Forget all of that talk about Notre Dame letting everyone down right after a huge victory. The ghosts of the 1993 loss to Boston College have been vanquished. And now, we have an Irish team prepared for pretty much anything. What else can be said after a 45-31 win over the Eagles?
The Irish (8-0, 7-0) didn’t need to do anything fancy in the fourth quarter, so they decided to just keep the ball on the ground. That proved to be little consolation for the Eagles (5-4, 4-4), who saw Avery Davis run 29 yards on the very first play of the period. Ian Book ended that drive, which began the previous quarter, with a 6-yard touchdown run. The Irish’s quarterback had himself one heck of game, so that was the perfect way to put a stamp on his performance.
Not everything went the Irish’s way, however. C’Bo Flemister, who scored twice in this game, injured his left leg and had to be helped off the field after being unable to put weight on that leg. It would be a real shame to lose Felmister for any amount of time, and hopefully, the upcoming bye week will help him heal in time for the Irish’s next game against North Carolina.
The Eagles made the final score a little closer when Phil Jurkovec capped an 88-second drive with an 8-yard touchdown pass to Hunter Long, and Travis Levy successfully ran for the two-point conversion. By then, there was too little time left to make a serious comeback, though they made a futile attempt at it. For the second time in the game, they appeared to recover an onside kick only to be penalized for blocking before the ball traveled 10 yards. It was a fitting finish to a game that started well for them but just as quickly went south.
