Closing out games presents problem for Notre Dame

NOTRE DAME, Ind. -

Notre Dame's disappointing season has a common theme, the Irish have not finished games well at all.

In their four losses this season, Notre Dame has lost by a combined 21 points, and head coach Brian Kelly says it's on the coaches to make this point of emphasis better,

"I probably should've done a better job of preparing them for the eventuality of close games," Kelly said.

In Notre Dame's game against Texas, the Irish had the ball with the game tied and three minutes to go and came up with nothing. Against Michigan State, Duke, and NC State, Notre Dame had the ball with time to mount a game tying or game winning drive and fell flat each time, again Kelly pointed back to a lack of preparation.

"You have to practice those, I mean you just can't go out there and run plays and just keep running plays. You got to say alright, there's four minutes to go in the game, let's move the chains" Kelly said.

Kelly said he has to better communicate to his players these games or situations are going to arise frequently.

"Alright it's late in the game I need your best in these moments. So that's coaching. That's making your team aware of that, because we're going to play in a lot of close games and we're going to play in more of them," Kelly said.

The psyche of this team, some fans may say, is on the verge of crumbling. Kelly reassured he's not worried about his team, saying he's got a bunch of fighters.

"As long as their head coach believes and I believe in them and they know that, then they'll never stop believing," Kelly said.