Notre Dame football: Irish prepare for home finale

SOUTH BEND -- Brian Kelly's assessment of BYU, Saturday's opponent, can be boiled down to this.

"Offense runs fast. Defensively get you off the field," the Notre Dame football coach said Tuesday at his weekly press conference. "It's going to be a great challenge."

Two players the Irish will focus on will be BYU quarterback Taysom Hill and linebacker Kyle Van Noy. Hill leads the 7-3 Cougars in rushing with 956 yards and eight touchdowns.

"I think it starts with Taysom Hill," Kelly said. "They've been extremely dynamic on offense, led by Hill."

The defensive leader is Van Noy, who leads the Cougars with four sacks and 15 tackles-for-loss.

"Somebody that you have to gameplan (against)," Kelly said. "Very versatile player. We'll have to know where he is at all times."

Banged-up Notre Dame, also 7-3 and coming off a bye week, did not practice last week after dropping a 28-21 decision at Pittsburgh. Kelly on Tuesday did not rule out any injured players for Saturday's game other than those who have been ruled out for the season.

"I think the week off proved to be effective for us," Kelly said. "We're like everybody else in college football right now. We've got guys that are fighting through it."

Saturday's game kicks off at at 3:42 p.m. (Eastern) and will air on NBC.