Rapid Review: Notre Dame 40, Boston College 7
No. 16 Notre Dame for the second week in a row shut down one of the nation’s top 5 rushing attacks and improved to 9-2 with a 40-7 victory versus Boston College (5-6) on Senior Day.
It also marked the first time since 1987-89 that Notre Dame finished unbeaten at home in back-to-back seasons.
After a slow start and falling behind 7-6 in the second quarter, the Fighting Irish overwhelmed the Eagles with a 501-191 advantage in total yardage.
Senior quarterback Ian Book completed 26 of 40 passes for 239 yards, three touchdowns and no interceptions — and for the fourth straight game this November led the team in rushing with 12 carries for 66 yards.
Three different Irish targets caught seven passes and one touchdown apiece, led by junior tight Cole Kmet (7-78), and followed by fifth-year senior Chris Finke (7-71) and senior Chase Claypool (7-60).
Junior Jonathan Doerer was 4 of 4 on field goals, but the story of day was a superb defensive effort (see "Stat of The Game").
1.TOP 3 STORYLINES
• Although Notre Dame had difficulties running the ball conventionally, Book's scrambles and a back-breaking 61-yard touchdown romp by sophomore wideout speedster Braden Lenzy in the third quarter statistically balanced out the attack with 252 yards rushing and 249 passing.
• Boston College was held 154 yards under its rushing average, finishing with only 128 after entering the contest with a 282-yard per game figure.
• This is the first time Notre Dame has won three straight games by at least 30 points since 1989. So far this November it’s been Duke (38-7), Navy (52-20) and now Boston College (40-7).
Thirty years ago it was against Pitt (45-7), Navy (41-0) and SMU (59-6).
2. TURNING POINT
After Boston College took its first lead at 7-6, Notre Dame answered with a 75-yard drive in 15 plays in 5:08 to regain the lead at 13-7 with 2:48 remaining on a six-yard tally from Book to Claypool. During this march the duo also combined for a seven-yard completion on third-and-six from Boston College's 31, and on fourth-and-three from the 24, Book found Finke on a six-yard gain.
Beginning with this drive, the little hope the Eagles had as a 19-point underdog quickly ended with the Irish tallying the final 34 points.
3. STAT OF THE GAME
Boston College entered the game averaging 282.2 yards rushing per game, ranking fifth nationally. Through three quarters it had only 106 yards on 34 carries and finished with 128 on 43 attempts.
Especially noteworthy is the nation’s third-leading rusher AJ Dillon entered the contest averaging 27 carries for 145 yards while David Bailey was at 12 carries for 76 yards. Dillon finished with a meager 56 yards on 14 carries, while Bailey had 10 for 26.
Thus, a duo that combined for 221 yards on the ground per contest managed 82 on 24 attempts, and just 3.4 yards per carry..
That leads us to game-ball efforts …
4. GAME BALL
This contest was dominated by Notre Dame’s defense, which has been superb all November, and leading the charge this afternoon were senior bookends Khalid Kareem and Ade Ogundeji.
Both recorded six tackles , with Ogundeji recorded two sacks (three tackles for loss) while Kareem had one and forced a key fumble recovered by junior linebacker Drew White to set up a score.
The Fighting Irish defense has permitted only 47 points in four November games.
5. HISTORICAL FOOTNOTE
This was Notre Dame’s seventh consecutive victory versus the Eagles, dating back to 2009. Boston College had tied the series at 9-9 after winning six straight from 2001-08.
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