#4 Boston College (6-0) at Notre Dame (1-5)

Last Week/This Year/Last Year
Boston College ran its record to 6-0 for the first time since 1942 with a 55-24 win over visiting Bowling Green last weekend, enabling the Eagles to crack the Top 5 in the polls for the first time since Doug Flutie was a senior (1984). BC quarterback and surprise Heisman hopeful Matt Ryan pitched another shutout, going 24-32 for 312 yards, 4 TDs, no INTs in three quarters of work. Boston College gave up 401 passing yards (more on that later) and 465 total yards to Bowling Green, but had 6 interceptions (4 in the last 6 minutes of the first half) vs. two different Bowling Green passers.

Boston College opened the 2007 season with three straight ACC wins, at home vs. Wake Forest, at home vs. NC State, and an eye-opening road win over then #15 Georgia Tech. They stepped down in class schedule-wise after that, chalking up listless home wins vs. Army and UMass, refocused a little, and then blew out Bowling Green last Saturday. Four of BC’s final six games are on the road, beginning this weekend in South Bend. They are off next week then travel to #12 Virginia Tech on October 25th.

This is the first Boston College-Notre Dame game since 2004. BC beat ranked ND teams in their last two visits, including the 24-23 win over #24 Notre Dame three years ago. The Irish led 20-7 at half in that one but were out-gained 319-122 in the 2nd half.

Boston College Offense
Ryan, a 6-5, 220 senior from Philadelphia, has completed 63% of his 255 pass attempts this year with a 15-5 TD-INT ratio. He was first team All ACC last year despite playing a lot of the season on a bum foot. BC’s effective 2007 passing game is in large part due to Ryan’s ability to spread the ball around to multiple receiving options. Perhaps it is the new system more than raw talent, but Brandon Robinson (5-11, 190 junior from Minneapolis), Rich Gunnell (5-11, 205 sophomore from New Jersey), and Kevin Challenger (5-8, 180 senior from Montreal) each has >20 catches this season, ~300 receiving yards, and 2 or more TDs. Robinson is probably the “go to,” but all three are contributing. BC lost their top 2 WRs from a year ago, but this group has experience and is blossoming in the new offense despite their apparent lack of size. Junior Ryan Purvis (6-4, 260) is the TE. He has 19 catches and 1 TD. Purvis is more receiver than blocker.

Senior Andre Callender (5-11, 205) is BC’s leading rusher/workhorse (537 yards, 5.1 ypc, 6 TDs). Callender is responsible for a shade over 50% of all Boston College rushing attempts this year.

BC had some holes to fill along the offensive line coming out of spring. Gosder Cherilus (6-7, 320), a 3-year starter and likely NFL prospect, is the Eagles most experienced O-lineman. He moved to LT this season.

Boston College Defense
Four starters and 8 letter winners return along the BC defensive line and 3 starting LBs likewise return from a year ago, although one of those returning LBs, highly recruited senior leader Brian Toal, is redshirting this year due to an early shoulder injury (a big loss). The secondary, however, wasn’t nearly as stable this spring/summer and BC’s play in the defensive backfield has been exposed at times this year. BC’s secondary was rated only 99th nationally entering the Bowling Green game.

Boston College Special Teams
Steve Aponavicius, the walk-on kicker who got a lot of pub last year for “coming out of the stands” where he sat the prior season to kick 2 FGs and 2 PATs in a nationally televised win over Virginia Tech in his first start. Aponavicius is 24-25 on PATs and 7-8 on FGs this year (long = 45 yards). I would imagine the BC athletic department is picking up his tuition these days.

Boston College Coaches
First-year head coach Jeff Jagodzinski replaced Tom O’Brien who, despite an impressive and successful 10-year run, wore out his welcome due to conservative play-calling and an overall less-then-dynamic approach and demeanor. Seven consecutive bowl wins is apparently not good enough for some people and O’Brien, seeing the writing on the wall, took a “lateral” move to NC State (although he got a lot more dough, so it depends on your definition of lateral). Jagodzinski comes to Chestnut Hill from the Green Bay Packers, where he was tight ends coach for 5 years and OC for one, promising to bring an exciting, vertical passing attack with him. And the early returns suggest he is doing just that. Former East Carolina head coach Steve Logan is BC’s new offensive coordinator. Logan was most recently an NFL Europe QB/WR coach and offensive coordinator (Berlin Thunder, Rhein Fire). Frank Spaziani is the DC. He was retained from O’Brien’s BC staff, where he worked for the past 9 seasons.

Vegas
BC (-14).

Worth Noting
Boston College returns 16 starters from a 10-win 2006 team and has won 8 or more 6 years running.

Summary/Prediction
To hell with what the data and power ratings suggest. ND solves Matt Ryan with a surprising combination of pressure and coverage, Clausen has the coming-out party we’ve all been waiting for along with fellow-frosh WR playmakers-in-training (Tate, Kamara), a weak BC secondary is further exposed, and Notre Dame shocks #4 Boston College 23-20 on a last second Brandon Walker FG, ruining BCS hopes, smashing Heisman Trophy dreams, and spilling mass quantities of chowder in the process.

Revenge is a dish best served cold.

Notre Dame Opponents Schedule – October 13, 2007
Georgia Tech at Miami-FL
Tech has lost three of their last four. Randy Shannon is a good man, per the rags anyway, and he’s saying all the right things but his ‘Canes aren’t scaring anyone anymore. Two teams going nowhere fast despite preseason hype/hope.

Penn State vs. Wisconsin
Austin Scott suspended, JoePa grumbling to the press, Morelli not measuring up, natives getting restless again…is a 7-5 Nittany Lion collapse on the way?

Michigan vs. Purdue
Boilers never threatened last week vs. Buckeyes until garbage time. Do they wilt again vs. (not so) Big Blue?

Michigan State vs. Indiana
Spartacus allowed the N-Cats to hang around long enough to turn last week into yet another MSU-Northwestern freak show (recall State’s comeback from a 31-7 deficit in Evanston last year). Green-and-White likely more focused here vs. IU’s spread offense (similar to NU’s). Hoosiers one win from bowl eligibility; bowl-less since 1993. Michigan State vs. Central Michigan in a December 26th Motor City Bowl matchup that only a mother, or a Michigan deer hunter, could love?

Boston College at NOTRE DAME

UCLA off
Mercifully…

USC vs. Arizona
Booty out. Sanchez in. And the talking heads are scrambling to find another example of a 40-point dog winning outright since the Greeks sacked Troy.

Navy 48 - Pittsburgh 45 (2OT)
Major hiccup for Coach Wannie’s rebuilding Panthers.

Duke vs. Virginia Tech
Midnight madness only days away.

Stanford vs. Texas Christian
Frogs ready for America’s (latest) underdog darling? Probably.

Other Games of Interest – October 13, 2007
#1 LSU at #17 Kentucky
#6 Oklahoma vs. #11 Missouri
#15 Cincinnati vs. Louisville
#18 Illinois at Iowa
Ball State vs. Western Kentucky
Butler at Valparaiso
Rose-Hulman vs. Bluffton

National Perspective - Miscellaneous Chatter
Borrowing a corollary from the timeless Kromkowski “PAC 10 Fraud” theorem, IFP isn’t buying in to #2 Cal just yet. History says you need to be more than a one trick pony to remain standing in early January. Cal looks like a lot of O and not much D. Gave up 500+ yards to Oregon in their signature win and needed four 4th quarter Duck turnovers to seal the deal. It says here the Golden Bears will need at least 40 to beat Oregon State at home on Saturday. Because OSU will break 30.

From the unfair-but-fun-anyway department: Ron Zook has a better record than Urban Meyer this year.

References
Sporting News College Football 2007
Street & Smith’s College Football 2007
Phil Steele’s 2007 College Football Preview
2007 Blue Ribbon College Football Yearbook
www.espn.com
http://bceagles.cstv.com
http://bostoncollege.rivals.com
http://www.nfldraftscout.com

Editor’s Note
The entire IFP staff will be on sabbatical in Orlando next week, visiting the Big Mouse. Next preview = Navy at ND. Go Irish!