Everything Notre Dame DC Al Golden said before Week 3 at Purdue

Notre Dame defensive coordinator Al Golden met with the media Tuesday night before the Fighting Irish take on Purdue on the road this weekend. Here’s everything he said.

On if the iPads worked on Saturday

“They did not. From the beginning.”

On if it was NIU’s iPads that didn’t work or Notre Dame’s

“I don’t know. I didn’t get into it. We had too much going on to worry about it.”

On if helmet communication worked

“Yes, sir.”

On if anything was different in Week 2 without iPads

“No, iPad had nothing to do with our execution and the explosive plays. There’s so many things that we needed to do better, but at the end of the day it comes down to a certain number of plays and the two explosives, one for a touchdown. We just needed one more stop. Because it’s not going to be perfect, and I got news for everybody: It’s not going to be perfect the rest of the way. You have to find ways to win.

“We just needed one more play. Either a takeaway to set up the offense or don’t give up one of those explosives and then you have a chance. The way the game unfolded, we had to hold them to 13 to win. We failed. We didn’t do it. End of story. That’s it. That’s defensive football. Each game unfolds differently. That’s the way that game unfolded. We didn’t get it done.”

On NIU’s 83-yard touchdown

“A great throw and catch on their part. I wouldn’t say anything different other than let’s cap it off and get it on the ground. It was almost like [Kyngstonn Viliamu-Asa’s] underneath coverage was excellent. [Benjamin Morrison] was coming from on top. Looked like he was going for the interception and then their guy split them at the last second.

“If you look at the replay, the quarterback’s going that way when he released it. So bravo to him. Excellent play under duress. Our M.O. has been ‘get it on the ground, play the next play,’ so that one hurt because you gave them a free one when they were backed up. And that hurt our offense. We didn’t get the offense the ball at midfield. That’s complementary football. They pinned it down for us. We need to give it back to them so they have an opportunity to score. That’s where we’re at fault there.”

On if Notre Dame’s linebackers get caught looking one way only for the play to go the other

“I don’t know if I fully agree with your statement. As soon as I say I buy your statement … We knew the challenges of Northern coming in. It’s different. I sat here a week ago and talked about (how) if we don’t stop the run, if we’re not efficient on first down, it’s very much like Navy. And then they lull you to sleep and throw it over your head.

“We need to improve our eye discipline, there’s no doubt about it. We all need to play better, and we need to coach it better too. I need to do a better job coaching it. I love those guys. I think they’re all doing a fine job. We just need to be a little bit better, and I have to get them a little sharper.”

On the short field Notre Dame’s defense had to go against on NIU’s game-winning drive

“That’s defensive football. That’s what we signed up for. There was a number of first downs where they made it by a yard. We have to be better at yards after contact on first and second down to get that third and 5, third and 6, third and 7, not third and 1, third and 2. Hard downs to live in.

“We fought. We fought our ass off. We just came up short at the end there. We need to make a play. That’s defensive football. Sudden change doesn’t matter. It does not matter. It’s immaterial how the ball got there. That’s our job to go out and defend. We have to go out there and do it.”

On Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman’s ‘fitball’ vs. ‘football’ comment

“We saw it in the opener too. A&M is a good stretch team. We just fit it better. We have to attack. When I say ‘fit,’ I’m talking about how we get the hats to the point of attack. That’s all I’m saying. We need someone setting an edge on that. It could be the 3-technique, the 5-technique or the end. And then we need a certain amount of players filling the gaps inside. To that that you have to be aggressive. You have to be downhill. Like Navy can do at times or Army, we allowed some of the pre-snap to slow us down and we have to get off the spot.”

On Notre Dame defensive end Joshua Burnham’s high snap count vs. NIU

“He’s just getting better every day. He’s a guy that – look, when your house is in order and all you are focusing on is improvement every day, you can make great gains. And we’re starting to see, he’s starting to see the fruits of that labor. Just consistency over time. Consistency over time. Not here and here. Again, I know I’m talking to a (tape recorder), but not up one (day), you know what I mean, and then down the next. Just consistent, positive trend over time. He’s a great lesson in that. He’s just a good football player. That’s what he is. He executes the defense the way you want it done. I’m happy he’s having success.”

On Jason Onye playing more defensive end for Notre Dame

“We had to get bigger. That’s basically a goal-line set, whether it’s 32, 23, 14 personnel. Whatever it is, it’s basically a goal-line set. So you kind of have to match size in there. We just needed a couple more where we didn’t get the YAC, just to get them in that third and 6, third and 7. Our third downs when they were longer were better. We have to do a better job doing that.”

On Purdue

“OK, so No. 1, two really gifted tight ends in [Max Klare] and [Drew Biber]. But 86 and 82. Really good football players. They move them around, do different things with them. That’s challenge No. 1. Challenge No. 2 is 45, the tailback. He’s running it really well, and again it happens to be a lot of the same schemes we just saw, the stretch. But he’s a big back, so we have to tackle him.

“[Hudson] Card at quarterback is throwing the ball really well right now. He’s one of the fastest quarterbacks I’ve seen since I’ve been here. I put him in the lead with Caleb [Williams]. He’s that fast. He’s a sudden player, so we have to make sure he’s accounted for in the run game, in the scramble game, certainly in special situations. We have to be alert for him.

“They’re getting Cam Brown back at wideout and No. 7 did a nice job for them in the opener, a longer wide receiver. They have a veteran group. The O-line is playing well. What they’re doing on offense in the run game, I think they were first in the Big Ten games a year ago in the run game, so that’s going to be a great challenge for us.

On scouting opponents early in the season

“It’s definitely a challenge. You’re showing your hand and they didn’t, but that’s it. You coach and you play for Notre Dame. If that happens, it will have no bearing on the outcome of the game on Saturday. But it may open them up to pairing more concepts, that’s all. We have to take care of what we can control and play good football.

On how the Notre Dame defense has responded this week

“Good practice today. It’s hard, it’s bitter, it hurts. You invest so much and then it’s not the results that you wanted and it hurts. That’s the greatest thing about this game and what it teaches you. We have an opportunity to choose how we’re going to respond and what our attitude is going to be like and whether or not we’re going to lead or do we just lead when it’s good. All those things. Now everybody’s talking poorly about us. We have to handle that the same way we should’ve handled it when it was praise. All those things hopefully will make us closer, but the only thing that matters is that practice right there. We’re going to go grade it, but it felt good on the field. It felt like we were where we needed to be. We tackled better. We need to get ready and get after it on third down tomorrow.”

On getting improvements from Notre Dame DE RJ Oben

“Be steady, be consistent. Doesn’t have to all happen in one day, one practice, one game. I was telling him the story of Baptiste a year ago, Javontae, and it was like Game 4 or Game 5. Then he turned the corner, and the rest is history. Just keep getting better. Block everything else out. Just get better every day, improve your skills, improve your knowledge of the defense, play faster, give great effort and the rest will take care of itself. It’s pretty simple. Don’t make it complicated.”

On if Oben is struggling with what he’s asked to do

“I don’t know. I think that’s a question for him. We love him. We’re trying to get him better. And I think that the secret is that there’s no secret. If there’s any secret, it’s that it’s in the work. It’s in the hard work. It’s in the consistency, the playbook, studying at night, watching more film. It’s all those little things because when you’re that age, once it turns, it’s going to turn for him, like it did for Javontae. And we’re confident that it will.”