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UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA MEDIA CONFERENCE

October 22, 2011

Lane Kiffin

USC 31
NOTRE DAME 17

COACH KIFFIN: First off, you know, those guys played extremely hard today. That's a very hard team to run the ball on. You know, to come in here, the only way to win this game was to find a way to run the ball, against a very physical defense that fought all the way to the end as you can see, and very talented offense that gave us a lot of problems at times. Obviously special teams played huge today; credit them for that.
On our side, very pleased with the way our players played. Two things really showed: I think they played really smart, the decision making, starting with the quarterback all the way around limited penalties, and I thought they played very physical in all aspects of the game.
This was a team that is a very physical, Notre Dame, and a team that really after last year's game, going back over it again and again in the off-season, really thought they out-played us a year ago in our place, and thought they were more physical, up front, the front seven got after us a year ago.
Our whole thing this week was not about the hype. It was about the prep. It was about preparing really well, finishing games off and not letting the other stuff get involved.
Felt a little bit better just because of everything around here that was put this game. You get the sense that this was their Super Bowl here, and all of the official visitors and moving it to a night game, the bye before. So it's even more pleasing to come in here with all of that stuff going on around and our players played really well, it was good to see.

Q. Talk about your perfect first quarter, you held them to three-and-outs twice and you scored. Talk about that?
COACH KIFFIN: I think in general just about the execution. Our guys came in and just wanted to make sure that we played really well and didn't worry about everything else. I think if you would have seen our guys in warm ups, they were really low key and saving their energy and were not buying into all of the energy on the sidelines yelling at them, a lot of people on the way in yelling at them. Just really focused on playing well and it was good to see, because usually young teams don't do well in the beginning of games in this type of environment, so it was good to see.

Q. Best game so far this season?
COACH KIFFIN: I would say so because of the opponent. That's a really good run defense, very physical, led by a great middle linebacker. I'm sure he's going to be a top pick this year. So our guys had to play really well and banged up guys. Both tailbacks were hurt throughout the game and it was good to see them keep fighting in there.

Q. Is this the biggest win in your USC career as a head coach?
COACH KIFFIN: I would think so. Really haven't gone on the road -- went into Arizona, but we have not gone on the road with so much stuff going on. That's why I would say it's our team's biggest win since we've been here because of all of the stuff around it. I thought the crowd was awesome tonight, they were electric. That crowd was more electric than the times I was here before, even in 2005. Just with the night added to it and all the energy and playing the music when we were at the line of scrimmage when we were on offense really helped us a lot.

Q. How much did your offensive linemen want this challenge and to be able to be loose and run the ball?
COACH KIFFIN: I think they really wanted it and it was good to see, for the game to end in that fashion, go out there and there's all that time on the clock. I don't know what it was exactly, but it felt like forever. I think it was six or seven minutes on the clock and we had the ball; and then to just go on and first down and run, offensive line, play well, and really just end the game on offense.
That's a dream if you can end the game on offense -- and lucky for us we used out time-outs, because really our kicker at half-time couldn't even move his foot. That's why the first drive in the second half, hit a good drive and punted it there because he couldn't kick the ball at all. So we tried him, after shooting him up, we just tried on the extra point to see and as you saw he couldn't kick very well.

Q. Mark could barely lift his arm last week; could you ever have conceived that he would come out and play the way he did tonight?
COACH KIFFIN: And then his knee actually is what held out of the game late; that we couldn't go back to him, but actually Curtis played great. Those are two really cool stories because you have Marc Tyler, a fifth-year senior and Marqise Lee, a true freshman, and for both of them to come with the same attitude immediately after their injuries -- they said, the whole time, I'm playing and really our doctors after last week's game did not think those guys would play. And so it says a lot about those guys. They willed themselves to play today.

Q. You said this was like a Super Bowl to them. Considering what restrictions are on your program, what was it for you guys?
COACH KIFFIN: It wasn't a Super Bowl for us. I mean, we've got a lot of big games ahead of us, including one obviously next week. And so we have got a lot of them.
Obviously we respect the rivalry and tradition and great players and great coaches that have been in this game. So it's not anything like that but we just had to focus on it being our next game and playing really well and not all of a sudden getting out of whack and our guys respond to it. You come on the road like this in this environment against a good defense and don't turn the ball over, that's giving yourself a chance to win.

Q. Inaudible.
COACH KIFFIN: Everything was positive so far. I'll meet with Dylan when we get back, and he didn't make the trip, that's all I've got for you. I'll have more for you.

Q. Inaudible?
COACH KIFFIN: I think we have a really good relationship. I think it's important for the play caller to have a good relationship with the quarterback. There's a great trust level. We put a lot of stuff early on where there were some things, shots that were a little bit further downfield and he did a great job taking care of the ball, of putting away the football. Those were huge runs he was making when he was scrambling and making those plays. And even though his numbers are not gigantic, if you don't get sacked and you don't turn the ball over with any fumbles or any interceptions as quarterback, and you throw a couple touchdowns, you're going to give us a good chance to win and he did that. And we really didn't have the ball at all in the second half really to throw very much either.

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