Boston College @ Notre Dame Football Recap

Notre Dame 16, Boston College 14

The reality of that strange creature known as the look-ahead game always makes its way into college football seasons, even in week 12 and the late-November afternoons when so much of the season has run its course. The Notre Dame Fighting Irish were playing the 11th game of their season this past weekend against the Boston College Eagles, but it was clear that the Fighting Irish were looking ahead to their 12th game of the season.

They were fortunate that they didn't look too far ahead.

Despite being four games better than Boston College entering this matchup on home turf, Notre Dame struggled to get points with the Eagles pinning the Irish with bad field position most of the game. However, a lone touchdown and a handful of field goals were enough for Notre Dame to move past the flinty yet forlorn Eagles in South Bend on Saturday afternoon. Boston College, the Jesuit school from New England, always gets up for the annual clash with its Catholic rival from the Congregation of the Holy Cross. The Eagles threw their very best defensive effort at Notre Dame on the same day that the Irish were dreaming about their Thanksgiving weekend showdown with mighty Stanford. The two ingredients, mixed together, almost produced a massive upset... but not quite. It's not that the Irish are brilliant; Boston College has been rather inept for most of this season. Had the Eagles been able to clip the Irish, embattled Boston College coach Frank Spaziani would have gained the signature win of his career.

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Unfortunately for him, Notre Dame paid just enough attention to the task at hand.

The Irish opened the game with their only touchdown on the afternoon, driving 80 yards for a score. After Tommy Rees threw four straight completions to move Notre Dame inside Boston College’s 30-yard line, Jonas Gray ripped off a 26-yard touchdown run to put the Irish up 7-0 early. It was a good moment for the senior Gray to score on senior day—Notre Dame’s last home game of the season—as Gray would unfortunately leave the game with a bad knee injury that ended his season and career at Notre Dame.

On their next drive, Rees again set the Irish up deep in Boston College territory with a 37-yard pass to Tyler Eifert. David Ruffer knocked through a 40-yard field goal to give Notre Dame a 10-0 lead, and just seven minutes into the game the Irish had already done most of their scoring. Late in the second quarter, Chase Rettig completed four passes of 14 yards or longer to put the Eagles at Notre Dame’s two-yard line, where Josh Bordner ran in a touchdown. Notre Dame managed another field goal to make the halftime score 13-7.

After a scoreless third quarter, Ruffer added a third field goal to extend Notre Dame’s lead to 16-7. Boston College managed a touchdown with two minutes left to cut the score to 16-14, but could not secure the onside kick. Rees finished the game 24-39 for 256 yards for Notre Dame. The Irish moved to 8-3 with the win, and prepare for their season finale with sixth-ranked Stanford (10-1) next Saturday night.

There won't be any looking ahead in that game.

By: Matt Zemek
DFN Sports Senior Staff Writer