Following Boston College football’s home loss to Notre Dame on Saturday, Bill O’Brien came into his post-game press conference with pride for how his team fought against the 12th-ranked Fighting Irish.
O’Brien said he has coached teams before who have mailed it in after a couple of bad games, but even as the Eagles are experiencing one of the worst seasons in program history, there is not a single player that is pressing the panic or quit button, according to O’Brien.
The Eagles (1-8, 0-5 ACC) fell, 25-10, despite going into the fourth quarter with just an eight-point deficit. Following a BC interception, thrown by senior Grayson James, Notre Dame (6-2) running back Jeremiyah Love anthem his gap and broke loose for a 94-yard touchdown with 11 minutes left in regulation to seal the road triumph.
Here are all of O’Brien’s quotes from after the loss.
Q: Coach, you’re able to compete with a legitimate playoff team until the fourth quarter, just weren’t able to get over that jump. Just thoughts on the overall effort?
O’Brien: “Yeah, no, I appreciate you saying that. Look, I thought these guys fought. I just told them in the locker room, [I’m] really proud of these guys. It might not be a memorable team to anybody on the outside, but it’ll be a memorable team to me, because they fight, they fight hard, they compete, they show up to practice. They’re awesome guys. Just couldn’t do anything in the running game on offense. Just could not move the ball consistently, turn the ball over, and then defensively, I thought we fought, you know, we gave up the one big run, gave up that drive, you know, the first drive of the second half. But I thought, overall, that’s a good team. That’s the No. 12 team in the country. They got a really good offensive line. They got really good backs. Our guys fought hard. So, you know, I’m proud of the team. Losing is not good, but I’m very proud of the football team.”
Q: Coach, you made a comment about Dylan [Lonergan’s] start not being because of Grayson’s performance, so when you decided to put Grayson in, was he dealing with anything injury-wise?
O’Brien: “Grayson has a hip pointer, and so that’s a very painful injury, and you probably saw it there towards the end, he scrambled to the left. He wasn’t the same runner that he normally is, but you talk about tough—he’s a tough guy. And, you know, he went in there and gave us a little bit of a spark. We just couldn’t protect him enough when we got down and things like that. But Grayson’s awesome. He’s a tough, tough guy.”
Q: Containing [Jeremiyah] Love, he only had 40 yards until he broke that big one. First, what happened on that play, and how were you playing with him earlier?
O’Brien: “Yeah, I’m not sure what happened on that play. I’m on the field, so I’ll series the tape. I’ll be able to tell you on Tuesday. But they set the edge. They swarmed to the ball. Sometimes we brought everybody, we brought the kitchen sink, and they burned us a couple times. You know, that’s going to happen when they pick up the blitz. And I thought we were aggressive. I thought we tackled better. I think defensively, we definitely played better. You know, not saying it was good enough, but it was better. And again, proud of the fight.”
Q: You talk about how games have come down to one or two big plays, they just don’t go in your guy’s direction. Can you talk about how you felt the momentum was shifting? After the half you guys have that long drive, but right after that, obviously, the interception to the immediate touchdown.
O’Brien: “Yeah, you know, we came out. We knew that that was a big drive. But even on that drive, there were too many miscues, you know, like immediately we got a couple fourth downs. That was a long drive. That was a good drive. But then we have a hard time sustaining because then they got the ball and they went right down and scored on, probably, like, an eight-play drive, and that was not good. That’s really where we needed a three and out. Again, I think the defense overall played better, but that’s what we haven’t been able to do, is stem the tide right there. And then, obviously, we threw interceptions and things like that. Had some miscues on offense. I thought, you know, they jumped. We jumped. I don’t know who’s jumping, but we didn’t have a great flow to the offense tonight.”
Q: Despite all the pressure, Grayson [had] some pretty nice numbers. [The] one interception, was that just caused because he was trying to do too much?
O’Brien: “Yeah, I mean, he knows that. He’s just trying to make a play. He’s a very competitive guy. And we’re in field-goal range there, we would have kicked the field goal. But, you know, he’s just trying to, I think it was Skeete. Maybe he’s trying to get the ball to Skeete and just overthrew him. And too many guys were there. So he’ll learn from that.”
Q: Speaking of [Jaedn] Skeete, you got him back today. How much does he change what the offense could do?
O’Brien: “Skeete’s a good route runner. He’s good with the ball in his hands. Made a few plays for us tonight. It was good to get him back, and we’ll see how it goes moving forward.”
Q: A lot of close games, Cal, Michigan State, Louisville, this one. What needs to happen for you guys to break through?
O’Brien: “Turnovers, moving the ball better on offense, scoring in the red area. We just haven’t been able to. If you think back to those games, you know, there were interceptions, there were interceptions this game. So it just, it comes down to that. You know, last year we were, we were a lot better at that, taking care of the ball and taking the ball away. This year it’s been the opposite. And we have to, we have to fix that. We want to try to keep fixing it this year, but we definitely have to fix it moving forward.”
Q: Just your comment about it being a memorable experience this year, you and the team, and your experience with the team this year. As the final games approach, what can you say to the team to keep everybody in that same headspace?
O’Brien: “I think they will be. What I mean by that is, you know, when I show up here every single day, these guys are ready to go. They practice hard, they give us everything they’ve got, and there’s been a lot of, you know, ups and downs, mostly downs, but they keep showing up. And I think that you never really want that type of a life lesson in football, but it is a good life lesson, because if this is the most adversity you discount with in your life, you’re going to have a pretty good life. And so, you know, these guys, they keep showing up, and they don’t quit, and they have a “never say die” attitude. And there’s been a lot of teams, not a lot—I haven’t been involved in this situation too many times. But there’s been teams that I’ve been involved with that they shut it down, they’re checked out. Keys are in the ignition. They’re ready to drive away. This team’s not like that. This team has good leadership, and they’re going to keep fighting all the way. They have three guaranteed opportunities. They’re going to keep fighting all the way.”
Q: Getting back Daveon “Bam” Crouch, how big was that, especially in the run game?
O’Brien: “Bam helped. I thought the D line played good, you know, for the most part. I thought those guys held up pretty well. Kwan Williams, Chris Marable Jr., Quintayvious Hutchins, I thought Edwin Kolenge, all those guys, Favor Bate, you know, got some freshmen in there. Israel [Oladipupo] got in there. You know, that was good to see, and I thought those guys held up pretty well in there.”
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