Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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BY ANDREW OWENS A fter Notre Dame's turnover- riddled 19-16 win over Boston College at Fenway Park in the latest rendition of the Sham- rock Series, Irish head coach Brian Kelly couldn't help but draw a base- ball parallel to the team's struggles. "It's like leaving runners in scoring position," Kelly quipped. In front of a sold-out crowd of 38,686 fans at the historic baseball venue, Notre Dame survived its penultimate regular-season game despite convert- ing only two of seven red zone trips into touchdowns. The Irish (10-1) committed turnovers on three of those possessions en route to five total give- aways against the Eagles (3-8). Turnovers have plagued the Irish at times this season and cost Kelly's squad dearly in its lone loss of the sea- son at Clemson Oct. 3. "I thought Boston College did a great job of ripping it loose," Kelly said of his team's four fumbles, two of which were recovered by the Ea- gles. Despite outgaining Boston College 193-91 in total yards in the first half, Notre Dame led only 10-0 due to four turnovers. Sophomore quarterback DeShone Kizer tossed a pair of interceptions — one in the end zone on the first possession of the game — while run- ning backs C.J. Prosise and Josh Ad- ams both lost fumbles in BC territory. Another Prosise fumble and a muffed punt by sophomore returner CJ Sand- ers were covered by the Irish to limit the damage. "It was very humbling. Very hum- bling," Kizer said. "There was a lot to learn from, a position I haven't been in this year. I can't wait to get back and evaluate where my mistakes were and where my good things were, and hopefully prepare myself for seeing us accomplish the mission. "At the end of the day, today's mis- sion was accomplished. It was a very, very ugly way of getting there, but I believe there's a lot that's been put on me and once I adjust my play, we'll come out and play very well." After the Eagles muffed a punt re- turn of their own in the second quar- ter, the Irish took over at the BC 4-yard line. On third down, Adams' fumble marked the team's second in the red zone in the first half. With six minutes remaining in the second quarter, Prosise left the game after suffering a high-ankle sprain, putting his status for the Stanford game highly in doubt. Prosise sat out the 28-7 Senior Day win over Wake Forest Nov. 14 and three quarters of the 42-30 win at Pitts- burgh a week earlier. Before departing, though, he rushed for 54 yards on nine carries and eclipsed the 1,000-yard rushing mark (1,029) for the season. Defensively, the Irish stifled a meager Boston College attack. Only seven teams entered the weekend with worse scoring averages than Boston College's 17.5 points per contest, which was boosted by 100 combined points in wins over Foot- ball Championship Subdivision foes Maine and Howard to begin the sea- son. On the Eagles' first 11 drives versus