Notre Dame Crushes Boston Colleges, Remains Outside the National Title Game

The Boston College Eagles provided very little resistance for a Notre Dame team that seems destined to be playing for a BCS bowl this year. Notre Dame didn't humiliate Boston College, but if you actually watched the game you saw a Fighting Irish team dominate both sides of the line of scrimmage, and you knew it was over the minute Notre Dame went up 14-3. There was no way Boston College was ever going to manage to score two touchdowns on Notre Dame. The problem is that all the lazy voters probably did nothing but glance at the box score, and like always, Oregon's gaudy box score won the day.

Everett Golson had a perfect game against the Eagles. He was calm in the pocket, he completed 16 of his 24 attempts, and he amassed 200 yards and two touchdowns. He added another 40 yards on ground, and was often used as the primary short yardage back. He didn't turn the ball over. And most importantly, he kept the chains moving. Notre Dame converted 11 of 14 third downs. Boston College's defense just could not get off the field, and the Eagles offense rarely had a chance to get in rhythm.

Not that it would have mattered, necessarily. Boston College came into the game with one of the most anemic rushing offenses in the country, and Notre Dame did their part to make sure they stayed that way. The Eagles averaged a very sad 2.3 yards per carry, and quarterback Chase Rettig was forced into numerous passing situations all day that frequently ended with him having to spit fieldturf pellets out of his teeth.

Boston College has died (it's not really fair to use the "live and died" phrase for a team that's 2-8) throwing the ball, and Notre Dame ground that passing offense into an inefficient mess. Rettig finished 27 of 43 for just 247 yards. His only interception happened late in the fourth, was off a tipped pass and served only as a cherry on the sundae. It had no real effect on the outcome except as a one-play microcosm of the entire day for the Eagles offense.

So of course, it was Manti Te'o who came up with that interception. It was less of a "Heisman moment" for Te'o than it was a reminder that he's still out there making plays. Still, the Heisman vote is never an exact science, especially when it comes to the rare defensive player who finds himself in the running, so the interception probably did win him a few votes.

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Barring a catastrophic loss to Wake Forest next Saturday, Notre Dame will be playing in a BCS bowl regardless of the outcome in Los Angeles against the USC Trojans. Outside of the national title game, it looks like there will be an open Rose Bowl and Fiesta Bowl spot to be filled by a high profile at large like Notre Dame.

Given how many games Notre Dame plays against the Big 10, it would probably be more fun to watch them take on some other at large at the Fiesta Bowl. With the number of SEC teams in the top ten and also given that one of them will be in the Sugar Bowl unless some upsets allow one of them to back door back into the title game, it would seem likely that Notre Dame would play an SEC team if they don't replace Oregon in the Rose Bowl.

No matter what happens, Notre Dame will be in a high profile game either on New Years' Day or a few days after. For Notre Dame fans used to seeing crushing sadness, this year continues to be a godsend of joy. Not even a ridiculous title format that shambling along like a zombie until the NCAA puts a bullet in its temple in 2014 can change that.

Dan Benton

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