Notre Dame-Boston College: The Phil Jurkovec Factor
This week’s meeting between No. 2 and 7-0 Notre Dame and 5-3 Boston College has two programs either highly blessed (ND) or rising in the present (BC). At the same time, the matchup has two overriding themes from the past.
The far older and less relevant aspect is how the previous time the Fighting Irish defeated No. 1 in 1993 — just as it did last week with Clemson — the Eagles a week later shattered the Fighting Irish's national title aspirations.
Much more pertinent in the present is Boston College quarterback Phil Jurkovec, a top‑100 recruit in 2018 who committed to Notre Dame during his sophomore year when the Irish were experiencing a 4-8 nightmare. A lethal dual-threat, the 6-5, 226-pound Jurkovec was viewed as the rock of the class and the foundation around whom Notre Dame’s fortunes and future would be restored.
Indeed, over the past four years Notre Dame has prospered into a consistent top-10 operation — but it was achieved with mostly Ian Book and Brandon Wimbush at quarterback, not Jurkovec.
After redshirting as a freshman in 2018 and seeing limited action as a 2019 sophomore, the Western Pennsylvania product opted last January to transfer to Boston College to play under new head coach Jeff Hafley.
“Near the end at Notre Dame, I was really not liking football. I lost my love for it,” Jurkovec told Pittsburgh Post-Gazette columnist Mike White right before Boston College’s season opener against Duke Sept. 19. “I brought up to my family about switching positions and not even playing quarterback. I wanted to make it work. I didn’t want to be one of those guys when things get hard, they transfer and run away from it.
“But talking with my family, I had to leave. And after I decided to leave, it was very hard. You understand that you’re leaving your dream school, the team you always watched growing up. But I didn’t really know what Notre Dame was like. I committed to the dream of Notre Dame and not everything else.”
At the forefront of his decision was his belief that he was not developing as a quarterback.
“I was going to eventually play at Notre Dame. I wasn’t going to go my whole career and not play,” Jurkovec told White. “But really, the main reason why I left was the frustration of not progressing. I knew coming out of high school, I needed to go somewhere and develop. I thought Notre Dame was the place. I think I developed in a lot of ways. But in quarterback play, I think I regressed in certain areas over time.
“It was incredibly frustrating. … At times, it got to the point where I could not even throw the ball at all. My footwork was all jacked up.”
When Book announced he would return for a fifth season in 2020 shortly after Notre Dame’s win over Iowa State in the Camping World Bowl last year, Jurkovec’s fate was sealed, although it’s uncertain he would have remained even if Book chose to try the pros.
“I’m glad he stayed because it gave me an opportunity to leave,” Jurkovec told White.
In years past, a transfer from one Division I school to another would have to sit out a year before becoming eligible to play. As is more and more the custom today, though, Jurkovec received an NCAA waiver this August that made him eligible to play immediately.
He has become a franchise quarterback with the Eagles, with his 2,083 passing yards ranking sixth nationally. He has accounted for 74 percent of the total offense for the Eagles, including a team-high 94 rushing yards in a 48-27 victory versus Georgia Tech.
“It was not a good situation for me at Notre Dame,” Jurkovec concluded. “The second time around, I didn’t go for the brand. I went for nothing other than the people. … They’re for the players here, and not just in a football sense.”
These words would be a lot more biting had Notre Dame ended up on the short end of the Clemson outcome last week. The storyline then would have centered on how Jurkovec was the “one who got away,” especially because his long-range ceiling might be loftier than Book’s.
Instead, Book’s heroic efforts against Clemson — plus a career 27-3 record as a starter — have significantly elevated his status at Notre Dame as the consummate gamer who has a wonderful knack of leading and making plays, with his legs or arm, when needed.
Thus, during Kelly’s Monday conference with the media, fielding questions about Jurkovec and his rise at Boston College was made much easier with the feather in the cap achieved versus the Tigers.
“He was fairly bright in terms of understanding what we were doing,” Kelly said of Jurkovec’s progress his first two years at Notre Dame. “There were times when we were trying to get him to get the ball out of his hand a little faster, but the normal progress that most young players were making in the program, he was making.”
When asked what was the most conspicuous development Jurkovec has made at Boston College, Kelly noted that it’s not an apples-to-apples comparison.
"In high school he was in a spread offense, catch and throw,” Kelly replied. “He was in an RPO [run-pass option] last year. He is in a play-action, six-man, seven-man protection offense this year. So it’s really hard to compare where he is to where he was last year because they are so dissimilar from an offensive perspective.”
Jurkovec's forte often has been ad-libbing, which showcases his gifts athletically but might not always play well in a more structured setting.
“What he’s doing this year on film is he’s making plays outside the realm of the offense — which he was very accustomed to doing when he was in high school and when he was here as well,” Kelly said. “Outside the pocket, he’s a great scrambler, he can throw on the run, he’s got a strong arm, great size and he’s a tough kid.
“But I would say the offenses are so dissimilar, it’s hard to really compare where that progression is. The one constant is he can make plays outside the pocket.”
The presence of Jurkovec and a new staff has resulted in a complete about-face in how the Boston College offense is run. Under former head coach Steve Addazio, a power running attack was the emphasis last year because of the presence of standout running back AJ Dillon and the lack of a premier passer. Last year the Eagles averaged 254.2 yards rushing per game — 1,685 by Dillon and 844 by backup David Bailey — and 176.0 passing.
With Jurkovec under center, that has dramatically shifted. During the Eagles’ 5-3 start, highlighted by leading No. 1 Clemson 28-10 on Oct. 31 before falling 34-28, it is 260.9 yards passing and a meager 106.6 rushing per game (3.1 yards per carry), the latter ranking 110th nationally.
Although Dillon is gone, Bailey is back, but he is averaging only 53.6 yards rushing per game and his 3.9 yards per carry are way down from his 5.7 output last season, with run-blocking a primary issue up front.
Only once in the first seven games did Boston College finish with more than 90 rushing yards, an outlier 264-yard result in 48‑27 romp versus Georgia Tech.
In last week’s 16-13 win over Syracuse (1-7), better balance did occur with Jurkovec finishing 20-of-29 passing for 208 yards with one touchdown and no interceptions, while Bailey’s 25 carries accounted for 125 yards.
Jurkovec has found his right spot, but it hasn't come at the expense of Notre Dame getting diminished as a national title contender.
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