Irish hold final press meeting before holiday break

NOTRE DAME, Ind. -- The national championship is only a few weeks away and the Irish said they're ready.

Right before holiday break on Thursday, some players said they're all looking forward to celebrating Christmas, but most of the excitement was for the national title game against Alabama.

"It’s kind of surreal to me at times. I still don't believe that it is a national championship,” said Notre Dame CB KeiVarae Russell.“Then I think about it, it’s like, ‘Man we earned it, got to believe it one of these days.’"

Notre Dame announced it will work with Alabama on a service project while in Miami. They'll transform a downtown city block into a vegetable garden.