Mark Fletcher Jr on Notre Dame Loss, Duke, and Improving the Running Game

Mark, you know what so many of the narratives are around this game. Obviously, Darian and Coop versus Duke and all that. The fact that you guys just focus on 1-0 and all those good things, it's a big game for you. Like Mario keeps saying, it's a playoff game. It's conference games there always are. This is a pretty good team you're facing. Does that help avoid getting wrapped up in all the Darian versus Duke stuff? Uh, yes, I think to answer, if I understand your question, I think in a way, because that's what our motto is, just, you know, focusing on one and O each and every week, you know, nameless faces, faceless opponent. And, you know, that's what we tell you to focus on. Nobody, no matter who is out there. Thank you. Yes, sir. All right. Next, we're going to Adam. Hey, Mark, how are you? Good. How you doing? Doing well. So first off, obviously, just looking at Duke, they have one of the best defenses in the country. You know, they rank really well against the run and the pass. Just what have you seen from them on film? Physical. They play together. They communicate a lot. They'll see a lot of stuff before it even happens. And, you know, it's going to be a great challenge, man. They fly around, fly around. Great team. And then just one more from me. You know, Elijah Lofton's had some big games recently, made some really big plays. Just you're a bigger guy. He's a bigger guy. Like, you know, you don't think guys your size can kind of move like that, stop on a dime and change, you know, change trajectories and all that. What's it like watching him, you know, kind of do, you know, kind of show out the last couple of weeks and make some big plays? Man, I'm just happy that he's getting that recognition that he truly deserves. He's been through a lot of adversity in his career, and I know he just trained super hard in the offseason to just get his body back to where he wanted it to get so he can perform, and I'm just happy he's reaping the benefits of that. Does he do that stuff in practice, the hurdles and stopping short, making guys miss like that? Does he do that in practice? Does it all the time. That's just him. All right, next we'll go to Anthony. Hey, Mark, I know you guys are already looking forward and not looking back on Notre Dame, but I just want to touch on this real quick. When facing a big deficit like that and a bunch of run plays had to get thrown out, obviously they had to throw the ball more. I guess how frustrating is that when just a lot of your plays are just going to kind of have to be sidelined to get back in the game? I mean, honestly, it's always frustrating when you don't win. I don't care how we win. Sure, if we had to throw it a million times and we won, you know, I would have been happy regardless. I just want to win. So, you know, it's frustrating only because we lost. So I'm willing to do anything for this team, sacrifice, anything that Dawson calls, we just want to execute. All right, next we're going to Jordan. Hey, Mark, two questions. First off, on that note, just coming off the loss, just how have you seen the mood and the energy in practice as you guys try to flip the switch? It's been ramped up. It's been ramped up. Oh, we. We got to take that as a man. Each and every single one of us have to take that loss as a man, look in the mirror, and then fix things that we need to get fixed immediately. So there's no time to be down, energy low, ramp back up, ready to go win or not this week for a great Duke team. And then I wanted to ask you, how did Darian navigate everything through that second half? Obviously, again, you guys were down 24-3. What was he like in the huddle on the sideline as you guys were starting to mount that comeback attempt? Just saying, take it one play at a time. It's time to go. We just took it one play at a time. All right, next we're going to Andrea. Hey, Mark, how are you? How you doing? I'm doing great. Thanks. I'm curious. I know you've had the wrap on your wrist hand for a few weeks, but the ball came out a couple of times. I was wondering if it was bothering you more last week and where you are with that. I'm slowly getting better, slowly getting better. I'm just willing to put my body on the line. Anything that this team needs. And I definitely just got to lock in more on the ball. That's my mistakes. Well, you've got a wrap, so I didn't know if that kind of affected the grip while you're trying to push forward with the ball. Oh, no, the trainers, they do a great job figuring out a way so it doesn't affect me with catching or doing anything like that. It's just my mental mistakes I need to fix. And in terms of the response, like what you just said to Jordan, have you seen it different or the same as the way you all responded last year after a couple losses? Um... Yeah, that's what's so great about, I feel like, last year. We got a lot of guys who came back who, like, kind of not been in that position, but I could say, yeah, been in that position. So we know how it is, how the team needs to, you know, react after a loss the healthy way. So we have great leaders who are just pushing that emphasis to all the guys on the team, and we're just moving on. Thanks, Mark. Yes, ma'am. All right, Chris, you'll wrap us up. Hey, Mark, you touched on some mental mistakes there. I'm just curious, when you evaluate yourself kind of lately, these last few games, just are there things that you're noticing that you'd like to do better at or some things that you personally want to fix kind of going down the stretch here? It's a few things. I think I just got to continue to just stay healthy, man. I just got to stay healthy, keep on working with my O-line, and just...