Nick Martin dives for the loose ball after Notre Dame fumbles. Turnovers were an issue for the Irish all night at Fenway Park, but this one didn’t get away. Damien Dennis/The Pit
[dropcap]F[/dropcap]ourth-ranked Notre Dame was expected to easily manhandle Boston College Saturday at Fenway Park, but the Irish nearly fell victim to the country’s top-rated defense.
Notre Dame left the Shamrock Series with a 19-16 win over the Eagles and improving to 10-1, but questions about Tuesday’s playoff rankings have left many wondering if the Irish deserve to be in the playoff picture, let alone the top four.
The Irish had five turnovers on offense, which included three interceptions from quarterback DeShone Kizer and a pair of fumbles from running backs CJ Prosise and Josh Adams. Two of Kizer’s picks and Adams’ fumble happened within the Boston College 10-yard line.
Many are calling this sloppy play for Notre Dame, but is it really?
Notre Dame had no problem moving the ball Saturday, gaining 447 total yards, including 320 through the air. As Head Coach Brian Kelly said, turnovers are what ultimately caused trouble for the Irish.
“Tonight, it was turnovers,” Kelly said Saturday night at Fenway. “(We) just found a way to win against a very spirited Boston College team despite the amount of turnovers that we had tonight.”
Quarterback DeShone Kizer hands the ball off to CJ Prosise at Fenway Park. Damien Dennis/The Pit
Many are questioning whether Notre Dame deserves to be a playoff contender, but they are overlooking the fact that Boston College features the best defense in the country.
Boston College has allowed 256 yards per game and a total of 14.6 points per contest in 2015. They’ve given up a total of 2,812 yards. The Eagle defense allows 178.9 yards through the air and just 76.7 on the ground.
By comparison, No. 1 Clemson sports the fifth best defense in the country, according to NCAA statistics.
The Tigers give up 278 yards per game, allowing 17.6 points per game.
Notre Dame lost to Clemson by just two points earlier in the season, and could have very possibly won that game had it not been for the weather or in a different environment; neutral or home.
“Offensively, I thought we were moving the ball effectively against a really good defense and it’s just the turnovers that are unexpected that these guys are so conscious of it,” Kelly said. “It’s just one of those things that you really can’t put your finger on because they haven’t been sloppy and they haven’t been mistake-prone all year, and then tonight they throw up a game like this. I just never felt during the week that they weren’t locked in and they weren’t prepared to play, and I think they were prepared to play. I think Boston College needs to get a little credit for ripping the ball loose, and then we need to understand that we’ve got to be smarter with the football down in the red zone.”
The more damning fact coming out of the Shamrock Series isn’t the turnovers for Notre Dame or offensive play, but the fact that Notre Dame’s defense let one of the worse offenses in the country make it a close game.
Boston College’s top-rated defense posed issues all night for Notre Dame. Damien Dennis/The Pit
Boston College put up 16 points to make the contest even closer, which included an 80-yard dash by quarterback Jeff Smith. With just 54 seconds remaining, the Irish allowed the Eagles to score off a touchdown pass, going from a 10-point lead to a 3-point lead.
“I mean, honestly I thought we had game control. I felt pretty good. I thought our defense had pretty good control,” Kelly said. “Obviously, they had one that last drive that we let the quarterback out a couple of times, which was disappointing, but I felt like we had pretty good control of the game.”
Outside of the game itself, many are criticizing Notre Dame’s strength of schedule, which in reality is better than many think. Boston College, as stated, has the best defense in the country but like Notre Dame, mounting injuries have hampered their performance, leading them to a 3-8 record for the year.
Coming into the 2015 season, it looked as though Notre Dame’s toughest challenges were at the beginning of the year, and the final half of the schedule would be a cake walk. The tables have flipped.
The Irish decimated Texas, delivered against then-No. 22 Georgia Tech and got revenge against USC. But what happened was Navy is as feisty as ever, Temple was undefeated and Pitt was pretty scary in their own right.
Notre Dame was expected to get a breather with Wake Forest and Boston College, but their performance wasn’t up the the level expected. Now attention shifts to Stanford.
Justin Yoon sinks the first of two field goals for the Irish at Fenway Park on Saturday against Boston College. Damien Dennis/The Pit
But when playoff rankings are released Tuesday, does Notre Dame deserve to remain in the top four?
The answer is yes.
Ohio State’s loss to Michigan State paired with the Oklahoma State loss gives the Irish some leeway in the standings. They’ll likely remain in the No. 4 spot, but will need to step it up against Stanford this weekend.
Notre Dame has had a very good schedule this year and have fought through an abundance of injuries to get to 10-1. If the Irish were 100-percent healthy, they could easily be undefeated and in the No. 2 spot at this point.
“All we want to do is put ourselves in a position to be considered. We feel like we need to win another game to still be considered,” Kelly said. “We’re one of the top four teams after last week. We’ll see where we stand this week. We’ve just got to keep winning games. We’ve got another game against a nationally-ranked team which will give us an opportunity.”
Irish faithful don’t need to worry yet, but be cautious heading into Stanford. The Irish need a better performance than the Fenway Park showing if they want to remain in the playoff picture once championship week arrives for teams in conferences.
