What Central Michigan coach Jim McElwain said about Notre Dame football after Irish win
Central Michigan didn’t give Notre Dame too much of a scare Saturday. The Fighting Irish won, 41-17. But the Chippewas only trailed by a touchdown at halftime, and for that CMU head coach Jim McElwain was proud.
Here is everything McElwain said about Notre Dame football after the Irish’s victory.
Opening statement
“First off, great environment. Great place to play. My hat’s off, and I want to thank Notre Dame for scheduling this game. It means a lot being on the field. Central Michigan Chippewas, I think it was great for our university and our community.
“Our guys played real hard. Proud of them. We got to quit giving up the big plays, but we’ll come back, look at it, come back and get a little bit better.”
On how playing a team like Notre Dame prepares Central Michigan for conference play
“You ever been to a MAC game in November? All 12 people? No, it’s pretty awesome. Great experience for our players. But to me, more importantly, great experience for this university. I’ve got a lot of responsibility. A lot of it is to not only take care of our players but take care of our university and our community. I just wanted to be proud of these guys.”
On what’s next for CMU after the Notre Dame game
“Those guys got not only really shiny helmets but the guys in those shiny helmets are some of the best players in all of college football. That is what it is. Our guys went out there and played their tails off. Another road game. This schedule that they gave us this year is one of the hardest in school history. Got a long bus ride home then we got a flight down to South Alabama. We just got to keep working and keep pushing.”
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On the CMU running game having some success vs. the Irish defense
“Both Marion [Lukes] and Myles [Bailey], both, they looked like they belonged. We had some other guys who looked like they belonged. That makes you happy. Now, I don’t need the film to go to every one of these schools so they come and poach our good players, right? But at the same time, they ran hard. I thought the offense put a good scheme together to take advantage of a couple things they do and I thought it showed.”
On the CMU defense not getting to ND quarterback Sam Hartman
“Yeah, a lot of time. Man, really big guys up front too. There are not many teams getting pressure on him. At the same time you van attribute some of that to we had better coverage and that forced him to hold it a little longer. We got to do a better job of getting on the edges as pass rushers. We try to go too much down the middle. Against big guys like that, you ain’t gonna get very far.”
On only being down 21-14 at halftime
“I was proud of the guys. The way we did it, I didn’t want to leave any time on the clock. One of our Achilles heels has been two minute before the half on defense. I thought the way we did it, we controlled that drive. It was good. It was good to feel the guys in the locker room. We felt if we could come out and just get a stop, we’d have an opportunity.”
On CMU fans showing up at Notre Dame Stadium
“Isn’t it cool? And not only that, but you can hear them. Chippewa nation, man. We travel. I think it was something that makes us real proud. And you know what, I hope they’re proud of these kids.”
