Notre Dame v Boston College Running Diary

Hey folks, for my inaugural foray into the press box space, I thought I’d add some spice to the mix with a running diary of the football game. This will highlight key plays, notable moments, and general observations. 

Pre-game- Granted, I’m a southern California guy, so maybe my impression is a bit jaded, but with a windchill of 15 degrees, I think it’s fair to say it is frigid. Nevertheless, several Notre Dame players warmed up sleeveless, one of them not being Tobias Merriweather, who is out, presumably still with a concussion. 

Pre-game, part 2- We have what I believe is commonly referred to as snow flurries an hour before kickoff. Football weather is in its full form. 

15:00 first quarter - Boston College wins the toss and defers, putting the vaunted passing attack of Drew Pyne on the field first. 

14:47, first quarter - Logan Diggs bursts through the right side for 51, the longest run of the season. An enchanting start to the game. 

12:53, first quarter - Notre Dame runs the ball down to the BC 8, two straight errant passes on 2nd and 3rd down lead to a field goal. This is one of those situations where the plays were there, but the execution was off. Maybe just keep running next time? 

12:27, first quarter - We’ve got some ugly duckling passes out here, but Benjamin Morrison doesn’t think so. He intercepts Emmet Morehead’s pass, setting up Notre Dame on the BC 20. Benjamin Morrison continues his ascent into the stratosphere. 

10:05, first quarter - Notre Dame does the running thing following the Morrison pick and it’s Diggs who plunges, shoves, pushes, and leans into the end zone for an early 10-0 lead. Diggs has seven carries for 75 yards so far, on pace for some kind of a record. 

8:41, first quarter- Between Tommy Rees and John McNulty calling plays in this game, the amount of motions and shifts are at a staggering pace. Anyway, BC so far can’t do anything offensively and goes three and out. Let’s see if Notre Dame can continue to pour it on. 

7:43, first quarter- Why does this Notre Dame team ever do straight dropback without play-action on first down? Pass incomplete to Evans, btw. 

5:38, first quarter - Drew Pyne is heating up! A third down crosser to Deion Colzie, a pretty wheel route to Logan Diggs, and a quick out to Mayer puts Notre Dame first and goal at the one. Pyne finishes it off with a toss to Matt Salerno for the touchdown, Salerno’s first meeting with the end zone while holding the ball. Air raid Drew Pyne? 

3:11, first quarter- Benjamin Morrison is….incredible. Interception in the end zone, his second of the day. I think he’s approaching never throw at him ever status. 

End of first quarter - Pyne completes a gorgeous corner route to Michael Mayer, Audric Estime runs off the right for a huge gain, and Notre Dame enters the second quarter driving, up 17-0, and has 213 yards total offense to BC’s 48. This could turn into something ugly real quick. 

11:49, second quarter - Jack Kiser forces a BC fumble, which Isaiah Foskey recovers. Notre Dame leads 20-0 after a Blake Grupe 41 yard field on the previous possession. With the ball on the BC 43, does Rees call a shot on first down? We can dream. 

11:40, second quarter - They ran off tackle left. The dream is dead. 

8:27, second quarter - Drew Pyne scrambles for a first down, the officials say no he actually didn’t, spot him a couple feet short with no review. Blake Grupe nails his second field goal of the day, a smooth stinger draw, to make it 23-0, and if I wasn’t in the box I’d be in full conspiracy mode, making big gestures. 

5:08, second quarter - Cam Hart nails Zay Flowers on a backwards pass and he fumbles, Marist Liufau picks it up for the score, the refs call it incomplete, reversed on replay, but the play had been blown dead, so spotted where it was recovered, instead of a Notre Dame touchdown. These ACC refs man, I don’t know.  

3:04, second quarter - Notre Dame takes full control on the ground and in the game, with all runs that cover the 42 yards into the end zone, finished by Audric Estime from seven yards out and it’s 30-0. This game has been a total and complete domination by the Irish. Dare I say it’s been fun to watch. 

2:10, second quarter - Notre Dame forces a three and out and Matt Salerno trips himself up while on the way to the end zone. I might have broken the no cheering in the press box rule if he’d gotten into the clear. Oh what could have been for the former walk-on.

1:14, second quarter - Notre Dame is firing on all cylinders, with Chris Tyree doing the bulk of the work with a 26 and 12 yard run, the latter ending up in the end zone to make it 37-0. Steve Angeli starting to get butterflies in his stomach. 

0:27, second quarter - Isaiah Foskey breaks the all-time career sacks record for Notre Dame. He got a ton of flack early in the year, quietly has turned in a very good season. 

Start of second half - Snow flurries to the point of being called blustery. 

13:38, third quarter - I think this is what they call a blizzard. 

13:23, third quarter - Ben Morrison through snow and wind makes his third interception of the game. An all-time heater that he’s on.

8:54, third quarter - It’s 44-0 Notre Dame after an Audric Estime run. The field is covered in snow at this point, and all I can think about now is going down on the field with five minutes to go in the 4th. Could go poorly. 

4:45, third quarter - There are so many fans still here in this blizzard, with Notre Dame up 44-0. So much respect. 

1:47, third quarter - Al Golden goes into the bag on back to back blitzes resulting in Xavier Watts getting home before Jordan Botelho and Justin Ademilola share a sack, ending the Boston College drive. Boston College has nothing for Notre Dame today. 

1:00, third quarter - Michael Mayer passes 2,000 receiving yards for his career, and promptly leaves the field, likely ending his home career. He turned out to be a pretty good player, all things considered. 

10:00, fourth quarter - The youth movement on defense begins with Jaylen Sneed, JR Tuihalamaka, and Jaden Mickey out there in garbage time. Tuihalamaka just made a great play chasing down an outside run. 

Final- Well folks, we’ve been asking for a laugher and that’s exactly what we got, with some bonafide football weather thrown in. In hindsight you’d say “of course Notre Dame handled BC, they are a terrible football team.” But, if Notre Dame was consistently into crushing terrible teams, they’d be 10-1 heading into an enormous game with playoff implications next week in Los Angeles. As it is they are 8-3 with a possible chance to play spoiler against their LA rivals. 

Thank you all for reading my inaugural running diary, I hope you enjoyed it. This one will be run back next week as I’ll be in the box again for the tilt with the Trojans. 

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