Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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GAME PREVIEW: BOSTON COLLEGE ponent in late October. He averages 275.5 yards per game and threw 15 touchdowns passes and only five interceptions in his first eight games. Rettig's favorite target is junior Alex Amidon, who had 57 catches for 943 yards and five scores heading into November. Classmate Johnathon Coleman is well behind him in second place with 22 receptions. Notre Dame lacks a complete lockdown cornerback, but defensive coordinator Bob Diaco has drawn up a bend-don't-break scheme that has made his defense the 11th most efficient in the country against the pass. Freshman cornerback KeiVarae Russell was third on the team with 38 tackles after helping to hold Oklahoma quarterback Landry Jones scoreless in Nor- man. He and junior cornerback Bennett Jackson have limited receivers' yards after the catch the entire season and should be able to do the same against Boston College. Advantage: Notre Dame of its four games in October. The Irish are 24-1 when they top 200 yards in the past decade. Senior Theo Riddick led the team with 525 yards through eight games and established himself as the tough back Notre Dame needed in short-yardage situations. Se- nior Cierre Wood has only 72 carries compared to Riddick's 114, but he averaged 6.5 yards per touch in the first two months of the season. That duo has done the majority of their damage Notre Dame ran for more than 200 yards in three NOTRE DAME RUNNING GAME VS. BOSTON COLLEGE RUN DEFENSE late in games while icing many of the team's first eight wins. They'll get a chance to get going early against Boston College, which has one of the poorest rushing defenses in the country. Without All-America linebacker Luke Keuchly manning the middle of the defense, the Eagles gave up an average of 249.9 yards on the ground in their first eight games. Three of their starting defensive linemen are underclassmen and all but 291-pound redshirt sophomore tackle Dominic Appiah are undersized. Advantage: Notre Dame Sophomore Spiffy Evans returned five punts for 202 yards (40.4 per attempt), including an 82-yard touchdown runback against Maine, in Boston College's first eight games. PHOTO COURTESY BOSTON COLLEGE happy to pass only when they need to this season. Sophomore Everett Golson threw for 1,145 yards in his first seven college starts leading up to the Pitt game. His most impressive stat was throwing only three interceptions during that stretch. Golson has done his best work on the road this season, including BOSTON COLLEGE PASS DEFENSE Head coach Brian Kelly and his offense have been NOTRE DAME PASSING GAME VS.