The Notre Dame-Boston College series only took a one year break but that game at Fenway seems forever ago. The Battle for the Ireland Trophy resumes again this Saturday in Chestnut Hill with Notre Dame’s first visit since 2012. That visit was excruciatingly boring so let’s hope for more fireworks this time around.
Notre Dame (-13.5) at Boston College
Alumni Stadium
Chestnut Hill, Massachussetts
Date: Saturday, September 16, 2017
Time: 3:30 PM ET
Television: ESPN
Series: 14-9-0 Notre Dame
The Eagles have entered their 5th season under Steve Addazio and it’s been one long reign of Groundhog Day. The defense is some variety of good and the offense is still a hot mess. It’s been no fewer than 4 straight years where this has been the case in Boston.
3 Matchups to Watch
Harold Landry vs. Tommy Kraemer/Robert Hainsey
Landry is Boston College’s best player by several country miles and created a bit of a surprise by returning to school for his senior season after finishing 5th nationally in tackles for loss and first in sacks. He’s off to a bit of a slow start for his talent (5 solo tackles, 2 TFL, 1 sack, no hurries) but could be a matchup nightmare against Notre Dame’s inexperienced right tackles.
Oh, he also likes to line up way, way, way, way outside. Like, as a 17-tech defensive end damn near in the slot. It might be a good time to run the ball straight at him a lot. He was largely neutralized by the Irish back in 2015, for what it’s worth.
Jonathan Bonner vs. Ben PetrulaÂ
The Eagles offensive line is in rough shape as seen by their 145-yard rushing average and zero touchdowns through 2 games. The big sore spot is at center where week one starter and captain Jon Baker suffered a knee injury against Northern Illinois and is out for the season. In his place, BC turned to true freshman Ben Petrula with their backup also injured.
Petrula (6-5, 300 and No. 33 guard from 2017) was teammates with Irish quarterback Brandon Wimbush at St. Peter’s Prep in 2014. It’s time for Jonathan Bonner (and other Notre Dame linemen) to eat.
Alumni Stadium vs. Irish Focus
An amazing stat is that this is only the 9th visit by Notre Dame to Alumni Stadium in Chestunut Hill–if this is a rivalry that hammers home the point that it’s truly just a modern rivalry. After this weekend, Brian Kelly will have more games at BC than another Notre Dame coach.
Kelly hasn’t had many issues on the road against the Eagles, outscoring them 52-19 overall. Realistically, the biggest risk for Notre Dame is coming into this one sleepy and unfocused. You’d think it’s super unlikely coming off the Georgia loss. The game moving from a noon time slot also helps a lot.
2 Stats to Consider
12 Tackles for Loss
The Boston College defense has made its name in recent years by wreaking havoc in opponent backfields. This year hasn’t gotten off to a good start with just 12 tackles for loss through 2 games, a drop of over 25% from a year ago. This has been a bugaboo for the Irish in the past but they come in to this game with 5 more tackles for loss. You couldn’t say that about many games in recent years.
30+ Yard Plays
Boston College is going to need some mental errors and breakdowns in the Irish defense to compete in this game. We know the Irish were shut down on offense last week against Georgia a week after being super explosive versus Temple. So far this year, BC only has one play of 30+ yards from scrimmage. It’d be one heck of a win if they pulled this one off with a handful of long, sustained drives.
1 Prediction
We don’t need to pretend, this Boston College team is largely trash. This is the 7th meeting with the Eagles since I’ve been covering Irish football, and while BC is never swimming in talent, I can’t remember a time when they’ve had so few quality college football players and pro prospects.
That’s not much of an endorsement of Steve Addazio. He’s also 4-17 in his last 21 ACC games which kind of hides the fact that the Eagles actually went to a bowl game last year–and even won it!
The consensus is that this Boston College defense has taken a step back from a year ago (bad news for their offense, see below) although they were playing at a very high level the past couple years. For example, the Eagles held 6 opponents to under 4.2 yards per play a year ago and already both Northern Illinois and Wake Forest have averaged 4.96 and 4.35 respectively.
That’s not a huge change but it’s something that could be the difference between a somewhat close game (and BC cover) and something closer to a blowout. In the last meeting at Fenway Park the Irish averaged 6.21 YPP against the nation’s No. 2 S&P+ defense (ony Clemson performed better in this metric against BC) and if not for several turnovers that game would’ve been a 30-point victory.
This Notre Dame offense is reeling a little bit from the knock out blow delivered by Georgia and may not be as sharp in the passing game as the 2015 version. We may also see a far less dangerous BC defense on the other side of the line all the same.
My cold take is that this will be the worst offense Notre Dame faces in 2017.
Redshirt freshman quarterback Anthony Brown is really, really raw. The Eagles are using this multiple offense that has Brown under center with a fullback one snap and then in shotgun with 4-wide the next. They also employ these super long play-action passes from under center that are seriously stressing Brown’s footwork. With poor protection he rarely has time to throw or get through more than one read.
We’ve rarely been able to say this in the past but this should be an easy day for Notre Dame’s defense.
- WINNER: Notre Dame 34 Boston College 6
- VS. SPREAD (-13.5): Notre Dame
- OVER/UNDER (51.0): Under
- SPECIAL, WIMBUSH PASS YDS (245): Over
Didn’t see this discussed here this week, but curious as to people’s thoughts on jaylons return and how he looked.
He was fine, even pretty good, but the Cowboys are clearly a little worried about him being in game shape splitting his snaps. He and Sean Lee at LB together could be the best duo in the NFL if they can both stay healthy.
They won’t be better than Kendricks and Anthony Barr for the Vikings.
That’s okay because Sean Lee hasn’t shown a great propensity toward staying healthy anyway.
Marinelli isnt using him correctly, that’s the only frustrating thing for me. His defense almost never blitzes and when they do, it’s often only a corner blitz. So you’re immediately taking away probably Jaylon’s best trait which is rushing the passer and getting behind the LOS. That and they keep pulling him off the field on literally every 3rd down. I know why they’re doing that but I dont like it and I really dont understand it. He’s clearly showing that his health is fine even if he’s not technically 100%. He looks completely natural and unless you know who he is and what happened to him, you could never tell he’s injured. He just looks like a football player. And he’s HUGE now, BTW. I remember meeting him at ND and he looked like a college kid…I was on the field for the preseason game vs Indy and when I saw him, he looks like a GD beast.
I think by the end of the season, he’s going to completely take over the starting MLB role. He currently only has it because Anthony Hitchens is injured and will be for probably another two weeks, but I think he’s showing enough to just keep going with him and maybe fill Hitch in when he comes back every few plays. Everyone around Dallas loves him, he gets unbelievable pub on TV and the radio. He’s kind of becoming the talk of the town because we’ve had such sub-par defense the last few years and he’s turning into the turning point player. That near shutout of the Giants last week was pretty incredible by our defensive standards and Jaylon was a big part of it.
Don’t think Jaylon’s best trait is pass rushing. I stood on this hill that he was meant to play in the middle at both levels and here we are.
I agree, I thought his best traits were just making plays in space, along with the instinct of where to go combined with the unreal athletic abilities to get there, and that’s what really made him special. Sometimes that would involve shooting through or making a play behind the line, but by no means is his strengths or mindset really as a true pass rushing linebacker, even though as the heat-seaking missile sometimes there’s overlap to do that as well.
It’s really hard to nail what is his “BEST” trait because he has so many above-average ones. This was posted today and kind of echoes what I was talking about how he’s being viewed locally:
http://www.dallascowboys.com/news/2017/09/14/sham-jaylon-has-biggest-defensive-buzz-around-here-randy-white
If they lose this game, a Kiffin-esque fired-on-the-tarmac situation is the only rational response.
Tough, but fair
The downvote here goes to show that there are members of the commentariat who have moved past Brendanland and apparently will follow BK to the ends of the earth.
Or they don’t like my jokes. One or the other.
Oh, you were joking? Now I need to downvote you.
It was a half-joke. I’d also be okay if they fired him on the field.
For the record, that downvote wasn’t from me – I actually agree with you. BC is B-A-D. Like, words don’t exist in the English language to accurately describe how bad their offense is. Terrible? Not even close. Horrendous? Still pretty far off. Putrescent? Eh, getting there, but a ways to go yet.
Losing to BC… Unpossible.
Backing it up a bit… I know we don’t normally do this here at 18S, but I’m going to throw some counting stats at you.
In 2016, Boston College’s offense ranked:
– 96th in rushing
– 116th in yards per rush
– 102nd in rushing touchdowns
– 120th in passing
– 121st in completion percentage
– 111th in passer rating
Now… Believe it or not, the advanced stats rankings were actually *less* kind to them. Early returns this year imply that they’ve actually regressed. I’ll be pretty disappointed if they manage to find the end zone twice against us.
Hopefully our offense has figured out which way is up since last weekend, and we make this one the good kind of snoozefest.
“Like, words don’t exist in the English language to accurately describe how bad their offense is.”
Were you looking for cromulent?
I can add some from Japanese…最低 comes to mind.
Oh I did not mean to cast aspersions – I was referring to Eric’s post from a couple weeks ago that set up our inevitable steel-cage deathmatch
I’ve learned to stop worrying and embrace the downvote.
Gentlemen! You can’t fight in here! This is the War Room!
If you base a comment on receiving a downvote in a previous comment…you’re gonna have a bad time.
Neither. I down voted it. I’m just tired of the fire Kelly narrative. I agree, if ND can find someone better, make a move. This team has more talent on it than David Weisingham’s teams combined. I can watch NFL football games and see ND players on the roster again.
Yes, fire Kelly. But make sure you have a great replacement first.
At some point that stops being a compelling argument. I think that was the end of last season, but it would *definitely* be after a loss to BC today.
Also, a good number of those guys in the NFL were Charlie Weis recruits.
Valid points.
I’ll be there. So I will volunteer to personally hand him his walkin papers. And kick him in the ass on the way out of the subpar high school stadium that is an embarrassment to the great name of Alumni.
At wedding Saturday, so wont be able to watch the game.
Just hoping to log on the ESPN app and see we rushed for 200+. Given BC’s history of defense, that may not be so attainable. Still, I think its somewhat necessary to set the tone for the upcoming 3 road games.
I normally scream in outrage over people who schedule football season weddings, but this one I might actually like to miss.
Im disappointed in him, but he at least did his research.
Hes an Iowa fan (North Texas); lots of MSU fans coming (off); Michigan fans too (Air Force); and me with Notre Dame (BC).
Said he looked at the major 4 teams and said this would be the best day, and she wanted the fall wedding.
That is a good friend.
My sympathy for having to spend the day with Michigan fans.
*My life* with Michigan fans.
You’ll be set, plenty of khakis every Christmas.
A day with Skunkbear fans seems like a lifetime.
I’ll be a little late to the party, as I’m watching Ivy football en vivo.
What are the odds that Flutie would be especially insufferable?
Is such a thing even possible? Can he take it to another level?
(tried to post a gif–it only sent link, now I cant delete the comment)
“We don’t need to pretend, this Boston College team is largely trash.”
What a great way to start my day, Eric. And thanks for these writeups. I look forward to them almost as much as the games themselves.
Heck yeah!
This game would be so much more fun if we had beaten Georgia. Now it’s just kind of the waiting game, hoping we don’t mess up against scrub teams before we play another legitimate team (gulp USC).
Screw it that’s not the right attitude, we have the chance to stick it to BC and MSU in back to back weeks while they’re down? Let’s do it. Ground game finds its legs, QB1 looks comfortable, defense continues to play well and a new receiver threat emerges??…no that’s too much.
ND 34 BC 13