Sadness and shock clouded their eyes as they stared at what could have been. As players in white visitors’ jerseys rushed the field at Notre Dame Stadium in elation, those in the green shirts could only watch.
On Saturday, in front of a Notre Dame Stadium record crowd of 80,935, the fourth-ranked Irish (8-1) fell to a tough, enterprising Boston College team 14-7, an outcome that signaled more than just a single loss.
With their undefeated streak crashing to a halt, the Irish must reset their focus, so long trained on a trip to the national championship game in Tempe, Ariz., to the present, to correcting the foul-ups and foibles that littered an entirely preventable loss to the Eagles (5-3).
In a season in which it has virtually patented poise, Notre Dame put on an uncharacteristically discombobulated performance, fumbling the ball seven times. Three times the Eagles recovered.
“It was all us,” quarterback Carlyle Holiday said glumly. “They weren’t forced.”
Holiday put the ball on the ground three times, and tailbacks Ryan Grant and Marcus Wilson each coughed it up twice. Besides picking up the drops, the Eagles intercepted two passes, returning one for a touchdown. All 14 Boston College points came off turnovers.
The Irish, on the other hand, couldn’t find points anywhere. Coming into the game, Notre Dame’s offense had converted 21 of its 24 trips inside the 20-yard line into points. On Saturday, the Irish came away scoreless on five of their six trips, their only points coming with 2 minutes 25 seconds left when Holiday lofted a TD pass to Maurice Stovall in the end zone.
But after closing to within a touchdown, Notre Dame wouldn’t get the ball back until only 12 seconds remained, giving Holiday only enough time to loft two incomplete desperation passes before the game ended.
The last time Boston College knocked off a top-five team was on Nov. 20, 1993. That team was Notre Dame, which was ranked No. 1 coming off an emotional victory over Florida State. That game also dashed Notre Dame’s national title aspirations.
“I don’t think ’93 had anything to do with this game at all,” BC coach Tom O’Brien said. “Our guys were 9, 10 years old when that game was played. This is Boston College versus Notre Dame. It doesn’t matter what year it is.”
Tailback Derrick Knight was Boston College’s only offensive weapon, running for 129 yards on 26 carries and picking up a critical first down that enabled the Eagles to keep the ball out of Irish hands in the final minute.
Notre Dame did a good job shutting down the Eagles’ offense, limiting it to nine first downs. Quarterback Brian St. Pierre was just 9-for-20 for 77 yards.
Unfortunately for the Irish, their offense did an even better job shutting itself down. Notre Dame outgained Boston College by 173 yards and had 22 first downs. Grant ran for 108 yards. But three of Notre Dame’s seven fumbles and one of its two interceptions came inside the 20.
Holiday completed 16-of-32 passes for 198 yards, missing most of the second quarter after taking a hit to the head and complaining of wooziness. Backup Pat Dillingham, who replaced Holiday, threw two second-quarter interceptions. One, a misguided shovel pass he attempted to throw away as he was being sacked, ended up in the arms of linebacker Josh Ott, who ran it back 71 yards for a touchdown, putting the Eagles up 14-0.
The margin shouldn’t have been that big. Several series earlier, Holiday threw an apparent touchdown pass to Omar Jenkins. The officials waved it off, but replays seemed to indicate Jenkins got his feet down inbounds and had possession of the ball.
“I had it under control,” Jenkins said.
Irish coach Tyrone Willingham had no intention of complaining about a call.
“That’s the way the ball bounces,” Willingham said. “Everything has human error. Obviously, we had some human error today.”
And it cost them the game. After the clock had run down, several Eagles players ripped up and pocketed chunks of the turf, as they’d done in 1993, and again in 1999, when they beat the Irish at Notre Dame Stadium.
The Irish, wisely, only watched.
“I was trying to rush [linebacker] Mike Goolsby off the field because Mike wasn’t about to let a guy leave with a piece of our stadium. I had to pull him off the guy,” Irish defensive tackle Darrell Campbell said.
“There’s police protection out there, but it really doesn’t matter when you’ve got 330-pound guys flocking to a little area at 4.7, 4.8 speed,” Campbell said. “It could have gotten a little ugly out there.”
What took place during the game was ugly enough.
