Notre Dame coach Brian Kelly made one change going into the first game of the season against Purdue.
Senior David Ruffer will handle place kicking duties, replacing sophomore Nick Tausch. Ruffer will still handle kickoffs in the game, which is slated to start at 3:30 p.m.
"Ruffer we felt had a great week," Kelly said Thursday. "The ball comes off his foot really well. So he has earned that starting position. I don't believe there are any other changes."
There is also little change in the health of tight end Mike Ragone.
Kelly said Ragone has been put on antibiotics for an inner-ear infection and is doubtful for Saturday's game.
More from Kelly's Thursday news conference:
On the plan for Friday: "Tomorrow will be what we call 'Focus Friday.' We will focus on the game plan. We will watch a little film, and move the guys around a little bit to stretch them out. Then the pep rally. At that time the normal traditional prep rally we will have some add ons to it. At that time, we will announce our game day captains."
On receiving or deferring if Notre Dame wins the coin flip: "I like to have the football. I think the only time I look at deferring is if there is weather and weather conditions. By in large, my career has been about getting the football. I think if you score, you have a good chance of scoring on that first drive, you want the ball. That's just been me traditionally."
On what he will tell quarterback Dayne Crist before the game: "You don't have to win the Heisman today. Take what they give you. Be patient. Let the offense come to you. You don't have to force it. There are plenty of answers out there for you. Let the game come to you. If you do that, you will be fine. And for me, have confidence. Because we would not put you back there unless we thought you were going to do a great job."
On what the coaches discuss during the 48-hour meeting Thursday: "We go over things like end of game scenarios. If you are in a situation where you can get two with two seconds on the clock, do you go for the win or do you kick it and go into overtime? How are you going to play your overtime? Fakes. Timeouts, how are we going to utilize those? Situation substitution.
"All of those things that you have to really talk about and have those answers already in place. Because when it happens, there is no time to think about it. You have already made those decisions.
"Two days away takes the emotion out of those decisions. Let's say we decided that if we score late in the game and we have the chance to win it with a two-point conversion, you don't want to make those decisions on the sideline. You know what the kids are going to say, 'Let's go for it. Let's go coach.' We try to make those decisions 48 hours prior to."
On being over prepared: "I think any time you have 29 practices, you have too much in going into the game. But I think that's the nature of it. I've been doing it long enough that I'm not going to pull stuff out that I don't think they can handle. I think that sometimes when you don't know your team and you have all this installation through 29 practices, you are pulling stuff out that you worked on three weeks ago put you haven't the last couple of days. I will stay to the script."
