Notre Dame Football News: Brian Kelly, Irish Defense Still Assessing Loss To Northwestern

The Notre Dame Fighting Irish have been left to survey and correct the wreckage of an overtime loss to Northwestern last week - a loss that, for all intents and purpose, ended the Irish's chances of making a New Year's Six bowl.

Head coach Brian Kelly was singing a familiar tune early this week, pushing his team to once again leave the mistakes on the practice field.

"I expected us to be in a couple of shootouts this year where we would have to overcome offensively," Kelly said, via Matt Fortuna of ESPN.com. "I just didn't expect to have nine turnovers in the last two weeks because I thought our offense would be able to bail out our defense, and that hasn't been the case. It's pretty clear what our issues are. All our guys know it. Our coaches know what they are. We've just got to go back to work and make sure we clean them up on Saturdays."

Kelly referenced the fact that Notre Dame's injuries on the defensive side of the ball almost guaranteed that the team was going to have to win a few offensive shootouts to be successful this year.

However, linebacker Jaylon Smith isn't buying it.

"I feel like it's not an excuse," Smith said of the injuries. "We all are given objectives, assignments during the week. ... It's not like we're slacking in practice. We had a great week of practice, it's just all about executing and putting it all together. Youth definitely plays a huge point, but it's not an excuse."

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