Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/871976
www.BLUEANDGOLD.com SEPT. 18, 2017 41 outclassed, getting outscored 202-14 by national champ Clemson (56-10) and Louisville (52-7) at home, and also at Virginia Tech (49-0) and Flor- ida State (45-7). A three-game winning streak to cap last season provided some mo- mentum, but the reality at BC is while it can schedule enough non- conference wins such as Wagner, Buf- falo, UMass and UConn to get to .500 and receive a bowl bid, the team was non-competitive against the upper echelon of the league. This year it opened with a 23-20 win at Northern Illinois, which was 5-7 last year. The recruiting the past couple of years has not been good enough, es- pecially on offense, to get Boston Col- lege to an appreciably higher level. The team's recruiting class rankings by Rivals from 2013-17 were: No. 89 (2013), No. 43 (2014), No. 49 (2015), No. 82 (2016) and No. 67 (2017). The lone four-star prospect signed this past February was running back AJ Dillon, the grandson of 1969-71 Notre Dame College Football Hall of Fame receiver Thom Gatewood. Dil- lon was at Notre Dame's 2016 Irish Invasion as well. Among the other 20 players signed, 10 were listed with three stars and 10 others with two. In contrast, Notre Dame's Rivals rankings from 2013-17 were: No. 3 (2013), No. 11 (2014), No. 11 (2015), No. 13 (2016) and No. 13 (2017). Which leads to … INTANGIBLES AND THE 'L' WORD From 1999-2008, Boston College was a remarkable 7-1 versus Notre Dame with six consecutive victories from 2001-08 to tie the all-time series record at 9-9. The Fighting Irish have won the last five since, but three of the out- comes were decided by four points or less. As the lone two Catholic schools in the Football Bowl Subdivision, Bos- ton College has reveled in its role as the "little brother" or underdog figure to Notre Dame, consistently producing strong competitive efforts against the Irish. The intangibles, most notably the feeling that they can compete with the far more publicized Catholic school, have favored BC. There are at least three reasons to believe the Eagles can manufacture another such effort. • Since 2013, Notre Dame is 3-10 in its last 13 outings in the opponent's home stadium. Alumni Stadium in Chestnut Hill, Mass., has been a snake pit in the past, although Irish head coach Brian Kelly is 2-0 there while outscoring the Eagles 52-19 in his old stomping grounds. • Junior quarterback Brandon Wimbush will be making his first career road start, typically a chal- lenging rite of passage for a college signal-caller. • Notre Dame will be coming off the emotion-laden home contest against Georgia, so going on the road to face a team of less stature can result in the human nature "L word" — letdown. Boston College knows all about catching the Irish in such situations, i.e. defeating No. 1 and 10-0 Notre Dame in 1993 and the 8-0 and the No. 4-ranked Irish in 2002. Both occurred the week after Notre Dame was at a fever pitch in victories against fa- vored Florida State teams. ✦ GAME PREVIEW: BOSTON COLLEGE The Fighting Irish have won the last five meetings with the Eagles, including a 19-16 victory at Fenway Park in 2015. PHOTO BY BILL PANZICA Predictions Corey Bodden: Notre Dame 40, Boston College 13 The Irish will find a way to neutralize the impact Boston College star defensive end Harold Landry has and cruise to a road victory. Notre Dame's run attack leads the way. Bryan Driskell: Notre Dame 34, Boston College 13 It will take some time to get going against Boston College's talented front seven, but eventually the Irish wear them down and pull away. David McKinney: Notre Dame 44, Boston College 17 Notre Dame will have to go into the game with the same enthusiasm as the bigger games on the schedule, but I think they have the leadership on this team to do that. Lou Somogyi: Notre Dame 28, Boston College 17 I'm always leery about a road opener, especially after coming off a marquee home game. Boston Col- lege will scrap per usual versus the Irish, but it doesn't possess enough firepower on offense.