Notre Dame Fighting Irish

Kelly searching for answers to Notre Dame injury woes

Published Sep. 17, 2015 3:30 p.m. ET

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Notre Dame football coach Brian Kelly's team has been hit hard by injuries not only this season but over the past calendar year.

The latest hits came last Saturday when Fighting Irish quarterback Malik Zaire (ankle) and tight end Durham Smythe (knee) both suffered season-ending injuries, but they are far from the only ones.

Previously Notre Dame lost running back Tarean Folston (knee) in the season-opening win over Texas, with nose tackle Jarron Jones (knee) and cornerback Shaun Crawford (knee) going down in the preseason.

While those injuries are certainly enough for any team to have to deal with, they also come on the heels of a 2014 season in which the defense was ravaged by various health issues. So naturally Kelly was asked this week if he has seen a pattern or if he chalks them up to randomness.

"Well, I look at each injury because there are certainly areas as coaches we all want to make sure and prevent injuries to our players," Kelly said during his press conference in South Bend on Tuesday. "We never want to see a young man lose a season, but you look at each one of them. Two of them, there were no contact at all, and in this one (Smythe's injury) was a play, actually the play right before the touchdown at the end of the game against Virginia that Durham got rolled up on by one of his own players. He wasn't even part of the play.

"So it's just one of those things that is there anything that you could have done differently in that situation? That's certainly what I try to do in each one of these situations and that one there was nothing you could do about it. It was just part of the game."

Kelly confirmed he studies each case and finds the ones that happen in practice the most worrisome.

"Did we do something in practice that could have put us in a better position?" Kelly said. "But during games, very rarely is it something that you can control, and in this one in particular."

As for Kelly's message to his team? There is no time to feel sorry for themselves because their opponents are not going to do so.

"I think any team kind of looks at it and says, 'Boy, why us?' But as I told our team, no one really cares. Certainly those that do are happy that you got more injuries because they're in it for their own teams," Kelly said. "So just no excuses, you know? Let's go play.

"We've got players that will step up and we'll get through it. Everybody's got to deal with some adversity, and this is our end of it, and we'll be stronger for it. I just don't want to hear any excuses about it. We'll find a way, and that's what I want to hear from our team, and that's what we're going to make sure our team understands that."