I was born and raised in a small town an hour south of Boston. My first trip to Notre Dame was the 1999 game vs Boston College. I was a naive nine-year-old. I didn’t expect anything but fun with my dad and uncle exploring the campus I had only seen on television up until that point. Instead, I have two lasting memories. The first involves having to tell an older woman at Bruno’s that August was the only month that doesn’t have a holiday. The other involves a close Irish loss and a drunk middle-aged Bostonian laughing in my face about said defeat. I learned to hate BC after that day.

There is a common saying among Red Sox fans (at least that is where I know the quote but it could easily be for all rivals), “I root for two teams, the Red Sox and whoever beats the Yankees.” That is how I’ve always felt about USC and Michigan, but also Boston College. My family always felt similar. My perspective changed when I became an undergrad in 2010 and the Irish played BC in Chestnut Hill (it’s not even Boston). There was an aura of apathy that struck me as odd.  This is the team I put on the level of USC and Michigan in terms of hate and vitriol, but almost no one else shared that thought process.

Kelly has put his stamp on the rivalry, going a perfect 5-0 against BC since arriving in South Bend. This has been a far cry from the games of the 90s and 00s. This particular BC team comes in at 5-5 and off a bye. Their last game was losing a close game against Florida State, who had fired their head coach six days prior. BC and head coach Steve Addazio looked to break through their 7 win ceiling, but getting to a bowl seems more realistic this season. Also, they lost to Kansas. At home. On a Friday night. I can’t let people forget that. Let’s see what the Eagles have to offer the Irish on Senior Day.

Boston College at Notre Dame (-20.5)

Notre Dame Stadium
South Bend, Indiana
Date: Saturday, November 23, 2019
Time: 2:30 PM ET
TV: NBC

I mentioned above that this BC team has struggled this season. Again, they lost to the Kansas Jayhawks at home in 2019. I cannot stress that enough. Their best game will probably go down as their back and forth battle against Louisville, which is more impressive when you remember BC lost QB Anthony Brown during that game. The problem in those two games, and most games this season has been the discrepancy between their offense and defense. I took a look at SP+ for offense and defense and Boston College has the fourth-largest gap between offense (21st) and defense (116th). Only Northwestern, San Diego State, and Pitt (Hey Pitt can make the Orange Bowl!) are worse and Hawaii is tied with BC. Let’s see what those units have to offer.

Boston College’s Offense

The Eagle offense all year has been consistently running through its superstar running back, AJ Dillion. Dillion recently was named a semi-finalist for the Doak Walker Award and the Walter Camp Player of the Year and he has earned it. Dillon most likely won’t win either award (I think Jonathan Taylor and Joe Burrow are pretty close to locks respectively) but that shouldn’t diminish Dillon’s impact on the offense. Dillion has 1451 yards on the season, gaining 5.3 yards a rush. He’s a heavy volume back for Boston College, with only two games where he had less than 20 carries (Clemson and Richmond). For a recent comparison for Irish fans unaware of his skill, he recently passed 2013 Heisman finalist Andre Williams on the list for all-time rushing yards in the aforementioned game against Clemson.

This volume can also be partially attributed to the uncertainty in the other skill positions for the Eagles. As mentioned above, starting QB Anthony Brown was lost during the Louisville game in early October, and his veteran presence has been missed. His backup, true sophomore, Dennis Grosel, has been less than stellar trying to lead this Eagles team under center, completing less than 50% of his passes and 7.2 yards per attempt, which is two full yards less than the offense under Brown.

For receiving options, the Eagles would be better off trying to build a time machine, bring back AJ Dillon’s grandfather, and former Notre Dame All-American, Tom Gatewood, and try and have him run some routes as a game-changer for the Eagles. No Eagles receiver has more than 24 receptions coming into this game. The WR to focus on is junior Kobay White, who is averaging 16.5 yards per catch and has a team lead in five TDs. The Eagles also have senior TE Korab Idrizi who has four TDs on the season as a potential red zone target.

A quick side note before I get into the Boston College defense, I am personally putting the O/U on the number of plays run by the BC offense before the connection of Dillon to Gatewood at 2.5. I’m personally inclined to take the under. This seems like the kind of connection that either Doug Flutie or Mike Tirico will go out of their way to mention early and often.

Boston College’s Defense

I mentioned that the Boston College defense was holding this team back. May I quickly make my case?

Exhibit A:


Exhibit B

The defense rests (pun intended).

Prediction

As mentioned above it’s Senior Day for the Irish so we will get the pomp and circumstance of many seniors who are playing their final game at Notre Dame Stadium. The stadium will be filled with parents and fans aplenty, and emotions will be high. The offense has been humming so it will be important to continue to do that against the putrid Boston College defense. If the Irish can replicate the start they had against Navy, the Irish will be able to keep the Eagle offense at bay.

The worry is of course that Dillon will try and gash them and maintain the time of possession to limit the possessions for the Irish. However, I have faith in Clark Lea to come up with a game plan in a similar vein to Georgia. If he does that, he will probably keep Dillon relatively under wraps and force Grosel to try and beat the secondary. That’s a matchup I think the Irish will win.

Notre Dame 48

Boston College 24

I think the Irish head into the Thanksgiving Weekend showdown with Stanford for a chance at three straight 10 win seasons. That would be the best three year stretch since the early 90s. I want to leave you with one of my favorite Mad Men scenes, which perfectly encapsulates the Notre Dame Boston College rivalry, at least on the football field. Go Irish.