Notre Dame Football: Boston College is... Fredo

I know it was you Boston College. You broke my heart. You broke my heart!

What choice did I have than to tab the Boston College Eagles as Fredo? Boston College, the school responsible for allowing the cowards in the AP/Coaches Poll to erroneously crown Florida State national champion in 1993, so that two-bit huckster Bobby Bowden could have something to put on his mantle other than all the free shoes he planned on handing out on signed day.

David Gordon’s 41 yard field goal as time expired, knocking off the undefeated and number one Notre Dame Fighting Irish, was the most heinous Catholic on Catholic act since the Western Schism. Am I calling Boston College an Antipope? Those are your words, not mine. I’m saying they are Fredo Corleone and it’s time we took those traitorous little weasels out for a fishing trip on St. Mary’s Lake.

The history in this series isn’t lengthy, the two teams have only played 24 times with Notre Dame having a 15-9 advantage. It didn’t even really become a “rivalry” until the 90’s with 13 straight games being played between 1992-2004. That’s not to say the series doesn’t have some curiosities however.

• The first ever match-up between the two schools was played in 1975 on a Monday night in Foxborough. Consider this, 35 million people tuned in to watch Notre Dame beat Boston College 17-3 on ABC, 25 million people watched the national championship game last year.
• The two schools didn’t play again until 1983, when Doug Flutie lost to Notre Dame in the Liberty Bowl 19-18. I wonder if Doug will bring that up during the broadcast on Saturday?
• The series began in earnest in 1992, where the season before heartbreak, the Irish won 54-7. If you’ve ever seen the movie Rudy, you’ve seen this game. All the crowd shots from Rudy were filmed during this rout.
• Notre Dame didn’t beat Boston College between 2001-2008, six straight losses including the painful Green Jersey game in 2002, when the fourth ranked Irish literally handed the win to BC.

Thankfully order was restored in 2009, with Notre Dame winning all six games played since. There is no reason to believe that this is going to change this Saturday either. Boston College enters this football game as the worst defense Notre Dame will play this year. Let that sink it for a moment. Brain Van Gorder’s Bowling Green Falcon’s defense is very bad. Very, very bad. Statistically, yes, Bowling Green is worse than Boston College, but Bowling Green has had to play Notre Dame, Boston College hasn’t yet. Let’s compare:

Points per Game Allowed:

Boston College - 98th 32.1ppg
Bowling Green- 124th 37.6ppg (Notre Dame scored 52)

Passing Defense

Boston College - 125th 302.3ypg
Bowling Green- 72nd 232.8ypg (Notre Dame threw for 340)

Rushing Defense

Boston College- 85th 4.63ypc
Bowling Green- 123rd 5.46ypc (Notre Dame averaged 6.85)

3rd Down Defense

Boston College- 106th 44.38% conversion rate
Bowling Green- 111th 45.21% conversion rate (Notre Dame went 8 for 11 on third down)

Boston College’s defense is not unlike a hobo dropping a loaf on a San Francisco sidewalk; it’s unsightly, it stinks and that level of depravity is a crime.

Only two of the FBS opponents BC has played this year hasn’t had one of their receivers go for a 100 yards and even in the case of those two opponents, it was close.

Virginia Tech
*Hezekiah Grimsley 4 REC, 98 YDS, 1TD (55 Long)

Kansas
Andrew Parchment 8 REC, 100 YDS, 2TD (37 Long)

Rutgers
Raheem Blackshear 9 REC, 130 YDS, 1 TD (74 Long)

Wake Forest
*Scotty Washington 5 REC, 94 YDS, 1 TD (34 Long)

Louisville
Seth Dawkins 6 REC, 170 YDS, 1 TD (77 Long
Tutu Atwell 8 REC, 110 YDS, 0 TD (27 Long)
Dez Fitzpatrick 5 REC, 108YDS, 1TD (41 Long)

NC State
Devin Carter 6 REC, 140 YDS (55 Long)

Clemson
Diondre Overton 3 REC, 119 YDS, 3 TD (63 Long)

Syracuse
Trishton Jackson 8 REC, 148 YDS, 2 TD (85 Long)

Florida State
Tamorrion Terry 7 REC, 156 YDS, 1 TD (74 Long)

Is anyone else’s mouth watering when thinking about the kind of afternoon Chase Claypool is going to have?

Before we get out of here, I’d like to take a moment to recognize our fearless leader, Supreme Warlord and site manager Joshua Vowles. For the sake of all of us, Josh is going to be eschewing the NBCSN homer broadcast, to willingly watch four hours of Doug Flutie gyrating and pontificating about not only his alumnus, but also the focus of NBC honoring the 35th anniversary of Flutie’s Hail Mary and Heisman trophy. In is a true act martyrdom, he will endure Flutie to let us know how bad it was. Thank you for your sacrifice and god bless the Subway Domer.