Last week in this series, the Irish fell three yards short of potentially taking down 6th-ranked USC. It was Notre Dame’s eighth straight loss to the Trojans, but this week Weis would get a chance to end a six-game skid to Boston College.

The Unholy Decade

I mentioned in the 2009 Michigan State recap that the Spartans might’ve been the biggest beneficiaries of Notre Dame’s fall from grace, but Boston College would’ve been in the running as well. Since 2000, Eagles had beaten Irish teams both good (2002) and bad (2007). The previous year, BC’s offense only managed 246 yards and 10 points, but Jimmy Clausen threw four interceptions to ensure the Irish scored zero points in Chestnut Hill.

From 2001-2008, this rivalry laid bare just how putrid football had become in South Bend. It certainly didn’t help that the Eagles had a brief run of excellence under Jeff Jagodzinski that culminated in a #2 ranking in 2007 and Matt Ryan going third overall in the draft. Simply put, the Irish were being embarrassed by their Catholic counterparts from the Northeast.

2009 marked the first year of the Frank Spaziani era after Jagodzinski was canned for exhausting his political capital with the BC brass. The Eagles were 5-2 and looking as decent as they had been the previous decade. Notre Dame was an eight-point favorite at kickoff, but we all know this team was never going to do anything but take things down to the wire…

Game Highlights

*If you would like to watch the game in its entirety, click here. If you want DownInTheBend’s condensed games from the 2009 season, you can find those here.

Some Thoughts

  • This was a strange game to re-watch. Much like the Michigan State contest, Notre Dame never felt in control yet emerged victorious after the opposing quarterback threw an atrocious game-ending interception.
  • The Irish were torched again through the air, especially by Rich Gunnell who had 10 catches for a whopping 179 yards. However, the Eagles only managed two touchdowns on offense due to five turnovers, including the back-breaking pick on the last drive.
  • A massive turning point was BC’s Montel Harris fumble at the Irish 1-yard line with the Eagles already leading 16-13 in the third quarter. Of course, the Irish gave it right back by failing to score at the BC 1-yard line in the fourth quarter.
  • A freshman Luke Kuechly almost changed the outcome with a near-interception late in the fourth quarter. Did you know that he wanted to go to Notre Dame and Weis didn’t recruit him? Neither did I and let’s not talk about it.
  • ND’s offense gave an uneven performance. Clausen wasn’t able to take many deep shots and finished with only 6.3 yards per attempt. He also screwed up big-time in taking an intentional grounding penalty in the end zone. Yet he was efficient as ever and looked comfortable dinking and dunking down the field.
  • Armando Allen continued a strong season with 21 carries for 98 yards. But as per tradition under Weis, the rest of the Irish run game was non-existent with 15 carries for 7 yards combined.
  • Golden Tate was once again magnificent with 11 catches for 128 yards and both Irish touchdowns. There was even a Duval Kamara sighting in this game, as he finished with 7 catches for 60 yards.
  • Despite another abysmal performance against the Dave Shinskie and the passing game, ND’s rush defense held BC’s running backs to 25 carries for 53 yards. Manti Te’o also had a highlight play in destroying Harris as he caught a screen pass.

One Streak Continues, Another One Ends

The Irish survived a great Boston College defense (#2 in Rushing SP+ defense) and the game of Rich Gunnell’s life to finally break the humiliating losing streak. For the fourth time in five games, Notre Dame was faced with the grim possibility of needing its defense to save the game. Did the most pessimistic of us have any doubt that ND would lose this game when Gunnell caught a 28-yard pass on 4th and 17?

Overall, this was a game that the Irish were a bit lucky to win. They won despite being helpless to stop the Shinskie-Gunnell connection and failing to score at the BC 1-yard line. This was a four-point win against a team that finished with five turnovers, not exactly the kind of performance that would impress SP+. But this was a must-win game that Charlie Weis had to have, and his team pulled one out of the fire. It also signaled the end of another ignominious chapter in the post-Holtz era.

Much like the near-upset against USC marked the end of Trojan dominance in the rivalry, beating Boston College a week later laid the foundation for the Irish to reassert itself in the Holy War. The Eagles have not won in this series since 2009 and look very unlikely to prevail in South Bend this year. Granted, BC has fallen so far that even Jagodzinski has weighed in on Twitter about how much he misses the good ‘ole days.

The following week would bring a much-needed reprieve as Notre Dame prepared to take on one of the worst major conference teams of all time…

Other Things that Happened that Week

  • This day marked the Terrance Cody game which might be one of the most significant outcomes of the last 20 years. The butterfly effect from Bama losing this game and not winning the title would be immense.
  • 5th ranked Cincinnati hammered Louisville 41-10 to improve to 7-0.
  • #25 Oklahoma beat #24 Kansas in the last game Kansas has ever been ranked for.
  • #7 Miami lost to unranked Clemson in overtime at home, thus ensuring that the U was no longer back.
  • Undefeated Iowa beat Michigan State on the last play in East Lansing, keeping another charmed Kirk Ferentz season alive.