CHESTNUT HILL – The Holy War became a battle of survival for No. 12 Notre Dame.
The Fighting Irish (6-2) outscored Boston College 13-3 in the second half to secure a hard fought 25-10 victory on Saturday night in the 28th meeting before a sellout crowd of 44,500 at Alumni Stadium.
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BC fell to 1-8 and will resume ACC play at home on Nov. 8 against Southern Methodist. Notre Dame leads the series 19-9 with its 10th straight win over BC and remains in the hunt for a spot in the FBS playoffs.
“It might not be a memorable team to anybody on the outside but it will be a memorable team to me because they fight hard and they compete,” said BC coach Bill O’Brien. “We just couldn’t do anything in the running game and could not move the ball consistently and turned the ball over.”
Notre Dame accumulated 458 yards of total offense, but three of their four touchdowns were on explosive plays. Irish quarterback CJ Carr completed touchdowns passes of 40 and 44 yards while preseason All-American tailback Jeremiyah Love got 94 of 136 rushing yards on a fourth quarter touchdown run.
“Defensively I thought we fought,” said O’Brien. “We gave up the one big run but I thought overall that’s the No. 12 team in the country and they have a good offensive line and really good backs. Sometimes we brought the kitchen sink and they burned us a couple of times.”
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O’Brien made a quarterback change at the start, putting Dylan Lonergan back under center against the Irish. Lonergan started the first six games of the season but underperformed in consecutive lopsided losses to Pittsburgh and Clemson.
Grayson James made the last two starts against UConn and Louisville. James was effective in the 38-24 loss to Louisville despite playing with a hip pointer. James replaced Lonergan in the second quarter and finished with 25 completions for 240-yards and a touchdown with two interceptions and six sacks.
“He wasn’t the same runner as he normally is but he’s a very tough guy,” said O’Brien. “He went in there and gave us a little bit of a spark and we just couldn’t protect him enough when we got down.”
BC opened the second half with a 21-play, 74-yard, drive that consumed 11:20 off the clock but sputtered out on the Notre Dame seven. Luca Lombardo cut the lead to 12-10 with a 27-yard field goal with 3:36 to play in the third. The kick was Lombardo’s 12th without a miss.
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“We knew that that was a big drive but even with that drive, there were too many miscues,” said O’Brien. “We got a couple of fourth downs but we had a hard time sustaining and they got the ball and went right down and scored.”
The Irish responded with a 7-play, 75-yard, scoring drive to make it 18-10 with 32 seconds to play in the third. Love capped the drive with a 3-yard dive through the line for his 10th of the season. The PAT kick failed, keeping it a one score game.
BC drove the ball to the ND 23, but the march went for naught when James was intercepted by safety Andon Shuler on the 6-yard line. On the ensuing snap, Love breached the line and raced 94-yards to make it 25-10 with 11:07 on the clock. Before that run, Love was held to 40 yards on 11 carries.
“I thought we were aggressive and tackled better,” said O’Brien. “I’m not saying it was good enough but it was better.”
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Both defenses showed up in the early going. The first quarter ended scoreless with BC accounting for a paltry 17 yards of total offense in the frame.
ND quarterback CJ Carr flipped the script on the opening play of the second quarter. Carr converted on fourth and seven with a 40-yard touchdown pass to Malachi Fields with 14:52 to play. Noah Burnette’s PAT kick hit the upright.
BC’s ineptitude on offense gained further traction when Lonergan’s deep throw to Lewis Bond was intercepted by safety Tae Johnson on the ND 26. O’Brien has seen enough and benched Lonergan for James.
BC forced a red zone turnover when cornerback Isaiah Farris stripped ND tailback Jadarian Price and the ball was recovered by defensive end Favor Bate on the five.
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The Irish secured a turnover on downs on their 27 and Carr set a 4-play, 73-yard, scoring drive in motion with a 14-yard swing pass to Love. ND went up 12-0 on a 44-yard pass from Carr to Will Pauling on a deep post route with 1:53 to play. Carr’s PAT pass to Love was stopped short.
BC found its rhythm on offense on the Eagles’ final drive with James completing five consecutive passes for 87 yards. James capped the drive with a 25-yard toss to Reed Harris to make it 12-7 with 22 seconds to play.
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