Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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ON PAPER REVISITED and-two, and kept on an option sweep for eight on third-and-eight. He has now rushed for 269 yards the past five games. Advantage: Notre Dame yards and did his best job of the year in finding se- nior All-American tight end Tyler Eifert (six catches for 67 yards) the way junior Tommy Rees typically does. Per usual, the wealth was distributed well, with NOTRE DAME PASSING GAME VS. BC PASS DEFENSE Golson was an efficient 16-of-24 passing for 200 Riddick (four catches for 56 yards) having a pro- ductive outing and junior wideout TJ Jones (three catches for 39 yards) again coming up with a couple of clutch grabs. Just like at Michigan State, fifth-year senior wide receiver John Goodman caught a rocket, across-the-field pass from Golson for a score. Advantage: Notre Dame George Atkinson III returning the second half kickoff to his 35, one of the better starting points for the Irish this year off a kick return. Notre Dame went on to score a touchdown on that possession. Freshman nickel back Elijah Shumate was twice SPECIAL TEAMS The highlight for Notre Dame was sophomore cited for blocking behind the back on returns, lead- ing the Irish to start possessions at their 5- and 16-yard lines. Sophomore Kyle Brindza's kickoffs im- proved from the previous week, and his first kickoff was returned to only the Boston College 13. A slight edge goes to the Eagles for converting both of their field goals. Advantage: Boston College third-down attempts and finishing 11 of 14 overall (78.6 percent). Because it had only three possessions in the first half, Notre Dame had to convert all eight third downs just to take a 14-3 halftime lead. This THIRD-DOWN CONVERSIONS The top stat was Notre Dame converting its first 10 BY LOU SOMOGYI included third-and-seven on the first touchdown drive and third-and-eight on the second. The third TD march, which opened the third quarter, included a third-and-12 conversion with Golson finding Jones for 20 yards. Boston College came into the contest converting third downs at only a 29-percent clip but performed at a high level with an 8 of 15 (53.3 percent) effort, although the Irish did twice come up with third- down sacks in the red zone area to force field goals. Advantage: Notre Dame both in the final 5:14 of the game. Prior to that, the Irish had gone for just more than seven and a half quarters without generating a turnover. Notre Dame's running backs entered the contest having lost only one fumble all year (senior Cierre Wood in the second overtime last week versus Pitt), but this week Riddick and Atkinson each coughed it up once. Advantage: Even TURNOVERS Both teams had two, with Notre Dame forcing on offense were limited. The defense had to execute with precision and strong assignment consciousness, while Boston College threw just about every exotic play at the Irish, especially during the first half. Notre Dame had only eight full series on offense, ANALYSIS This felt like a game against Navy, when possessions three of them in the first half. It scored touchdowns on three of its first four possessions, but then seem- ingly took the foot off the pedal, content with the 21-3 advantage while not risking anything offensively that would help the Eagles get back into the contest. Unlike almost all the previous weeks, the Irish of- fense, especially the ground game, didn't peak in the fourth quarter. Notre Dame appears to thrive as a team in the marquee contests on the road while slogging through most of the others. It elevated its game at Michigan State and Oklahoma, and the same could be expected at USC Nov. 24. ✦