there and set the tone for the rest of the game. “
On the captains keeping the green jerseys a secret…
“Brady did a good job. All the captains knew about it and did a good job. I am glad because it was a great surprise going into the locker room and seeing them out there.”
On the upcoming game with USC…
“We’ve got a big game next week that we are really looking forward to. We get to play USC out there and it is great. That is really all I am thinking about right now. I am not really thinking about this victory. I am just thinking about next week and how I am going to prepare for it this week.”
Senior DE Chris Frome
On playing his last game in the stadium…
“You kind of prepare for this. Over the years you see all of the seniors go. They’re always waving to their families and fans in the stand one last time. It is not until you actually get out there and do it that it all hits home. It’s a sad feeling. I still know that we have two big games left, probably the biggest games of the season, but at the same time you wish you could play them at home.”
Senior S Tom Zbikowski
On his past four years…
“Looking back, I wouldn’t change a thing. Things happen for a reason. I am happy everything turned out the way it is.”
On the USC game…
“We are going to try to watch some tape and get refocused. This is obviously a bigger game than usual.”
Senior CB Mike Richardson
On the seniors’ emotion…
“This is our last year and we just wanted to show fans how much we appreciated their support. I was overwhelmed a little bit towards the end. A lot of it started getting to me, but it was our last time in Notre Dame Stadium.”
On Coach Weis’ decision to wear the green jerseys…
“It was a nice surprise. It was good that Coach Weis did that. It gave us a little more energy at least it did for me. It was really a great thing. No one was really expecting it. It’s usually reserved for special games. It was a little surprising.”
On one lasting thought he’ll take away from playing at ND…
“The fans and all the support you get from the fans. It’s like no other. At other stadiums, sometimes you get booed. But win or lose here, the fans are going to support you no matter what.”
Senior DT Derek Landri
On the green jerseys…
“We’ve had them on three times, so don’t want to get overexcited and waste all our energy putting the jerseys on instead of playing with them on.”
On his fourth blocked kick of the season…
“Trevor (Laws) had one last week, a big block. It’s just a chance to keep points off the board.”
On the play of the defense…
“Not to take anything away from the offense, but it was more so for the defense. We played well this week, a little better than the week before. We’re trying to build on every week and obviously we have one of the better teams in the country next week. It was a good defensive game and it was good to get that under our belt.”
Junior RB Darius Walker
On Notre Dame’s running game …
“It was a good day. We wanted to come in and establish the run and to out-tough them or out-hustle them. It’s always important to dictate the game. We felt we controlled it the whole time, so we really felt good about it.”
On preparation for USC …
“Of course we’re excited about next week. Everybody knows what’s coming up and what’s at stake next week. We’ve put ourselves in a position to do something big, and we want to follow through and achieve it. I think we’ve seen progression week-in, week-out. Every week has been a more complete offensive win, being able to run the ball, throw the ball, pass protect.”
Army Quotes
Senior LB Cason Schrode
On Stopping ND on 4-and-1 in the fourth quarter …
“It felt good to stop them on that play. We didn’t want them to get another first and let them keep moving the ball. I was just doing everything I could to make that play.”
Notre Dame’s Offensive Performance …
“In the first quarter everyone could see that they had some trouble running the ball so we knew that they would open up and get their passing game going. Brady Quinn, Darius Walker and those guys are NFL talent and they are definitely as good as all their hype.”
Freshman QB Carson Williams
On Army’s Offensive Effort …
“Anytime you have turnovers it going to affect you. We came out and everyone was firing on all cylinders and everything was clicking and we were keeping with them early on but just couldn’t do that the rest of the game. “
On Defense Notre Dame’s …
“Defensively, body-per-body, they match up pretty well with any team we have played. Notre Dame pressures well and they disguise it well too. It is a very aggressive defense.”
Senior TE Tim Dunn
On Army’s Offensive Performance …
“You know I wish we would have played better. We have tendency to play well early and start losing our focus in the second and third quarter so that’s something we need to fix before the game against Navy. Today was our season in a nutshell. We just let it slip away in the second quarter.”