Notre Dame offensive coordinator Mike Denbrock spoke to reporters Tuesday afternoon in Dania Beach, Fla., ahead of Thursday night's College Football Playoff semifinal hosted by the Orange Bowl.
Here's everything Denbrock said while I was in the scrum around him. Answers are largely verbatim. Questions may have been edited for brevity and clarity.
MIKE DENBROCK
You should see the crowd over there around Al Golden. You must be doing a pretty good job. Did you not go to Penn State?
“That would be the person I'd want to talk too. Hey, Coach Denbrock, let's talk about your 90 yards passing. That'd be awesome.”
What does Pat Coogan mean to the room on offense? Notre Dame always has guys like that, but I imagine you don't take for granted when you do.
“No, 100% right. From Mike McGlinchey to Quenton Nelson to Jeff Faine, all of which have been around one time or another when I've been here — the leadership and the importance of it in that room. It's important in every room, but you talk about how close that unit is and how vital and important they are to everything that we do. To have a guy like Pat now kind of at the forefront of that room. The great thing about Pat, too, is that even when he was not being asked to be in a prominent role, he was a prominent leader. That just speaks a lot to the culture of that room and his character, in particular.
Before the year you talked about how you wanted this group to have confidence that it can make big plays and stretch the field. Where do you feel that's at right now? How important could that be in a game like this?
“I think it'll be a huge piece of the game. I think we're very confident with what we can do offensively. It doesn't always appear as a well-oiled machine, but I think the players have a lot of confidence in each other. They have a lot of confidence in what we do. We gotta quit shooting ourselves in the foot and execute a little bit better. But we're fully capable of doing that. And then some of it's on me. I gotta cut loose and let these guys play football a little bit too.
Where have you guys grown the most in that area to be able to do that in a game?
“We are a true balanced offensive unit. I know there's a lot of talk, and obviously, our run game’s been kind of what leads us and should be. But the improvement that we've made throughout the year in the passing game, and our ability to do that when we've needed to is what has really kind of helped us become more consistent overall offensively. There's a lot more there in the tank that hopefully we can tap into here down the stretch.
How's Jeremiyah Love doing?
“Very well. He practiced the last couple days. Obviously, we want to get him to the game, so we weren't running his wheels off the last couple days. Every day he gets a little bit better, moves a little bit better. I know he feels like he's gonna be ready to go and ready to get after it.”
If you have to go with Jadarian Price as the guy, what changes, if anything? How has he improved throughout the course of the season that you feel good about it if you have to do that?
“I look at JD as really like a close 1B as good as Jeremiyah is. The things that Jadarian has done offensively for us overall as a unit, making explosive plays when he got opportunities, and picking up the team at times. I think of Texas A&M pops in my brain. And there's a bunch of other ones too, where we were a little bit bogged down, he gave us a spark. I know he's anxious to prove that he's that type of guy that can be that consistent on every snap. He has that ability. I don't know that it would change us offensively all that much. Obviously, you don't want to not have Jeremiyah love, if at all possible, but we feel confident with whoever we put in there.
How much is it a luxury that Aneyas Williams has had small roles already and can step in wherever needed?
“The experience he's gained through the little bits that he's had, and everybody always wants more, but he's done such an exceptional job with what we've asked him to do. His role has kind of continued to expand a little bit, and if called upon, I'm sure he'll be ready to get after it?
What makes Penn State so good at stopping the run?
“Their front is really, really good. They're very technically sound. They don't stay blocked. They move around a lot, which confuses blocking schemes at times. They just are really good at getting on the edge of blockers, not staying blocked in and creating negative plays.
How are they in open-field tackling?
“I think their secondary comes downhill, does a really nice job of getting people on the ground. I know every defensive coach in the world would like to say, ‘Hey, man, we’re 100% in the open field as far as tackling,’ but they're way above the fray, as far as I'm concerned, where that happens.”
What stands out about Jordan Faison with the commitment he has to both sports and the way he’s able to balance everything?
“That he's a true competitor. It doesn't matter whether it's winning a national championship with our lacrosse team or helping us try to get in position to do the same with our football program. He likes to put his toe on the line and compete against anybody he can and in any sport that he can and does a great job of doing it.
What kind of loss is Cooper Flanagan?
“Coop’s kind of my hammer. He's been kind of the backbone to bringing a lot of physicality to what we did in the running game. That can't drop off just because Coop’s not here. But it's a blow to the tight end room, for sure, just because of the great things that he's done for us as far as helping us move the chains in the run game.
You guys hit a lot of long runs, 60,70, even a 98-yard run. What's been the key to doing that?
“Very, very talented running backs is the first key — and fast. And then we've done a good job growing to the point with our offensive line over the course of the year where we've given those guys those opportunities as well. When it's been there, we seem to block it the right way, they seem to hit the hole where they're supposed to and it's just one of those things that has kind of really come together for us and added an element to us helping us be a little bit more explosive offensively, obviously.
When was the last time Notre Dame was this fast in the backfield?
“Probably the last time they were talked about in the way that this team is being talked about. We’ve had some really talented running backs over the years, some from this part of the world, actually. But this group in particular, really at any level, whether it's SEC or ACC or Big 12 or whatever, these guys could be on anybody's football team and be running back one.
People have waited a long time to Notre Dame to win a national championship. What is it about this team that, in your mind, has allowed you guys to at least get to this point and possibly can finish this run?
“I think that they just concentrate and are focused on what's right in front of their face. We haven't really worried or even brought up or talked about any big picture things to these guys, and they really don't live their life that way day to day. Being a Notre Dame student, let alone a Notre Dame football player and a student, is a grind. And you better live your life six inches in front of your face. They've done that on the football field just like they do in the other parts of their life. It's helped them to stay focused and kind of just streamlined in the way that their thought process has gone and just zero in.
“We talk to them a lot, Coach Freeman brings it up a lot, you guys have heard him say it: win the interval. Just win this interval, this right here. Just do this. We've been able to kind of maintain that mentality, regardless of the amount of chaos that's kind of going around.”
What did you think of how your offensive line handled the pass rush from Georgia?
“There were spots, obviously, where I thought we could have done a little bit better job, but I thought overall we were really solid. As many games and different things that they do to try to pick people off and create kind of free rushers and things like that, I felt we passed off a lot of that stuff really well. It's something that we've done a good job of throughout the season of being able to really protect Riley. Riley's done a nice job of understanding when it's time to get the ball out of his hand as well.
How good Riley Leonard’s his decision making on when to run, when to throw it away, when to hang in a little bit?
“He's got a really good feel for that. That's one of the strengths of his game is to understand … as the season’s gone along, I think he's gotten better and better and better at, hey, this pass play that Denbrock called is a disaster, let me just ditch it. We'll live to fight another down instead of … you know what I mean? And then when there's opportunities for him to use his legs, he's done that really well and extended drives and helped us make explosive plays as well. I love where he's at mentally and with his decision-making right now where that's concerned.
You faced some really good defenses this year. The challenge with Penn State, especially with their guys who can get after the passer. Do they try to rush the passer in a similar way to Georgia? Is a different approach?
“There's some similarities there. I just think they're built with their two edge guys in particular — well, I could put probably three or four edge guys in there, because even the guys that they rotate in are pretty dynamic on the edge of their defense. They get after you, and they force you … they do things up front with what they do scheme wise to try to isolate those guys in pass-rush situations. Those guys have done a nice job of taking advantage of that.”
