Kmet: 'For Ian to play well, we have to play well'

Notre Dame tight end Cole Kmet was very adamant in standing up for his quarterback on Tuesday following practice. 

The 6-foot-6, 250-pounder believes the entire offense needs to play better and things will go smoother for Ian Book. 

"For Ian to play well, we have to play well," stated Kmet. "A lot of people look at Ian and go 'Why isn't he playing well?' 

"You have to look at the other 10 guys surrounding him. I'm part of that. All 10 guys surrounding Ian looked at ourselves and we have to do better for him. That's what we're going to do this week."

Self-reflection has been a hot topic this week following the loss to Michigan. Kmet has moved past the 45-14 beating, but he also is making sure he uses it as motivation moving forward. 

"You definitely use it as motivation, but you have to move on in a sense," explained Kmet. "Today was a great step with that. We had a good and physical practice. 

"It was the first step this week in preparing for Virginia Tech. We've moved on from Michigan, but you still remember it and it's there."

A return to the College Football Playoff is gone and with no conference title to win, Notre Dame is playing for pride.

"The goal right now is to have a good practice tomorrow and beat Virginia Tech on Saturday," Kmet said. "We want to progress day-by-day and that's the goal we have."

The disappointment from Notre Dame fans around the country have made it an interesting week online and Social Media. 

The national media has taken plenty of shots, but those in The Gug aren't paying attention to it. 

"We're not really concerned with the outside noise," Kmet stated. "We're going to go back to what we do best and get back to playing our brand of football." 

As for the Michigan game, Kmet didn't know why the Irish didn't show up. However, the Illinois native knows a good week of preparation will be beneficial. 

"I don't know what to say to that," Kmet said of the no show in Ann Arbor. "It's a mindset thing I guess. That's something we're going to fix this week and we took a good step forward with that today in practice."