Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1187512
26 NOV. 30, 2019 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED Ian Book for his longest reception of the game at 26 yards. He is generally a matchup night- mare for teams, but Kmet noted the reasons he was able to be successful following the game. "It was more of what they were playing that was allowing for me to get open," he said. "There were a lot of one-on-one matchups for me, out routes where I was left alone with one linebacker." Claypool had another solid after- noon, hauling in seven passes of his own for 60 yards and a score. He did not have any of the "wow" catches that he had against Navy, but his recep- tions were just as important as six of his seven catches went for first downs and two were on third-down plays. It was revealed this week on head coach Brian Kelly's radio show that he has had three dislocated fingers this season, which makes his perfor- mance that much more impressive. "He easily could be a guy that didn't play on a couple of occasions this year because of those disloca- tions," Kelly said. "But he is just one tough, competitive guy that just keeps playing no matter what the situation. He loves to play the game of football." After a rough start to the 2019 sea- son, Finke has returned to action as Book's most trusted target. The way he works the middle of the field is truly impressive. He was actually open a lot more than he was found in this game but was still able to haul in seven catches for 71 yards and a touchdown. The bottom line is the Irish offense has numerous weapons that can hurt a defense, but when Kmet, Finke and Claypool are all operating at a peak level, as they did against Boston Col- lege, they will be very tough to beat. NOTRE DAME RUNNING BACKS LACK PRODUCTION With a quick glance at the Notre Dame versus Boston College box score, it may appear that the Irish running backs had an excellent game, as the team picked up 252 yards on the ground. But 170 yards — 67.5 percent — of that production actually came from non-running backs. Senior quarter- back Ian Book led all rushers with 66 yards, while wide receiver Braden Lenzy and backup quarterback Phil Jurkovec combined for 103 yards on the ground. Lenzy also had the game's lone rushing touchdown, a 61-yarder. Senior Tony Jones Jr. actually had a decent day, producing 61 rushing yards on 15 carries. He also had a six-yard reception, but the rest of the running back room struggled. Junior Jafar Armstrong did not have a carry nor was he targeted in the passing game, and sophomores C'Bo Flemister and Jahmir Smith combined for 10 yards on eight rush- ing attempts. Senior walk-on Mick Assaf was actually second among all running backs in terms of rushing yards with two carries for 11 yards. What is unfortunate is this level of production from the running back room is becoming common- place for Notre Dame, which creates a lot of uncertainty for the future of the position. To be fair to the running backs, this was also one of the offensive line's worst games in run blocking. There were multiple times where the linemen did a poor job of pulling and picking up defenders on the perimeter, or completely whiffed on blocks on draw plays. This was an especially bad game for starting senior left tackle Liam Eichenberg, who had two false starts and several missed assignments. Junior left guard Aaron Banks usually does a great job of pulling and getting up the field to block, but looked lackadaisical at times. ✦ NOTRE DAME VS. BOSTON COLLEGE QUARTER-BY-QUARTER COMPARISON Notre Dame 1st Qtr. 2nd Qtr. 3rd Qtr. 4th Qtr. 1st Half 2nd Half Total Time of Possession 11:48 6:33 7:52 8:43 18:21 16:35 34:56 Third-Down Conversions 2-4 3-5 3-5 2-5 5-9 5-10 10-19 Fourth-Down Conversions 0-0 1-1 0-0 0-1 1-1 0-1 1-2 Average Field Position ND-33 ND-21 ND-43 BC-48 ND-28 ND-47 ND-40 Boston College 1st Qtr. 2nd Qtr. 3rd Qtr. 4th Qtr. 1st Half 2nd Half Final Time of Possession 3:12 8:27 7:08 6:17 11:39 13:25 25:04 Third-Down Conversions 0-2 6-7 2-5 0-4 6-9 2-9 8-18 Fourth-Down Conversions 0-0 0-0 0-0 0-1 0-0 0-1 0-1 Average Field Position BC-16 BC-20 BC-21 BC-21 BC-18 BC-21 BC-20 PLAY CHART (NO. OF PLAYS) Yards ND BC Nega ve 10 9 0-5 35 44 6-9 20 7 10-19 16 2 20-29 3 1 30-39 0 1 40-49 0 0 50 or more 1 0 RED ZONE EFFICIENCY (INSIDE 20-YARD LINE) No Poss. TD FG Score Notre Dame 6 3 2 1 Boston College 1 1 0 0 BIG PLAYS (25 YARDS OR MORE) Notre Dame • 2-11 ND27 Book pass complete to Kmet for 26 yards to the BC47 • 1-10 ND39 Lenzy rush for 61 yards and a touchdown • 2-10 BC30 Jurkovec rush for 27 yards to the BC3 Boston College • 1-10 ND40 Grosel pass complete to White for 39 yards to the ND1 The Fighting Irish racked up 252 yards on the ground, but the running backs accounted for only 82 with senior Tony Jones Jr. producing 61 on 15 carries. The other 170 yards were compiled by the quarterbacks and sophomore wideout Braden Lenzy. PHOTO BY ANDRIS VISOCKIS