Upon Further Review: Notre Dame needs help down the stretch
By DOUG GRIFFITHS
ISL Assistant Editor
Over the next few weeks, Notre Dame and its massive fan base will likely don the colors of Baylor, Texas, Stanford and Oregon State. OK, maybe they won’t go that far, but you know they’ll be the biggest fans of those four teams you’ll find across the country.
As you know, the Irish are looking up in the BCS rankings at Kansas State, who holds down the No. 1 spot after Alabama fell from the ranks of the undefeated, and Oregon, who sits at No. 2.
Notre Dame knows that at No. 3, winning its last two regular-season games against Wake Forest and USC and finishing 12-0 won’t be good enough to leap either K-State or Oregon if both those teams win out.
So, Irish Nation will be cheering hard this week for Baylor, who hosts Kansas State, and Stanford, who battles the Ducks Saturday in Eugene.
Next week, if Kansas State, Oregon and Notre Dame remain unbeaten, the BCS rankings’ top three will remain the same so the Irish will need to take care of business, winning at USC. But even that won’t be good enough. That’s when they’ll turn their attention to Oregon’s game at Oregon State. A Beaver win over the Ducks would definitely deliver the Notre Dame team an early Christmas present.
If, however, Oregon holds serve and finishes the regular season unblemished all is not lost for the Irish.
Oregon will still have to defeat another Pac-12 opponent in the conference championship game Dec. 1. That would mean beating possibly USC for the second time this season or UCLA.
Also, on Dec. 1 not just the eyes of Texas will be on Manhattan, Kan., but the eyes of the college football world, as K-State will host the Longhorns.
Of the three teams currently fighting it out for bids in the national title game in Miami, you have to like Notre Dame’s chances best simply because its schedule seems more manageable.
Oregon has the toughest road of the three teams, knowing it will face three ranked teams to end the regular season.
Like Notre Dame, one of Kansas State’s two remaining foes is nationally ranked, but Baylor is probably a tougher opponent than Wake Forest, who the Irish play Saturday. Sure, the Demon Deacons have a slightly better record at 5-5 (compared to Baylor’s 4-5 mark), but the Bears have proven they can score against ranked teams. They hung 63 on then-No. 9 West Virginia in a seven-point loss in Morgantown. Baylor scored 50 in a six-point defeat at then-No. 25 Texas and they tallied 34 at then-No. 12 Oklahoma. The problem for Baylor against Kansas State will be whether it can stop the Wildcats. The Bears’ defense is ranked 115th out of 120 FBS teams, giving up a staggering 39.44 points per game.
Even though it would be hard to fathom a 12-0 Notre Dame team being on the outside of the national championship picture, a pretty nice consolation prize may be waiting for the Irish in the form of a trip to the Rose Bowl.
Notre Dame hasn’t played in The Granddaddy Of Them All since 1925.
If Oregon and Kansas State finish 1-2 in the BCS standings, the Irish could very well be headed to Pasadena.
A Rose Bowl official told the Chicago Tribune having Notre Dame in the southern California New Year’s Day event would be tremendous.
A Nebraska-Notre Dame showdown in the Rose Bowl wouldn’t be so bad, would it? It would for Irish fans that are, at least for the time being, thinking national championship game or bust.
If you’ve digested all of that, trying stomaching our grades for Notre Dame’s workmanlike victory Saturday at Boston College.
Following, IndySportsLegends.com grades the Irish’s 10th win of the season.
QUARTERBACKS – A
Everett Golson was once again special. He accounted for all three of Notre Dame’s touchdowns, two passing and one running. Golson now has five rushing touchdowns this season, the most by an Irish signal caller since Jarious Jackson had seven in 1999.
Plus, Golson wasn’t sacked and didn’t throw an interception.
He didn’t have a completion longer than 23 yards, but he didn’t force things like you would expect a rookie quarterback to do on the road.
Golson didn’t have quite the daylight that we thought he would, running for just 39 yards, but credit Boston College for keeping him in their sights most of the night.
RUNNING BACKS – C+
The ground game was ok. Why? Ball security.
The Irish lost two fumbles, one of which definitely took points off the board as they were deep in BC territory and an argument could easily made that Notre Dame would’ve gotten into BC territory again if it didn’t cough it up at the 48.
Notre Dame did get good production from Theo Riddick. He averaged 5.8 yards per carry and topped the century mark, finishing with 104 yards on 18 carries with a long of 16. It was his third 100-yard rushing game of the season (and career). You can’t frown at all with that performance.
Riddick or Cierre Wood or George Atkinson didn’t find a ton of running room as far as breaking any runs for big chunks of yardage like you thought they might against a suspect BC defense, which lost its leading tackler due to an injury in the first half.
Wood and Atkinson combined for 45 yards on 10 carries and didn’t have a run longer than eight yards.
RECEIVERS/TIGHT ENDS – B+
Tyler Eifert led the way with six catches for 67 yards. Keep in mind, 24 of Eifert’s 34 receptions this season have resulted in a touchdown or first down.
He was one of six Irish players to catch a pass.
Included in that mix was tight end Troy Niklas, who registered his first career touchdown late in the second quarter to give the Irish a 14-3 lead.
Another slightly obscure player found the end zone, too. Wide receiver John Goodman’s 18-yard touchdown catch came with 10:44 left in the third quarter and was the game’s final tally.
OFFENSIVE LINE – A
I’m giving the o-line the best possible grade based on a few criteria.
First and foremost, they protected Golson.
Second, they helped the offense average 6.0 yards per play en route to gaining 393 total yards, 256 of those yards came in the first half.
This was a line that helped the Irish absolutely dominate the clock in the second quarter as the visitors had the ball for nearly 13 minutes.
Also, it was a line that helped Notre Dame convert its first eight third-down opportunities in the opening half.
DEFENSIVE LINE – A
The d-line was its usual stingy self.
Boston College managed just 53 yards rushing and sacked quarterback Chase Rettig five times.
The line set the tone, dominating the line of scrimmage yet again and holding their fourth opponent of the season to single digits.
LINEBACKERS – A
Once again the Irish backers had another good outing.
They kept the Eagles out of the end zone and continues to lead the FBS in fewest rushing touchdowns (two) allowed.
Prince Shembo was great again. BC had no answer for him as he finished with five tackles, including four for loss with three sacks.
The linebacking corps is the centerpiece of a defense that has allowed just two offensive touchdowns or less in 22 of its last 27 games.
Plus, the Irish have held eight of its 10 opponents to 308 yards of total offense or less. Boston College was one of those goes as the Eagles managed just 300 yards on the night.
SECONDARY – B
BC did manage to move the ball through the air, netting 247 on the evening. However, that number was inflated because the Eagles had virtually no success on the ground.
Rettig completed 27-of-43 passes, but was picked off once and none of his 27 passes went for longer than 28 yards.
Cornerback Bennett Jackson had a very good game. He had a team-high eight tackles and broke up two passes. Safety Zeke Motta chipped in seven stops.
SPECIAL TEAMS – I
We’re giving the Irish special teams an incomplete grade this week because they weren’t on the field much.
Notre Dame didn’t attempt a field goal and Ben Turk averaged 36.7 yards on just three punts because he put two inside the 20-yard line.
Atkinson did have a nice 35-yard kickoff return, but the Irish only had one punt return.
COACHING – B+
What you have to love about Brian Kelly-coached Irish teams are they don’t lose very often once they have the lead.
His teams are 21-3 now when entering halftime with a lead and when leading after three quarters.
After the victory at Boston College, Kelly ran his mark to 120-34 over the last 11 seasons.
Kelly is quickly etching his name in Notre Dame coaching lore and rightfully so.
OVERALL – B+
As Alabama found out – I know against a little different competition – it’s all about winning in November. Sure, there may be style points when it comes to the BCS standings, but usually the battle to get into the national championship game works itself out as we found out.
Instead of four undefeated teams vying for a spot in the BCS National Championship Game, we have three thanks to Texas A&M shocking win over the Crimson Tide, and there’s plenty of football left to be played.
Kelly’s message centers around taking care of things you can control. Notre Dame knows it has no chance of playing in January in Miami unless it beats Wake Forest and USC. Although even that may not be enough, the Irish can’t worry about things out of their control.
They went to the East Coast last Saturday and did what they needed to do, taking care of Boston College. No, it wasn’t overly impressive in terms of margin of victory for the fourth-ranked team in the country dominating a program that’s having one of its worst seasons in recent memory, but a win is win.
The Irish are 10-0 and have a chance to play for it all. That’s all you could ask for, isn’t it?
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