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Lane Kiffin On Max Wittek's First Career Start Against Notre Dame

Aaron Fischman |
November 20, 2012 | 8:26 p.m. PST

Senior Sports Editor

With the nation's No. 1 team, the Notre Dame Fighting Irish, coming to town Saturday, Matt Barkley won't be able to play. He came to Tuesday's practice with his arm in a sling and watched from the sidelines. Young Max Wittek will be taking over for Barkley. Here's Kiffin speaking to reporters on Tuesday about Wittek and the upcoming game (video courtesy of Scott Enyeart):

 

On Wittek's performance Tuesday:

Great. I thought Max was awesome today. (He) lit it up with the team, seven-on-seven and one-on-ones, so it’s great to see.

On what Wittek and the offense have to do Saturday:

It doesn’t matter who you’re playing or the rivalry. It’ll be about him executing really well regardless of who the opponent is. It’s a great challenge for the whole team, for our offense to play the best defense in the country and we’re excited about it.

On the support Wittek has received:

Robert (Woods) and Marqise (Lee) practiced as hard as they’ve ever practiced. Robert was making diving catches out there, even just out in the drills. They’re coming out and showing that they’ve got his back. 

On Barkley's assistance this week:

I think Matt’s been there all along for him. One of the great things for these young quarterbacks is to learn from Matt, to see the way Matt prepares. Matt has been in some of our coaching meetings. We just thought it would be good for him in a time where there's not that much for him to do to prepare for the next level.

On Kiffin's disappointment about Barkley's shoulder sprain:

There’s not a lot of words to describe it. I can’t feel worse for a family and for a kid and the fact that he’s not running down the tunnel in his last game and it’s now two times in a row that doesn’t get to play Notre Dame (at home).

On what went wrong this year:

It’s been a disappointing season as we all know, but really as I break it down, it’s been a disappointing month. We’ve had a disaster month. One month ago, we’re sitting at 6-1, and we’re up by 15 points against Arizona. From that point, not a lot of good has happened. We’ve lost three of four, dropped out of the rankings and Matthew getting hurt. So it’s not like it’s been a bad two, three years. It’s been a bad one month. 

On Wittek's playing style:

He’s a prototype pro-style quarterback, probably most comparable to Carson (Palmer), with the big arm and the size. He’s already 240 pounds just as a redshirt freshman, so all the tools are there, he’s very competitive and he’ll get a great opportunity to show the world Saturday.

On how to beat Notre Dame:

You beat Notre Dame by playing really well in all three phases of the game. There’s no secret to it. We have to play really well on offense, stop the run on defense and play really well on special teams. This is an old-school football team coming in here. 

What makes Notre Dame's defense so impressive, and how do you combat that?

They have a really great defensive front. Hardly anybody’s done anything against them all year. They’ve played so well against the run. They’ve made teams be forced into really tough third-down situations, so whether it’s run or pass, we’ve got to make yards. We were able to do that last year against this team. We had a lot of third and shorts. We were very efficient against the same defense for the most part.

On Notre Dame linebacker Manti Te'o:

He's very physical. (He) has ball skills like a DB (defensive back). He sets the tempo not just for the defense, but for their whole team. I think you feel that, that he is by far the leader of that team. 

Reach Senior Sports Editor Aaron Fischman by email, or follow him on Twitter.



 

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