Ian Book: 'It should hurt'

Charlotte wasn't kind to No. 2 Notre Dame on Saturday night as the No. 3 Clemson knocked the tire off the Fighting Irish after a back and forth first quarter. 

It was disappointing, but don't think the Irish are going away just yet. 

Captain Ian Book has seen bad locker rooms and teams who have quit, but he doesn't believe that's the case with this group. 

"This team doesn't quit," stated Book. "You can just feel it. It's a vibe this team has and it's a great team to play with. Tonight didn't go our way, but just by being in the locker room five seconds ago, you can tell these guys want to play again. That's what you want. It could be a whole different vibe in the locker room right now that would show what type of team it is. 

"This team is different. We just want to play again. We'll see who we'll play and where we play, but we just want to play another game together." 

Sure, the words might not make Notre Dame fans feel much better at this point in time, but it's very likely Book and his teammates hurt worse. 

"You play football again, you get back out there," Book said. "We say all the time you get 24 hours to let it suck, because it does. It should hurt. Remember this feeling is kind of what we've been talking about already. You've got 24 hours to let it hurt and then it's on you and this team to forget about it and work together towards a common goal and that's to win another football game." 

Linebacker Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah felt Clemson didn't do much different than the first game and the result was more about Notre Dame's lack of execution than what the Tigers did. 

"I think it was more of us just executing and playing what Coach Lea calls," Owusu-Koramah stated. "People want to do something that's out of their range, me, for example. Some of the plays, I didn't do my own job. It's 11 players on the field and each player has to focus on their job. We didn't do that to the best of our ability." 

Perhaps the most glaring difference in the two games was the rushing yards for Clemson. 

The Tigers ran 27 times for 219 yards, including 90 from Trevor Lawrence. 

"I think it was in the small things that we kind of got twisted up—new quarterback, not much difference in the scheme," said Owusu-Koramoah. "Clemson doesn't really have a difficult offense, but it's just the small things we didn't do right. I don't think it was a lot on their part that they did different. It was the things we didn't execute and I think that was the difference." 

"We go back and look at the film. Fix those mistakes because whatever team we play next will be looking at those plays we didn't execute on. We'll be looking forward to seeing those exact plays. We'll go back and focus on what we've been focused on and that's us." 

Owusu-Koramoah has experienced this feeling before and took on a leadership role when the Irish fell behind.

"Most of the guys on the defense have played before," explained Owusu-Koramoah. "It wasn't a new thing as far as us being down. We were trying to keep a positive attitude to make sure our young guys knew this game wasn't over and that we can compete and could put good stuff on the film. 

"I don't think it was difficult for us, but it was just us where we had to regroup and make sure we correct the things fell on."