Irish Say They'll Be Ready
If Julian Love had his way, Notre Dame would already know if it was headed to the College Football Playoffs or not by now.
After Saturday’s win over Syracuse ran the Irish’s record to 11-0, the standout Irish cornerback said he’d be ready to play USC on Sunday.
Instead, Love, his teammates and Irish fans will have to wait until late Saturday night to see if Notre Dame can complete an unbeaten regular season in Los Angeles and earn the playoff bid that is expected to come with a victory.
“It’s been tough this whole year to manage that game-by-game mindset, but now that it’s the last game,” Love said. “It’s, ‘Alight, let’s finish out the season strong, one more game. We’re all so ready. Everybody is so fired up to go to California and play USC.
“We’re just ready for one last battle this regular season. It’s an amazing feeling. We’re all pumped up.”
Love’s secondarymate, safety Alohi Gilman, echoed that sentiment.
“I’m so excited,” Gilman said. “I’m ready to go.”
As difficult as it’s been to embrace that game-by-game approach, that’s what has put the Irish in this position and what will be needed to finish it off with a win over the Trojans.
“You can't win all of your 11 games unless you stick with your process and avoid the noise and do all those things,” head coach Brian Kelly said. “This group does a great job with it.
“I expect them to do the same thing this week. They know about USC. They know about the rivalry game. But it will be, if they stick with their process and doing a great job in their preparation and play fast and free, they'll play well.”
Quarterback Ian Book believes his squad will be able to take it up a notch in the final game of the regular season.
“We just take it week by week and knowing that there’s one more week is going to make us play even harder,” he said. “We’re that much closer to our goal, so I know the guys are going to do what it takes to get there.”
Jalen Elliott added, “We know we have one more game, we know we have to come in and continue to execute like we have been. We can’t get comfortable. We have to stay humble and hungry is what we say and stick to our process.”
For linebacker Drue Tranquill, this opportunity is the exact reason why he chose to return for a fifth season at Notre Dame.
“I came back to accomplish my goal of winning a national championship, a childhood dream of mine,” said Tranquill. “I shared a special moment with Te’von (Coney) in the locker room afterward, just dapping him up and saying, ‘Man, we’ve got one more to put ourselves in a position for the postseason. This is what we talked about, this is why we came back.’”
Faith in one another has been a huge part of Notre Dame’s success so far this season and the Irish have extreme confidence in each other as they head West.
“We all trust the coaches to get us ready for this game,” Book said. “I think the energy is just going to come with it obviously being in the situation we’re in.
“It’s going to be awesome.”