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It doesn't matter what the circumstances are. Whether Boston College is an undefeated top-five team or a struggling unit coming off consecutive losses, has a future NFL star playing quarterback or a one-year stopgap manning the position, or has a kicker whose range is 30 yards, it doesn't really matter. BC always beats Notre Dame.
The Eagles topped the Fighting Irish, 17-0, on Saturday night before a wet sellout crowd of 44,500, BC's sixth consecutive win over the Irish. It was BC's second shutout of the season and first-ever against Notre Dame.
BC is now bowl-eligible for the 10th straight season.
"You take every game and you say every game's the same," said BC linebacker Mark Herzlich. "When you play Notre Dame, it's not the same. It really doesn't matter what their record is or how they're doing. It's still Notre Dame."
It was the kind of game where one mistake becomes very glaring. Where BC (6-3, 2-3 ACC) played a crisp, (mostly) mistake-free game, Notre Dame (5-4) was riddled with big mistakes. Irish quarterback Jimmy Clausen threw four interceptions and the Irish muffed a punt, giving Notre Dame no chance despite an average performance by the BC offense.
"Defensively, I can't say enough about [defensive coordinator Frank Spaziani] and what they did today," said BC coach Jeff Jagodzinski, now 2-0 against Notre Dame. "That was a great defensive effort. We were really struggling offensively and they did a great job for us."
It could be said that BC quarterback Chris Crane (nine-of-22, 79 yards, one touchdown) managed the game effectively, allowing his defense and running game to command the spotlight. The BC offense was sparked by freshman running back Montel Harris, who rushed for 120 yards on 23 carries. It was his third 100-yard game of the season.
The Irish were unable to crack midfield in the first quarter, not reaching the 50-yard line until there were less than seven minutes left in the first half. On the first play after reaching that spot, Clausen went back to throw and looked for tight end Kyle Rudolph. Clausen's throw sailed high and right into the hands of strong safety Paul Anderson at the 24-yard line.
Anderson looked like he was heading out of bounds at midfield, but turned to his left and was somehow able to evade a group of would-be Irish tacklers. Anderson took it to the house for a 10-0 BC lead.
"I was going to take it out of bounds and then let the offense take it the rest, but then I changed my mind at the last second," said Anderson, who added a second interception in the fourth quarter and now has five on the season.
"I was pushing him back in," Jagodzinski said of the return. "I was trying to trail him down the sideline. It was a really good run by him. The guys set up a really good wall for him and did a really nice job."
The Irish looked like they were about to push their way back into the game heading to halftime when they drove down to the BC 25-yard line with 27 seconds left. Clausen tried to get it over to wideout Golden Tate, but it was picked off by corner Roderick Rollins.
Notre Dame continued with the costly turnovers in the third quarter. Tate muffed a punt at his own 46 that was recovered by BC's Brad Newman.
The Eagles had already been forced to settle for three field-goal attempts inside the red zone, two of which kicker Steve Aponavicius missed. Knowing his team was dealing with a struggling kicker, Crane became more aggressive and hit Brandon Robinson with a 9-yard touchdown pass to put the Eagles up, 17-0, with 10:27 left in the third quarter.
"After the first one or two drives that our defense was out there, when it was apparent that it was going to be real tough for them to get any points, when we got to the red zone I didn't want to take three points off the board," Jagodzinski said. "But now I kind of know we're going to have to attack the red zone a little bit more with the missed field goals."
Aponavicius has now missed four of his last five field goals, but with Billy Bennett on suspension, Jagodzinski is still working to find the solution.
"We've got to somehow get that fixed because that's not good," Jagodzinski said. "That's six points we left out on the field. We need to get that addressed again and get that fixed."
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