Despite admitting that he was “grouchy” after Thursday’s practice, Irish coach Brian Kelly said he has been pleased with the way his team has come to work this week. He said he wanted the team to focus solely on its game with Michigan State and that the players have done a good job of echoing that message over the past four days.

Brian Kelly said he was pleased with the way his team has bounced back in practice this week.

“We can’t worry about what happened last week,” Kelly said. “We want to learn from it, but that’s what I want our players to do, to carry the message I send when we get back together on Mondays.”

After what Kelly called the most physical midweek practice of his tenure at Notre Dame on Wednesday, the team dialed it back for “perfect practice Thursday” to try to fix some of the mistakes that have been plaguing Notre Dame during its 0-2 start.

But, Kelly said as much as they have harped on eliminating errors during the week of practice, you can’t teach someone to hang on to the football. The real test can only come on Saturdays.

“They hear from me anytime the ball is on the ground or we throw an interception,” he said. “So, if you could just let everybody know if they’re concerned, we’re working on it. I’m not happy about it. Our coaches aren’t happy about it. Our players don’t wanna do it. We just have to get it done on Saturdays.”

Depth Chart Notes
Senior nose guard Sean Cwynar is expected to play this weekend after sitting out against Michigan with a broken bone in his hand. Cwynar will come off the bench along with Hafis Williams to help keep sophomore Louis Nix fresh against the power-running Spartans. Kelly said Nix can now handle about 40 plays per game, a much higher number than the coaching staff expected heading into fall practices.

“We were still going off of his body of work, which wasn’t very good. He’s shown that he can handle more, and we’ll continue to throw more on his plate,” Kelly said.

Freshman Ben Koyack will be the No. 2 tight end this week behind Tyler Eifert. Previous No. 2 Alex Welch is available in emergency situations, but is still sore from surgery he had on his foot prior to the Michigan game. Junior Jake Golic is also activated for Saturday’s game after missing over a month with a broken bone in his arm. Kelly said both Golic and Koyack would have to fill in for fifth-year senior Mike Ragone who is out for the rest of the year.

Sideline Espionage
Michigan State defensive coordinator Pat Narduzzi hinted that Notre Dame might have been stealing signals from the Spartan sideline in last year’s game during a Wednesday interview. Kelly said he thinks it’s fair game if players pick up on a signal’s meaning during the course of a game, but he has too much to worry about with his own team to be monitoring an opponent’s sideline.

“I’m worried about whether we’re going to get the play in and calling the right play, that’s just too much for us to handle,” he said. “No, I don’t think it’s appropriate to film anybody’s sideline and pick up signals. We’re going to take care of what we need to take care of, and believe me that’s the last things on our mind. We got our hands full with our own guys.”

Fresh Carpet?
Notre Dame’s Kentucky Bluegrass caught as much criticism as the team did during the home opener against South Florida. On Thursday, Kelly said—like he has in the past—that he is in favor of playing on field turf, but he knew that decision was above his pay grade. He made sure to say that the condition of the field had nothing to do with the outcome of the game and doesn’t put his team at a disadvantage going forward.