Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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GAME PREVIEW: BOSTON COLLEGE the football and stopping the run — third-year head coach Brian Kelly's original vision for the program — dur- ing its 8-0 start. Entering last weekend's game with Pitt, Notre Dame ranked ninth against the run (95.25 yards allowed per game), a significant aid to its No. 2 scoring defense. Meanwhile, the Irish ground attack against formidable opposition was averaging 196.5 yards per game after compiling an aggregate 127.6 figure the past 10 years. It's been a role reversal for both pro- grams, but even more dramatic for Boston College. • It started in the Sept. 1 opener when Miami, more proficient with the pass, outrushed Boston College 208-96 in a 41-32 victory at Chestnut Hill. • Two weeks later, Northwestern held a whopping 303-30 advantage on the ground in their 22-13 conquest of the Eagles. • In game four, Clemson's 45-31 vic- tory included a 209-61 domination in rushing yards. • Far and away, the most glaring disparity occurred at winless Army Oct. 6. The Black Knights romped for 516 yards on 79 carries in their 34-31 win. Boston College had a season high 186 yards against Army, but it wasn't enough. • On Oct. 20, Georgia Tech's triple- home against Maryland Oct. 27, but even then they managed a season-low eight yards rushing. When asked prior to his first spring at Notre Dame what area he believes needs to be shored up the most, head coach Brian Kelly pointed to a run de- fense that allowed 263 rushing yards per game and 5.7 yards per carry while finishing 0-4 to close the 2009 season. "It starts with you have to be able to stop the run," Kelly said. "Even if you're somebody who doesn't watch a lot of football, you can tell when you go to a football game and they're run- ning the ball at will, that's not a very good feeling. "You kind of get a sense this could be a very long day." There have been many of those days at Boston College in 2012, which brings us to … ziani was a significant reason for the glory years that the Boston College football program experienced since the turn of the century. An Eagles staff member since 1997, SPAZIANI'S FINAL STAND? Fourth-year head coach Frank Spa- Spaziani saw Boston College win eight straight bowl games from 2000-07 and defeat Notre Dame six straight times in an eight-year period from 2001-08. The defensive coordinator since option attack amassed 396 yards on the ground while Boston College man- aged just 42 in the Yellow Jackets' 37- 17 rout. The Eagles broke their five-game losing streak with a 20-17 victory at 1999, Spaziani was promoted to head coach in 2009 at age 61 when athletics director Gene DeFilippo fired Jeff Jag- odzinski, who had interviewed for the New York Jets head coaching position after being warned by DeFilippo not to do it.