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Notre Dame Head Coach Tyrone Willingham Quotes

On the game:
“I liked how we were able to respond and come back in the game, issuing a statement that we would not fade. We needed to get back into the winner’s circle and have that winning feeling again after a game. It is not a feeling of relief, but it feels very good to get a victory. Hopefully, the celebration is just getting started and we can build on our success from today.”

On junior kicker D.J. Fitzpatrick’s game-winning field goal:
“We felt confident in his abilities and that he could make the kick. I did not tell him anything really before the kick. I just told him to not be anxious and stay patient. I also let him know that Navy would freeze him just so he was aware of what they would try to do.”

On Notre Dame’s winning streak versus Navy:
“From my perspective, there was no added pressure on our team. There is almost an equal split of close games and blowouts in the series and Navy is a good team. Our told guys that, but I also told them this didn’t have to be the year the streak came to an end.”

On Notre Dame’s rushing game and senior running back Julius Jones:
“We are very pleased how we ran the ball today. We have been at our best this year when we have been able to run the ball. Julius Jones has really been the one to spearhead our rushing attack this season. When we run the ball effectively, it makes our play action better and allows us to have more success in our passing game.”

Notre Dame Player Quotes

Senior Running Back Julius Jones

On the win…
“I’m happy about this win. We worked hard and finally all of our hard work has paid off. Hopefully we can win these last three games.”

On having 33 carries in the game …
“I definitely feel it. The main thing is being patient and not trying to take too much – taking the five-yard gains and the four-yard gains. Eventually you get one in, and that’s what happened today.”

On the team’s pregame mentality
“I think the whole team goes about its business. We go out there and we have something to prove every week. It’s been a rough season for us, but we never gave up. Whatever the situation is, we’re going to continue to play hard.”

On the winning field goal…
“We had full confidence in D.J. (Fitzpatrick). He does it everyday in practice. Finally he got his chance. I think every kicker dreams of having a chance to make the winning kick. It finally came for him, he stepped up and completed it.”

Sophomore Center Bob Morton

On the winning field goal …
“Did you see that kick? That was the thrill. You’re talking about a guy (Fitzpatrick) that was thrust into that position a few weeks ago. And he performed like that and that’s exciting! Whether I’m on the field or whether I’m a fan in the stands, I’m going to react the same way. I lost my control and ran over and hit him as hard as I could.”

On working together …
“When an offensive lineman can miss a block and you have a running back that can still run over them it makes you feel a whole lot better. You feel bad because that run of 25 yards could have been a touchdown. So it kind of picks up the offensive line and vice versa. When the line is blocking, it picks up the play of the running backs. We play off each other and we did that really well today.”

Senior Holder Matt Krueger (who also was a high school teammate of D.J. Fitzpatrick at Marian High School in Mishawaka, Ind.)

On talking to Fitzpatrick before the last kick …
“I said to him, ‘You know D.J., it’s just another kick. You’ve made ones like this in high school. You’ve made kicks longer than that to win in high school.'”

Freshman Defensive End Victor Abiamiri

On the outcome of the game…
“It was good to get a win; we haven’t gotten one in a while. We could have played better in some areas, but we did what it took to get a win.”

On Navy’s offense…
“It’s a tough offense and Navy is a good team. They play hard, smart, and they gave us a good game. I have nothing but respect for those guys.”

Junior Kicker D.J. Fitzpatrick

On winning the game…
“I missed two field goals in the first half that I should have made. It was just nice to get a chance to redeem myself.”

On his thoughts before the kick…
“I just kept taking my steps, swinging my leg and trying to block everything else out. I hit it great off my foot, but I heard a thud so I thought it was blocked, I just thanked God it went over. With everyone running up and the noise of the crowd, it was unbelievable.”

Sophomore Offensive Guard Jamie Ryan

On blocking for running back Julius Jones…
“Sometimes we block things poorly, but he brings it out and gets yards for us. Once he has a sniff of the end zone, there is no denying him, which is a quality of a great running back.”

Navy Head Coach Paul Johnson

On game…
“I thought it was a heck of a football game, I was proud of our guys’ effort. We’re never satisfied when we lose. We had our chances to win the game on both sides of the ball. In the last five minutes of the game we had a chance to drive down and hopefully eat up some clock and maybe it would have been us kicking the field goal instead of them. We were able to punt them in a hole down there and to their credit they found a way to get the ball out.”

On difference in game…
“They decided that they wanted to run the ball, which was pretty successful. I was glad they decided earlier to do that. They found a way to get it done at the end and we didn’t.”

On Navy’s third-down offensive effort…
“We hurt ourselves some on third-down. We had been really good on third-down conversions coming into the game but got ourselves into some binds on third-down offensively.”

On Notre Dame kicker D.J. Fitzpatrick’s game-winning field goal…
“They don’t get any style points for being pretty, it went through.”

On defense’s inability to contain Notre Dame running back Julius Jones…
“Defensively we had a hard time stopping them when they ran the football. They are so much bigger and more physical than we are. We had a lot of guys up there, but at times we still couldn’t get them stopped. [Julius Jones] broke some tackles, at times they caught is in a blitz. We had to blitz to get pressure. We can’t line up and get pressure against them like they can us. It’s not the same, it’s not apples and apples. You have to take some chances.”

On decision to punt on Navy’s final fourth-quarter possession…
“I felt like if we punted them down there deep, we had held them a couple times down there. If you hold them back we got the wind. We might get the ball on our side of the field and you only have to make a first down or two to be kicking a field goal. If you go for it there and don’t make it, they only need a couple of first downs.”

Navy Player Quotes

#33 Josh Smith (Jr., Safety)

On the game …
“When you give it all you got, it is going to hurt when you lose. We gave it everything we had, but they just made a few extra plays.”

On the game-winning field-goal attempt …
“I tipped the ball. I got three fingers on it and I didn’t expect it to go in. I guess I just didn’t get enough of it.”

On not getting a turnover …
“That hurt us a lot. Today is the first time in a while we haven’t got a turnover. At halftime, we said we needed to get a turnover, but we just didn’t get one.”

#56 Eddie Carthan (Sr., Linebacker)

On the game …
“We gave up an opportunity [to win the game]. We just have to let it ago and look toward to the next few games.”

On if today was a moral victory …
“It would be different ifthey were suppose to blow us out, but we had this game won and we lost it so there are no moral victories.”

#32 Kyle Eckel (Jr., Fullback)

On losing 40 straight games to Notre Dame …
“I think coming into the game we thought the streak would end. We came into this game expecting to win and until the ball went through the uprights, we thought we had a chance to win. We weren’t trying to win to end the streak, but just to win the game.”

On Navy’s defense …
“The defense did a good job of getting the offense good field possession. I think everytime we got past midfield, we were able to score.”

#11 Craig Candeto (Sr., Quarterback)

On the game …
“This is tough. All the preperation we put into this week, everyone on the team thought we were going to win. We put ourselves in a great position to win the game, but they just made one more play than we did.”