Irish Walk High-Wire in Win, Again

SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- Boston College head coach Frank Spaziani referred to his team as a "high-wire act".

What does that make the Fighting Irish?

Notre Dame went Wallenda again on Saturday, defeating its Catholic university nemesis 20-16 in a game whose outcome was not decided until Brian Smith's interception with 1:38 remaining. That makes six consecutive games decided by seven or fewer points by the Irish, a school record. Tight-rope walking is all the Irish know.

As the sun disappeared behind the library mosaic of Touchdown Jesus, his arms, we now believe, held aloft in frustration as if to ask, "Not again?", Boston College was just 27 yards away from a game-winning touchdown. Notre Dame was practicing its insidious form of deja voodoo yet again.

Who knew that NBC could air repeats of football games? Yet again the Irish found themselves trailing in the fourth quarter of a game, as they had against Michigan, Michigan State, Purdue, Washington and USC. Yet again the game hung in the balance with less than two minutes remaining. And yet again the Irish leaned heavily on their talented trio of playmakers: quarterback Jimmy Clausen, wide receiver Golden Tate and safety Kyle McCarthy. If not for those three, the most popular Irish name on the Notre Dame campus right now might be Brian Kelly.

Ever since the Irish lost in the final seconds at Ann Arbor -- clearly their 35-0 rout of Nevada in the season-opener was an illusion -- people have been asking just how good the Irish are. The answer: no better, nor worse than their opponent that week.

One Saturday the Irish are only as good as the unranked one-win team (Purdue) that forces them to convert a fourth-down touchdown from four yards out. On another Saturday they're nearly as good as the sixth-ranked one-loss team (USC) against whom they are unable to convert a fourth-down TD play from four yards out. Boston College entered Notre Dame Stadium 0-2 in road games this year, having lost by an average of 26 points in the two losses at Clemson and Virginia Tech. It also had not scored a point in the first three quarters of either of those two games. Yet, B.C. led when the fourth quarter began and not an exacerbated soul among the 80,795 was the least bit surprised.

"The story of our season, the game coming down to the last five minutes," said Tate, whose nifty 36-yard touchdown catch with 8:12 remaining provided the game-winning margin. "We're keeping people at home and making sure they continue to watch the game."

The Irish are downright formulaic in that respect -- Charlie Weis may script the first 20 plays, but Dick Wolf must script the last 20. Clausen has now thrown exactly one fourth-quarter touchdown pass in each of the last six games and not one interception after halftime (he has also now missed on a third-and-long pass to his right when the Irish had the lead -- and a first down would have iced it three different times). Tate's grab was the third such fourth-quarter touchdown reception during this streak. McCarthy's interception on Boston College's penultimate drive was his second of the second half, fifth of the season, and third huge play (including his hit on U-Dub's DeAndre Goodwin and his pick of Kirk Cousins of Michigan State) in the waning seconds of an Irish win this year.

"Coach Weis says he's getting old and tired of it," said Clausen. "I'm getting old and tired of it, too."

The game itself was as enigmatic as Notre Dame. It was, to quote Spaziani's malapropism, "a microorganism" of the 2009 Fighting Irish. Boston College sophomore tailback Montel Harris entered having gained a school-record 264 yards one week earlier and having never fumbled in 362 career carries. The Irish defense held Harris to 38 yards rushing and forced him to cough up the pigskin three times in just 22 carries.

"(The defense) was excellent in the run game," said Weis, and he is correct. The defense also allowed B.C. freshman quarterback Dave Shinskie, who only two weeks ago at Virginia Tech was 1-of-12 passing for four yards, to go Matt Barkley on them, gaining 279 yards through the air. Barkley, the USC frosh, averaged 20 yards per completion a week ago. Shinskie completed 10 passes of 20 or more yards.

Still, the final pass Shinskie completed was to Notre Dame's middle linebacker, Smith. And so the Irish, college football drama queens, at last ended the six-game win streak and decade-long humiliation fest foisted upon them by B.C., or "Backup College". Ever since this streak began in 2000, Domers have attempted to sate themselves against their Catholic rivals by pointing to the supposed academic discrepancy between the two schools. Sample jibe: "What do Boston College and Notre Dame students have in common? They all got accepted to Boston College."

B.C., however, will always have 1993 and 2002, years in which they ruined a perfect season by the Irish in November. And for that reason this rivalry between two schools of the same faith is as chippy as any in which Notre Dame finds itself. On the game's final play, when Clausen took a knee, Eagle defensive tackle Austin Giles apparently took a cheap shot at Irish center Eric Olsen. As the clock struck 0:00, Olsen had to be restrained from Giles but he was barking, "You're the worst (bleepin') player in college football! You're a (bleepin') piece of (bleep)."

It was probably just a coincidence that Olsen, a captain, was whisked away without talking to the media for the first time all season.

Clausen attempted to salute Boston College wideout Rich Gunnell, who was brilliant with 10 catches for 179 yards and a touchdown, after the game when he was in the midst of an on-camera interview. Gunnell went all Jim Harbaugh on Clausen, who sure seems to get little in return for his postgame attempts at bridge-building.

"I guess he was just a little frustrated," Clausen reasoned.

Frustrated, that's the way fans who keep waiting for the Irish to deliver a good pummeling to their opponents seem to be. That should come next week in San Antonio, when the Irish face the most abysmal team on their schedule, Washington State. They should win by at least eight.

Weis, at least publicly, seems blithely unconcerned with his team's margin of victory. When one out-of-town writer observed to the fifth-year head coach that "quite honestly, (your defense) looked pretty lost out there half the time", Weis replied, "Well, let's see, we gave up 16 points, right?"

"Yeah."

"Well, usually give up 16 points on defense, you're usually going to win."

True. There's already been so much suspense this season, let me spare you some if I can. The Irish will win, as easily as they are able to, their next two games against Washington State and Navy. That'll make them 7-2 and armed with a healthy Michael Floyd when they visit No. 20 (and soon to be ranked higher) Pittsburgh on November 14. Until then, you can relax. You've got 20 days until the next high-wire feat.