Stacking Up: How The Notre Dame Defense Matches Up vs. Boston College

Breaking down how the Notre Dame defense stacks up on paper against the BC offense

Notre Dame will take its 8-0 record and No. 2 ranking in the polls to Massachusetts this weekend to face the 5-3 Boston College Eagles. It is the latest installment of the "Holy War," and it's a must-win for the Irish.

We already broke down the matchup of the Notre Dame offense against the BC defense, and now we dive into the on paper matchup between the Notre Dame defense and the BC offense.

Notre Dame Scoring Defense vs. BC Scoring Offense

Advantage: Notre Dame

In almost every statistical breakdown this game is a complete mismatch on paper. Notre Dame has one of the nation's elite defenses, and it has been dominant for the vast majority of the season.

The yards the defense gave up against Clemson this past weekend were a result of too many big plays, and at times that has been an issue for Notre Dame, but the unit has been dominant outside of the occasional big play.

Notre Dame's 12th scoring defense ranking and 10th total defense ranking are also misleading. Four of the teams ranked ahead of Notre Dame in scoring defense played just one game, and two more have only played three. Among teams that have played more than three games the Irish rank sixth in scoring defense and fifth in total defense.

The Irish red zone defense has taken a major leap forward after ranking 129th last season, and it ranked 45th in red zone touchdown defense. Through seven games in 2020 the Irish rank 47th in red zone defense and 16th in red zone touchdown defense.

A big part of Notre Dame's success has been a brilliant third-down defense that enters this matchup ranked fifth in the country.

Beginning with its 31-30 win over Pitt, the Boston College offense started showing improvement, and that carried into the first half of the Clemson game. BC went into halftime up 28-13, but since then the Eagle offense has struggled.

BC is coming off a 16-13 win at Syracuse in which it scored just one touchdown in five trips to the red zone. The Eagles currently rank 101st in red zone touchdown offense, and if that doesn't make an immediate improvement Boston College will have zero chance against the Irish.

Notre Dame Rush Defense vs. BC Rush Offense

Advantage: Notre Dame

Boston College has the most schizophrenic rushing offense in the entire nation. The Eagles churned out 264 yards (6.0 YPC) in a 48-27 win over Georgia Tech and 191 yards (4.1 YPC) in this past weekend's win over Syracuse. 

In BC's other six games it failed to top 90 yards rushing and only twice went above 3.0 yards per carry. The Eagles failed to top 90 yards in each of its first five games. Against Georgia Tech and Syracuse it was obvious that BC was working hard to establish its ground game, and it worked.

The strange part of Boston College's failure running the football is how good it was last season, when the Eagles ranked eighth nationally in rushing offense at 253.2 yards per game on the ground ... and four starters from that offensive line returned this season.

Losing AJ Dillon has clearly stung, and the four returning starters got moved around quite a bit, which has hindered its cohesiveness.

Notre Dame's run defense has been truly elite. Only two opponents have topped 100 rushing yards against the Irish, and one of those games came during a 52-0 victory. 

What makes Notre Dame's rush defense performance even more impressive is that it held the nation's third-leading rusher, Javian Hawkins of Louisville, to a season-low 51 yards. 

Clemson's Travis Etienne - the two-time ACC Offensive Player of the year - came into this past weekend's matchup against ranked seventh in rushing yards, but after gaining just 28 yards on 18 carries he now ranks 15th.

Notre Dame Pass Defense vs. BC Pass Offense

Advantage: Notre Dame

This is the only matchup between the Irish defense and BC offense that is even remotely close. Boston College's passing numbers are down a bit after quarterback Phil Jurkovec threw for just 145 yards in the win over Georgia Tech and 208 yards this past weekend in the win over Syracuse.

As stated above, it was obvious breaking down those games that BC was making a point to focus on the run game. Jurkovec topped 300 yards in four the team's first five games and has thrown at least two touchdown passes in six of BC's eight games.

Which version of the BC pass offense will show up against Notre Dame? The answer to that question will determine if this is a competitive game for if Notre Dame is going to blow the Eagles out.

When the BC pass offense is rolling Jurkovec is making big plays down the field and he's making plays outside of the pocket, two areas where the Irish pass defense has been vulnerable this season. 

If the defense can limit Jurkovec in both areas this game will be a blowout. If he does in this game what he did for much of the team's first five games, and what he did in the first half of the Clemson game, this will be a high-scoring battle.

Notre Dame's numbers are a bit skewed by the 439 yards it gave up this weekend to Clemson. Freshman QB D.J. Uiagalelei threw two touchdown passes in the matchup, which matched how many it allowed in the previous six games combined. 

Four of Notre Dame's previous five opponents were held to under 200 yards passing.

A key for Notre Dame will be putting pressure on Jurkovec, which should be too much of a challenge against a BC offensive line that has struggled to protect the quarterback for much of the season.

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