Boston College jumps to 6-9 all-time against Notre Dame, including a 3-2 mark
at Alumni Stadium.
BC earns its third consecutive win over Notre Dame for the first time in
series history. It also is the Eagles' fourth victory in their last five
meetings with the Irish. The last six series games have been decided by a
combined total of 32 points (5.3 per game), with four of the last five (1999,
2001, 2002 and 2003) all in doubt inside the final four minutes.
Boston College maintains possession of the Frank Leahy Memorial Bowl and the
Ireland Trophy for the third consecutive year.
Notre Dame suffers just its third loss in its last 24 games in the month of
October and loses back-to-back games in October for the first time since Oct.
4, 1997, when the Irish fell at Stanford, 33-15, after a 20-17 overtime loss to
Air Force on Oct. 19, 1996.
The Irish fall to 2-5 for the first time since the 1997 season. That year,
Notre Dame rebounded to win its last five regular-season games before losing to
LSU, 27-9 in the Independence Bowl.
Notre Dame set a new season high with 10 different players catching a pass
in today's game, the most pass-catchers the Irish have had in one game since Oct. 16, 1999, when 10 players had a reception vs. USC. Today marks the fourth time in seven games this season that the Irish have
had eight or more players with a reception.
The 51-yard pass completion from Brady Quinn to Maurice Stovall on Notre
Dame's first play from scrimmage was the second-longest pass connection of the
season for the Irish. Stovall and Quinn hooked up on an 85-yard touchdown
strike, the third-longest in school history, at Purdue on Sept. 27.
Notre Dame wound up with a season-high 397 yards in total offense today, its
best output since Nov. 23, 2002, when the Irish rolled up 478 yards in a win
over Rutgers at Notre Dame Stadium.
The Irish defense held BC running back Derrick Knight to a season-low 43 yards
on 23 carries. Knight came into the game as the nation's leading rusher,
averaging better than 133 yards per game.
Notre Dame now is 8-3 in games decided by eight points or less in the two-year
Tyrone Willingham era. Two of those losses have come this season (22-16 vs.
Michigan State and today's two-point defeat at BC).
Notre Dame had rallied from a 24-6 deficit to take a 25-24 on Carlos
Campbell's blocked punt return for a TD with 3:34 to play. It was the second
time this season the Irish erased a double-digit deficit - they trailed
Washington State, 19-0 in the second quarter before coming back to win 29-26 in
overtime on Sept. 6.
INDIVIDUAL
Freshman QB Brady Quinn completed 23 of 39 passes for 350 yards with two touchdowns and two interceptions today. He is the first 300-yard passer for the Irish since Nov. 13, 1999 (Jarious Jackson - 317 yards at Pittsburgh), and his 350 yards passing are the most by a Notre Dame quarterback since Nov. 25, 1978, when Joe Montana threw for 358 yards at USC. Montana's game had several eerie similarities to today's contest, namely the final score (27-25), the fact that the Irish also rallied from a 24-6 deficit to take a 25-24 lead, and that Notre Dame lost on a last-second field goal.
Today also was the first two-TD game of Quinn's young career.
Senior KR Julius Jones broke Tim Brown's school record for career total kick
return yardage (punts/kickoffs combined) with 18 yards on one returns this
afternoon. Jones now has 2,104 career total kick return yards, surpassing
Brown's mark of 2,089 yards from 1984-87.
With 40 yards on 15 carries today, senior RB Julius Jones moved into eighth
place on Notre Dame's career rushing list with 2,288 yards, passing Tony
Brooks, who has 2,274 yards from 1987-91.
Junior DB Carlos Campbell's fourth-quarter blocked punt return for a touchdown
was the first scoring runback by Notre Dame this season and the 78th by the
Irish since 1987. It was the first blocked punt return for a TD since Carlos
Pierre-Antoine turned the trick from 27 yards out at USC on Nov. 30, 2002.
Sophomore FB Nate Schiccatano blocked the punt, the first blocked kick of his
career.
Senior QB/WR Carlyle Holiday caught his first pass of the season (and the
second of his career) when he hauled in a 10-yard pass from Brady Quinn in the
first quarter. Holiday had a 30-yard reception at Michigan State last season.
MISCELLANEOUS
For the second consecutive season, and just the third time in the 115-year
history of Notre Dame football, the Irish are selecting captains on a
game-by-game basis. Today's Irish captains were: LB Derek Curry, CB Vontez
Duff, WR Omar Jenkins, and TE Billy Palmer. Duff served as a game captain for
the fifth time in his career (third this season), while Jenkins was a captain
for the third time in his career (all this season). Palmer has been chosen as a
captain twice in his career (both in 2003), while Curry was making his first
career appearance as a team captain this afternoon.
Boston College won the toss and deferred its choice to the second half. Notre
Dame elected to receive, while the Eagles chose to defend the South goal.
Today's game marks the 157th sellout in the last 180 games and the 21st
consecutive sellout involving Notre Dame. That stretch includes the first 10
games of 1998, the first 11 in '99, the first five in '00, the first nine in
'01, all 13 in '02 and the first seven in '03.
Counting postseason play, Notre Dame has now had its last 131 games televised
on one of four networks (NBC, ABC, CBS, ESPN), a stretch going back more than
10 full seasons. The last time the Irish didn't appear on one of those four
networks was Oct. 31, 1992, when they defeated Navy, 38-7, at Giants Stadium.
That game was only shown locally in South Bend on WNDU-TV.
