Boston College Eagles snowed under in South Bend

No repeat of last week’s upset victory was in the cards for the Boston College Eagles on Saturday.

The best thing to say about the Boston College performance in the Notre Dame rivalry game was that the Eagles allowed only seven second-half points.

By then, complete and utter devastation had already been done. Notre Dame (8-3) put up 37 points and 336 yards in the first half on way to a 44-0 over Boston College.

The 18th-ranked Fighting Irish had their way all over the field on Saturday. Mercifully, only one game remains on the slate for the Boston College Eagles (3-8).

No air in offense for Boston College Eagles

A cold and blustery day, mixed in with a second-half blizzard, is hard to combat when a team has little-to-no running game to balance things out. With that in mind, it was already going to be tough sledding for Boston College.

Redshirt freshman quarterback Emmett Morehead and the passing game had even more pressure put on them. And on Saturday, they were not able to respond.

Morehead hit a brick wall against Notre Dame, committing five turnovers. Pressure did not stop until the fourth quarter, forcing Morehead into hurried passes. With the downfield threat all but eliminated thanks to swirling wind, the offense was forced to look at different options.

And it did not go well.

Morehead missed on simple screen passes a couple of times. One interception was thrown in the end zone, on a drive where Boston College actually had things rolling. It was one of three picks thrown by Morehead on the day and he finished 9-22 for 117 yards.

It was on that same drive that wide receiver Zay Flowers made his biggest contribution of the game, a 39-yard reception. Flowers only had two more receptions for a total of seven yards, as he was mostly kept in check. But, not to go unnoticed, Flowers did become Boston College’s leader in career receptions.

Taji Johnson had one catch but it was likely the best highlight for the offense all game. Johnson snagged a 32-yard catch in the snowstorm, leaping into the hair to haul in a Morehead pass.

The aforementioned lack of running game actually produced 89 yards before taking away the 33 lost on four sacks. It took 32 carries to get those yards and there were simply too many carries of zero and one yards.

Notre Dame, on the other hand, had no trouble whatsoever in running the ball.

Boston College Eagles: a wobbly defense

The first play of the game was the Boston College Eagles allowing a 51-yard run. That should have been a strong indication of where the day was headed.

In recent weeks, the defense had allowed big first quarter plays, only to settle in and look much better as the game progressed. Even after that big run, it looked like that may be the case again, as Boston College held Notre Dame to a field goal.

Turnovers by the offense didn’t help Boston College but for much of the game’s first three quarters, Notre Dame was running seven or eight yards before even being touched by an Eagle defender. Boston College allowed 7.4 yards per carry, though that number was brought down due to the Irish running for only 25 yards in the fourth quarter.

Notre Dame wasn’t doing anything overly special and Boston College struggled to even get pressure when the Irish did throw. The Eagles allowed 281 yards on the ground and 437 overall, with Notre Dame converting on 8-13 on third downs.

Vinny DePalma led Boston College with 12 tackles and Jaiden Woodbey had seven.

There will be plenty to dissect after this season comes to a close next Saturday, where the Eagles host Syracuse. Hopefully Boston College can send out the seniors with a victory and the underclassmen can use that as a stepping stone to a brighter future.