Eagles Show Grit and Heart, But Come Up Short 49-20 to Notre Dame

By Peter Kim

There’s always an air of excitement when BC and Notre Dame meet for a football game, and
despite a dispiriting loss to Wake Forest last weekend, at kickoff Alumni Stadium was still lively and
enthusiastic. And, for much of the first half, the Eagles fed the crowd’s excitement with an inspired
defensive effort and an improved offense.

Though the offense got off to a slow start, going three and out to open the game, they capitalized on good field position to start their second drive, moving 32 yards over 10 plays and scoring first on a 38-yard field goal by Colton Lichtenberg. Unfortunately, Notre Dame, assisted by a 65 yard run by Josh Adams, fired right back with a two yard rushing touchdown by Brandon Wimbush.

It took until the second quarter for another score, but for BC fans it was worth the wait. Anthony Brown led BC on a nine play, 85-yard drive capped off with a beautiful 22-yard touchdown pass into tight coverage on a post route to senior WR Charlie Callinan. BC had the lead 10-7, and all the momentum. Though Notre Dame, buoyed by another long Josh Adams run, scored with just under two minutes to play to seize a 14-10 lead, BC went into the locker room down just one score and feeling pretty good about their chances in the second half.

BC’s chances got another boost when, aided by a Brandon Wimbush fumble, they cut the Notre Dame lead to 14-13 with another Lichtenberg field goal and came up with a stop on defense to turn the ball back over to the offense. Though they managed to once again move the ball to the Notre Dame 30, Coach Steve Addazio elected to go for it on fourth and one rather than attempt a long field goal and Jon Hilliman was stuffed, turning the ball over to Notre Dame on downs. This play would prove to be a huge turning point.

Following the BC turnover Notre Dame marched down the field, aided by yet another explosive running play (this time by Wimbush), and scored to go up 21-13. After Anthony Brown threw an interception on a contested deep ball that initially appeared to actually be a catch by Kobay White, Notre Dame scored again to increase their lead to 28-13, and BC never got closer than that.

There was one glimmer of hope in the fourth quarter when Brown led a 14 play, 75 yard scoring drive capped off with another beautiful TD pass to Callinan to cut the Notre Dame lead to 35-20 and the defense forced one more three and out to give BC the ball and momentum with 7:21 remaining. Unfortunately, Hilliman fumbled four plays later, and Notre Dame scored two late touchdowns to run the final score up to 49-20.

Though the final score appeared lopsided, there were definitely some positive signs for the Eagles. Here are a few observations:

1. Brown’s bounce-back game: Perhaps the most encouraging sign for the Eagles offensively was the play of quarterback Anthony Brown. Last week against Wake, Brown struggled mightily with accuracy and decision making, often overthrowing open receivers and throwing three interceptions to boot. However, this week he looked like a completely different quarterback. Some part of this increased confidence was certainly down to the improved play of his offensive line, who was able to keep a clean pocket for most of the afternoon. However, line play not withstanding Brown’s throws were much more accurate and he looked to be much more confident. He finished 24/40 for 215 yards, 2 TDs, and 2 interceptions, but he also demonstrated great playmaking ability, especially with his two touchdown throws to Callinan. There is obviously still room for improvement, but Eagles fans should definitely be excited about the future of BC’s quarterback position.

2. Hilliman improved: Jon Hilliman’s career on the heights has been inconsistent at best. His last 100 yard rushing game came in 2015 against Northern Illinois, but on Saturday he showed some of the explosive ability that he still possesses. He finished with 21 carries for 115 yards, and showed great vision and burst on a lot of his runs. If he is able to replicate this kind of performance consistently this season, the Eagles could be looking at a much improved rushing attack.

3. Landry was missed: Coach Steve Addazio has been quoted as saying that Harold Landry would not play 70-80 snaps every game in order to keep him fresh throughout the game. In principle that strategy seems fine, but Landry is far away BC’s best defensive player. During the game, Landry was actually off the field for the majority of snaps, mostly making his way on the field for third downs to rush the passer. Given that Landry is such a major difference maker, I would think that the defensive staff would want him on the field for the majority of snaps, but the coaching staff seems to have some other plan for how best to utilize him.

4. Run defense leaves something to be desired: Other than the two explosive runs in the first half, BC’s running defense was doing an admirable job of containing the dual threat of Brandon Wimbush and Josh Adams. However, as the game wore on, and tired legs kept trotting out on the field, the performance of BC’s run defense dipped drastically. Gaps kept appearing at the second level, and Wimbush and Adams were able to exploit them on the way to 515 total rushing yards. I’m sure at least some of these breakdowns were due to the fact that BC was missing senior linebacker and defensive leader Connor Strachan, but the fact remains that with or without Strachan BC needs to improve their rush defense.

5. Special Teams has a good day: Usually, special teams is an afterthought in most football games, but BC’s special teams was noticeably good today. Colton Lichtenberg didn’t miss a field goal or extra point, and remains perfect on the year, Max Schulze-Geisthovel didn’t allow a single kickoff return, and Mike Knoll buried each of his punts inside of the 20-yard line. Michael Walker had two solid returns, one on a kickoff and one on a punt. The special teams consistently put both BC’s offense and defense in good positions today, and that deserves a shoutout.

6. Odd clock management at the end of the first half: One final note, as it seemed to be a point of contention. At the end of the first half, Lukas Denis intercepted Wimbush, setting BC up with the ball around midfield, two timeouts, and 18 seconds left. There was plenty of time to work into field goal range and potentially send the Eagles into the half down just one point. However, after running a draw on first down, Addazio decided to let the clock run out, instead of taking a timeout. As he left the field he was booed (as many fans presumably wanted him to be more aggressive). Postgame, Addazio explained that he didn’t want to damage Anthony Brown’s psyche with a potential interception or fumble on the last play of the half, and that he thought the risk outweighed the reward of taking a shot at the end zone. Addazio is known as a conservative play caller, so refusing to take a shot at the end zone isn’t necessarily unexpected, but in a game where scoring opportunities are limited, I’m sure a lot of fans would rather see him try and be aggressive in a situation like this. Instead, this decision is just another talking point at the end of an admirable effort by BC that saw them fall a little short.