Nestled in the small, cold, midwest town of South Bend, Ind., rooted in Catholic tradition and rich football history, sits the 2025 College Football National Championship contender Notre Dame.
Beyond the iconic Touchdown Jesus and the golden dome, is a school built on Catholic values and academic excellence. Thirteen hours across I-90 in Chestnut Hill, Mass., sits a school with similarly deep principles, pristine architecture, and a storied Jesuit education—Boston College.
As the only two Catholic institutions in Division I FBS, a historic rivalry—the Holy War—was cemented between the two, albeit a fairly lopsided one at that.
Notre Dame leads the series 17–9. The Fighting Irish’s win in 2009 ended BC’s six-game win streak from 2001 to 2008, and Notre Dame hasn’t lost since.
Although there is a very apparent gap between the football culture at BC and Notre Dame, the two schools share a variety of similarities. The question is whether BC could draw on those similarities as it enters the new age of college football and hopefully, a fresh era of the sport at BC.
Competing with Recruitment Powerhouses
It might come off as presumptuous to say BC has ever, or could ever, reach the legendary status of Notre Dame football.
It’s hard to compete with a program that has an award-winning film to its name.
Notre Dame’s championship opponent is one of the most famous and expensive programs in the country. Ohio State gathered $280 million in revenue in 2024. The Eagles probably won’t see those numbers any time soon, or maybe ever.
Regardless, there are draws BC can use to its advantage while recruiting and attracting players in the portal.
It’s safe to say proximity to Boston, one of the most renowned sports cities, is more attractive than being close to a town like South Bend or Columbus, Ohio. But it seems like most college football players consider a good location to be near the bottom of their list of must-haves in a school.
Playing under an experienced coach like Bill O’Brien can be appealing to athletes looking to play at the professional level, though. His tenures with the Alabama and Patriots dynasties have made an impression on incoming prospects and been crucial to BC’s off-season success so far.
Legendary college football coaches had their careers expedited as they were pushed out of the game, or chose to leave due to shifts in recruiting and transfers. O’Brien, however, stepped up to the plate in a big way and adapted.
Paired with the 20th-ranked 2026 recruiting class, O’Brien has already pulled in two former four-star recruits from his time with Alabama through the transfer portal: quarterback Dylan Lonergan and tight end Ty Lockwood.
While BC looked to a coach with NFL experience to turn its program around, Notre Dame took an alternate route when the program’s all-time winningest coach Brian Kelly left for LSU, leaving the program coachless.
After a successful, but ringless,12-year stint with Kelly, the Irish moved on to then-34-year-old Marcus Freeman to adapt to modern recruiting. So far, the Fighting Irish’s approach has proven effective.
Freeman walked through the doors, and he immediately thrived.
Since his Fiesta Bowl loss as the fill-in coach, Freeman hasn’t dipped below nine wins and has won every postseason game in his three years.
Freeman has also led Notre Dame to a top-12 recruiting class each year as head coach, and the Fighting Irish have notched 20 four-star recruits in the 2025 and 2026 classes.
Both schools are excelling in the recruiting process and the transfer portal. But there’s an elephant in the room—the elephant is the true difference between the two.
Winning: Not BC’s Strong Suit
College athletes made it to where they are today because of their competitive nature. Simply put, they want to win.
Painful mediocrity has lingered over Alumni Stadium for the better half of the 21st century. Notre Dame, meanwhile, is coming off four straight bowl wins and boasts 11 national championships with a 12th possibly on the horizon.
There’s a reason the top programs in the country nail the best recruits and continuously compete for a national title. They’ve been winning football games since before sliced bread. Literally.
BC football has been around since 1893, seeing modern success in its 1984 and 2007 seasons, but has no bling to show for it.
To be fair, the Eagles were quite the pre-World War II powerhouse, racking up Orange, Sugar, and Cotton Bowl appearances. Good luck to the recruiting office showing those off in the next wave of official recruit visits.
BC’s last New Year’s Six bowl appearance was from the aforementioned 1984 season, and the team has only had two 10-plus win seasons since.
The Fighting Irish have played in 17 New Year’s Six bowls in that span, along with their most recent championship win in 1988.
Notre Dame is a more successful program than BC—it’s just a fact. But while BC fans shouldn’t suddenly expect 10 years of BC domination to spawn, O’Brien’s recent pulls of Lonergan and Lockwood have at least given the BC faithful some hope.
What BC fans should hope for is to finally root for a team with a culture built around grit and grind—the type of hard-nosed effort that can keep the program competitive in stretches far down the season and into the offseason.
Rooting For Notre Dame?
As fellow church-goers, maybe a win for Notre Dame means a win for the Catholic community.
Maybe rooting for the Irish next Monday isn’t as bad as BC fans might initially think.
The truth is, after setting aside a rivalry built on religious affiliation, the two schools are eerily alike: private, Catholic universities based in a suburban area with scenic campuses and high-level teams across the four major U.S. sports.
If BC fans disagree, but their popcorn bowl still goes flying when Notre Dame earns a score versus the Buckeyes, they don’t have to be worried. Notre Dame isn’t an ACC opponent that will haunt the Eagles in conference play.
The similarities between the schools continue to pile in. If fans can be bold enough to think it, a Notre Dame national championship win could hint at BC finding title success in the future.
First, though, the Irish will have to slow down the stampeding Buckeyes, armed to the teeth with a back-breaker defense and freshman-phenom wide receiver Jeremiah Smith.
So, sit down, relax, and pick your side—or follow updates on BC recruiting if the choice is too tough.
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