Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1187512
www.BLUEANDGOLD.com NOV. 30, 2019 21 BOSTON COLLEGE RUNNING GAME VS. NOTRE DAME RUN DEFENSE Hands down the top headline was Boston College entered the game No. 5 nationally in rushing with 282.2 yards per game, and it finished with only 128. AJ Dillon ranked third nationally with 145.1 yards per contest, but managed only 56 on 14 carries (4.0 yards per rush), while David Bailey was averaging 76.5 rushing yards per game and managed merely 26 on 10 carries (see "Stat of The Game" on page 22). Similar to the Navy game the week prior, where the No. 1 rushing offense had 79 yards on the ground on 29 carries while falling behind 38-0, and finished 77 yards under its average, Notre Dame had full confidence in covering the flanks and forced the Eagles to throw when they had to, not when they wanted to, by loading up the front. In the first three quarters while building a 33-7 lead, Notre Dame forced the Eagles into six situations of third-and-eight or longer, and only one was converted, a 24-yard scramble by quarterback Dennis Grosel that was easily the top running play of the game for them. ADVANTAGE: Notre Dame BOSTON COLLEGE PASSING GAME VS. NOTRE DAME PASS DEFENSE When the Eagles have to pass — as they were forced to versus the Irish — they are out of their element, just like Navy a week earlier. Other than a superbly executed double-move by wideout Kobay White in which Grosel made a perfect placement on a 39-yard completion to set up Boston College's lone score, the combination of a fierce pass rush, led by senior ends Ade Ogundeji and Khalid Kareem, with blanket coverage on the back end rendered the Eagles helpless. Beyond White's reception, the other 20 pass attempts for Boston College totaled 24 yards on eight completions. That is a mind-blowing figure. ADVANTAGE: Notre Dame NOTRE DAME RUNNING GAME VS. BOSTON COLLEGE RUN DEFENSE Quarterback improvisation and jet sweeps with receivers, specifically sopho- more speedster Braden Lenzy, has comprised the bulk of Notre Dame's running attack the past five games. For the fourth straight contest, senior quarterback Ian Book paced the ground game, this time with 66 yards on 12 carries, most of them not designed plays. He and sophomore backup Phil Jurkovec combined for 108 yards on 17 carries, and then Lenzy's sweep with his running start horizontally resulted in a 61-yard touchdown in the third quarter. When it comes to a more conventional ground attack with the running backs, that remains a problem with just 82 yards on 25 carries, led by senior Tony Jones Jr.'s 15 attempts for 61 yards. Eighteen of the 25 carries by the running backs resulted in three yards or less (seven for lost yardage). Still, when an offense is able to accumulate 252 rushing yards by other means, it's not a victory for the defense. ADVANTAGE: Notre Dame NOTRE DAME PASSING GAME VS. BOSTON COLLEGE PASS DEFENSE Seldom have we found three receivers catching seven passes apiece, and each for a touchdown, but Book did that with his veteran trio of senior wideouts Chase Claypool and Chris Finke, plus junior tight end Cole Kmet. He brought himself extra time with his maneuverability in the pocket, although sometimes at the expense of maybe bailing too soon. With two safeties up high, the Eagles excelled at keeping everything in front of them. Only two of Book's 24 completions went for more than 14 yards, and one of them was on the game's first play to Finke (21 yards) and the other also came in the first quarter to Kmet (26 yards). The short crossing route was open and often targeted, although both Claypool and sophomore Lawrence Keys III dropped what appeared to be certain touchdowns on that specific play. It was a good effort to limit Book's 40 pass attempts to 239 yards (6.0) per at- tempt, but his elusiveness and the fine pass-blocking and blitz pick-up resulted in only one sack. ADVANTAGE: Notre Dame SPECIAL TEAMS Junior kicker Jonathan Doerer has continued a superb debut campaign as a starter, converting all four of his field goal attempts, notably from 47 and 45 yards, especially when the game was relatively tight in the first half and only 16-7 at the intermission. One or two missed field goals could have swayed momentum to the Eagles or frustrated the Irish. The coverage teams, led by sophomore linebacker Bo Bauer, remained strong and physical, and a 21-yard punt return by Finke set up Lenzy's 61-yard scoring run on the ensuing play. ADVANTAGE: Notre Dame THIRD-DOWN CONVERSIONS Both teams had decent numbers, with Notre Dame finishing 10 of 19 (52.6 percent) and Boston College 8 of 18 (44.4 percent). But as noted in the BC running attack, six third-and-eight or longer situations for the Eagles put them in too much of bind. ADVANTAGE: Notre Dame TURNOVERS The Irish had zero turnovers for the second straight game, while a fumble recovery by junior linebacker Drew White (forced by senior end Khalid Kareem) and a pass interception returned 27 yards by freshman safety Kyle Hamilton set up two Irish touchdowns. ADVANTAGE: Notre Dame ANALYSIS Other than the Eagles staying competitive in the first half, this was almost a repeat of the Navy game a week earlier in that without the ability to lean on its highly productive ground attack, Boston College had no other recourse to move the ball. It stayed in the game for 30 minutes by forcing field goals instead of yield- ing touchdowns, but it needed to generate three or four turnovers to have a chance, and it was unable to produce any. The bottom line again was the Notre Dame defense shutting down the run and thereby dictating the action the entire game. ON PAPER REVISITED BY LOU SOMOGYI Freshman safety Kyle Hamilton made three tackles and notched his team- high fourth interception of the season. PHOTO BY ANDRIS VISOCKIS