The Notre Dame Fighting Irish will look to continue their magical season on Saturday against BC, and here are the four best games of this rivalry.
Going into the game with a No. 2 overall ranking in college football, the Notre Dame Fighting Irish will head up to Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts to take on Boston College. BC has been up and down this season, but really only has one bad loss on their record, and have played well against tough competition in 2020.
Playing quarterback for BC will be Phil Jurkovec, a former Notre Dame quarterback who transfered to the Eagles heading into the 2020 season. He will be out to prove his worth against his former teammates, but the Irish have a much better quarterback under center in Ian Book.
Notre Dame has such a long history, and so many rivals have accumulated over that long history, that the Holy War game against Boston College is often overlooked. That’s a shame, because it’s a game with a great tradition for both schools. It comes with two separate trophies, a major coaching change, and some great games.
Those great games are the focus here. In preparation for Notre Dame’s trip to Boston College this weekend, here are the four greatest games in the history of the Notre Dame-Boston College rivalry.
Notre Dame Football: 4 Best games against Boston College
1983 Liberty Bowl: Notre Dame 19, Boston College 18
Just the second meeting in the Notre Dame-Boston College series came in the 1983 Liberty Bowl. The Irish were led by Gerry Faust. and in his third season, expectations were high, as Notre Dame started the season ranked fifth in the country, despite losing three straight to end 1982.
As always under Faust, Notre Dame proved to be inconsistent and ultimately an average team, going 6-5 in the regular season. Boston College, on the other hand, spent the season underrated, even beating Alabama to end the season.
They entered the Liberty Bowl 9-2, and their quarterback was future Heisman winner Doug Flutie.
Flutie took charge early, leading a touchdown drive to start the game for Boston College. Notably, however, the Eagles missed the extra point. Notre Dame responded, though. Alan Pinkett was the heart and soul of the Notre Dame teams in the early 1980s, and on his back, the Irish marched down the field and scored on a Pinkett run.
Mike Golic would block a punt, setting up the next Notre Dame touchdown. Critically, the extra point attempt by Notre Dame would be blocked. This kept the Irish lead at a round seven points, 13-6. Notre Dame immediately followed that score with another drive that ended in a Pinkett score.
Once again, the extra point was blocked.
The Irish held a 19-6 first half lead before Flutie started to turn it on again. Two long Flutie passes, for 42 and 28 yards, respectively, led to a quick Boston College score before the half. Again, they wouldn’t get the point after. This time, they went for two and failed. The score would be 19-12 at the half.
A one touchdown, with the extra point, deficit.
The second half had almost no offense to it, becoming a defensive struggle. That is, until halfway through the 4th quarter when Flutie threw his third touchdown pass on the day. This being an era without overtime, Boston College didn’t want to settle for a tie.
Once again, they didn’t get it. If they hadn’t chased points in the first half, they could have taken the kick here and taken the lead by a point. Instead, they trailed 19-18. The game would end with more defense, as Flutie couldn’t save Boston College when he got it back with a minute left.
Notre Dame Football: 4 Best games against Boston College
2009: Notre Dame 20, Boston College 16
2009 was a long, frustrating season for Notre Dame fans. Charlie Weis’ last season started out well enough, going 6-2, but fell apart as the Irish finished 6-6, and chose not to even bother going to a bowl game. It was a disaster, but it could have been worse.
They hadn’t beaten Boston College since 2000, and Boston College was a strong 5-2 coming into the game.
The first quarter was low scoring, only a Notre Dame field goal and a safety forced by Boston College hit to scoreboard. That’s where the game stayed, at 3-2, until midway through the second quarter. Notre Dame lined up for a field goal, but faked the kick, scoring a touchdown on the play.
There was a catch, though, as a flag for holding lay on the field. In the end, Notre Dame settled for a field goal.
From there, it was a back and forth game. Boston College responded with a nine-play touchdown drive that ended in a touchdown. Once Jimmy Clausen and the Notre Dame offense got the ball back, they marched downfield. Golden Tate would catch a touchdown pass with less than a minute left in the half.
This would make the halftime score 13-9.
A rushing touchdown after driving a short field to start the second half put Boston College back on top, but largely due to four second half turnovers, the Eagles wouldn’t score again. They didn’t make it easy for Notre Dame to score, though, forcing the Irish to go three and out three times in the second half alone.
Luckily, on a different three play drive that third play was a touchdown pass to Tate for 36 yards. That pass to Tate would be the difference in the game as Notre Dame held on to beat Boston College 20-16.
Notre Dame Football: 4 Best games against Boston College
2003: Boston College 27, Notre Dame 25
Brady Quinn is the best Notre Dame quarterback of the modern era, and is statistically the most accomplished ever. Still, in 2003, it was his freshman year and it showed up throughout the season. He threw more interceptions than touchdowns with a completion percentage of 47.3%.
That tells you something about the other quarterbacks on the 2003 team.
The Irish were hurting coming into their game at Boston College. They were sitting at 2-4 despite starting the season ranked 20th. The week before, USC had beaten them 45-14 in South Bend, and they needed something to go right.
Boston College, meanwhile, sat at 4-3 and was looking to make a push towards bowl eligibility.
Somewhat predictably, Boston College jumped out ahead of Notre Dame. The Eagles scored two first half touchdowns, a passing touchdown to David Kashetta to go along with a Horace Dodd rushing touchdown. The Irish managed two field goals off the leg of Nicholas Setta, making the score at halftime 14-6.
The difference was in finishing their scoring drives.
Boston College would come out in the third quarter and take control of the game. A field goal, to go along with a Quinton Porter rushing touchdown game Boston College an 18-point lead. That’s when Quinn started to make his mark at Notre Dame.
A two minute, ten-play drive led to a touchdown pass from Quinn to Omar Jenkins as the Irish cut into the deficit. Then, early in the fourth quarter, Quinn hit Maurice Stovall to bring it within a score. As the clock ticked towards the end of of the game, Notre Dame blocked a Boston College punt.
Carlos Campbell was there for the recovery and a touchdown. The scoop and score off a blocked punt gave Notre Dame the lead, 25-24.
Alas, the comeback was in vain. Boston College was able to march down the field and get in position to kick a game-winning field goal. Sandro Sciortino was true from 26 yards, and the Eagles beat the Irish, along with any realistic shot of Notre Dame going to a bowl game.
Notre Dame Football: 4 Best games against Boston College
1993: Boston College 41, Notre Dame 39
Perhaps the most disappointing game of the Lou Holtz era, as the Irish were upset by Boston College just a week after beating the top-ranked Florida State Seminoles. Boston College was a good team, who was on a long standing hot streak following a rough 0-2 start.
After a back and forth first half, Boston College took control in the third quarter due to its passing attack. Glenn Foley would throw for over 300 yards on the Irish with 132 yards going to Pete Mitchell. Mitchell is the one who caught what seemed to be the touchdown that pushed the game into blowout status.
The fourth and final quarter saw a frantic comeback by the Irish. Lee Becton and Ray Sellers would score on the ground for Notre Dame before Lake Dawson ultimately pit the Irish ahead in the game. Unfortunately, they wouldn’t stay ahead.
Foley moved Boston College downfield in a minute flat, and largely on the back of a 24 yard completion to Mitchell.
Everyone knows what happened next. The kick was good, and Boston College upset Notre Dame, 41-39. With that loss, Notre Dame lost control of their own fate heading to the end of the season, and while they did win out, including a Cotton Bowl win over Texas A&M, it wasn’t enough to win a national championship in 1993.
The loss would be the most disappointing of the last 30 seasons.