Sept. 7, 2002

Recap?|? Final Stats?|? Notes?|? Photo Gallery

Notre Dame Head Coach Tyrone Willingham Quotes

On the Irish:
“We did some things well today and we did some things bad today. I am overall happy with the outcome of today’s game. To be 2-0 right now is a special thing and we will build on that.”

On quarterback Carlyle Holiday:
“Some things he did well today, and there are other things he did not do well today. All things must work together for everything to go well. He struggled at times, but I am happy with the progress he has made with the offense. This is not an easy offense to run, and I think he is making progress with what we expect of him.”

On the Notre Dame defense:
“They stepped up when we needed them to. Vontez Duff had an excellent game today. In some games one part of the team will have to step up and the defense did that today. Our defense was solid today. This is a team sport and in a team sport there are many pieces that make up the puzzle.”

On Notre Dame’s conditioning:
“I believe that if you are not in shape you cannot lift your play. Without that you cannot win. I was hot out there today, and I am extremely happy with the way our team performed.”

On the Purdue defense:
“They did a great job preparing for us, and we had to adjust. I feel that we did that today. They showed us a lot of different packages throughout the game, but we made the needed changes to reach the outcome we were looking for.”

On kicker Nicholas Setta:
“I told him that he will hit the next one. He is a good kicker and he knows that. I am not worried about him.”

Notre Dame Player Quotes

Junior CB Vontez Duff

On the play of the defense:
“On our defense, all we talk about is dominating. We do our techniques, but all we think about is dominating.”

On the Irish defensive focus:
“It’s all about scoring and turnovers; that’s what we pride ourselves on.”

On his playmaking ability:
“I focus on playing defense; that’s my job. I’m a cornerback, and I love playing the position. Once I get the ball in my hands, I’m going to score.”

Junior QB Carlyle Holiday

On the Purdue defensive effort:
“We expected them to blitz a lot today. I think they disguised their coverage very well, which took us out of a lot of things.”

On the importance of the Irish offense scoring touchdowns:
“We know as an offensive team that we have to make touchdowns. We have to work on some things to become a better ball club.”

Sophomore RB Ryan Grant

On the increased number of rushing plays:
“I don’t think our offensive game plan changed at all. We’re a balanced offense, and we have to take care of business in all aspects.”

Purdue Head Coach Joe Tiller Quotes

On his impression of game:
“[It was] a well-played football game from an effort standpoint. Both football teams [will] probably feel when they look at the tape that things were a little shoddy at times, but I think effort-wise it was one of the better football games we’ve been involved in.”

On four turnovers committed by Purdue:
“Whenever I’ve been around a closely contested football game in all the years I’ve coached, it invariably comes down to one thing ? turnovers. You win the turnover battle, you win the close games. They win the turnover battle, they win the close games, That’s what they did.”

On Vontez Duff’s fourth-quarter interception of quarterback Kyle Orton:
“[It was] a deflected ball that went off our receiver. The ball was thrown a little behind him. You always say when you touch it, you catch it, but I don’t know if [Seth Morales] could catch that or not. They made the play and we didn’t. It wasn’t a well-thrown ball but it is almost reminiscent of two years ago up here when John Standeford was a freshman and ran a crossing route, drifted up-field, and their defensive back came in underneath and took it in for a touchdown. “

On use of final time-out with more than two minutes remaining in the contest:
“We had a situation on the next to last play ? a substitution deal. We had a young guy that didn’t make it on the field. It hurt us. We ended up having to call a timeout. We didn’t help ourselves in that situation.”

On Lionel Bolen’s recovery of 2nd-quarter Purdue fumble of kickoff return:
“I was having a nightmare all week long about them returning a punt. It looked like one, but it wasn’t.”

On Purdue’s defensive effort:
“If we score 17 points, then our defense has to hold them to 16. If they score 24 points our offense has to score 25. This is a football team; this is not a defense or an offense.”

Purdue Player Quotes

Junior FS Stuart Schweigert

On feeling a sense of urgency in the game:
“We definitely felt a sense of urgency. It was like this two years ago when we were here. We were down 14-0 and we came back strong so I knew we could do it. Defensively, we just had to keep playing the same way we played all game and just keep stopping them. We did that. The one thing we didn’t do too well was create turnovers. That is something we really wanted to do.”

On being the most frustrating loss he has had at Notre Dame Stadium:
“I would say it is [the most frustrating loss]. We came out here and had a really good game plan. We are really confident in where we are this year. Our team was really confident. We knew special teams was going to make a difference in this game and as you can see that we lost that battle.”

On frustrating the Notre Dame offense:
“We knew Carlyle [Holiday] was a young quarterback with a new system so we knew if we showed him a lot, he would check off at the line. We didn’t want to just stand around like Maryland did and let [Notre Dame] dictate. We wanted to dictate what was going on out there.”

Junior WR John Standeford

On how the Purdue offense was more effective in the second half:
“We were just out there trying to have our offense get us back in the game. Our defense played really well today. I give a lot of credit to our defense because they did not allow a touchdown today. We just fell a little short.”

Sophomore QB Kyle Orton

On the interception by Vontez Duff:
“It was a fly route. I threw it behind [Seth Morales] and it got tipped. The rest is history, I guess.”

On the crowd:
“I think we handled it well. We only had one false start penalty. That is expected. But I think we handled it really well.”