Notre Dame 38, Washington 3

Sept. 25, 2004

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Postgame Quotes

Notre Dame Head Coach Tyrone Willingham Quotes

On the strong first half start:
"I thought that we played a pretty good first half. For the most part, we were able to do everything that we set out to do. We wanted to get the running game going and work in the pass."
"We really haven't had a quick start all year. We had a great week of practice. I thought we played well at Michigan State, but I sensed that the players weren't happy with the entire performance. They came in with a great mind set to start the week and it went from there."

On the play of the defense:
"We've played pretty good defense all season. It wasn't surprising the way they played today. I was very pleased with the play of the defense."

On the wide margin of victory:
"We didn't play a complete football game. A game like this allows a lot of young men who work very hard to get an opportunity to enjoy a chance to play. These are players who play a key role all season. A win like this goes very deep to the core of the team."
"We are still a work in progress. I see a young team that still has room to grow."

On Ryan Grant's status for next week:
"It's really to early to speculate. As we went further into the week, it seemed like the right thing to do."

On the play of tight end Anthony Fasano:
"Anthony has been a real strength for as at tight end. He's doing a good job blocking and we know that he can catch it."

Notre Dame Player Quotes

Senior WR Matt Shelton
On his first career start...
"It felt really good today. It was like any other day, though, I didn't approach it any differently.

Senior LB Mike Goolsby
On the team's performance...
"This is something we talked about all year and it materialized. Just to get a lead early and finish fast with the shutout in the second half. We had everything finally come together for us. It was huge for us."

Junior TE Anthony Fasano
On his first TD catch...
"I think it was a big turning point and really got us over the hump. It was just a great call by the coaches in the right situation."

On the Notre Dame offense...
"I think we have a lot of weapons. We're really tough for defenses to prepare for in that they have a lot of different things to look at."

Junior OG Bob Morton
On Notre Dame's response to the Michigan State game...
"After Michigan State we were exposed a little bit. We saw ourselves for what we were and we knew that we had to come out and improve on that in today's game."

On Notre Dame's turnaround...
"We're just going to keep playing the season and look back for a turning point further along in the future. I like to think that we turned it around a while ago."

On the attitude of the offensive line...
"We didn't run the ball well in the first half and in the locker room at halftime we really changed our mentality. We just said we need to go out and get the job done because that's why we're here."

On Brady Quinn...
"Since last year Brady has improved drastically. As an offensive line we're tried to give him some more time to showcase his talent and he's taken advantage of his opportunities."

Washington Head Coach Keith Gilbertson Quotes

On Notre Dame Quarterback Brady Quinn:
"He was very impressive this afternoon. He has a great coach in Bill Diedrick. We coached together earlier in our careers and I have the highest respect for Bill. Unfortunately, we could not get any pressure on Quinn in the first half. He made plays when he needed to and we struggled to stop him. I think he will have a bright future here at Notre Dame."

On Notre Dame's offense:
"They had a really tough start this season against BYU. In the last three weeks, they have really made some huge improvements in their offense. (Diedrick) has adjusted his game plan every week since BYU for his offense to take advantage of every opportunity. With good young players like Walker and Quinn, they have a good foundation to continue to build on."

On Washington quarterback Carl Bonnell:
"We brought him in for the second half to give him a few snaps in live-game action. We also thought that he would give us another option with his running ability for our offense. I was impressed with what we saw out of him today. I think he did a nice job considering the circumstances he entered the game under. The only way for him to improve is to give him playing time."

On Washington's 0-3 start:
"We just need to go back and keep working hard. If we keep our nose to the grind stone we will eventually get a win. Hard work will pay off, because it always does."

On Notre Dame's defense:
"They just kept pressuring us all afternoon. The defensive line is very impressive. They held us in check, and we just could not get anything going. Our receivers had trouble holding onto the ball when we could get it to them. With the talented athletes they have on defense, we were just outmatched out there."

Washington Player Quotes

Dashon Goldson, FS
Overall ...
"We came out prepared but obviously I think everyone was a little nervous and we gave up some big plays."

On Notre Dame's first-half passing success ...
"A few of them were a break-down in coverage, in fact I'd say a lot of them were a break-down in coverage. It was also a lack of communication between us."

Derrick Johnson, LB
Overall ...
"We beat ourselves. We give them a lot of credit but a lot of their success was based on our mistakes and that's us not being in the right places we needed to be in."

Bouncing back for the rest of the season ...
"I think we can definitely bounce back. We are fighters and we are going to keep fighting and we are going to do whatever we have to get our first win."

Casey Paus, QB
Coming back to the Midwest to play ...
"Especially for me, I had a lot of big ambitions for this game and unfortunately it didn't work out that well."

On Notre Dame's defense ...
"They had a great front seven today and their entire defensive line played real well. We had to go to the air and I had some bad throws and some dropped balls and it just didn't work out for us."