Rockne's Roundtable

Brian Kelly did a short interview this morning on a new local sports radio show. There wasn't any groundbreaking news but here are a few soundbites since it's not often that you hear from the coach during these off months....

On the hard schedule: "My background has always been playing difficult schedules. At Central Michigan and Cincinnati we always had to play those bigger games because of financial considerations. When I look at that schedule I say at least we’ve got a fairly equal playing field now. We look at it as a great challenge I don’t think you could see it any other way. "

On Independence vs. a conference: "I can tell you from a recruiting standpoint that Notre Dame’s brand is strong from Brooklyn, New York to San Francisco. ...You worry that if you go into a conference that you become marginalized geographically. The ability to get kids from the east coast to the west coast, I'm hesistant to want to join a conference from a recruiting standpoint. ...There has to be access, though [to the future playoff system]. It looks like the top four teams are gonna get in so as long as ND has an opportunity to be in the national championship, our schedule is going to allow us to be ranked in the top four."

On going to Dublin: "I probably would’ve taken the Bahamas or Hawaii, they didn't ask me. But it's great to have the ability to go to Dublin. The Notre Dame brand is so strong and to play the Naval Academy. Its just going to be a great atmosphere."