Kelly, Irish deal with life after a loss

Brian Kelly hadn't lost a football game since New Year's Day 2009, and he hadn't lost in the regular season in his last 18 tries.
So it was fair to wonder how the nfl jerseys
first-year Notre Dame coach would react to losing to Michigan in just the second week of his tenure. Answer: With a little more tenacity.
"After you lose, you always want the team to be up and energized the next week," receiver Michael Floyd said. "I think there's a little more urgency this week just because we lost. I think he's doing a pretty good job with that and making sure we sustain our energy."
Energy and conditioning were two things Kelly stressed leading into this season. He promised that Notre Dame would play hard for four quarters, be in shape and get back the toughness that epitomized some of the school's best teams. In the immediate wake of the Michigan loss, Kelly said he thought his defense tired as the Wolverines marched on the game-winning drive late in the fourth quarter.
By Tuesday, he had changed his mind on that.
"I think as I watch the film, the coaches watch the film, Chargers jersey
we're in a place where we need to make some plays in that period of time," he said. "I don't know that I'm going to use the excuses anymore of us being tired as much as we need to make plays in those situations. We also have to help our kids to be in position to make some plays as well."
Kelly also said on Sunday that it's not good enough to talk about playing hard for four quarters any more. The Irish have to win games. For years now, it seems, they've been coming up short in big games at the end.
Now along comes Michigan State, which has won nine of the last 13 meetings against the Irish. The game will be at night (ABC, 8 ET) in front of a hostile environment. The Spartans are sure to play a more physical style than Purdue or Michigan brought to South bend.
"It's football at its finest," linebacker Manti Te'o said. "It's smash-mouth football. And Michigan State is really good at that."
For Kelly -- who will compete against the man he succeeded at Cincinnati in Mark Dantonio -- it's too early to call this a crossroads kind of game. But call it a small fork in the road. A loss would leave the Irish at 1-2, meaning they'd basically have to win all the rest of their games to make a BCS bowl. Critics would also point out that Charlie Weis and Tyrone Willingham got off to better starts than that.
Kelly insists he's not worried about that sort of thing.
"There will be plenty of Bears jersey
room on the bandwagon, too, when we start winning," he said. "(Look, this is a process for me and our coaches and our players that we're going to work at every single day. Those are expectations in this business that you're going to have each and every day. (I don't spend much time dwelling on that other than the fact that we have to play the game better, and that's what my focus is on."
Losing is an unfamiliar feeling for Kelly. He and the Irish hope he won't get to know it better after this week.