With a 13-10 lead over No. 2 Notre Dame early in the second quarter of Saturday’s Holy War, Boston College head coach Jeff Hafley called for an onside kick.
“I wanted to come out here and win the game,” Hafley told reporters. “I didn’t come in to play the No. 2 team in the country to just watch. I wanted to attack and be aggressive.”
The Eagles came down with the recovery, however, the play was brought back after review due to an illegal block penalty. It was the theme of the day for a fatigued BC team playing its ninth straight game without a bye. Execution lagged behind effort.
BC forced three fumbles but only had three points to show for it. Phil Jurkovec—who Hafley said suffered a separated shoulder at Clemson, didn’t practice last week before playing Syracuse, and wasn’t 100% Saturday—put his body on the line, taking hits to make big throws and rushing for 34 yards without sliding. While gritty, the Notre Dame transfer’s performance wasn’t enough.
The same could be said for BC, which dropped its eighth consecutive game to Notre Dame, 45-31.
“I wanted it badly,” said Jurkovec, who finished 18-of-40 for 272 yards with two touchdowns and one pick. “It was a game that was circled on the schedule, and to be able to play against all my former teammates, it was a special game. So it is very disappointing to lose it.”
Hafley said BC (5-4, 4-4 Atlantic Coast) had its best week of preparation leading up to not only the program’s 26th all-time meeting with Notre Dame (8-0, 7-0) but also the seventh-annual Red Bandana Game. Honoring 9/11 hero Welles Crowther, the Eagles came out wearing all-white uniforms with paisley-patterned numbers, jersey accents, and helmet stripes.
BC looked confident and felt that way, too, according to Hafley. The Eagles won the coin toss and decided to defer. It only took a few plays to see that there wasn’t going to be any sort of Clemson hangover for the Irish, who upset the top-ranked Tigers the previous week.
Notre Dame methodically moved the ball downfield, going 70 yards in 13 plays. Irish veteran quarterback Ian Book—whose return to South Bend this offseason prompted Jurkovec’s transfer—completed his first four passes, and Kyren Williams picked up 19 yards on three carries. When it mattered most, though, BC’s defense stood tall. The Irish settled for a 23-yard Jonathan Doerer field goal, jumping out to a 3-0 lead.
Jurkovec answered right away. The redshirt sophomore started 4-of-6 and used back-to-back play-action passes to fast track the Eagles into Notre Dame territory. In the red zone, he threw a pair of touchdown passes, the first of which didn’t count because Travis Levy couldn’t maintain possession before stepping out of bounds. The second was all about Jurkovec’s connection with Zay Flowers. Jurkovec threw the ball behind Flowers in the back of the end zone. Flowers adjusted to the ball, dove, and made the catch for his seventh touchdown reception of the year.
On the ensuing Notre Dame drive, Book botched the zone-read, waiting too long to pull the ball away from running back Chris Tyree. It resulted in a fumble, which BC defensive end Brandon Barlow hopped on, giving the Eagles great field position.
Unfortunately for BC, it couldn’t do much with the opportunity. The offense lost five yards in three plays, and Hafley trotted out Aaron Boumerhi for a 41-yard field goal. Boumerhi drilled it right down the middle, just like he would the following two attempts.
Book redeemed himself the next series. He kickstarted the drive by rolling right and finding Avery Davis for a 22-yard catch. A few plays later, he ran over Isaiah McDuffie on a 12-yard scramble. And on 1st-and-Goal, he tossed a fade for Ben Skowronek. The 6-foot-3 Northwestern transfer wideout made the reception despite being interfered with by Brandon Sebastian. It was the first of three first-half touchdowns grabs for Skowronek.
Jurkovec came back with his best play of the game. Facing a 3rd-and-10, the 6-foot-5 gunslinger drew more comparisons to Ben Roethlisberger, evading two sacks, stepping up in the pocket, pointing for a striding Jaelen Gill, and launching a 34-yard pass to the Ohio State transfer. Jurkovec took a beating in the process, but it got the Eagles into Notre Dame territory. A 17-yard zone-read run by the Pittsburgh native set the stage for another Boumerhi field goal.
That’s when BC caught Irish head coach Brian Kelly off guard with the onside kick. If it wasn’t for the infraction, Notre Dame’s Isaiah Pryor would have been in the dog house for muffing the catch. Instead, BC booted the ball deep, and Notre Dame went to work. Book was pressured on three straight plays, the last of which saw the dual-threat signal caller locate an open Davis for a catch-and-run of 48 yards. Power back C’Bo Flemister punched in the rock at the goal line.
It wasn’t long before Notre Dame added a touchdown to its 17-13 lead. After a quick BC three-and-out, the Irish went 50 yards in seven plays. The scoring drive culminated in a 13-yard touchdown pass to Skowronek. In between the next Book-Skowronek red zone connection, Boumerhi split the uprights with a 35-yarder, and the teams traded fumbles. BC’s was the byproduct of a mistimed snap from Alec Lindstrom. It was costly.
Notre Dame got the ball near midfield with under two minutes to go in the half. Once in BC territory, Book used his legs to pick up a total of 25 yards in the span of three plays.
“Our goal was to make him play quarterback,” Hafley said. “And we failed to do so. … Ian Book makes off-scheduled plays. And runs the ball really well. He’s a good, good quarterback.”
The third-year starter—who accounted for 283 passing yards, 85 rushing yards, and four total scores Saturday—wrapped up the drive with a seven-yard touchdown pass to Skowronek.
Trailing, 31-16, BC needed points to start the second half. The Eagles knocked on the door after Jurkovec kept the drive alive with a 28-yard pass to CJ Lewis.
Presented with a pivotal 4th-and-1 at the Notre Dame nine-yard line, Hafley decided to keep the offense on the field. Postgame, Hafley said the Irish were in a sneak defense. Rather than using Jurkovec to try to push the pile, the Eagles called Levy’s number. He lowered his pads yet couldn’t move the chains.
Notre Dame committed its third fumble of the game shortly thereafter. The Eagles had another chance to make it a one-score game. That was, until Jurkovec gave the ball right back. Irish linebacker Jack Kiser picked off the redshirt sophomore, and, four plays later, Flemister plowed forward for his second touchdown to put Notre Dame up, 38-16.
BC’s final series of the third quarter almost ended in a second Jurkovec interception, but a face mask penalty negated the turnover. Jurkovec was able to complete a pair of 10+ yard passes to Hunter Long and Gill, and the Eagles got the run game going a bit. David Bailey carried the ball four times for 19 yards, including a three-yard touchdown run.
Two scores is as close as the gap would get. At the beginning of the fourth quarter, a 29-yard Davis endaround put the Irish in striking distance of their final touchdown of the game. Soon after, Book did the honors, pump faking a pass on the run before turning on the jets and sprinting into the end zone to make it a 45-23 game.
Later in the quarter, Jurkovec reestablished somewhat of a rhythm, stringing together three pass plays of 15 or more yards. He rounded out the series with an eight-yard throw to Long, who just barely got over the plane. Levy converted the two-point attempt on the ground to cut BC’s deficit to 14.
The Eagles went for a second onside kick to keep their hopes alive. Cornerback Josh DeBerry recovered it cleanly but was flagged for kick-catch interference. From there, the Irish ran out the clock, securing Kelly’s 100th career win as Notre Dame’s head coach.
Hafley said BC, which was playing its second national title contender in three weeks, was mentally where it needed to be Saturday. Physically, the Eagles need a break, he said.
They’ll get one this week. BC will have its first bye since early September.
The Eagles have come a long way since then, nearly upsetting two ranked teams while earning considerable national respect. They’ve done so by coming out swinging each week.
Notre Dame was ready for it.
