Welcome back to the season’s final Tuesdays with BK, this time coming from El Paso, Texas. In front of a different crowd than usual, Brian Kelly discussed hot topics like Duval Kamara, the future of Michael Floyd, keys to defeating the Hurricanes, and carrying Sun Bowl momentum into 2011.
Our friends over at UND.com have video of the press conference here, but I’ll give you some of the greatest hits:
The news of Duval Kamara’s abscense from the Sun Bowl was explained by the fuzzy “personal reasons” yesterday, and when asked about it today, Brian Kelly didn’t have much to add, other than a little bit of displeasure in the entire situation.
“I’d like to stick him in a snow drift in New Jersey,” Kelly said, referencing the inclimate weather that hit Kamara’s hometown, before answering seriously.
“Personal reasons is the reason why he’s not here,” Kelly said before finalizing Kamara’s status for the game. “I would not know whether or not he shows up in El Paso or not.”
Personal reasons or not, it sounds like Kamara will end his career at Notre Dame in the head coach’s dog house, likely from a decision made over the three-day holiday break.
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We’re going to dig into the decision Michael Floyd has to make later, but when Kelly was asked what it would mean if the Sun Bowl was Floyd’s last game in a Notre Dame uniform, he had a thoughtful response.
“These decisions that are made relative to whether they come back or not, I really don’t spend much time on it,” Kelly said. “I look at the present. And in the present, Michael Floyd is somebody that impacted our entire football team. And he impacted it by the way he worked every day in practice. He set a standard, from my perspective, of how you want champions to practice and prepare. Great work ethic, great with understanding what it takes to be a great player. If he does decide it’s in his best interests to move on to the NFL, whether I agree or not, is really immaterial, what he leaves is a standard I can point to moving forward: That’s how you prepare, that’s how you practice. Look at Michael Floyd.”
Floyd sits near the top of every receiving record in Notre Dame history and if he returns for his senior season he’ll likely be guaranteed his name doesn’t go anywhere for quite some time. That said, after sniffing around our mutual hometown and high school alma mater, I’ve got a feeling that Friday’s game might be MMF’s finale.
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Tim Prister of Irish Illustrated played a game of fill-in-the-blanks with Kelly, where the head coach tried to relay the key to an Irish victory. Not surprisingly, it included slowing down Miami’s pass rush and protecting freshman quarterback Tommy Rees.
“Number one, we have to be able to protect Tommy,” Kelly said. “That’s absolutely critical. We can’t put this game in a situation where he has to go out as a freshman and decide the outcome. And then defensively, find a way to balance stopping the run with the ability to play the ball in the air down the field. They’re going to run the football, and they’re going to take shots with some skilled players. In other words, you can’t sell out against the run, or you’re going to get in 1-on-1 matchups that Miami can exploit. It’s balance on defense and don’t put Tommy Rees in a position where he has to make plays.”
Keeping Rees protected is the obvious priority, but stopping a Hurricane running attack that could help open up the play-action pass game is critical for the Irish defense. While most of the talk has been about Notre Dame’s strong defense in November, for the season, the Irish have done a pretty good job limiting the run. After a slow start out of the gates (thanks to a killer game by Denard Robinson), the Irish held defenses to a very respectable 3.6 yards a carry in the final nine games of the season, even including the debacle against Navy.
With Ian Williams back anchoring the nose and Darius Fleming coming on of late, the Irish should have a good chance to contain a Miami offense filled with talent, but lacking cohesion.
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Beating Miami on Friday would give the Irish eight victories for the season, their first four-game winning streak since 2006, and an awful lot of momentum going into 2011. Kelly talked about what this bowl game means for the Irish heading into next season.
“Any time you take two weeks to practice, you’re always thinking about preparation for the opponent, but you also have an eye towards the future,” Kelly said. “It’s like anything else — you’re going to live in the present but you’re always going to have an eye towards the future. So this clearly, for both teams, there’s 2011 out there as well. We want to win the football game. So the most important thing is the right now. But in the evaluation process over the past couple weeks, you’re also looking at those guys that are going to impact your team in 2011. It’s very, very important to our players, our coaches, everybody associated.”
The Irish’s ceiling could hinge on the return of Floyd and tight end Kyle Rudolph to the offense, but you can be assured that expectations for 2011 — whether deserved or not — will be sky high for next year.
(At least by this guy…)
