Notre Dame head coach Brian Kelly addressed the media after a 34-10 loss to Clemson in the ACC Championship Game.
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On Why The Notre Dame Offense Struggled
“I’ve got to watch a little more film to give you an exact answer to the question. We came out, moved the ball pretty effectively on the first drives, and mixed it up well. I think by and large, we stalled out on a number of drives in the red zone. That's a big part of this game, in particular, in the first quarter, where we had some opportunities. We couldn't finish off drives, missed a field goal and then got into a situation where we were in fourth-down situations.
“We were not very good at running the ball on first down and had some negative yardage plays. Again, it’s playing an opponent the second time. They’re going to do some things and make adjustments on the sideline. Again, trying to get a balance with running and throwing the football.”
On How Clemson Found So Much Success With Their Passing Game
“I thought of a couple of instances where Trevor Lawrence was able to use his eyes and get Kyle [Hamilton] out of the middle of the field to open up some double moves and some favorable matchups. They're very, very talented. He had time to throw. Again they made the plays. Certainly, from our perspective, losing Hamilton in the second half, you get a little thin back there.
“But the second quarter was key and not fitting a couple of the runs was certainly key as well. But I think, by and large, within the passing game, the second half I thought we settled into a better routine. It was really the second quarter where he was able to get some one-on-one matchups, and then we made some adjustments.”
On How The Clemson Defense Was Able To Prevent Ian Book From Making Plays With His Legs
“They were not rushing quite as hard off the edge as you saw. They were much more in a contain mode to keep them from getting outside and did a nice job of minimizing his ability to get big chunk runs.
“Trying to keep him at bay was obviously part of the game plan. They did it by the way they rushed the front four. Then brought a little bit more pressure from inside out and flushed him out to ends that were not upfield. They were staying flat and to the level of the quarterback.”
On Why Notre Dame Should Still Be In The College Football Playoff
“I think if you look at our body of work, in terms of what we've done all year: We played 11 games. We've beaten two top-15 teams. We obviously lost to the No. 3-ranked team in the country tonight.
“It wasn't our best effort but consistently, when you play 11 games, and you have a win over the No. 1 team in the country, and then you win against an outstanding North Carolina team, I don’t know that you need to look any further than that.”
On Notre Dame’s Struggles In The Red Zone
“We’ve got to finish. We can't keep leaving points out here. There's only so much you can do at that point. You got to continue to stay positive with the guys and continue to look at ways to you know get the ball in the end zone. It really doesn't do much good to be over there yelling and screaming. They know what they need to do. They needed to finish off some drives. We didn't do it.
“We’re all in this together. We've got to coach better, and our players got to make plays. When you have a great football team, which we do, it's about consistency and performance and we were inconsistent today for the first time all year. We’ll work hard in our preparation, and we'll get back to being more consistent.”
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