Quick-hitters: Notre Dame OC Tommy Rees on Stanford loss, adding an offensive analyst, Drew Pyne

Notre Dame offense coordinator Tommy Rees is back under fire. And if anybody is going to take heat for the Fighting Irish’s offensive performance, he said he’d want it to be himself every time.

Here’s more on that and everything else Rees said during his weekly Tuesday evening media availability.

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On the immediate aftermath of losing to Stanford

“Obviously Saturday night is a tough night. You come in Sunday and try to take emotion out of it as much as you can. It’s hard when you’re dealing with 18 to 22 year olds who have a lot of emotions toward the games. You want to always put them in the right spots. We all do this to have success. That’s where the emotion plays in. But as much as you can, players and coaches alike, you have to do what you can to strip that out of there. Technically try to figure out where you went wrong and where you can improve and try to look at things through a clear lens.”

On Notre Dame’s Sunday night practice

“The best thing we do is practice on Sunday night because you’re able to get back on the field and flush it. I told the quarterbacks, ‘You’re going to walk off the field Sunday night feeling good. But somewhere in the next 24 hours, you’re going to feel the sense of Saturday night come back. You have to try to find this [good] feeling in whatever you do. Surround yourself with our team and what we’re trying to accomplish moving forward.’

“That’s really all we can do. We try to put one foot in front of the other and play another game this week. “There’s no point of hanging our head and feeling sorry because the guys outside of the building sure as shit aren’t. So we’re just going to keep charging ahead and get ready to play Saturday afternoon.”

On the difference in the Notre Dame offense against North Carolina and BYU vs. against Stanford

“I try to internalize it. How can I do better? How can I help? What could I have done? I was up all night going through calls that didn’t hit. I could have done this, I could have done that. I should have done this. You got to try to move ahead and continue to put our guys in the best position possible. This is about the players. What we do, our program, what we’re about is trying to put those guys in the right spot. That’s what I owe them and that’s why we work the way we work. If all the blame is going to go toward me, that’s a good thing because it means it’s not falling on our guys. I’d rather have it that way.”

On getting in a better rhythm early in drives

“I have to call it better. I got to get Drew [Pyne] in a rhythm, get the line in a rhythm, feel the game, give them confidence right off the bat. We’ve had that a little bit. In the second quarter you get in a rhythm and you start feeling it. You get into that in the second half the last couple weeks. Kind of feel that. We have to make sure exactly what we’re preparing for and the expectations on the opening script and how to make sure those guys have confidence going into that.”

On Notre Dame QB Drew Pyne’s lack of accuracy vs. Stanford

“It’s two-fold. When we look at the lack of physical execution, you’re going to always look at, is it something mentally where something is not in the right spot? Or is it something fundamentally or technically that we need to improve on? There are probably times of each as you evaluate a season or a game regardless of who the quarterback is. Those plays that don’t hit, you go, ‘This is our feet on this one. Or shoulders aren’t set where they need to. Mentally we’re not getting our eyes where they need to be quick enough.’ There are going to be 10 other plays throughout the course of the game where you maybe got away with it and got a completion, but we have to make sure our eyes are in the right spot. We have to coach those plays the same way we do the ones that don’t hit.”

On the thought of adding analysts with head coaching experience to the Notre Dame coaching staff before the season

“First of all, coach [Marcus] Freeman doesn’t need to ask my permission for anything. Any question of that is a joke because it’s his program. We had conversations going all the way back to probably last December about the staff. At no point we were ever closed of to the idea about bringing anyone in. But at the end of the day, it’s coach Freeman’s decision. We were trying all the way up through training camp. We had an offensive analyst spot open, we still have one open. So if any of you guys want to work 20 hours a week, come on in.

“We were trying all the way through camp trying to add guys with formative experience. We were hungry for that. I think anybody that has really spent time around him or me knows that’s something we were eager to try to explore and try to make work. I don’t know where some narratives come from. It couldn’t have been from the reality of the situation. We were working with the university to try to get some guys here. It didn’t work right now, doesn’t mean it won’t work moving forward.”

On the Tobias Merriweather touchdown

“We had something we prepared for during the week. We felt like we could get him matched up on a safety with some cushion. He has the length, speed and ability to make those rangy catches. We had been working some things. There were a couple specific looks that we got to that we had what we wanted. He made a heck of a catch. Drew made a heck of a throw. The unsung part is the protection. Logan [Diggs] came across and picked up a backer. We had time to step up. It was an outstanding moment for him.”