Eagles swoop into South Bend

By Chris Maza
Fan Fanatic Sports Staff

It is upon us. Call it what you would like. The Vatican Bowl. The Jesuit Invitational (Even though Notre Dame isn’t Jesuit. Jesuits owned the land first and set up a mission there, but the actual school was founded by the Congregation Sante Cruce - Congregation of the Holy Cross). The Holy War. I tend to stay away from using the term “Holy War” because it’s also used in another one of this weekend’s matchups - TCU and BYU. But regardless of what you call it, this is a game that is circled on almost every Boston College fan’s calendar.

So the real question is this - does the Notre Dame-Boston College series qualify as a rivalry?

Boston College takes a vested interest in this game because in terms of football, it is trying to lose that moniker of that “other” Catholic university and they believe that beating Notre Dame will help them shake that. It will help, but if Boston College really wants to get out of Notre Dame’s shadow, it is going to have to have some national success. Going to back-to-back ACC Championships (and likely going back for a third straight) is nice, but failing to win it or have any real clout in terms of the BCS is not helping the Eagles’ case that they can be taken seriously as a great football team. It wasn’t until 2005 that the Eagles were even in the BCS picture. They have been visible every year since, but their best final ranking is 14th. Boston College lacks any real prominence mainly because it hasn’t done anything to garner it. Ever. So in the absence of a true accomplishment, BC football fans revel in having played spoiler to Notre Dame in 1993 with a last-second field goal that ultimately cost the Irish a chance at the National Championship.

That kick in 1993 is the one and only thing that really makes Notre Dame football fans’ blood boil when it comes to Boston College. I still remember watching that game at 11 years old, then going into my room and crying. To say that Notre Dame isn’t irked by having lost to an opponent it considers inferior would obviously be a lie, but the question is this: Does Boston College evoke any emotions that would be any different than those that would be felt towards any other team that beat them six times in a row?

The real reason the Notre Dame-Boston College matchup means so much to the Irish is because EVERY game means so much to the Irish, especially years like this year where they still have an outside shot at a BCS berth. By being an independent, every game counts. To be realistic, even if Boston College loses the game this Saturday, they still have an outside shot at the BCS because they have the benefit of playing in one of the Big 6 conferences. They lose to Notre Dame and they still have a share of the lead in the ACC Atlantic and a weak schedule the rest of the way, giving them a legitimate shot at playing in the ACC championship. They win the championship game, however unlikely that may be, and they’re in. Notre Dame has no such luxury. Every game is a must-win, not only for pride. Their postseason fate depends on it. So sure, in that respect, Notre Dame may hold a grudge knowing that Boston College has played a hand in depriving it of a better bowl game in each of the last six seasons the two teams have played each other.

This isn’t to take anything away from the series. With these two schools being the premier Catholic football programs and educational institutions in the country, it’s only fitting that they should play annually and I hope the two sides can reach an agreement to extend the series beyond 2011. A game like this always should have a place in college football. And you cannot dismiss how entertaining this series has been. This will be the 10th matchup between these two squads since the formation of the BCS and in the previous nine, six have been decided by a touchdown or less and 2008 was the first time a team won by more than two touchdowns since 1997. But the bottom line is these two teams didn't even start playing each other on a regular basis until 1992 when the schools tried to market it and force a rivalry because of the two schools' religious affiliation. If it was really a big deal for these teams to play each other because they're the best Catholic football teams, why have these two teams, both of which had football programs since the 1800's, only started playing less than two decades ago? Let's not forget that Boston College was an independent until 1991 when it joined the Big East, so there was schedule flexibility for both schools.

As for this week’s game, it is a battle of the unknowns. Fans of both teams are sitting back and wondering, “Just how good are we?”

Boston College sits at 5-2 on the season, which includes an impressive 5-0 mark at home. But that also means they are 0-2 on the road in and in front of crowds larger than 50,000, both of which come into play in the game in South Bend. The five wins, and all of their statistics, are skewed somewhat by playing the likes of Northeastern, which still has yet to win an FCS game, and Kent State, ranked somewhere around 100th by most ranking systems. That said, the Eagles did to those teams what you’d expect to do to teams of that stature. Outside of those games, the Eagles are 3-2. The loss to Clemson was ugly with only 54 yards of total offense and was the reason Justin Tuggle lost his starting job the Dave Shinskie. Shinskie has had his ups and downs, which are to be expected, regardless of how old you are as a freshman. He’s shown the ability to exploit weak defenses (see all three wins: Wake Forest, Florida State, and NC State). Fortunately for Boston College fans, the Irish have an extremely weak pass defense.

Montel Harris has show flashes as a sophomore, including setting school records for rushing yards in a game and touchdowns in a game against NC State. But if there’s one thing that has improved on the Notre Dame defense, it’s the front seven. Anytime you have a true freshman linebacker as one of your biggest playmakers, you have to worry, but the Irish have definitely gotten better, which was evident in three-straight goal-line stands against Washington and holding USC’s Joe McKnight at bay for most of the day last Saturday. The key to defending Harris is to actually wrap him up. If you look at tape from both the NC State game and the Florida State game -his two biggest of the season - teams thought that by simply lowering a shoulder into Harris, you could get him down. Not the case. He may not be the biggest guy, but he can run big and if you don’t wrap him up, he’s got speed to burn in the open field.

Anyone who thought that Boston College’s defense was just going to completely implode with the losses of B.J. Raji, Ron Brace and Mark Herzlich (who it’s great to hear is doing so well, by the way), had to be fruit loops. With defensive coordinator Frank Spaziani taking over, you knew defense was still going to be the focus and as well as they have recruited defensive players over the years, there was no reason to think the Eagles wouldn’t be strong on defense. However, with that said, the Eagles are not the shut down unit they were a year ago. Against the only truly dynamic offense they’ve faced all season in Virginia Tech, the Eagles were lit up for over 400 yards and 48 points. This isn’t to say Notre Dame is at all as good as the Hokies, but the offense compares better than it does to any other offense the Eagles have played.

Notre Dame is 4-2 on the year with each of its last five games coming down to the last minute or overtime. It’s hard to tell exactly where the Irish stand because they conceivably were seconds away from being 6-0, but at the same token, moments away from being 1-5. Wins against Purdue, Michigan State and Washington were way too close considering these teams appeared on paper to be inferior. But on the same note, the Irish took USC, a team that clearly has more talent, to the brink.

For the Irish, the team goes as Jimmy Clausen goes and so far this season, that’s been pretty good. Clausen now has 14 touchdowns, two interceptions and the third-highest quarterback rating in college football. The one knock on Clausen early on was that he didn’t face a Top-40 defense all season. Well, he did against USC and didn’t do half bad. The first half he struggled, partly because of the swarming front four of USC, but once he figured out how to read the defense, Clausen settled in, passing for more yards than the Trojans had let up in a game through the air all season and connecting with Golden Tate on the only two touchdowns USC allowed on the season via the pass.

Tate has done a little bit of everything for the Irish. With maybe the best wide receiver in the country on the sidelines, Charlie Weis has moved Tate all over the field to prevent defenses from being able to key on him. He’s played flanker, split end, slot, running back and has worked as the quarterback out of the Wildcat. He ranks fifth in the nation in receiving and has scored seven total touchdowns. Robby Parris is a question mark in this game. He played a huge role in the USC game as the Trojans double and triple covered Tate all day, but was injured on the Irish’s final drive, which fell four yards short. Parris had his hip, knee and ankle MRI’d and no damage was found, but with the way that leg was bent under him, it wouldn’t be surprising to see his role reduced. Duval Kamara, who has been an outlet for Clausen in the past, but slipped on his route fourth and goal, leading to the incompletion as time expired against USC, will surely see more time. Shaquelle Evans, a big-time recruit from Southern California, whose athleticism Irish fans have heard so much about, but have yet to see, may also factor into the mix.

Kyle Rudolph is the end zone threat for Irish with Michael Floyd out. The sophomore is big, strong and has soft hands. He is one of those hybrid tight end/wide receivers that are springing up all over the nation and he just might be one of the best. The Irish needed to keep him on the line to block when USC was getting constant pressure on Clausen, so if the Eagles can get to Clausen early, they could take away one of his main weapons in the passing game.

Armando Allen is back from injury and while most feel the Irish running game was inconsistent against the Trojans last week, I thought Allen did a great job moving the football. When healthy this season, Allen has shown an ability to hit holes hard, avoid going down after first contact and break open for long runs in the open field. Robert Hughes, on the other hand, has not been as impressive and Weis may want to start shying away from him again. Hughes is a good change of pace for Allen, but he should not be receiving more touches than him.

Defensively, the Irish were supposed to get better with the arrival of defensive coordinator Jon Tenuta, but the Irish have taken a step back. It’s hard to run an aggressive defense when you don’t have the athleticism. Notre Dame is on the right track with recruits like Manti Te’o, but there aren’t enough cogs to make this machine work. Tenuta’s defenses require the secondary to be on an island with its receivers and to this point, the secondary has looked overmatched.

Prediction: Clausen has had success against better defenses and as long as he can keep memories of last year’s implosion from impeding his focus, the offense should be fine. If the Irish grab an early, lead, this could turn into a shootout, as Shinskie will be forced to pass and the Irish defense has not looked up to the task against any passing attack this season. Still, in terms of sheer talent and ability, the edge goes to Notre Dame. Notre Dame 33, Boston College 28