Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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GAME PREVIEW: BOSTON COLLEGE ON PAPER BY DAN MURPHY BOSTON COLLEGE RUNNING GAME VS. NOTRE DAME RUN DEFENSE Montel Harris, from the team this spring, and the Eagles are still searching for a replacement. Junior Andre Williams averaged 74.9 yards per game in the first two months of the season. The rest of his team averaged only 10.5 per game, which put the Eagles rushing offense at 117th nationally. Boston College had only five rushing touchdowns in Boston College dismissed its all-time leading rusher, its first eight games. That doesn't bode well against an Irish defense that allowed its first running score of the year Oct. 27 against Oklahoma. Senior linebacker Manti Te'o has received the lion's share of recognition for the Notre Dame defense, but the big line in front of him deserves credit too. All three starters have at least 25 tackles in a 3-4 scheme typically designed to make space for linebackers to pile up stats. As a unit, the Irish run defense is at the top of list of reasons why they are in national title hunt. Advantage: Notre Dame BOSTON COLLEGE PASSING GAME VS. NOTRE DAME PASS DEFENSE the Eagles at quarterback. His stats are more impres- sive than one would expect for a team that just won its first game against a Football Bowl Subdivision op- Junior Chase Rettig has made 30 career starts for Heading into November, fifth-year senior middle linebacker Nick Clancy led the Eagles in tackles (93) and passes broken up (seven). PHOTO COURTESY BOSTON COLLEGE