Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1540994
26 NOV. 8, 2025 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED It wasn't a put it on a poster type of win from a blue and gold perspective, but it was a "we had zero shot" type of loss from a maroon and gold lens. "We just could not do anything in the running game on offense," Boston Col- lege head coach Bill O'Brien said. "Just could not move the ball consistently." When it couldn't run, and when it fell behind on the scoreboard, the Eagles got pass happy. And that's when the Notre Dame pass rush took over. Gold helmets — the real gold ones — infiltrated the Boston College backfield like tea bags in the Boston Harbor in 1773. All of it considered, Boston College never really had much of a chance after all indeed. — Tyler Horka KICKING PROBLEM BECOMES KICKING CRISIS As time ran down in the first half, Boston College head coach Bill O'Brien told Notre Dame — to its face — what he and the Eagles thought of its kicking game. The Irish had the ball on Boston Col- lege's 31-yard line with six seconds left and no timeouts. The Eagles chose to play prevent defense, putting zero de- fenders between the line of scrimmage and the end zone. They let redshirt freshman quarter- back CJ Carr dump it off to senior tight end Eli Raridon, who easily gained 14 yards to the 17-yard line and darted out of bounds to stop the clock. By calling prevent defense, O'Brien told Notre Dame, "We don't think you can make a field goal right now." And of course, he was right. Forget the uprights. Freshman kicker Erik Schmidt's 35-yard attempt sailed so far right that it didn't even hit the netting. Before Schmidt, redshirt senior Noah Burnette doinked a point-after try off the right upright. After Schmidt, ju- nior Marcello Diomede missed an extra point right again. Three different kick- ers missed three different kicks, all from within 35 yards out. Together, they cost Notre Dame six points: three for the field goal, one for each extra point and another for a failed two-point conversion that the Irish would not have attempted had they hit the first extra point. Sometimes, football is a simple game. Asked what Notre Dame's kicking is- sues were at Boston College, head coach Marcus Freeman gave a simple answer. "The issues were every time we kicked the ball, it did not go in between the field goal posts," Freeman said. Notre Dame did eventually put one through, courtesy of Schmidt on the extra point after junior running back Jeremiyah Love's 94-yard touchdown run. Understandably, that did not make Freeman feel better. "We're going to keep putting guys in there until we consistently have some- body to put the ball through the field goal posts," Freeman said. "We have three kickers, but if you rotate three kickers, you don't have one." The Irish have now missed seven kicks this season: three field goals and four extra points. Burnette has three, Schmidt has three and Diomede has one. Notre Dame's issues started when Burnette suffered a hip injury that cost BIG PLAYS (25 YARDS OR MORE) Notre Dame • 4-6 BC40 Carr pass to Fields for 40 yards and a touchdown • 1-10 ND36 Carr pass to Faison for 46 yards to BC18 • 1-10 BC44 Carr pass to Pauling for 44 yards and a touchdown • 1-10 ND49 Carr pass to Raridon for 30 yards to BC21 • 1-10 ND6 Love rush for 94 yards and a touchdown Boston College • 2-14 ND25 James pass to Harris for 25 yards and a touch- down Redshirt senior kicker Noah Burnette missed an extra point in the second quarter, one of three kicks the Irish missed in the game that cost them six points. PHOTO BY NICK GRACE BOSTON COLLEGE VS. NOTRE DAME QUARTER-BY-QUARTER COMPARISON Boston College 1st Qtr. 2nd Qtr. 3rd Qtr. 4th Qtr. 1st Half 2nd Half Total Time of Possession 4:42 10:18 11:56 8:31 15:00 20:27 35:27 Third-Down Conversions 1-3 4-5 2-6 1-4 5-8 3-10 8-18 Fourth-Down Conversions 0-0 0-1 2-2 0-1 0-1 2-3 2-4 Average Field Position BC -32 BC -18 BC -23 BC -22 BC -24 BC -23 BC -23 Notre Dame 1st Qtr. 2nd Qtr. 3rd Qtr. 4th Qtr. 1st Half 2nd Half Final Time of Possession 10:18 4:42 3:04 6:29 15:00 9:33 24:33 Third-Down Conversions 2-5 1-1 0-0 0-4 3-6 0-4 3-10 Fourth-Down Conversions 0-1 1-1 0-0 1-2 1-2 1-2 2-4 Average Field Position ND -23 ND -33 ND -25 ND -46 ND -28 ND -42 ND -34 PLAY CHART (NO. OF PLAYS) Yards BC ND Nega ve 11 5 0-5 44 31 6-9 11 5 10-19 5 7 20-29 5 0 30-39 0 1 40-49 0 3 50 or more 0 1 RED ZONE EFFICIENCY (INSIDE 20-YARD LINE) No Poss. TD FG Score Boston College 1 0 1 0 Notre Dame 3 1 0 2