Following the bye week, Notre Dame headed east to face the 1-7 Boston College Eagles. The contest marked the first of three consecutive road tests for the Irish. In the look-ahead spot, the Marcus Freeman team won a physical victory against the scrappy and starving Eagles to move to 6-2 and keep its playoff hopes alive. Here are key moments that defined the win.
Irish stuffed for a turnover on downs
In the Irish’s second series, they began to find an offensive rhythm as redshirt freshman CJ Carr unloaded a 15 yard strike to senior tight end Eli Raridon on 3rd & 12 to keep the drive alive. Keeping pace, Carr followed with a completion to senior wide receiver Will Pauling who extended the reception out to a 17-yard play into Eagles territory. On 3rd & 9, junior running back Jeremiyah Love ran ahead for six yards, leaving the Irish with a critical decision on 4th & 3. With confidence in the offensive unit, Mike Denbrock elected to go for it, resulting in an incompletion and turnover on downs.
Notre Dame takes the lead even with extra point struggles
The Irish defense held strong even after the offense gave the Eagles a shorter field. Boston College achieved a 19-yard drive before punting the ball away. Narrowly avoiding a muffed punt, junior wide receiver Jordan Faison recovered the ball and gave the offense the ball back on the 15. Carr used his power on 2nd & 8 that earned 10 yards to get the ball to the ND 27. The Irish drive continued into Eagle territory again with the help of penalties and timely plays for first downs. It all came to a head on fourth down when the offense went for a 4th & 6 play, throwing the ball to senior wide receiver Malachi Fields, who turned it into a 40-yard score. Despite the touchdown, Noah Burnette missed the extra point, the first of many woes for the special teams unit.
Tae Johnson earns his first of two interceptions
With the 6-0 lead, Boston College felt the pressure to push the ball downfield and score in its home environment. Starting off the next drive in the 2nd quarter, the Eagles picked up a first down, then looked downfield for a big play that was taken away by freshman safety Tae Johnson with help from sophomore safety Adon Shuler. This was the first of the three Irish interceptions of the day and helped set the offense into motion.
Irish give the ball away at the goal line
The Irish took over at their own 36 and on the first play, Carr zipped a bullet into the outstretched arms of Faison for a 46-yard pass deep into Boston College territory. With the ball inside the 10 yard line after two rushes for nine yards from redshirt junior running back Jadarian Price, Carr handed the ball back to Price on 3rd & 1. Price fumbled the ball with contact from the Eagles to give the ball back to Boston College.
The Eagles followed this turnover with their most successful drive of the game. With another critical defensive possession, it was junior captain linebacker Drayk Bowen that stepped up for the Irish. He brought down McDonald for a one-yard loss on 3rd & 1, forcing a critical 4th & 2 from the Irish 27. Boston College also chose to go ahead for the two yards and Talich broke up Franklin’s pass to the outside for the turnover on downs.
Irish finish the half with a 44-yard bomb to Will Pauling
The Irish only needed four plays to cash in the next possession for a score. Senior wide receiver Will Pauling broke free from the secondary to score a 44-yard touchdown pass, the second explosive 40+ yard play for the Irish of the day. It resulted in another missed extra point, this time from junior kicker Marcello Diomede. The Irish led 12-0.
Running an efficient two minute drill, the Eagles responded with a drive that only took 1:31 to score. Even with two Irish sacks on the possession, Chris Ash’s secondary got caught playing deep press coverage prevent and allowed the Eagles huge plays for a score. They gave up three plays of 20 yards and one play over 15 yards for the easy touchdown to bring the score to 12-7 with only 22 seconds left in the half for the Irish. Notre Dame was able to sneak into field goal territory after a 15-yard penalty and two first down completions, but freshman kicker Erik Schmidt missed the 35-yard field goal to bring the halftime total to 12-7.
Second half
Boston College received the second half kickoff and bled 11 minutes off the clock on a 21-play mammoth of a drive. Mixing in short passing, short running, and doses of play action, they were able to convert one 4th down and pick up a penalty on the Irish for the other. With the ball inside the red zone, the Irish defense picked up another critical stop. Stuffing quarterback Grayson James, junior defensive lineman Donovan Hinish and Kyngstonn Viliamu-Asa forced a 0-yard play. Then, James threw another incompletion as the Irish blanketed all Eagles receivers in the end zone. Boston College wanted to bring the total inside three points and did just that as Luca Lombardo sank a 25-yard field goal to make the score 12-10.
CJ Carr’s 30-yard completion sets up Jeremiyah Love for another score
The Irish broke open the next drive with another big pass. Carr threw a spiraling deep ball on the left sideline to Eli Raridon, who bulldozed ahead for 30 yards and the first down near midfield. The Irish benefited from a roughing-the-passer call and a 12-yard Fields reception to push the ball to the Eagles four yard line. It only took two plays for Love to punch in his first touchdown of the day. Despite rushing less than three yards a carry to that point and under 50 total yards, the junior’s determination would soon pay off. The score brought the total to 18-10 as the offense was unable to convert the two point attempt.
Irish defense closes it out with a pair of interceptions in the 4th
On the next drive, Shuler got his turn on the interception from James as classmate linebacker Jaden Ausberry got pressure to force an awkward 3rd & 7 throw at the Irish 23. Shuler only returned the ball for two yards, but it only took one play for the Irish to take it the distance. Reminiscent of the college football playoff dash against Indiana, Love took it 94 yards to the house to give the Irish a comfortable 25-10 lead. Schmidt came through on the PAT, the only successful point from the Irish special teams.
Boston College mounted an 11-play 13-yard drive that ended in a turnover on downs with help from another Viliamu-Asa sack and a pass breakup from cornerback DeVonta Smith on 4th & 32. Johnson earned the final takeaway as he intercepted James for the second time with 1:41 in the game.
Despite the lack of special teams performance and offensive consistency excluding the monumental 94-yard run from Love, the Irish struggled some on the road against the Eagles. They will be challenged next against Navy, then Pitt to keep playoff hopes alive this season.
