Narduzzi on Notre Dame, Veilleux's play and more

Pat Narduzzi held his final press briefing of the week on Thursday and talked about the challenge of facing Notre Dame, the progress of Christian Veilleux and a lot more. Here's video and a full rundown of what he said.

Narduzzi: We had a good week of practice, like we normally do. Talked to the guys all week about just going out and executing and consistently executing properly, so I think we’ve had a good week. I think we fixed a few things that I was interested in fixing. Defensively, in our run game, we’ve got to be able to stop the run. And then offensively, the details there for four quarters.

Notre Dame has a lot of weapons to throw at you guys from a lot of different angles. What do you guys try to do to dictate the pace of the game defensively so that, when they’re trying to go to the weapons, you’re kind of disrupting their rhythm?
Narduzzi: Well, I’d like to say offenses usually dictate to the defense. We’re usually reactive players. But you just have to change it up on defense, whether you’re playing different coverages, mixing it up, different blitzes that you think can get home. They do a lot of different stuff on offense, a lot of different personnel groups that we’ve worked this week, from four tight ends to no tight ends. So offenses usually dictate what they’re going to do, but defensively, we have to be aggressive and show them some stuff that maybe they haven’t seen yet.

How much time do you guys dedicate each week to - maybe not installing but making sure that you have the new or different looks that you have to adjust to your different opponents?
Narduzzi: We spend all week doing that. We spend all week with that. Whether it’s new defense, new coverage, whatever it may be, that we can execute. If you throw too much stuff in and you can’t execute, it doesn’t matter. But I’d say more things are done with tweaking than changing. We’re not going to change. But it’s just tweaking little stuff - 'Hey, this week, remember we did it like this last time? We’re going to do this; it’s just a little bit different,’ whatever it may be, coverage-wise or front-wise.

I know you guys, coaches, work hellacious hours and I’m not saying you should put in more time. But when you get in situations like this, do you find yourself saying, ‘Maybe I should go get another half-hour of film’?
Narduzzi: You know, I’ve thought about that. I can’t do any more. I’m getting like five and a half hours of sleep every night. That’s not good. It’s almost like you have to say, maybe I should get home before 11 o’clock. It’s not healthy, and maybe it’s counterproductive at times. You’re making bad decisions when you don’t have - you know, I’m pretty fresh. I get a workout in the morning and I’m ready to go.

It’s a great question, though, Jerry. As always.

It’s weird, you talk about the hours - I’m looking and I could probably put another 15, 20 minutes in, like, what am I doing? This is not good. It’s funny: I was thinking about it this week, like, what else can I do?

What have C’Bo and Shayne added to your program?
Narduzzi: Just two really quality guys. Where they came from, where they’ve been. Obviously, we know they started in South Bend, but they’re just two quality guys. C’Bo’s come a long way from where he was when he first got here, so I’m proud of him. Shayne’s been the same guy every day since he got here. You bring different guys in and they come in at different stages in their life and different maturities, but I’m happy with both of those guys and hopefully they play emotional on Saturday, going back to where they came from.

Does it help in a way, when you’re coming off such an emotional loss like that, does it help that you’re playing somebody like this to get guys -
Narduzzi: Maybe. Maybe. I think as coaches we have to get them turned around, but I think that knowing what you’re facing helps, and where you’re going is going to be helpful. If we were coming back in to play Wofford after that, you know, to your point. But I would hope either way they would be hungry to get another win, regardless of who’s going to be in front of them the next week. That would be my attitude. I could care less who it is. Does it make it a little more enticing? Yes.

When you go to a place like that, it’s got a reputation of being one of the great college football stadiums in America, do you want the players to embrace that and feed off of the environment? Or do you want to pretend that it’s just like Wake Forest or something?
Narduzzi: I think anytime you’re on national television with NBC, you’re going to play Notre Dame, I would think guys would be pumped up for that and you have to use that to your advantage.

Did you do anything special to prepare them for an environment like that?
Narduzzi: Nope. We’ll go out there and do what we normally do on the field. Play their music, play some noise, try to be loud.

Of all the things you’ve done to try to get back on track, is getting your offensive line healthy again one of the biggest things?
Narduzzi: Is getting?

I’m assuming that most of the guys are healthy now, because I think Zubovic played and Kradel played.
Narduzzi: Yeah.

Is that one of the biggest things to getting back on track?
Narduzzi: Goncalves is not back, right? It would be key to get everybody back healthy. It would help, no doubt about it. But they’re not all back, obviously, as you know. Are they 100%? No. So we’re going to have to buckle up and go.

Christian’s been sacked once in the last two games, though. Is that stat reflective of how they’ve played? Do you feel like they’ve blocked well enough to only give up one sack in two games?
Narduzzi: I think they’ve played well enough to prevent the quarterback from getting hit. I also think Christian’s done a good job and Coach Cignetti’s done a good job getting the ball out and doing different stuff to get the ball out of his hands quicker, knowing what we’re dealing with. And we’ll have to do the same thing this week, as far as being smart with when and how, what we do with Christian back there.

What has Christian been like week to week since he’s been the starter? Have you seen him spend more time in the film room, do different things - do you catch him in places like, ‘What are you still doing here?’ What’s he like?
Narduzzi: He’s not here as late as Jerry and I am. Last week - again, I’m all over the place; I’m not walking around the facility, walking into different rooms - last week, I noticed him in that receiver room. They even have a - if you guys walk down the hallway and peek in the receiver room around the corner, they have a Canadian flag in there, I think. But I did not see him in there; that doesn’t mean he wasn’t there - I can’t tell you. I don’t walk around and see who’s - I’m busy working and not shuffling around to see who’s in the building. But I’m sure he’s doing the same thing he did last week. Or more.

How’s Lovelace trending and do you think you might be able to have him this weekend?
Narduzzi: Jerry junior?

Someone had to do it. That was an availability question, not an injury question.
Narduzzi: I feel good with where he is, but when you’ve got guys that are a little bit banged up, how many snaps can they get you and how long does that get you. But I feel like he maybe could give us a play or two.

Notre Dame’s a team that can hit you with receivers and tight ends that are athletic and skilled in different ways -
Narduzzi: Big. Tall.

Right. Your cornerbacks usually take away the top two or three options for a team, but this is going to call on also your safeties to be just as ready to win one-on-one matchups all game long.
Narduzzi: All day long. They’re going to take their shots. They like to run the ball. Again, it comes to, we better make plays on the edge but we better stop the run first or it’s going to be a long day. They are capable, with that offensive line, of - the protection’s good and they can run the football. They’ve proved that against everybody. So we’re going to have to stop the run first. Which we have not proven we can do right now.

Are there big differences between a Notre Dame team coached by Brian Kelly versus one by Marcus Freeman?
Narduzzi: Not until after - I’ll let you know after the game. But they’re both great coaches. Brian Kelly’s been a coach for a long time, a head coach for a long time. So I can’t tell you there’s a big difference. I don’t know what he does as a head coach. I don’t know if he’s heavily involved with the defense. I know Al Golden’s running that show probably, it looks like. It’s not like the Cincinnati defense was when Marcus was there. I’m sure he’s got his fingers in on it, but he hired Al to run the defense and I think he’s being a head coach.

Charlie talked to us about how, when it comes to stopping the run, up the middle, you guys are still pretty strong, but when a team starts to stretch it out wider, teams are finding more holes against you guys. What do you have to do better - he talked about his defensive ends needing to do better to hold down the edge; what do you guys have to do as a collective to be better there?
Narduzzi: Again, it’s 11 guys. Whether it’s a crack-replace with a corner and a safety - I’ll start on the edge - but I think our linebackers have to do a better job of attacking downhill and hitting the right gaps. I think we hesitate at times at linebacker. We’re trying to be perfect, and by being perfect, we’re not executing, we’re not being as physical as we need to. So we’re going to have to be more physical against this physical offensive line and tight end group that we’re facing this weekend, and we’ve got to go make plays. I’d like to see our linebackers go make more plays.

What have you seen from Sam Hartman? Is he similar to what he was back in 2021 when you faced him in the ACC Championship Game? Or is he a bit different now?
Narduzzi: I think he’s different. Obviously, he’s in a different offense, so he’s got to be different. He’s a play-action pass, he’s handing the ball off a lot more, he’s not riding it into the line of scrimmage, although you still see some times where you see he’s got great patience in the pocket, and I think having that defensive line collapse on him and he’s sitting in a little tunnel throwing the ball - he still shows elements of that. He’s calm in the pocket. He doesn’t get antsy in the pocket right now, not near as much as - I guess he never did. But you’re seeing play-action pass and him taking shots more, so I think it’s a totally different offense that he’s adjusted to pretty well.

Notre Dame typically recruits sort of a similar area to you geographically. Do you find when you play teams like that, you end up going down their roster and you see guys you recruited - ‘Oh, that guy, that’s where he ended up.’ Do you have some familiarity?
Narduzzi: Yeah, I mean, geographically, they recruit the entire United States. So I wouldn’t say geographically - we’ve got our spots that we’re going to go. They’re nationwide, I would say, so I would say their recruiting and our recruiting is totally different. We’ve got our pockets we’re going to work in; we’re not going national. They’ve got California - I mean, one of their top receivers is from California, so it’s like, they’re going all over the place to get their guys.

Bub has scored three games in a row now on big plays from you guys. How have you seen him maintain throughout the year as the passing game is finding itself and also stepping up now that the passing game is starting to get traction?
Narduzzi: Bub’s doing a nice job. Bub’s consistent. You get the same guy every day. In practice every day, Bub works his tail off. He sweats like crazy. He hasn’t stopped sweating, he hasn’t stopped working hard in practice and you get the same thing on game day. He’s a guy that you can count on every Saturday.

Kradel got some snaps at right guard last week. How do you feel about where he is with everything in returning and what did you think of his performance?
Narduzzi: Jake did a nice job. He did a nice job coming in, and I think he’s feeling a little bit better than he felt last week, so we’ll keep working on it.

We talked to a lot of people this week, and one thing I wanted to see was, how much are they balancing looking at Hartman film from the last time he played Pitt versus all this season, and a lot of your players are saying, ‘We’re focused on what he is right now.’ How attuned do you feel like your defense is to what he’s doing now versus when he was in an RPO offense?
Narduzzi: Yeah, I mean, if we’re focused on what happened in ’21, we’re nuts. We’re not focused on that at all. Why would you be? It’s a totally different offense. We defend offense; we don’t defend people. So we’re defending Hartman at Notre Dame and what they do offensively. It’s a totally different offense. You’re going from an offense that’s normally 93% one personnel grouping - 11 - and what they do is just the same thing with little tweaks every week. We’re facing a team that’s a multiple pro-style - you’ll see two offensive huddles which, I think, really what college football is starting to go back to what we are offensively and what Notre Dame is. You see a lot more people going 12 personnel, they’re going 13 personnel, they’re going 14 - for everybody in here, 14 means one tailback and four tight ends. They’ve got some really good personnel at every spot.

How much work is Phil getting at tight end? Does he have a future at that position at the next level if he wants it?
Narduzzi: You know, that’s not for me to decide what he’s doing. But he wants to play a little bit over there. He still doesn’t have a position change, but he’s played on the kickoff return, he’s on the punt team, he’ll play anything. He’ll go wherever we can get him in.