Oct. 23, 2004

Recap | Box Score | Quotes

NOTRE DAME-BOSTON COLLEGE SERIES NOTES

  • Notre Dame now holds a 9-7 edge in the series (5-4 at Notre Dame Stadium).
  • Boston College has won the last four games in the series.
  • The last seven games in the series have been decided by an average of just 4.7 points per game (33 total points), with BC winning five of those close finishes.
  • Only one of Boston College’s six wins in the series has come by double digits (a 30-11 victory in 1994 in Chestnut Hill). The other six BC wins have come by a grand total of 18 points (3.0 points per game), including three two-point victories and today’s one-point margin.

NOTRE DAME TEAM NOTES

  • Including two takeaways today, the Irish have caused 19 turnovers (12 FUM, 7 INT) this season and have made the most of their opportunities. Notre Dame has parlayed those takeaways into 62 points, which accounts for 31 percent of the Irish scoring (200 points) thus far in 2004.
  • Notre Dame came up with two interceptions this afternoon. That should come as no surprise to many – since the 2001 season, Notre Dame has forced two or more turnovers in 31 of its 43 games, including 24 contests where the Irish came up with at least three takeaways.
  • Senior TE Billy Palmer was the 19th different Notre Dame player to catch a pass this season, a breakdown of seven wide receivers, six running backs, five tight ends and one quarterback (sophomore QB Brady Quinn caught his own deflected passes against Washington and Purdue). That’s the most pass receivers for the Irish in one season since 1962, when 20 different players had receptions. In the ensuing 41 seasons (1963-2003), Notre Dame averaged 13 different pass catchers per season,
  • Junior NG Derek Landri blocked a 22-yard field goal attempt by Boston College in the third quarter. It was the first blocked field goal by Notre Dame since Oct. 5, 2002, when the Irish did so against Stanford.

NOTRE DAME INDIVIDUAL NOTES

  • Senior WR Matt Shelton has (14) catches this season, with five going for touchdowns – including today’s 33-yard touchdown pass from sophomore QB Brady Quinn in the first quarter. In his career, Shelton has six touchdown catches, all of which have been at least 24 yards in length, and he’s averaging 38.3 yards per TD reception (six catches for 230 yards).
  • With 48 yards rushing today, senior RB Ryan Grant became the 13th player in school history to rush for 2,000 career yards. He now is 13th on Notre Dame’s career rushing list with (2,009) yards, passing Mark Green’s 1,977 from 1985-88.
  • With 231 yards passing this afternoon, sophomore QB Brady Quinn moved into 8th place on Notre Dame’s career passing yardage list with 3,721 yards. Today, he moved by Tom Clements (3,594 yards from 1972-74) and Blair Kiel (3,650 yards from 1980-83) on that chart.
  • Senior TE Billy Palmer had two career catches prior to today’s action and matched that total with two receptions for 27 yards vs. the Eagles.
  • Senior ILB Mike Goolsby came up with his second career interception today, picking off a Paul Peterson pass in the second quarter and returning it 24 yards to the BC two-yard line. Goolsby’s only other interception came Nov. 30, 2002, at USC when he picked off eventual ’02 Heisman Trophy winner Carson Palmer.
  • Senior OLB Derek Curry had his second interception of the season today (also at Michigan State). He has four career interceptions, picking off two passes last season (vs. Washington State and BYU).
  • With a half-sack today, senior DE Justin Tuck now has 22.5 career sacks, tying him with Kory Minor for the Notre Dame career sack record (Minor had 22.5 from 1995-98). Here’s a look at the Irish career sack leaders since 1982 (when Notre Dame began recognizing sacks as a separate statistic – prior to that, they were labeled “tackles for loss”):
Player Seasons Sacks
Justin Tuck 2002-04 22.5
Kory Minor 1995-98 22.5
Mike Gann 1982-84 21
Bryant Young 1990-93 18
Anthony Weaver 1998-01 17
Bert Berry 1993-96 16.5
  • Senior K D.J. Fitzpatrick missed his PAT kick in the second quarter, his first miss of the season. It also snapped his personal string of 25 consecutive made PAT kicks, since he had one blocked at Stanford on Nov. 29, 2003. It was Notre Dame’s first pure miss of a PAT kick (not blocked) since Nov. 20, 1999, when Jim Sanson pushed a fourth-quarter PAT try wide vs. Boston College.
  • Fitzpatrick had a stellar day punting the ball, booming six kicks for 44.5-yard average. He also booted a career-long 67-yard punt in the third quarter, the longest by an Irish punter since Joey Hildbold had a 69-yarder on Sept. 2, 2000, vs. Texas A&M.

NOTRE DAME MISCELLANEOUS NOTES

  • With the Boston College game televised nationally by NBC, the Irish extended their streak of appearances on one of four major networks (NBC, ABC, CBS or ESPN) to 144 consecutive games, a stretch that more than 10 full seasons (1993-2004). The last time the Irish didn’t appear on one of those four networks was nearly 12 years ago (Oct. 31, 1992), when Notre Dame downed Navy, 38-7, at Giants Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J. That game was shown locally in the South Bend area on WNDU-TV.
  • Today’s game captains for Notre Dame were: FS Quentin Burrell, RB Ryan Grant, TE Billy Palmer and DT Greg Pauly. The Irish have chosen captains on a game-by-game basis throughout Tyrone Willingham’s tenure at Notre Dame.
  • Boston College won the toss and elected to defer to the second half, while Notre Dame chose to receive and defend the South goal.