Takeaways from competitive loss vs. Notre Dame
They covered at least.
The Eagles did in fact keep it competitive. Actually, BC was within one score for the majority of the second half until once again, the big play did them in.
A few takeaways from the effort and some thoughts on BC sitting at 1-8 with three games remaining:
The QB thing
As I reported Friday, Dylan Lonergan got the start and after going 5-8 with a pick and 29 yards, he was pulled for Grayson James. According to sources, the decision was made on Tuesday. When I asked Bill O’Brien after practice on Tuesday, he said it would be ‘TBD’ when it came to QB, but that the decision would not be performance based.
Ultimately, James did make a terribly-timed decision with the INT that directly led to the 94-yard, back-breaking TD run, but the team rallies around him whenever he steps foot on the field. O’Brien said postgame that James is dealing with a hip pointer, but once again commended his toughness.
James finished 25-37 for 240 with the dime to Harris for a 25-yard TD and the pick. In my opinion, he should have been starting from Day 1. He has a better grasp of the offense, is more mobile (when healthy) and just has more experience than Lonergan. Lonergan got by on talent early on, but once there was film on him defenses quickly caught up. It also doesn’t help that pass protection and the lack of a running game has killed whoever was under center.
Going forward, if James can go he’s earned the right to finish out the last three games of his career as a starter. It’s hard to think Lonergan is happy with how things have played out and could be a portal candidate. You can make the argument however, that Shaker Reisig deserves one of these final few games to get his first career start under his belt.
It’ll be interesting to see how this plays out.
Run game just disappeared in 2025
33 carries and 12 yards total is just embarrassing. Any sort of rushing attack might have changed the game on Saturday, especially with the 21-play drive that only ended in a field goal. If you can run in a TD there who knows what happens.
It’s been a problem all season and with injuries to the line as well as a lack of depth and experience, it’s hard to think it’s going to get any better these last three games. I’m still pretty baffled by it because I honestly think a room of Richard/McDonald/Broome/McCormack/Dodd is more than enough to have an at least above-average running game.
It just hasn’t come to fruition this year.
Defense should be applauded for the effort
I was genuinely stunned by how well they played early on, forcing the punt and turnover on downs. Now, obviously, the deep balls (especially those wide open completions deep over the middle for TDs) is just bad coverage, but given the injuries and inexperience on that side, it’s hard not to applaud their effort against a very, very good offense.
Unfortunately, BC still gave up 159 yards on the ground (94 on that one TD run though) and 458 yards of total offense. It is what it is, but they were 31-point dogs by kickoff and kept the Fighting Irish to 25 points.
All things considered and after the ugly showing against Louisville, you can make the case that the offense let the defense down on Saturday.
Sudden health
O’Brien recently told us that Skeete, Crouch, Richard, Hutchins and Tucker were all out. But, there they were. As I said all season, I think a healthy Skeete really changes this offense and you saw how dynamic he can be with the ball in his hands (despite the fumble and near-disaster). Bowry going down again was tough, but he’s been banged up off and on since camp, so the team is used to it by now.
Having Crouch and Hutchins back is obviously a boost to the defense too. Hutchins was noticeable off the edge at times, nearly getting to Carr.
Good to see those guys back, just too little, too late though.
Rest of the way
This quote from Bill O’Brien postgame stood out to me…
“It might not be a memorable team to anybody on the outside, but it’ll be a memorable team to me because they fight. They fight hard, they compete. They show up to practice, they’re awesome guys…what I mean by that is, when I show up here every single day, these guys are ready to go. They practice hard. They give us everything they’ve got. There’s been a lot of ups and downs – mostly downs – but they keep showing up.
“You never really want that type of a life lesson in football, but it is a good lesson, because if this is the most adversity you deal with in your life, you’re going to have a pretty good life. So, these guys, they keep showing up and they don’t quit. They have a never say die attitude. There’s been a lot of teams…not a lot, I haven’t been involved in this situation too many times, but there’s been teams that I’ve been involved with that they shut it down. They’re checked out. Keys are in the ignition and they’re ready to drive away. This team’s not like that.
“This team has good leadership and they have three guaranteed opportunities, they’re going to keep fighting all the way.”
If nothing else, Saturday showed that everything he said there is true. This team does believe in him as a coach and they do keep playing hard in a spot where it’s very easy not to. Obviously, there’s no moral victories in that, but BC fans can at least appreciate that they are playing for the coach until the very end, whether people believe in him still or not.
That’s admirable and a statement to how much O’Brien does connect to the players.
Anyway, we’re on to SMU (and men’s basketball Monday).
