The 9-2 Notre Dame Fighting Irish look to end their regular season on a 10-game winning streak like they did just a season ago. This weekend, they travel out to Stanford, California to take on the Cardinal in their 39th all-time matchup. The Irish have dominated this series as of late, but Stanford bested the Irish in South Bend during Marcus Freeman's first season as a head coach. Fortunately, the outlook on the program is significantly different than it was during the young head coach's first season.
Stanford has had a whirlwind of a season. They fired their head coach, Troy Taylor, and the new general manager, Andrew Luck, hired his former head coach in Indianapolis Frank Reich as the interim head coach this season. Yesterday, Notre Dame's offensive coordinator Mike Denbrock, defensive coordinator Chris Ash, special teams coordinator Marty Biagi and a handful of offensive and defensive players talked about their dominant win on Senior Day and their final matchup of the regular season.
You can watch the full press conference here:
Here are some of the main quotes from yesterday's post-practice press conference:
Chris Ash On Why Madden Faraimo Is Ready To Take On A Bigger Role
"Madden [Faraimo] has been out here getting a lot of reps every day at practice so we see him every single day," Ash said about the freshman linebacker. "He's not on the sideline just watching, he's getting a lot of reps. He's played some meaningful snaps in games; we just think it's time for him to be ready. It's next man up. We love Kyngstonn [Viliamu-Asa], Kyng's a great player; he's one of the best players I've been around. We're going to miss him, but we have some other great linebackers that have played really well this season. It's time for Madden to step up and try to help us out more."
Mike Denbrock On Where The Offensive Line Has Grown The Most
"When you have some moving parts and pieces because of injuries, it takes a little bit of time for those guys to get used to the communication and gel together," Denbrock explained. "I think continual progress has been made there every week. I think our communication is as good as it's ever been. I think our understanding is as good as it's ever been. Obviously, it's a credit to those players and it's a credit to Coach Joe [Rudolph] and the work that he's doing with those guys."
Marty Biagi On Jadarian Price Being Named A Top Returner In The Country
"It's super exciting," Biagi stated. "I just want it for them and I think Jadarian [Price] would be the first to tell you that it's all eleven of those guys. JD has bought into exactly whatever the gameplan is for that week and I think he whole heartedly trusts that those 10 guys are going to block for him. Again, it's something that on Monday or Tuesday they're looking to see what the gameplan is. It's a full team effort. Yeah, it's one person's acknowledgement or award but it goes back to our scouts. I hope he wins the award, but more than anything, I think it's a credit to the whole team and the buy in."
Will Pauling On What It Means To Be In The Playoff Push
"It's definitely awesome to be a part of a team like this," Pauling explained. "Honestly, I think the focus for us is to be locked in on this week and not looking too far ahead into the future. We're blocking out the noise to focus on Stanford but it's definitely awesome to be a part of it."
Madden Faraimo On If The Game Has Slowed Down For Him
"I think with each week, you learn more," Faraimo said when asked if he knew the moment when the game slowed down. "The game starts to slow down a little bit, you get a little more comfortable being in each spot. I think it's a cumulation of each week."
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