Notre Dame Football: Irish Look To Win on Senior Day

Boston College (3-7) at Notre Dame (7-3, 24)

Saturday, November 19th 4 p.m.

TV: NBC

Radio: Westwood One

The Irish look to move up in the rankings and improve their bowl position while sending the seniors out of Notre Dame Stadium with a win.  Boston College is struggling badly but is coming off a win vs. N.C. State last weekend.  Will the Eagles put a damper on a late season surge by the Irish?

Boston College Offense vs. Notre Dame Defense

Rolandan Finch and Andre Williams combine to average 122 yards per game on the ground and seem to split the workload for the Eagles.  The Eagles have struggled to get consistent quarterback play as Chase Rettig is hitting just over 53% of his passes and has thrown for 1,588 yards with 9 TD's and 9 INT's. 

Boston College's top receiver is Colin Larmond who has a 16 yard per reception average to go with his 31 receptions.  The Eagles have scored over 21 points in only two games the entire season (vs. FCS Opponent UMASS and Maryland).  They have consistently struggled on offense so it is hard to imagine them generating much traction against the Notre Dame defense. 

EDGE: NOTRE DAME

Notre Dame Offense vs. Boston College Defense

Notre Dame continues to put up huge numbers as they struck again for 45 points last week vs. Maryland.  Tommy Rees has hit 67 percent of his passes and has an opportunity to break the season record for highest completion percentage with a couple of hot weeks down the stretch.  (The record is 68 percent, set by Jimmy Clausen in 2009). 

As mentioned last week, barring injury both Cierre Wood and Jonas Gray will break the 1,000 yard rushing mark.  The Irish have not had a 1,000 yard rusher since Darius Walker in 2006.  We may even see Michael Floyd hit the century mark in receptions before the end of the season. 

My point in this short statistical diatribe is simple....there are way, way too many weapons for Boston College to stop Notre Dame.  Boston College's defense is probably the best part of a really bad football team, however the 69th rated defense in the nation will have their hands full with Notre Dame. 

EDGE: NOTRE DAME

Special Teams

Ben Turk and David Ruffer probably had their best games of the season last week. 

Turk is just on the cusp of a 40 yard average which, given his tough start, is a tremendous improvement.  Although the Notre Dame's kickoff return game wasn't as sharp last week versus Maryland, it is still better than what Boston College has to offer. 

In addition, Boston College kicker Nate Freese has struggled, going just 9-15 on field goals.  Freese is actually more accurate this season from 40-49 yards than he is from 20-39.  The Eagles punter Ryan Quigley also has a lower average than Ben Turk. 

EDGE: NOTRE DAME

Intangibles

It is senior day and Notre Dame is playing some pretty good ball over the last two weeks.  Some cynics will suggest that Notre Dame should be on upset alert.  People will recall the Syracuse game from a few years ago when the Irish lost at home to a dreadful Syracuse team on senior day. 

This is a different situation entirely.  Yes, it is the Holy War and Boston College will play hard, however, they simply cannot match up with a pretty good Notre Dame football team.

EDGE: NOTRE DAME

Final Analysis

Notre Dame simply has too much for Boston College. 

Of the three ACC match-ups, I felt this would be the easiest.  Sometime in the next year or two, Irish fans will remember this season in one of two ways: 2011 was a season where a young team on their way to great heights endured the sometimes difficult task of learning how to win, or, 2011 was another lost season full of sloppy play from an underachieving team and coaching staff. 

Where the Irish go from here will define their future and likely the future of Brian Kelly.  This Saturday, though, the Irish will dust the Eagles off early and move to 8-3 with Stanford looming.

NOTRE DAME 49, Boston College 17