Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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34 NOV. 19, 2022 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED GAME PREVIEW: BOSTON COLLEGE have one in Chestnut Hill this year, and an elite defense is what he would have needed to somehow salvage 2022 by off- setting an offense stuck in reverse. Only twice in Boston College's first nine games did the Eagles run for 100 or more yards. Notre Dame reached that mark eight times in its first nine games. In five of those instances, the Irish eclipsed 200. That's the differ- ence between a patchwork offensive line made up of would-be reserves for the Eagles and a mix of two graduate students, a senior and two immensely talented sophomores with first-round NFL Draft aspirations for the Irish. Notre Dame's offensive line paved the way for three running backs — sopho- mores Audric Estime and Logan Diggs and junior Chris Tyree — to carry the ball at least 85 times through nine games. The Irish had the only running back trio in the country who could say that at that time. Boston College? Only one back, Patrick Garwo, had that many carries through nine games. He had 95 rushes for 302 yards. Estime had 662 yards, Diggs had 545 and Tyree had 348. Only four FBS teams allowed more sacks through Week 10 than Boston Col- lege (34). Three of them were Group of Five programs. Football games are still won and lost in the trenches in 2022. Boston College's injuries along the line have made it so that the Eagles are doing a lot more losing than winning. REASONS FOR OPTIMISM Boston College might have found its next long-term starting quarterback who could cancel out the negative ef- fects of a porous offensive line. Hafley sent redshirt freshman Em- mett Morehead a text hours before the Duke game. He told him he believes in him, he loves him and he wouldn't judge him based on his performance in one game. It was Morehead's first start. Morehead responded, "I really ap- preciate that coach. It means a lot. But we're going to score a lot of points." He held up his end of the bargain, to a degree. Boston College lost 38-31. Morehead threw for 330 yards with 4 touchdowns and 0 interceptions. If Jurkovec is not healed in time to play his old school, it'll be the 6-foot-6, three- star recruit from Alexandria (Va.) Epis- copal High School who gets the starting nod. Morehead was the No. 99 quar- terback in the class of 2021 per the On3 Consensus. He was the No. 1,491 overall player in the class. Morehead put home workout high- lights on tape for recruiting purposes during the early months of the CO- VID-19 pandemic. Hafley got ahold Hafley's third year at the helm has been a rough one marred by injuries on the offensive line. Hafley has a 15-18 record after the Eagles lost seven of their first 10 contests this season. PHOTO COURTESY BC FOOTBALL "The football team and culture is not what people think it to be. I met a lot of great people. They do a lot of good in the world. It's a mixed bag. I'm glad I went there, and I'm glad I left." BOSTON COLLEGE QUARTERBACK PHIL JURKOVEC ON HIS TIME AT NOTRE DAME