Notre Dame unseated top ranked Clemson last weekend and now face Boston College
NOTRE DAME has one of the most illustrious histories in college football but this Saturday will be weary of history repeating itself when it travels to Boston.
Last weekend the Fighting Irish upset number one ranked Clemson, 47-40 in a double overtime thriller, to record its first win against a number one ranked side in 27 years.
That previous victory came on November 13, 1993 against Florida State in what was dubbed the Game of the Century as it pitted the number one and two ranked sides against each other.
Last weekend’s late victory over the Clemson Tigers wasn’t billed as such, as most of the various games to have received the accolade were, but certainly ranks as one of the most important games of this year.
The victory confirmed 7-0 Notre Dame’s national title credentials, placing them at number two in the rankings, and moved Alabama, who had a bye last Saturday, past Clemson to the number one spot in the AP Poll. Clemson fell to number four.
Though nearly 30 years have passed since that victory over Florida State it hasn’t been forgotten and neither has the result which followed it as Notre Dame were then upset, 41-39, by Boston College.
That loss allowed the Seminoles to regain the top spot and denied the Fighting Irish another date with their foes from Florida in the Orange Bowl. At the time final poll rankings still determined the national championship which was awarded to the team that had been defeated by the Irish in November.
This year, with Notre Dame having joined the ACC conference as a one off to ensure it could schedule a full season, it could meet Clemson again in the league’s championship game which, if both sides keep winning until a possible second head to head, will likely decide one of the four play off spots.
Notre Dame made its mark nationally in 1913, with a shock victory against the then dominant Army side, but its rivalry with Boston College is a relatively recent one with the first game between the Catholic university from Indiana and the Jesuit college played in 1975.
The game is sometimes dubbed the Holy War a nickname also used for the rivalry between Brigham Young University and Utah, in the Mormon state, which due to covid scheduling constraints isn’t taking place this year.
But Notre Dame’s national profile, especially among Irish Catholics, means despite the 900 miles between South Bend and Massachusetts there is plenty of support in the city for the visiting side as well as the hometown Eagles.
No fans will be admitted to Saturday afternoon’s nationally televised fixture at Alumni Stadium which has been designated as this season’s Red Bandanna Game.
The tradition honours Boston College graduate Welles Crowther who is known as the “Man in the Red Bandanna” after he saved over a dozen lives in the South Tower during the September 11 terrorist attack at the World Trade Centre in New York in 2001. He wore a red bandanna, which he carried with him and wore during his playing days on BC’s lacrosse team, to protect himself from the smoke and dust as the equities trader sought to save others but sadly lost his own life
Though students and supporters will be unable to pay tribute in person to Crowther the Eagles will wear special Under Armour uniforms for the first time.
Adding to the rivalry and intrigue Boston College will have a transfer from Notre Dame, Phil Jurkovec, at QB who has already thrown for 2,083 yards and 14 touchdowns and just four interceptions this season.
The Fighting Irish will also be aware that the week before they upset Clemson they had been shown the Tigers were vulnerable by 5 and 3 Boston College who gave the then number one side a fright by visiting Death Valley and almost recording an upset before succumbing 34-28.
That was the first game Clemson’s star quarterback Trevor Lawrence had been forced to miss, after a postitive Covid test that also kept him out against Notre Dame, but true freshman DJ Uiagalelei showed a Lawrences-less future should hold no fears for the Tigers.
Notre Dame doesn’t have such highlight worthy talent at QB but do have a dependable figure in Ian Book who showed considerable poise to lead his team to victory last week and overcome a late fumble when he had the chance to put his team back ahead in regulation time.
Lawrence is likely to return when Clemson visit Florida State next weekend with the team having a scheduled bye this week. But while Covid ruled the star QB out of two games the pandemic, which is gathering pace across America, has forced the cancellation or postponement of at least 15 games from Saturday’s slate –the highest number so far this season exceeding last week’s total of 10.
Among the games that are postponed is Alabama’s at defending national champions LSU but with the Tigers so far off last year’s championship form they weren’t expected to provide any resistance to the surging Crimson Tide. Number three Ohio State’s game at promising looking Maryland has been cancelled due to Covid and like all games in the Big Ten that can’t go ahead will be ruled a ‘no contest’ and will not be rearranged.
Wisconsin finally return to action, having been forced to cancel their two games since they made a winning start when the Big Ten opened its season three weeks ago, when they visit a troubed Michigan side with head coach Jim Harbaugh coming under pressure following two successive defeats.
Coronavirus also means the Pacific time zone late kick off, California’s visit to Arizona, scheduled to take BT Sport viewers through to 6am on Sunday morning, isn’t going ahead.
But the cancellation means California has now scheduled an unusual Sunday game against UCLA which keeps nation’s third-longest uninterrupted rivalry game in the record books. The teams have played each other every season since 1933 but hadn’t been able to schedule a fixture due to the Pac-12’s shortened season.
Another quirk this weekend is that no ranked teams will meet each other in November for the first time since 2009 while UK viewers should be aware games will be shown across three BT Sport channels.
That includes College GameDay, which is being broadcast from The Masters, being shown live on BT Sport Three rather than the ESPN channel.
This weekend’s UK televised games
Saturday, November 14
BT Sport Two
5pm Indiana @ Michigan State
8.30pm Notre Dame @ Boston College
Midnight: Wisconsin @ Michigan
BT Sport Three
2pm College GameDay
5pm Miami @ Virginia Tech
BT Sport ESPN
8.30pm Colorado @ Stanford
Midnight: Arkansas @ Florida
Sunday, November 15
3.30am California @ Arizona (cancelled)
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