Losing one battle won’t lose the war. Even losing two or three or four battles might not completely cripple the war effort.
But losing 18 times in 27 tries, including eight in a row—that might do it.
Boston College football (1–8, 0–5 Atlantic Coast) fell to No. 12 Notre Dame (6–2) 25–10 on Saturday in the first Holy War matchup since 2022.
The loss marked its eighth straight against the Fighting Irish, dating back to 2008, and marked BC’s eighth straight loss on the season.
“Overall, you know, that’s a good team,” BC head coach Bill O’Brien said. “That’s the No. 12 team in the country. They got a really good offensive line. They got really good backs. Our guys fought hard. So, you know, I’m proud of the team.”
Neither team could get anything going to start the game. BC forced Notre Dame off the field in just four plays on its first drive. BC responded with a quick three-and-out that ended in Dylan Lonergan nearly being picked off.
Notre Dame began to put things together on its next drive, as it drove to the BC 33-yard line. On 4th-and-3, the Eagle defense stood tall, however, thanks to an Owen McGowan pass breakup to force the turnover on downs.
BC’s offense sputtered again on the next drive. On 3rd-and-8, Lonergan handed the ball off to Turbo Richard, who was stopped in the backfield, forcing an Eagles punt.
With 5:12 left in the first quarter and still tied at zero, BC did not yet need to panic, but the sleeping giant that is Notre Dame wouldn’t stay asleep for long.
On the next drive, Notre Dame strung together multiple first downs before Fighting Irish quarterback CJ Carr launched a 40-yard pass to Malachi Fields. The Eagles couldn’t take him down, and Notre Dame jumped out to a 6–0 lead after a missed PAT.
Things quickly went from bad to worse for BC, as on the fourth play of the next drive, Lonergan threw a pass intended for Lewis Bond. The ball was tipped, however, before falling into the lap of a lying down Tae Johnson for an interception.
The luck of the Irish was on full display.
Notre Dame took over on its own 36, but a 46-yard pass to Jordan Faison quickly put the Fighting Irish back in the red zone. Three plays later, BC’s defense found itself backed up to its own 5-yard line.
But Omar Thornton had other plans. As Jadarian Price took the handoff, Thornton immediately punched the ball out of his hands. Favor Bate jumped on the ball, and the Eagles regained some momentum.
The interception turned out to be Lonergan’s last pass of the day, as Grayson James led BC’s offense onto the field for its next drive. James had been sidelined due to injury, but with a chance to turn the tide of the war,O’Brien decided to turn to him anyway.
“Grayson has a hip pointer, and so that’s a very painful injury,” O’Brien said. “He wasn’t the same runner that he normally is, but you talk about tough, he’s a tough guy.”
James made an immediate difference for the Eagles. BC drove all the way to the Notre Dame 27-yard line before being faced with 4th-and-2.
Opting not to settle for a field goal, O’Brien kept his offense on the field. But James couldn’t connect with his intended receiver, Jeremiah Franklin, giving Notre Dame the ball still trailing by six.
Unfazed by the fumble on their last drive, Carr ripped a 14-yard pass to Jeremiyah Love on the first play. Love, who finished with 136 rushing yards, then ran for a 3-yard gain before catching another pass for 12 yards.
The two-minute timeout momentarily saved BC. The Eagles would have a chance to regroup, and the Fighting Irish’s momentum might dissipate.
But the timeout didn’t matter.
Carr came out of the huddle and launched a 44-yard pass to Will Pauling to extend the lead to 12. Carr attempted to find Love again on the two-point attempt, but the pass fell incomplete.
James led the offense back onto the field with 1:53 left in the half, but after a short completion to Jaedn Skeete and a sack, the BC offense faced 3rd-and-14.
Bond came to the Eagles’ rescue with a 22-yard reception. He followed that up with a 16-yard catch to put BC on the Notre Dame 41-yard line. Bond finished the day with 92 yards and surpassed 2,000 career receiving yards, placing him in the top 10 in program history.
“It don’t mean much,” Bond said. “It’s great, but we’re 1–8.”
James completed another 20-yard pass to Skeete to put BC on the 21, and then found Reed Harris two plays later for a 25-yard touchdown.
Notre Dame got the ball back, leading 12–7 and with 28 seconds on the clock. Two passes and a penalty put the Fighting Irish on the BC 17-yard line, but a missed field goal from Erik Schmidt kept the score where it was at the half.
And the Eagles came out of the half with a fire lit under them.
BC converted three fourth downs en route to a 21-play, 11:20 drive. The result of all the Eagles’ effort, however, was just three points. Nevertheless, BC trailed by just two with a little over a quarter remaining.
The Fighting Irish launched a quick and efficient counteroffensive. All it took was seven plays in just 3:01 for Love to find the end zone. After another missed PAT, the score stood at 18–10 in favor of Notre Dame.
James was nearly intercepted on the first play of the following drive, targeting Harris. The play would foreshadow what happened just seven plays later.
As he was being tackled from behind, James attempted to make something out of nothing, throwing the ball away to Skeete, but the pass was intercepted.
“Last year we were a lot better at that—taking care of the ball and taking the ball away,” O’Brien said. “This year it’s been the opposite. We have to fix that.”
The very next play, Love took the ball 94 yards to the house, extending the Notre Dame lead to 15.
The hope was almost visibly sucked out of every BC player and fan in attendance, and it reflected on the field.
The Eagles went three-and-out, and after the next offensive drive ended on a failed conversion on 4th-and-32, the Eagles got the ball one last time with 1:51 left in the game.
Down 15, James launched his second interception on the drive’s very first play.
The war was over, and the Eagles had been slain.
