The No. 4 Notre Dame Fighting Irish took down the No. 1 Clemson Tigers Saturday night 47-40 in double overtime.

Yes, Clemson didn’t have quarterback Trevor Lawrence, but backup DJ Uiagalelei threw for 439 yards and 2 touchdowns in the loss. He also added another rushing touchdown.

Notre Dame running back Kyren Williams torched Clemson’s defense with 140 rushing yards and 3 touchdowns.

Following the loss to the Irish, Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney spoke to the media. Below is everything he said:

Opening Comments

“First of all, I want to say congratulations to Notre Dame. Obviously didn’t go our way, but it’s an instant classic, that’s for sure. Unbelievable college football game. Both teams displayed incredible heart. It was unbelievable to watch. In the end, we made too many mistakes and they made a couple of more plays than we did. Congratulations to Notre Dame and coach Kelly. They did an awesome job.

“I will say this: I’ve been doing this a long time, and I know we made a lot of mistakes and have a lot to improve on, but I have never been more proud of a team. You can’t ask for more. They fought with every ounce they had. Overcame a lot. Obviously got in a big hole. Back-to-back turnovers, scoop-and-score. We’ve had some really, really tough breaks with that as of late. Three games in a row where we’ve scored for them on offense. We have been able to overcome that, and tonight we weren’t. That was the difference in the game at halftime.

“We’re in a hole, but our guys battled their tails off. Take the lead a couple of different times, and we had our chance to win the game in regulation. And we didn’t get it done. Go to overtime, and have a chance twice.

“Game didn’t go our way, but I’m proud of our team. It’s my job to help them overcome and my job to help them get better, and we’ll do that. All you can do is congratulate Notre Dame because they did an amazing job.

“But at the end of the day, the first half was awful. Field position. Really made critical mistakes.

“We couldn’t run the ball. That was obviously a huge difference in the game.

“We couldn’t contain their quarterback. We knew third down was going to be critical, and they won that battle. Struggled containing the quarterback all night. He bought time, bought time, bought time. Extended plays and found some guys and made some big runs and scrambles.

“We didn’t win the game, but you saw what this team is made of. This team is made of the right stuff. And has coaches, we’ve gotta help them. And we will.

“We are a banged up football team. We have a lot of guys out. Hopefully we’ll get some guys back and healthy.

“This will hurt for a couple of days, but we’ll get back to work on Monday and this one will be in the rearview mirror just like we always do. And Florida State will be the biggest game of the year. We’ll battle our tails off and see if we can get back on track with a win and stay in the hunt for this league.”

Question and Answer Portion of Presser

“Mistakes caught up with us. It’s a really good team. If we just play a little cleaner, we win the game. But at the end of the day, we have to put it behind us and get back to work. We’re 7-1. Nobody was handing out a trophy tonight. Nobody was rolling a stage out there tonight. We got a ways to go. We have a lot of guys that have grown and learned a lot from this year. It’s obviously been challenging on everyone. The only thing we can’t be is 11-0. We can still be 10-1, that’s the best we can be. But you can’t win 10, ’till you win 8.”

“Again, everybody is sad and we are all hurting. But what I saw tonight is special. We have all kinds of things we have to do better, but what I saw tonight is really special. We are not an easy out. Notre Dame, man, you just tip your hat. They dadgum earned it. We handle our business and maybe we get a chance to play them again. If we handle our business, maybe we’ll get a chance to play them again. I love my guys and am so appreciative of their effort and fight. Wish I could have helped them a little more tonight, but couldn’t get it done.”

“Yeah, it was pretty bad (mood of the team in the locker room). It was a hurt locker room. People really don’t know how much goes into it. What these young people put into every single week. And this is a group that hasn’t lost much. The last time we lost a regular season game was 2017. It hurts. It hurts. You put everything you’ve got into something and it doesn’t go your way, it hurts. They expected to win, never lost any doubt. But again, so much to overcome.”

“I mean, he’s special (freshman QB DJ Uiagalelei). Are you kidding me? You watch this guy play, he’s going to be awesome. That was a big challenge for him tonight for sure, but he made some incredible plays. He never wavered, never flinched. Made some big, big throws. Couple nice throws. I’m super proud of him. He’s just going to get better.”

You can watch his press conference below: