Notre Dame vs. Boston College: An Under-appreciated Rivalry

The rivalry between Boston College and Notre Dame doesn’t get the respect that it should.

My first FBS football game was on a cold Massachusetts night in November. Notre Dame was playing at Boston College, and I got to go with a bunch of BC fans that my family knew who had season tickets. They made me wear Boston College clothes because they provided the ticket, but I wore my Jimmy Clausen jersey underneath to stay loyal.

Clausen and Charlie Weis rewarded me with a 17-0 Notre Dame loss.

Maybe it’s that my first major college football game was the Notre Dame-Boston College game, maybe it’s because I’m from Massachusetts, maybe it’s because these are the only two Catholic FBS schools, or maybe it’s something else. The fact is, I’ve always loved the Notre Dame-Boston College rivalry.

I may be the minority, but here’s why you should love this game too.

Notre Dame and Boston College don’t play every season, but have met periodically since 1975. Currently, Notre Dame leads the series 14-9, with a five-game winning streak. 12 of those 23 games were one-score outcomes.

This is a series that is chock-full of memorable moments, too.

Take the 1983 Liberty Bowl for example. Notre Dame won 19-18, holding off a Doug Flutie comeback attempt. In 1993, Boston College avenged their 54-7 loss to the Irish in 1992. This time it was Notre Dame’s turn to make a comeback attempt. They caught up, but lost anyways on a last second kick from Boston College. In 2004, Boston College came back from being down 20-7 at the half to win 24-23.

There’s been some very important and exciting games in this series.

It’s is also a trophy game — The battle for the Ireland Trophy. It’s glass and in the shape of Ireland. Nevermind that the connection to Ireland is Notre Dame’s nickname, Boston having a lot of Irish-Americans, and the two schools being Catholic. That’s just a fun trophy choice.

Even more exciting is that it isn’t the only trophy handed out after the game. There’s also the Frank Leahy Memorial Bowl. It commemorates one of college football’s legends, Frank Leahy.

Leahy obviously coached Notre Dame to four National Championships in the 1940s. Did you know he also coached Boston College to their only National Championship in 1940? That was his last season in Chestnut Hill before making the move to South Bend.

That’s right, Leahy left a National Championship team to go coach a different program. He did so, even though Boston College refused to release him from his contract. Leahy simply told reporters that he was allowed to go wherever by Boston College, which strong armed them into letting him go.

It’s a shame the two didn’t play each other in the 1940s. It would have been like the first time Nick Saban coached against LSU for Alabama, if he didn’t go to the NFL in between, and burnt all his bridges on the way out.

The Notre Dame-Boston College rivalry is competitive on the field, has historic roots off the field, is a double-trophy game, and even has the moniker of “The Holy War” for its Catholic background. What more could you possibly want?

This rivalry has everything, but fans don’t appreciate what they have.

Given Notre Dame’s agreement to play five ACC teams a season, they should play Boston College every season. That would allow for the competition to grow between the teams and fan bases. It would add hate to Notre Dame’s most under-appreciated rivalry, which already has everything else.