Notre Dame reflects on 9-0 Army and post season hopes

 

SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- With the post season hopes on the line, the next game is always the most important. Game 11 happens to have some added pressure as the Irish face an undefeated Army.

"We're in November now, getting to late November, and you're in control of your destiny. It's something I haven't been able to experience. Every day you kind of wake up, you're like, wow, this is cool. You have that motivation and that extra urge to go above and beyond," Quarterback Riley Leonard expressed.

It won't be an easy task as the Irish are a team that prides themselves on running the football but facing an Army run defense ranked #3 in the country among FBS programs.

"Number one, we got to be able to start fast. I mean, they're really good in the first quarter of the game at jumping out the leads. We got to do our part offensively to make sure we stay on the field and score points. Then we have to, we're built around the run game, so finding ways to do that that are effective against the things that they do that cause you problems. It's going to be a big challenge," Offensive Coordinator Mike Denbrock added.

Defensively, Notre Dame has been lights out, leading the country in takeaways, as the sixth ranked team in total defense.

"The focus is just executing and playing to the standard. Whoever's in front of us, that's who the opponent is, and we're going to take care of it," Defensive Back Rod Heard II said.