MATT CAMPBELL: “Yeah. Really simple from my end. This has been a phenomenal week. I just want to thank the bowl, everybody in charge with it, and also all the volunteers, for their time [and] their effort with our football program and our team. We’ve had an incredible week. Obviously, we play a tremendous opponent, have the utmost respect for Coach Kelly, what he’s done and certainly the University of Notre Dame. So with that said, I’ll turn it over to Coach [Kelly].”
BRIAN KELLY: “Thanks, Matt. Same here.
“Been a great week for our football team to come down to Orlando. Florida Citrus Sports, the Camping World [Bowl] couldn’t have been better in terms of the events for our kids to be a part of. Obviously, the volunteers that put this together give our kids an opportunity to be part of the community and, obviously, the opportunity to prepare to play a great Iowa State football team.
“Matt’s done an incredible job of putting a football team together that many people don’t know how good this football team is, but I can tell you, [with] my 30 years of coaching football, I know how good it is. It’s going to be a great football game. We look forward to the challenge and should be exciting for everybody to watch.”
Q: Really kind of a question for both of you guys but we’ll start with you, Coach Kelly. You mentioned how good this team is when you look at it. When you go through all the preparation and all that, what was the first thing that kind of jumped off the screen when you were looking at the film?
KELLY: “Well, I think when you look at it offensively, the size of tight ends creates matchup problems. Purdy as a quarterback is such a great competitor. You know, obviously the freshman running back has gotten better and better. I just think the balance on the offensive side of the ball, they have been able to score lots of points against really good football teams. And then defensively, they create problems because of the uniqueness of the scheme. You’re not really sure exactly what it is at times. And maybe that’s part of the whole thing, because they do such a really good job of, you know, creating a different look against different teams but a unique structure defensively.
“But I think what I think when you talk about Iowa State, it’s a team that plays hard for four quarters. And, you know, you can see some teams on film that, you know, in the second half, they start to wear down. This football team plays stronger in the second half.”
Next – What is this particular Notre Dame team especially good at? —