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Boston College @ Notre Dame Football Preview
The Notre Dame Fighting Irish are heavily favored to defeat the Boston College Golden Eagles in a mid-November battle at Notre Dame Stadium in South Bend, Indiana.
History shows that such a fact means very little – almost nothing – within the context of this all-Catholic football rivalry. When the Indiana school run by the Congregation of the Holy Cross encounters the Jesuit school from Massachusetts, the expected result does not always emerge.
Consider 1993, for instance.
In that college football season – 18 long years ago – Notre Dame had just defeated Florida State in a 1-versus-2 Game Of The Century clash, an epic battle which carries resonance to this day. That 31-24 win over the Seminoles propelled Notre Dame to the top spot in the national rankings. The Irish just had to finish November without a loss in order to remain in the driver’s seat for the national championship. When Boston College came to South Bend the week after the Florida State win, few if any pigskin pundits felt the Golden Eagles were going to pull off the upset.
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However, it soon became clear that the boys from BC were spoiling for a fight. The defense of Boston College linebacker Mike Mamula prevented the Golden Eagles from getting blown out of the building, but the day was carried by BC’s pitch-and-catch tandem of quarterback Glenn Foley and tight end Pete Mitchell. The two playmakers connected time and again to outflank Notre Dame’s defense, which had been so successful the week before in containing Florida State quarterback Charlie Ward, that season’s Heisman Trophy winner. Perhaps suffering a letdown from the emotionally draining and mentally taxing Florida State firefight, Notre Dame’s secondary simply didn’t rise to the challenge posed by Boston College’s passing attack. The game wound its way to the final few minutes of an unbearably tense game loaded with national-title significance. The Golden Eagles, though, had the ball last, and when kicker David Gordon booted a field goal on the final play of regulation, Boston College had engineered a 41-39 stunner, a stomach punch that wound up denying Notre Dame a piece of the national title despite its head-to-head win over Florida State.
Therefore, as the Fighting Irish prepare for this game against a Boston College squad which resides at the bottom of the Atlantic Coast Conference, they can’t take anything for granted. After all, Notre Dame has already lost to South Florida, another team residing in the bottom run of its own power conference, the Big East. The Fighting Irish need to focus; otherwise, the ghosts of 1993 will ensnare them once more against Boston College.
By: Matt Zemek
DFN Sports Senior Staff Writer