Everything Boston College coach Bill O'Brien said after losing to Notre Dame football

Bill O’Brien isn’t giving up on this Boston College team. Not even after dropping to 1-8 after losing at home to Notre Dame, 25-10.

Here’s everything O’Brien said in his short postgame press conference after his latest loss.

On if he thought Boston College fought hard against a team of Notre Dame’s caliber

“Yeah, you know, look, I thought these guys fought. I just told them in the locker room, 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, the first drive of the second half, but I thought overall, you know, that’s a good team. That’s the number 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’s not good, but I’m very proud of the football team.”

On if quarterback Grayson James did not start because of an injury

“Yeah, Grayson has a hip pointer, and so that’s a very painful injury. And you probably saw it there towards the end. When 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 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. So, but Grayson’s, he’s awesome. He’s a tough, tough guy.”

On if Boston College contained Notre Dame RB Jeremiyah Love until he broke the 94-yard run and what happened on that play

“Yeah, I’m not sure what happened on that play. I’m on the field, so I’ll watch the tape. I’ll be able to tell you on Tuesday, but yeah, no, they did a good job. 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. Not saying it was good enough, but it was better. And again, proud of the fight.”

On the 21-play possession to start the second half and why it wasn’t built upon

“Yeah, you know, we came out, we knew that that was a big drive. But even on that drive, there were too many miscues. 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 they jumped, we jumped. I don’t know who’s jumping. But we didn’t have a great flow to the offense tonight.”

On what happened when Notre Dame intercepted James and if James was trying to do too much

“Yeah, I mean, he was. You know, he knows that. He’s just trying to make a play. He’s a very, he’s a competitive guy. And we’re in field goal range there. We would have kicked the field goal. I think it was Skeete, maybe, he’s trying to get the ball to Skeete and just overthrew him. And too many guys there. So he’ll learn from that.”

On Boston College wide receiver Jaedn Skeete

“Yeah. 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.”

On what needs to happen for Boston College to get over the hump in some of these games

“Turnovers, moving the ball better on offense, scoring in the red area. We just haven’t been able to, like, if you think back to those games, there were interceptions. There were fumbles. This game, fumbles or, excuse me, interceptions. So it just comes down to that. Last year, 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 fix that. We’re going to try to keep fixing it this year, but we definitely have to fix it moving forward.”

On if the Eagles will be in the right headspace for the home stretch even though they’re 1-8

“Yeah, I think they will be, Graham. What I mean by that is, 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, 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 deal with in your life, you’re going to have a pretty good life.

“And so, 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 and 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.”

On stopping Notre Dame’s rushing attack for the most part

“I thought the D-line played good for the most part. I thought those guys held up pretty well…That was good to see, and I thought those guys held up pretty well in there.”