Notre Dame S Houston Griffith: 'We have to keep working'

Notre Dame never quite got it rolling on Saturday night as the Fighting Irish fell to Stanford 16-14 under the lights. 

The stadium was dead to start the game as Notre Dame came out slow and never recovered as the Irish couldn’t make enough plays to turn the tide against the Cardinal. 

Notre Dame’s 3-3 start isn’t what fifth-year senior Houston Griffith returned for, but the Chicago native owned the loss and knows the performance wasn’t good enough. 

"I'll tell you one thing,” stated Griffith. “It's a loss. One thing we have to do is learn from it. We have a bunch of guys that are team guys. It's a tough loss. It's a rivalry, but at the end of the day, we have to take this L, learn and improve. We have to keep working. We have a lot of games left this season.” 

No one on the Irish roster has experienced three losses by mid-October and while it’s an unfortunate spot to be in, Griffith and the veterans aren’t giving up on this season. 

"We can't hold our heads down,” said Griffith. “We have a bunch of leaders and a bunch of guys who came back for a reason. We have a bunch of guys ready to keep finishing this season and go out the right way. We can't dwell on this game. We have to move on, improve and get ready for next week." 

Griffith, who recorded six tackles against Stanford, has experienced the ups and downs of college football during his time in South Bend. Director of Football Performance Matt Balis prepares the team during the offseason to handle adversity and Griffith hopes to rely on that training to salvage the 2022 campaign. 

"I've been at Notre Dame a lot of years,” Griffith said. “Adversity occurs and being around Coach Balis - it's our culture. We've learned how to attack adversity. At the end of the day, we'll learn how to improve, watch the film, get better and move on. 

"We have to move on and know the rest of the season, we dictate it. We can't let teams come in here and dictate the game. We have to be better on defense, offense and special teams. It's a team. Everybody knows it and everyone knows we have to improve and be better as a whole unit. We're going to review the game and put it to rest." 

Notre Dame’s defense has failed to force turnovers at a consistent rate this fall and Saturday was much of the same as Stanford won the turnover battle 2-0. 

That said, the Irish defense was close to forcing about three turnovers, including a controversial takeaway that was overturned following a review.

Notre Dame needs to force turnovers and Griffith knows the Irish are close, but close isn’t good enough when you’re 3-3. 

"It didn't happen, so it doesn't impact us at all,” Griffith said of the defense almost coming up with key turnovers. “At the end of the day, we have to finish the game. Coach (Al) Golden preaches it to us. We talk about TNT. We talk about tackles and turnovers. That's what we preach. 

"At the end of the day, we didn't get a turnover, so that doesn't impact us at all. We just have to learn how to finish, get the ball back for our offense and help them go make a play." 

Stanford’s offense has been explosive at times this season and the delayed mesh is always challenging for defenses as it puts a ton of stress on the second level.

Notre Dame did hold under its average for total yards and gave up 97 yards, but the Irish also six passes over 15 yards, which accounted for 132 yards. 

"I'm not going to say they were stressing us,” said Griffith. “They're a good team and a good opponent. It's a rivalry. We can't look at their record and short-play them.

"At the end of the day, they came out here and played. We just have to get better." 

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