Notre Dame Vs. Boston College: It's Been A Grind
One of the tiresome clichés annually heard, especially when Notre Dame has its struggles in a given year is, “Playing Notre Dame is like the Super Bowl for the other team.”
With Boston College, though, it is reality.
The Notre Dame-Boston College series often has been referred to as college football’s “Catholic Super Bowl” or “Holy War” because they are the lone two schools of that faith represented in the 130-team Football Bowl Subdivision.
Whatever the title of the series might be, it’s a red-letter game for the Eagles. Even though head coach Brian Kelly holds a 5-0 ledger at Notre Dame against the flagship college football program from his home state, he respects the physical mentality the Eagles consistently bring.
Although Boston College’s two most esteemed current players in the NFL are quarterback Matt Ryan (Atlanta) and linebacker Luke Kuechly (Carolina), it is along the lines where the Eagles have forged their identity.
Over the past 20 years, 23 Boston College linemen have been drafted by the NFL, 15 of them in the top three rounds, most recently offensive lineman Chris Lindstrom (first round) and defensive end Zach Allen (third round) this past spring, and rush end Harold Landry (second round) in 2018.
“They have certainly a reputation of being a physical football team,” Kelly said. “Going back to Coach [Tom] Coughlin, they have either turned out great defensive players or obviously the tight ends, quarterbacks … It's always been a program that has turned out really fine players year in and year out, and an extremely competitive football team that can beat anybody on any given day.
"We certainly know the difference here when they're playing Notre Dame.”
A physical ground attack/offensive line remains the identity this year with the Eagles ranking No. 5 nationally in rushing yards per game (282.2), headlined by powerhouse running backs in 250-pound AJ Dillon (third nationally with 1,451 yards on the ground) and 240-pound David Bailey, who has added 765 yards rushing, or more than top Irish rusher Tony Jones Jr. (611).
Unfortunately for the Eagles, the massive link this year is on defense, where they lack game-changers up front in the mold of Allen, Landry, or from years past a B.J. Raji or Mathias Kiwanuka. The 2019 Eagles have abysmal rankings on that side of the ball among 130 FBS teams, including 91st against the run, 125th versus the pass and 128th overall while allowing 486.9 yards and 32.1 points per game.
Fueling the desire for the Eagles is becoming bowl eligible, where they are in jeopardy at 5-5 with road games remaining versus the Fighting Irish and Pitt.
If there is another program comparable to Boston College that Notre Dame often plays, it’s Pitt. The Panthers likewise are often outmatched in the game, but have a nasty history of playing well versus the Irish, including last year when a late Irish touchdown led to a 19-14 win at home.
Both teams have a healthy respect for Notre Dame but are not intimidated, taking on the personality of their coaches, Pat Narduzzi at Pitt and Steve Addazio at Boston College.
“You've got to go into that stadium with great confidence, and you've got to have a warrior mentality,” said Addazio, who was an assistant for the Irish from 1999-2001. “In your preparation when you play a team like Notre Dame, you've got to have great respect for them, and then you've got to have great preparation so you can have that warrior mentality.
“You've got to go in there with great confidence and understand that you're going to have to go the distance, four quarters, to beat that team on their home field. We're a very proud program here at Boston College, and we're going to go in there with great respect, and we're going to fight and go in there and play hard. Yeah, for sure."
Boston College had a six-game winning streak in this series from 2001-08, before Notre Dame won the next six from 2009-17 — so consider this season “the best of 13.”
The common thread in both winning streaks was the games tended to be grinding, highly physical and low-scoring affairs.
In the six victories in a row by the Eagles, the average score in their favor was 21.6-14.3, with the highest output by both teams the 27‑25 Boston College victory in 2003.
The pendulum swung in 2009 with similar hard-fought victories by Notre Dame.
• The winning streak for the Irish began in head coach Charlie Weis’ final season (2009), when a late interception by linebacker Brian Smith preserved a 20-16 victory.
• On Senior Day in 2011, played in the rain, Notre Dame eked out a 16‑14 victory in a game that standout running back Jonas Gray suffered an ACL tear.
• A year later en route to a 12-0 regular season, Kelly’s squad returned to his home area and posted a typically methodical 21‑6 conquest.
• In 2015, Notre Dame’s Shamrock Series was moved to Boston’s Fenway Park. The Irish improved to 10-1 with a 19-16 victory, but committed five turnovers (three inside the Boston College 5-yard line) to allow the Eagles — who finished 3-9 — to stay in the game right to the end.
An outlier in this series came in the most recent meeting, at Chestnut Hill in 2017, when the Fighting Irish romped to a 49-20 victory on the strength of a 207-yard rushing effort by Brandon Wimbush, a single-game record by an Irish quarterback, and 229 yards by running back Josh Adams.
That game was in September, while the late-November games between the two schools have become much more the grind.
----
• Talk about it inside Rockne’s Roundtable
• Subscribe to our podcast on iTunes
• Learn more about our print and digital publication, Blue & Gold Illustrated.
• Follow us on Twitter: @BGINews, @BGI_LouSomogyi, @BGI_MikeSinger, @CoachDeDario and @AndrewMentock.
• Like us on Facebook.