Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
Issue link: http://read.uberflip.com/i/874913
24 SEPT. 25, 2017 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED squandered when Boston College let the clock run out despite having two timeouts. Notre Dame's eight series in the first half began from its own 14-, 25-, 11-, 15- 25-, 11-, 8- and 10-yard lines. "We were trying to grind out and be very careful in the entire first half," Kelly said of the unfavorable field position. "Clearly, that was part of the play calling and being very careful with the football." THIRD QUARTER: NOTRE DAME, 28-13 Top Moment: Leading only 14-13, the Irish stopped Boston College on fourth-and-one at the Notre Dame 30. On the ensuing possession with the Irish facing third-and-10 from their 45, Wimbush side-stepped a strong rush and scrambled 46 yards to the BC 9-yard line, setting up a one-yard touchdown blast by sophomore run- ning back Tony Jones Jr. and building the Notre Dame lead to 21-13 at 5:04. "Our defense really ignited us with a fourth-down stop," Kelly said. "When you make plays, obviously that creates an energy, and we were able to score. I thought that was a pretty big turning point in the second half." Top Performer: Notre Dame's de- fense, led by an all-senior linebacker corps with Nyles Morgan at the Mike, limited Boston College to 58 yards on 17 plays from its four pos- sessions in the quarter. The fourth- down stop was the game changer. Stats: The Irish totaled 157 yards in the third quarter (114 rushing and 43 passing). Items: After a Wimbush fumble at his 32 on the opening series of the second half, Boston College was lim- ited to a 41-yard field goal to narrow its deficit to 14-13 with 11:25 left. Junior cornerback Shaun Craw- ford intercepted a BC pass to begin a 75-yard touchdown drive that con- cluded with Wimbush's third score, this one from three yards, to make it 28-13, at the 2:38 mark. FOURTH QUARTER: NOTRE DAME, 49-20 Top Moment: For the third time in the game, the Irish broke a 60-plus run — this time 65 yards by Wimbush for a touchdown to up the cushion to 35-13 with 13:41 left in the contest. Top Performer: With that afore- mentioned play, Wimbush set the school record for most rushing yards in a game and touchdowns tallied by a quarterback. On defense, Crawford recovered a fumble forced by sophomore end Julian Okwara, and recorded an in- terception on back-to-back series to set up 35- and 33-yard touchdown drives, ending with a three- and 15- yard scoring runs by junior running back Dexter Williams to up the mar- gin to 49-20. Stats: Notre Dame outgained Bos- ton College in the second half 340- 172, basically a two-to-one margin, while outscoring the Eagles 35-10. Items: Boston College scored on fourth-and-goal from the 14 with 9:02 left to make it 35-20. ✦ NOTRE DAME 49, BOSTON COLLEGE 20 Sept. 16, 2017 ✦ Attendance: 44,500 Alumni Stadium ✦ Chestnut Hill, Mass. 1st 2nd 3rd 4th Total Notre Dame 7 7 14 21 49 Boston College 3 7 3 7 20 ND BC FIRST QUARTER BC Lichtenberg 38-yard field goal 7:52 0 3 Drive: 10 plays, 32 yards, 4:16 ND Wimbush 2-yard run (Yoon kick) 6:28 7 3 Drive: 4 plays, 75 yards, 1:24 SECOND QUARTER BC Callinan 22-yard pass from Brown (Lichtenberg kick) 11:59 7 10 Drive: 9 plays, 85 yards, 3:01 ND Wimbush 1-yard run (Yoon kick) 1:57 14 10 Drive: 7 plays, 92 yards, 1:55 THIRD QUARTER BC Lichtenberg 41-yard field goal 11:25 14 13 Drive: 5 plays, 9 yards, 2:19 ND Jones 1-yard run (Yoon kick) 5:04 21 13 Drive: 9 plays, 70 yards, 2:36 ND Wimbush 3-yard run (Yoon kick) 2:38 28 13 Drive: 4 plays, 75 yards, 1:34 FOURTH QUARTER ND Wimbush 65-yard run (Yoon kick) 13:41 35 13 Drive: 5 plays, 83 yards, 1:59 BC Callinan 14-yard pass from Brown (Lichtenberg kick) 9:02 35 20 Drive: 14 plays, 75 yards, 4:39 ND Williams 3-yard run (Yoon kick) 6:23 42 20 Drive: 2 plays, 35 yards, 0:28 ND Williams 15-yard run (Yoon kick) 4:57 49 20 Drive: 5 plays, 33 yards, 1:16 ND BC Total First Downs 19 22 Rushing 14 10 Passing 5 12 Penalty 0 0 Rushing Attempts 51 44 Yards Gained Rushing 526 198 Yards Lost Rushing 11 13 Net Yards Rushing 515 185 Net Yards Passing 96 215 Passes Attempted 27 41 Passes Completed 11 24 Had Intercepted 1 2 Percent Completion 40.7% 58.5% Yards Per Attempt 3.6 5.2 Yards Per Completion 8.7 9.0 Total Offensive Plays 78 85 Total Net Yards 611 400 Average Gain Per Play 7.8 4.7 Fumbles: No.-Lost 1-1 2-1 Penalties: No.-Yards 5-45 6-35 Punts: No.-Yards 7-323 8-307 Average Per Punt 46.1 38.4 Average Net Punt 43.4 37.8 Punt Returns: No.-Yards 4-5 2-19 Kickoff Returns: No.-Yards 0-0 4-80 Interception Returns: No.-Yards 2-0 1-18 Fumble Returns: No.-Yards 0-0 0-0 Miscellaneous Yards 0 0 Possession Time 29:35 30:25 Third-Down Conversions 9-18 4-17 Percentage 50.0% 23.5% Fourth-Down Conversions 0-1 1-2 Percentage 0.0% 50.0% Sacks By: No.-Yards 1-6 0-0 Junior running back Dexter Williams contrib- uted 50 of Notre Dame's 515 rushing yards and notched two of its seven rushing touchdowns. PHOTO BY BILL PANZICA