Notre Dame vs. Boston College

Knute Rockne was one of football's greatest coaches, and his innovative spirit enabled him to propel the Notre Dame program into college football's limelight during the 1920s. That era, frequently known as a Golden Age of American Sports, and one that featured stars like Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig in baseball, and Jack Dempsey in boxing, was one that was particularly suited to a man of Rockne's talents. Seizing upon the popularity that the Notre Dame program enjoyed in that decade, Rockne did a number of things, including laying out plans for the building of an expansive new stadium on Notre Dame's campus, improving his extensive recruiting network, and assembling ambitious schedules that pitted Notre Dame against quality competition from coast to coast.

Rockne's success through the first several years at Notre Dame had given the program a greater national appeal, and allowed the coach some degree of leeway when putting together schedules. Whereas early in his career, Rockne scheduled fellow Catholic schools such as St. Louis University, and the University of Detroit, by 1928 he had decided to do away with playing other Catholic schools. That year, Notre Dame kicked off its season against Loyola University of New Orleans. It would be the last game for Notre Dame against a fellow Catholic school for 47 years. Rockne reasoned that Notre Dame gained little by playing other Catholic schools and, if anything, playing the games actually hurt Notre Dame's unique national appeal because it divided the loyalties of the school's Catholic fan base.

Time went by, and gradually this policy became a moot point as most Catholic universities abandoned big-time football. One other Catholic school, however, continued to play major college football: Boston College. Even with this common affiliation that linked the schools together, Notre Dame and Boston College would not play until 1975, and would not become regular opponents until 1992. An episode from the past, however, tied them together.

During the 1939 and 1940 seasons, Frank Leahy had turned Boston College into an instant success, guiding them to a 20-2 record in those two seasons. At the end of the 1940 season, Notre Dame coach Elmer Layden stepped down to become the first commissioner of the National Football League, and Notre Dame immediately turned its attention to the youthful Leahy, a Notre Dame alumnus. Although he recently had signed a five-year contract extension with Boston College, he asked for an escape clause should Notre Dame ever come calling. After a cloak-and-dagger interview process that involved Leahy and a priest from Notre Dame meeting in Albany (complete with the use of assumed names at their hotels), Leahy took the job and left Boston College's football fortunes to someone else. Leahy led Notre Dame to four national titles in the next nine years, and Boston College returned to mediocrity.

Despite their shared Catholic roots, Notre Dame and Boston College don't have much of a football tradition. The series dates back to 1975, when the teams met in a season-opening game at Foxboro Stadium. In Dan Devine's first game as Irish head coach, Notre Dame won, 17-3. The schools would not meet again until the 1983 Liberty Bowl. Gerry Faust's 6-5 Irish upended the Doug Flutie-led Eagles in that game, 19-18.

A true series did not start between these schools until 1992. That year, #8 Notre Dame throttled #9 Boston College, 54-7. The severity of that beat-down was remembered by the Eagles and used for motivation the following year. In 1993 following their win over #1 Florida State the previous week, the Irish were now #1, and needing only a win over Boston College in the season finale to secure a berth in the national championship game. The #16 Eagles came out blazing, however, running out to a 38-17 lead. Notre Dame stormed back, scoring 22 unanswered points in the fourth quarter to claim a 39-38 lead with only one minute remaining. The motivated Eagles responded, however, and drove down the field, making a 41-yard field goal as time expired, ruining Notre Dame's perfect season, and the school's last best shot at a national title.

Since that game, all other games in this series have paled in comparison. Overall, the Irish hold a 9-7-0 lead in this series. Boston College usually plays its best against the Irish, not surprising given that the Eagles consider this their biggest game of the year. Dating back to 2001, Boston College has beaten Notre Dame four straight times. In 2004 in the last series game played, the Eagles completed a last-minute touchdown pass from 30 yards out to down the Irish, 24-23.

Other notes:

-With last week's win, the Irish are now 20-11 (.645) under Charlie Weis.

-Notre Dame is 5-4 against Boston College at Notre Dame Stadium. Boston College has won two straight games in South Bend. The Irish last defeated the Eagles at home in 2000, 28-16.

-The last four games in this series have been decided by a total of 14 points.

-Notre Dame's last three-game home losing streak came between 2004 and 2005, when the Irish lost four straight home games (losses to Boston College and Pitt in '04, and Michigan State and Southern Cal in '05).

-The only schools to beat Notre Dame five consecutive times are Southern Cal, who have done so on two different occasions (1978-82, 2002-06) and Michigan State, who beat the Irish eight straight times between 1955 and 1963.

-This will be the first time since 1979 that Notre Dame has hosted two members of the ACC in the same season. That year, the Irish went 1-1 against visitors Georgia Tech (a 21-13 win) and Clemson (a 16-10 loss).

-For some reason, the winner of this game receives not one, but two trophies: The Leahy Memorial Bowl, presented by the Notre Dame Club of Boston, and the Ireland Trophy, presented by Notre Dame Student Government.

-These schools will meet again next season in Chestnut Hill.

-In the ongoing competition between Michigan and Notre Dame for college football's all-time best winning percentage, here's where things stand after last week:

Michigan defeated Eastern Michigan, 33-22, moving their record to 864-284-36 for a winning percentage of .7449. This week, Michigan plays their sixth home game in seven contests this year, hosting Purdue.

Notre Dame snapped its seven-game losing streak by winning on the road at UCLA, 20-6, moving their record to 822-274-42 for a winning percentage of .7408. This week, Notre Dame hosts #4 Boston College.

Michigan's lead remains at five games.

Boston College likely will be the highest ranked opponent the Irish face all year. The game kicks off at 3:30 E.D.T. on NBC.

Go Irish! Beat Eagles!

Big Mike

copyright Michael D. McAllister 2007