On a breezy afternoon in Chestnut Hill it was supposed to be an easy victory over a slumping Boston College program with little to play for in November. Notre Dame got a heavy dose of crazy college football in a sleepy, weird, and disappointing effort that was fortunately enough to hold off the Eagles 25-10. With a Disney and YouTube TV dispute causing many to scramble to watch the game, if you were unable to catch this you didn’t miss much!
Here’s our 18 Stripes game review of Notre Dame’s 6th win in a row:
QUARTERBACK: B+
Not much could be said about this game in a glowing light, I can’t lie. However, CJ Carr had a sneaky very good game and a nice bounce back from his struggles before the bye week against USC. They started out chucking the ball on the first drive, it didn’t go very well, then he settled down thereafter. The stats are there, no doubt. An important bit from this game is that Notre Dame’s ground game (outside of that Love touchdown run) provided no explosiveness. Carr’s 1st quarter run to the right for 10 yards was the second longest run of the game for the Irish!
Carr missed an open dagger late, I’m sure that will stick with him. Connecting on a couple of 40+ touchdown passes provided much needed breathing room in a far-too-close game.
RUNNING BACK: C
Jeremiyah Love rumbling for 94 yards, Love failing to hurdle a defender on a faked punt, and Jadarian Price’s fumble near the goal line will be 3 things I’ll remember from this game. Not much else was very memorable. Boston College brought the safeties up in an attempt to slow down the Irish ground game and that largely worked.
This picture is cool.
Outside of Love’s long touchdown scamper, Notre Dame carried the ball 28 times for 65 yards. Blah.
WIDE RECEIVER: B
Will Pauling continues to develop great chemistry with Carr, although if there’s a nit to pick you’d like to see more than 73 yards on 7 targets when one of those receptions was a long touchdown. It was another game without Jaden Greathouse but another one where they filled his role within the offense really well.
Three different receivers with receptions of at least 40 yards, that’s pretty nice. The depth continues to be tenuous, though. Gilbert was out along with the aforementioned Greathouse. We’re 75% of the way through the season and Notre Dame’s 4th receiver (KK Smith) has 5 catches in 2025.
TIGHT END: B
I can’t imagine the blocking grades for this unit will be great given Notre Dame’s struggles on the ground. I’m surprised Eli Raridon doesn’t see more targets in the passing game. He caught all 3 on Saturday for 59 yards and his 30-yard catch late in the 3rd quarter set up Notre Dame’s crucial touchdown that led to a 18-10 score (of course they missed the PAT).
OFFENSIVE LINE: C-
The good news was that Carr wasn’t sacked all game and the pass blocking was quite good. The offensive line struggled run blocking and an unimaginative play-calling really limited the offenses ability to put points on the board and put the game away early. A pair of late 3rd and short stuffs will be remembered frustratingly.
Boston College also had 14 total run stuffs–take away the QB kneel at the end of the game and that means 50% of all rushing plays were 2 yards or fewer. It was not a good day overall for the offensive line. We may end up missing Billy Schrauth a whole lot.
DEFENSIVE LINE: A
There could’ve been times in the middle of this game where you tuned in and thought it was a struggle for Notre Dame’s defense. Zooming out, it really didn’t last very long. The Eagles got a bump from the quarterback switch (Dylan Lonergan looked dead in the water immediately and threw an early interception) but didn’t do a ton overall.
Boston College had 12 rushing yards, allowed 5 sacks, and their quarterbacks were under pressure constantly.
LINEBACKER: B-
I lowered this grade for Jaylen Sneed’s brutal personal foul penalty. If you need a refresher, it was 3rd & 10 from the Notre Dame 41-yard line and James had to throw the ball away. With under 13 minutes to play, it was still 18-10 at this point. Inexcusable in every sense of the word.
If you can’t run on this defense, BC showed it’s possible to dink and dunk through the air. They really took advantage of the middle of the field and created some opportunities with Notre Dame’s linebackers in coverage. Perhaps the weirdest stat from this game is Boston College gaining 21 first downs on just 281 total yards.
SECONDARY: B
The defense gave up 10 points so I don’t think we need to be too harsh. I absolutely did not expect the Eagles to throw for 269 yards and complete 30 passes, especially given all the pressure faced. It never really felt sustainable for BC though, as evidenced by the 3 interceptions and not a whole lot to show for their drives on the scoreboard.
Christian Gray sat out with an injury, Leonard Moore tripped on BC’s only touchdown, it was an odd day.
NOTES:
Stupid mistakes, really bad special teams and kicking, being half asleep at the wheel, and the game still ended up +4.7 yards per play in Notre Dame’s favor. That probably makes the whole endeavor more frustrating. I’d love to do an article on the most frustrating +4.0 YPP wins in recent Notre Dame history.
The phantom face mask call on Josh Burnham’s beautiful sack is bad enough. Officiating is so bad these days that I think for our sanity the networks have to stop throwing it to their broadcast ref helper to explain things. They either confirm a missed call and you’re more infuriated or they come up with some BS explanation to confirm the madness on the field. I also hate how it gives even more air time to officials. We need to go the other way, they need to be shunned and barely accepted as necessary.
CJ Carr looked like he took a Bic razor to his head minutes before kickoff. He’s kept his hair pretty short while at Notre Dame but this Heisenberg look is new.
Now is the time to grow out your hair!
We’ve spent this season marveling at how Price has played so well and deserves carries in the same backfield as Love. Today was not one of those days–it was perhaps Price’s worst game in a long, long time.
Drayk Bowen with 14 solo tackles, that has to be the highest number for an Irish defender in quite a while.
I like some players (like Tae Johnson) going with the black undershirt and black cleats with the road uniforms. That’s tough.
Third-string kicker Marcello Diomede missing a PAT and then being shown laughing on the sidelines about 37 seconds later is a rough look for everyone involved in this special teams mess.
More special teams drama, what happens if Faison loses the muffed punt? I hope you didn’t forget about that one!
It’s crazy to think about how the season started under Chris Ash and how now so few of problems for Notre Dame reside on the defensive side of the ball.
We’re probably all underestimating the impact a healthy Josh Burnham can make in this stretch run. It’s great to have him back and playing well.
We can all agree this game was stupid. BC opened the 2nd half with a 21-play drive that featured two short 4th down conversions, plus the infamous Burnham facemask penalty on 4th down for yet another “conversion.” All that for the Eagles to kick a field goal and waste over 11 minutes of clock. Sounds a lot like Navy!
I too noticed how many easy short passes over the middle BC completed. Perhaps Denbrock should take a look at what BC was doing. We don’t complete or even try enough of those.
Once again the short yardage run game was dreadful. The backs are often having to elude defenders 2 yds in the backfield. Also, please put a fresh RB in at the goal line. You have two good ones. No need for a tired one, even just a bit.
A QB that is not a run threat, hurts in short yardage. Everyone knows if its a run who is getting the ball. Could this be part of the reason Minchey stayed in the QB battle so long.
The Oline is beat up, so I don’t mean to be too harsh. We’re missing 3 starters in the middle, that’s big. I don’t think the tackles get much push. The plan all season has had pretty poor results. It’s going to cost us, if not fixed. You can’t keep getting away with leaving points on the field. It would be nice to see some ingenuity.
To these crucial points:
1, CJ doesn’t throw short over the middle very much, which helps make playcalling very predictable near the goal line. Should they put in Kenny or Tyler?
2, Pass pro blocking has been thankfully good. The interior OL injuries have probably hurt the run game the most, and not to forget we really miss Jagusaw at tackle. Thank goodness the backs and receivers block well. Need to scheme up better — easier said than done, you can tell Denbrock is trying, at least judging by the 2 point try, which at least seemed new.
3.The kicking problems may be the biggest concern, as they are as serious as we’ve seen in a long time. Clearly the kickers look OK in practice, and our coaches have tried to simulate stress, etc. HCMF is looking baffled: Biagi is not a bad coach, and even apparently has done place-kicking himself. They’ve tried competition(s), and it sounds like a lot else. Prister said he thinks it’s lack of confidence by all three. Any ideas anybody?
It’s really too bad Jagusah didn’t heal well and come back after the bye. Would have been huge to get him back.
“I’d love to do an article on the most frustrating +4.0 YPP wins in recent Notre Dame history.”
Thanks. I hate it.
Relatedly, I’d be curious to see highest win expectancy/YPP when we lost and vice versa.
🙂
The commentators were as insufferable as they were ignorant of the game. One of them kept complimenting Ash…that alone was stupid. But he was saying that ND playing less man vs zone was helping when it was the literal opposite. When ND was in man they got sacks and interceptions. In zone they got torn apart. Whenever Ash does things his way the agression disappears and the yards come in chunks. The offense was a bigger problem on Saturday, but Ash is not the guy who can run an elite defense.
At least One INT ND was in zone and the TD ND was in man(7pts.). The long drive to start the 3rd was aided by multiple penalties, at least one being a phantom penalty(3pts.). There were no other points scored. Chris Ash was the problem yesterday? Hardly.
The TD Moore gave up he slipped, decent chance of a different outcome if that doesn’t happen. The other 2 INTs were in man (or mostly man). Maybe one or two of the sacks happened in zone, idk, i didn’t try to chart the whole game. But so many completions over the middle, many of them for first downs ND was in zone. The was a very noticeable reduction in aggression, that’s on Ash’s playcalling.
ND plays less zone than just about everyone. Let’s say Moore didn’t slip. Then ND gave up 3 pts. The defense has been good- very good for 5 games. You’re living in early September.
You’re focusing on the result rather than the process. ND out-talented BC to only give up 10 points. BC had drives of 21, 14, 11, 9, and 7 plays. i put the last one in there because it was the TD drive. So half of their possessions went for 280 yards and 27:25 of game time. Only two 3 and outs. Something had to be very wrong for this to happen for half the game against a very bad offense.
The “results” have been the same in each game since Purdue…teams don’t score. BC, lowest avg per play on the year, 2nd lowest points, 3rd lowest total yards. Just like each team since Purdue, BC struggled more vs. ND than just about anyone they’ve played. They did have a lot of plays. penalties (some real), going for it on 4th down with nothing to lose, explains some of that. The 21 play drive in particular stands out as a bizarre one. Ash’s adjustments in game have been good. which is why teams don’t score.
Certainly the offense and special teams have more glaring problems, than the defense. The best thing Freeman has done all season is straighten out the coaches and players on D as to what he expects. They’ve responded.
Short yardage and ST could use some of that too.
Heck of a good, fun, informative exchange between you both. Thanks!
My take is that you each have good views: yes, there were indeed a few too many BC short passes and successful runs on 3rd and 4th and short. But still, only 10 points!
I think the resolution between you on Ash’s role and how much credit he gets is in TL’s remark: “The best thing Freeman has done all season is straighten out the coaches and players on D as to what he expects. They’ve responded.”
i agree…the problem is i’m still afraid that i’m correct. Navy will show that. The one thing the announcers got consistently correct was that the game was playing out how Navy games often do.
And I’m very happy to find out i was wrong. Navy’s 2nd possession, their TD, did worry me. It seemed like Ash changed something up and it obviously didn’t work. The absolute domination of the 2nd half brought my heart rate back down to its normal elevated (AFib) levels lol.
BC averaged 3.6 yards per play. That’s pretty good process.
It was probably not the sole factor, but the poor/mediocre offensive game plan to start the game (throwing the ball all around the field without regard for the idea of establishing any kind of consistent offense) seemed to put the offense off of its rhythm. I wondered if that game plan sent a message to the players of; “we’re not worried about winning this game and just want to try a few things out”. I wondered if that didn’t contribute to the flatness of the team.
I feel that this game was won by our talent alone. It was Love’s spectacular TD run, Carr’s ability to hit his receivers (the last miss notwithstanding), and the defense’s decision to start blowing past BC’s offensive line. I don’t think the coaches did much to contribute to this win.
And yes, the officiating was atrocious. It was atrocious both ways, but it shouldn’t have been atrocious either way. It’s getting downright disturbing this year.
Officiating is bewildering…and not just in college football. Are too many experienced refs leaving because of the poor pay and other conditions? The worst part about bad officiating yesterday was that it shouldn’t have mattered. Considering the opponent was a team as bad as BC, ND should have been stomping them so thoroughly that the bad officiating just elicited eye rolling. That made it doubly frustrating to me.
ACC refs make ~$3k per game, not exactly doing it strictly for the love of the game
$3K that we know of …..mostly kidding….who’s policing this ?
That was my point…is the reason we’re seeing the quality of officiating drop across multiple sports is that officials are finally getting sick of poor pay and rough treatment?
I thought I heard somewhere that B1G and SEC officials make more like $5k. So if you’re a good college official, that’s what you’re shooting for.
Seems like there should be enough money to bring the ACC and Big 12 officials up to the level of the B1G and SEC.
i definitely don’t have all the facts, but i thought i’ve read in the past that CFB officials are responsible for their own travel and lodging. If that is true even $5k isn’t really enough. These folks definitely need jobs in addition to officiating, and are likely still full time during the season.
i don’t like the idea of a “commissioner” for CFB, but if it happens i would hope that standardizing of officiating and better pay/working conditions for them would be a result.
Price fumbling completely changed this game. He MUST get that fixed. It’s going to cost him a ton of money in the draft if he doesn’t. It’s going to cost ND games. I believe this is an absolute blowout if he doesn’t fumble.
Bummer about the kicking game. The plan going forward has to be to assume we aren’t kicking. 30 to 10 would have just been such a prettier final score than 25 to 10 (or 37 if Price doesn’t fumble).
Glad that the Price fumble and kicking game disaster happened against BC rather than Pitt though!