Notre Dame Quotes

Head Coach Bob Davie

On the Significance of this Game: It’s always good to get that first game under your belt. I don’t think there’s anything more difficult in college football than that first game.
On Notre Dame’s Defense: I thought we played. We had some hits out there. As the game when on, we got a little bit stronger. As a team, I think we got a little bit stronger. I didn’t think we applied great pressure on the quarterback, but I think we had some hits. I didn’t think that they could consistently run on us, once we got into the game.
On ND Tailbacks: We’ve got some backs: Fisher, Driver, Howard, and Julius (Jones). I think you’ll see, as the season goes on, that we have some speed at tailback. And I hope that we’ll break some more runs.
On the Status of his team: We’ve got some talent on this team. We’ve got some explosiveness on this team. But we’ve got a long way to go. It was nice to know exactly where we are.
On Arnaz Battle: Arnaz has shown in practice what he showed today. He has a special talent running the football. We’ve got to get Arnaz Battle in the game. He’s a gamebreaker.
On Next Week’s Game at Michigan: We all realize the stakes will go up next week, playing on the road. I think that our football team realizes that it doesn’t matter where we are today. It’s where we will be next week. I talked about next week’s game as soon as this game was over. I told them to enjoy this, because you never want to take a win for granted. But, let’s be realistic.
On Michigan’s Defense: Another concern I have is ‘Can we run the ball?’ I know we have good backs, but can we line up and run the ball at them. We’ll have to make a lot of improvements to be able to run the football against Michigan.

Notre Dame Player Quotes

Jarious Jackson, Quarterback

On the Offense: “I really like the new offense. Donavan McNabb told me that I should be in good physical condition to run this offense properly. I wasn’t sure what he meant until now that I am beginning to feel the hits. Fisher and Driver ran the ball well today, but we still need to improve some things to win next weeks game. I am proud of the way the offense played today.”
On Kansas: ” They made me run out there, but I liked that. They kept me on my toes and made me look at what I need to work on to improve or offense. They played with a lot of heart out there we got an early lead and they could have just given up, but they continued to improve through out the game.”

Tony Fisher, Tailback

On his first game: ” I was surprised how well I played today. We played very well as a team today. This offense is capable of a lot of great things this season. I think I jumped a big hurdle this afternoon in my first game with some significant runs. I worked all of the nervous bugs out today, and now I can continue the rest of the season with out them.”

Anthony Denman, Inside Linebacker

On the Defense: “Kansas gave us a good challenge out there today. We got off to a good start and continued on a roll during the game. Kansas kept coming at us and they never gave up. Both team battled the heat out there and it showed that we were in good condition to win .”

Grant Irons, Defensive End

On Kansas: ” They helped us work out or bugs today. we are pretty content with the way we played them, but we need to make some improvements before we go to Michigan next week. I have to give credit to Kansas they played hard and never gave up.”
On Michigan: “We got to see where we need to make improvements for next weeks game. This game was good for us on the defensive end of the ball to find out what works and what does not. We know that Michigan was watching the game and that they now what they need to do to beat us.”

Kansas Quotes

Head Coach Terry Allen

On the early lead: ?The type of football team were are, we cannot afford to spot Notre Dame a 20-point lead and be successful. They are too good. It was not a pretty game with eight turnovers but that happens in an early game.?
On turnovers: ?The big emphasis on our team is to limit early turnovers and penalties. We got a turnover at the start of the second half and had a chance to tie the game. The blocked field goal hurt but the penalty ended up being the thing that hurt us.?
?The most important thing about our football team is that we can be successful against a top team like Notre Dame. We have two weeks until our next game and we?ll be able to see how we can improve.?
On the play of David Winbush: ?That was not characteristic of David Winbush. He was upset and disappointed and wanted to go crawling home. He was man enough to come back out there.?
On the Kansas passing game: ?When we were able to protect the passer, we were able to throw down field. They just put too much pressure on us.?

Kansas Players

Wide Receiver Michael Chandler

On the momentum: We come in at the half and we’re actually in the game. We get a turnover and start to drive the ball early in the third quarter and from there we just didn’t put it together.
On playing in Notre Dame Stadium: You can’t come in here and expect to take anything from this team (Notre Dame), but we thought that we should have matched up better against them (Notre Dame) and we didn’t get it done.
On the team’s performance: We’re not ready. We are ready physically, but we aren’t mentally. We just need to execute better and elimnate the turnovers.

Wide Receiver Termaine Fulton

On the team’s concentration: We just need to eliminate the silly mistakes. The turnovers, the penalties, offsides, all kinds of mistakes. We need to eliminate those if we want to win games.
On the team’s ability: We are a much better team than the scoreboard indicates. Like I said, we just need to eliminate the silly little mistakes and you’ll see us get it done.

Running Back David Winbush

On his two fumbles: That was definitely poor play on my part. I think that was the worst half of football that I have personally played since I started playing football…and what a way to do it, on national television.

April 15, 2024 Football