Notre Dame RB Kyren Williams: 'We had to punch them in the mouth first'

Notre Dame wins the coin toss and takes the ball. 

Eyes roll and message boards blow up. 

It happened again on Saturday night as the Irish received the opening kickoff against No.1 Clemson. 

33 seconds later, Kyren Williams crossed the goal line after a 65-yard run on the game's second play. 

"That was another point of emphasis this week," Williams said. "We preached it a lot. It was going to be a dog fight. We had to punch them in the mouth first before they punched us. We knew we had to be dialed in on all levels of execution."

The Irish jumped on the Tigers early and while they faced adversity, Notre Dame never gave up as Williams led the charge with 140 rushing yards and three touchdowns. 

"Our confidence the whole game never switched," explained Williams. "We stayed even-keeled. That was important in our attack in this game - stay calm, cool and collected as an offense. We knew no matter what that when we go on the field, we were going to do our thing. 

"We did that and came out on top. That's big for our offense going into next week. Confidence is real high." 

Speaking of confidence, Williams couldn't have been prouder of quarterback Ian Book as he came up big in the game's biggest moments. 

"That's Ian," Williams stated. "That's what he does. Big stage, big game, he's there and he's going to make plays. We trusted him all night. 

"He never let us down as an offense. He was the one that kept us going and kept us alive. We trust in him a whole lot and that's our quarterback for a reason." 

Book's resilience paid off as the Irish got to celebrate the victory and Williams wouldn't have traded it for the world. 

"As you can expect, the locker room was turnt," laughed Williams. "You could feel it after the game. It was live. Everybody was there. I was late to get to the locker room because there were so many people on the field. When I did get in there, there was a lot of music. Everyone was jumping and dancing. 

"I think we are going to take it for what it is and move on to next week on Monday." 

Notre Dame may celebrate tonight, but it's quickly back to work as the Irish travel to Boston College next weekend. 

"That's the difference for our team," said Williams. "We don't feed into the outside stuff. We don't listen to the hype. We always talk about it's us versus us. Whenever we are on the field, we know we have to play to our standard.

"It's a great win for Notre Dame, but we're looking ahead to next week. We have another matchup with Boston College, who is a good team. We know we have to play to the highest of levels throughout the rest of this season. We're excited for this win, but it's another win and we have to keep going."