Notre Dame at Boston College: Primer

As the leaves change and the days get darker, the most meaningful meaningless game of the season rolls around once again. Speaking of, to turn a Yogi Berra phrase, it seems to be getting late early for the Notre Dame Fighting Irish. Boston College’s next opponent has bagged themselves several losses under new coach Brian Kelly and sit at 1-3. Their pathetic overall record has the Domer faithful downbeat about their season, but you know that this is one game they’ll be very energized to see their team win.

And then there’s the matter of Boston College, who just got shut out for the first time in twelve years. The offense had an absolutely brutal afternoon against the Virginia Tech Hokies in their 19-0 home loss. That performance cost Dave Shinskie his job as quarterback; as for who replaces him now, I know who I’d like it to be, but Spaz is a man of surprises (apparently).

The line for this game is ND -1.5, which means this is the second straight week BC are underdogs at home against a sub-.500 team. The bookies must have really been put off by BC’s offensive meltdown on Saturday (but somehow, weren’t put off by ND being 1-3 and just getting blown out). In the end it makes no difference, it’s just a point spread, but now we can truly see how BC is not being taken seriously.  It's their own fault.

What does this game mean for BC’s season? Well, obviously, it means nothing in the ACC, but we would surely like to see BC play a better game this week. They played just OK against Weber State and just OK against Kent State, but they didn’t even manage that against Virginia Tech. They could skate by the two cupcake teams without bringing their A-game, but not the Hokies, down though they may be. Another embarrassing effort by the Eagles, especially at home against their rivals, would be a sign of doom. 2-2 and no truly well-played games yet would bode very poorly for BC’s fate in 2010.

Of course, certain units have played better than others. I’ll change up the formula this week: Tuesday will be ND Offense vs. BC Defense, and Wednesday will be BC Offense vs. ND Defense, rather than clumping both offenses and both defenses together. The hell with special teams for now; we have bigger problems. Thursday will still be ACC picks and Friday the BC pick.