Notre Dame-Boston College: The Positives
By Andrew Hall
Nov. 10, 2012; Boston, MA, USA; Notre Dame Fighting Irish running back Theo Riddick (6) carries the ball as Boston College Eagles defensive tackle Bryan Murray (93) attempts to tackle in the third quarter at Alumni Stadium. Notre Dame won 21-6. Mandatory Credit: Matt Cashore-US PRESSWIRE
Notre Dame stayed undefeated Monday night with a 21-6 victory over the Boston College Eagles. Although the Irish did not get the style points that they needed to impress voters, they played an efficient game that had a lot of positives. Here are the positives that stuck out:
Everett Golson’s Efficiency
This year has been a process for Everett Golson. At the beginning of the year, Golson was turnover prone and lacked big play ability. The reason for this was probably because Brian Kelly was not allowing Golson to play freely. However, since the Oklahoma game, Golson has seemed like a different Quarterback. He is more decisive and careful in his play. Prior to the Oklahoma game, Golson’s most efficient performance was against the Boilermakers when his Quarterback rating was 156.70. However, Boston College became Golson’s most efficient game with a 164.17 mark. Against Boston College, Everett Golson threw the ball for 200 yards on 16 of 24 passing. He added 39 yards on the ground. The designed runs from Golson have added a new element to Notre Dame’s Offense.
3rd Down Conversions
Notre Dame converted 11 of 14 of its 3rd Downs. This kept Notre Dame’s drives alive on Saturday night and allowed them to win the game. If they did not convert, this game would have been more a lot tighter than the result. This demonstrates that Notre Dame is mentally tough team. This is not news to Irish fans. Notre Dame is a mentally tough team but is good that they are executing at a high rate.
Becoming #1
Notre Dame became #1 in two major categories on Saturday night. The Fighting Irish became the number Scoring Defense in the country. The Irish are now tied with Alabama allowing 11.1 points per game. This is extremely important for a successful team. Notre Dame also became the #1 Computer Ranked team on Sunday night when the BCS rankings were unveiled. Notre Dame is 3rd overall but the computers love Notre Dame. The difficult schedule that Notre Dame has played led to this result. Oregon and Kansas State have not played a comparable schedule up until this point thus they are not ranked as high in computer polls. But, the pollsters believe in both of these teams because they win by wider margins than the Irish.
Notre Dame continues its path to an undefeated season. Although there were not lots of positives from Saturday’s game, Notre Dame continues to dominate. This is telling of the team that Notre Dame has. The Irish are expected to do so well every game that fans are disappointed when Notre Dame only wins by two touchdowns. How quick are all fans to forget the year’s when their team struggled to win these games? For this point forward, Notre Dame just needs to survive and advance.