This is bigger than just one game.

This year’s game marks half a century of the Holy War. It is a rivalry, a tradition, and a legend. But it’s also a competition—one that Boston College has not won since 2008, when the Eagles shut out Notre Dame 17–0 at home in front of nearly 45,000 people.

Here’s the story of that game, told by the people who were there to witness it.

Setting the Scene

A thin mist blanketed Alumni Stadium, catching the light to create a slight sparkle on everything it touched. Seas of yellow T-shirts and maroon beanies created a BC-themed checkerboard in the overflowing crowd, with brightly colored rain ponchos sticking out like sore thumbs.

The 8 p.m. start came with a full day’s worth of anticipation. Finally, though, the time had arrived. 

“That’s the game that we all have circled on our calendar going through fall camp,” BC cornerback Donnie Fletcher said. “It’s probably the best game of the year when it comes to atmosphere.”

Junior linebacker Mark Herzlich led the Eagles out of the tunnel. He carried his shimmery gold helmet instead of wearing it, showing off the jet-black paint drawn around his eyes. 

The war began. 

The Heat Rises

Both teams were going at it even before kickoff. The series was tied 9–9, and the prospect of losing a tiebreaker raised the stakes even more.

Notre Dame linebacker Brian Smith paid BC players a visit during warmups—unshockingly, exchanging pleasantries was not on his agenda. 

“I hope you don’t play as soft as you look,” Smith yelled. “Things change tonight.” 

Notre Dame’s offense, led by quarterback Jimmy Clausen, got the ball first. 

“They had this quarterback that just, nobody liked at the time—Jimmy Clausen,” BC kicker Steve Aponavicius said. “Kind of a pretty boy from Southern California and thought he was the greatest thing to ever come around.”

Down 3–0 with a little under seven minutes left in the first half, Clausen and the Irish were facing 3rd-and-7 at midfield. Clausen took a shot down to BC’s 25, but overthrew his receiver and ended up shipping the ball right into the hands of BC senior Paul Anderson. 

Anderson tucked the ball against his chest, then did what any safety is trained to do in that situation: run his butt off. 

Anderson’s journey to the opposite endzone was pure chaos, as white jerseys flew at him from all different directions. He narrowly dodged them, sprinting through tiny gaps as DeJuan Tribble and Roderick Rollins blocked the Irish, paving his path. 

Notre Dame’s Golden Tate came out of nowhere, darting across the field and tracking Anderson down. He made one last-ditch effort, diving at Anderson’s feet right outside the end zone. 

Anderson kicked Tate off like a bug and completed a 76-yard pick-six right in front of BC’s student section, then tossed the ball behind him and pointed both fingers into the crowd. 

Those students didn’t know it yet, but BC’s defense was just getting started. 

Left Reminiscing 

It’s always devastating when a team loses its best player.

BC said its farewells to Matt Ryan—arguably the best quarterback to ever call Alumni Stadium home—in the spring of 2008 when the Atlanta Falcons drafted him with the third pick in the NFL Draft. 

It was not quite LeBron-to-the-Heat-level heartbreak, but there was a definitive feeling of disappointment. Even knowing that a departure is coming doesn’t take away the sting when it really happens. 

The Eagles’ end to the 2007–2008 season certainly didn’t help. They had climbed to an all-time high No. 2 ranking, but ultimately fell to Virginia Tech in the ACC Championship game. 

And with Ryan gone, the window did not just seem closed—it seemed slammed shut. Then deadbolted, for good measure. 

BC had missed its opportunity, and there was no way of knowing when another one would make its way to Chestnut Hill. 

Redshirt senior Chris Crane took over for Ryan the following August. Despite doubts, he led the Eagles to a 5–1 start, including a narrow home win over No. 17 Virginia Tech. 

After that exhilarating win, though, things took a turn for the worse. 

First, what had been a consistently stout defensive unit gave up 45 points to unranked North Carolina in a blowout loss. Then, BC handed Dabo Swinney his first win as Clemson’s head coach, falling to the Tigers 27–21 on home turf. 

One year prior, Ryan had led the Eagles to a comeback win at Clemson. Crane’s attempt to do so didn’t go as well, and comparisons crept back in. 

The truth that many had been avoiding—that BC’s offense just wasn’t that good—had become exceedingly apparent. And just like that, the doubt that was lingering at the beginning of the season had snuck back in as the Eagles prepared to take on their biggest rival. 

Gritty in Gold 

A rough patch of games couldn’t silence the undeniable buzz in Chestnut Hill as the Nov. 8 Notre Dame matchup approached, including within the locker room.

“You try to live by those ‘coachisms’ that you always hear, that ‘every opponent is the same,’ and ‘make sure you prepare for every game in the same way,’” Aponavicius said. “But there’s no denying that when someone like Notre Dame is coming to campus, that there’s a different feel.”

When kickoff finally arrived, however, that excited energy didn’t transfer to BC’s offense. Instead, it came out flat. 

Aponavicius missed a 34-yard field goal to start the game. He hit a 27-yarder before the first quarter ended to put BC on the board, but the Eagles didn’t score an offensive touchdown until the second half. Luckily for head coach Jeff Jagodzinski, his defense had come to play. 

Anderson’s pick-six in the second quarter put the Eagles up 10–0, and it only got worse from there for the Irish. 

Notre Dame finally seemed to be putting together a complete drive as the half neared its end. Clausen racked up five completions, including one to Tate for 16 yards that got the Irish to BC’s 25-yard line. A score to end the half would have swung the momentum, reviving the otherwise lifeless Irish. 

Rollins had none of that. 

Clausen aired out a pass for a long first down, but Rollins dove through the air, snatching the pass out of its arc and sending the Eagles into the half up 10–0.  

BC intercepted two more of Clausen’s passes before the night was over—including a second interception from Anderson in the fourth quarter. Still, the Eagles’ offense never heated up. In fact, the scoreless Irish registered nearly three times as many passing yards as Crane and BC did. 

The shutout was not glamorous. The Eagles certainly didn’t look like they had in 2007, when Ryan threw for almost 200 yards and two touchdowns to beat Notre Dame and remain undefeated. 

“Leaving the game, everyone was pretty fired up because there was some recognition that this was not quite the 2007 team of BC, but this team was still creating some memorable wins,” then-Associate Sports Editor for The Heights David Amstutz said. 

So no, the 2008 win wasn’t pretty. But is war ever pretty?

“Those are some of the memories that stick with me—just being with the guys in that locker room afterwards celebrating, just seeing the reward for all that hard work, and also knowing what awaits you outside those doors,” Aponavicius said. 

Like Looking in the Mirror 

It’s hard not to compare two things with as many similarities as BC and Notre Dame.

They are the only two Catholic schools that compete in the FBS, the highest tier of college football, leading to frequent overlap in athletic recruiting. 

Fletcher, a true freshman back in 2008, picked off Clausen in the fourth quarter. It was the game-sealing interception—the cherry on top of an all-around defensive masterclass from the Eagles. 

At one point, though, there was a chance that Fletcher would be wearing a white jersey instead of a maroon one that night. Fletcher said Notre Dame heavily recruited him before committing to BC. 

“It’s the same type of guy that they kind of recruit,” Fletcher said. “Everyone had a story about Notre Dame—whether they wanted to go to Notre Dame, or they were recruited by Notre Dame.” 

At least for Fletcher, that dynamic made the rivalry a little more meaningful. 

“It meant a lot to me and a lot to my teammates,” Fletcher said. “I still think about some of those times playing against Notre Dame—even the times after my freshman year—a lot of those moments are things that kind of stick with me.” 

The Holy War rivalry was obviously very real for those on the field that night. It was real for fans, too—perhaps more so back in 2008 than it is today.

Superfans 

Amstutz traveled all the way to South Bend, Ind., in 2007 to watch the teams face off, then did so again in 2009. He flew there, but many BC students were invested enough to pack up and make the drive.

“A bunch of students would just pack RVs and drive out to South Bend,” Amstutz said. “That was definitely, I would say, a highlight in the football season.” 

Perhaps it was easier for fans to be invested in the rivalry then. In the spring of 2008, BC men’s hockey beat Notre Dame 4–1 in the national championship with Nathan Gerbe. The Eagles had also won the last five football matchups. 

The idea of the Holy War representing a one-sided rivalry on Notre Dame’s end might sound ridiculous to today’s BC fans—most of whom don’t even remember the last time the Eagles beat the Irish in football. 

A consistent stream of victories didn’t mean the Eagles always outmatched Notre Dame. It did mean, however, that BC kept finding ways to win. 

“For BC, Notre Dame was a rival,” Amstutz said. “For Notre Dame, I think BC was kind of like an annoying little sibling. The problem for Notre Dame, at the time, was that BC just kept winning.” 

Today, BC struggles to keep students in the stadium for the whole game. The student section consistently empties by the third quarter, with the few faithful stragglers finding their way to the front rows. 

Back in 2008, it was hard to get students to come in on time. But once they were in, they didn’t leave. 

“BC was notorious then—for the crowd would show up late,” Amstutz said. “People usually stayed, which could have been a byproduct—the games at that time were pretty good, and they had some close wins during that time period.” 

Amstutz could be right—it might have been all about how close the games were, or that the Eagles were playing games with ACC-championship implications late into the year. Regardless, one thing is clear: The rivalry that those players and fans experienced is much different from the rivalry of today.  

“It was a time when the quote-unquote rivalry actually felt like a little bit more of a rivalry,” Amstutz said. 

More Than a Game 

There’s been a handful of competitive games since 2008, but the last four meetings have been blowouts, with the Irish outscoring BC 178–58.

This 17-year stretch might feel like eternity—like Notre Dame has always been, and will always be, the superior team. But the Holy War existed long before 2008. And it will (probably) go on long after. 

The Holy War game on Nov. 1, 2025, is just one in a long history. 

Regardless of the outcome, it is part of something bigger: a tradition that has endured one-sidedness and unexciting play. It’s lasted half a century, starting in 1975, when the teams first met in a nationally televised game played in Foxborough, Mass.—back when being on national TV was a big deal. 

“There’s people that came before you—there’s players that played in this game, and it meant a lot,” Fletcher said. “I just hope that they’re preaching that in the locker room—the coaches—about the legacy of this game, how important it is to the program.”

BC hasn’t won in a while. And this year’s matchup doesn’t exactly promise intense competition. But the thing about a rivalry is that it doesn’t just stop. It forces you to look back at what’s happened, and forward at what might. For now—unless you’re on that field on Nov. 1—all you can really do is sit back and watch. 

“It is really easy as a player to get kind of swept up in preparing for the game and being focused on the game,” Aponavicius said. “This is truly a once-in-a-lifetime environment. Make sure to enjoy it a little.”