October 8, 1994
Notre Dame at Boston College Final Stats
By Mike Shrekgast, The Scholastic 1994 Football Review
The campus back in South Bend was in shock. So were the millions of fans around the country who tuned in to watch the game that even non-Notre Dame fans had anticipated for a whole year. Viewers witnessed the pandemonium of a victory which would reign as one of the great ones in the history of Boston College. It was up there with Flutie’s “Immaculate Reception of 1984” and last year’s last-second victory which stripped the Irish of their hopes of another national championship. On this picturesque. fall day in Chestnut Hill, the newly renovated Alumni stadium shook from the cheers of a 30-11 upset of the eighth-ranked Fighting Irish.
“Boston College was certainly the best football team today,”Lou Holtz lamented after enduring one of the most humiliating losses in his coaching career. Mouths were closed and excuses were few from the players as well as the coaches. It was the scoreboard that told the whole story.
Coming into the game few people, including Boston College fans, would have predicted victory for the Screaming Eagles. It did not change the fact that BC fanatics were buying the entire season ticket packet months in advance just to see Notre Dame play.
Further, the week before, Notre Dame had re-established itself as a powerhouse among the college ranks by drilling the Stanford Cardinal. But the offense which had been resurrected the week before in Notre Dame, Indiana, was nowhere to be found on the field of Alumni Stadium in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts.
The game began like nearly every game this year- Irish hopes were on a high. The Notre Dame defense came out roaring. On only the third play of Boston’s first drive, defensive end Brian Hamilton recovered a fumble by Omari Walkeron the Eagles’41. And as the offense took the field, the feeling in the crowd was that this was going to be a long day.
The Notre Dame offense immediately responded to the opportunity it was given. On a second and ten, Powlus dropped back and found Derrick Mayes for a 13-yard pick up. If anyone had an incentive to win this game, it was Mayes. After a brilliant performance in last years near come-from-behind victory, Mayes said,”l’ll do whatever is needed for the team to win this year.”
This is a common assertion made by athletes in big games, but somehow the statement, coming from Mayes, seemed to mean something more. This was a receiver who had the ability to turn a game around, as he proved time and time again.
On the next play, sophomore sensation Randy Kinder, starting in place of the still-injured Lee Becton, slashed for 14 yards and another first down. The Irish penetrated the Eagles’ defense far enough to allow kicker Stefan Schroffner to convert a field goal from 27 yards out to put the Irish up 3-0. Unfortunately, this brief and successful drive by the Irish would be the only one the they would enjoy for the rest of the first half.
After a fumble recovery by defensive terror Mike Mamula, the Eagles began the second quarter with the ball at the Notre Dame 20-yard line. The Eagles, on a fourth and six, stunned the Notre Dame defense with a fake field goal. Back-up quarterback and holder Mark Hasselback exploited the aggressive Irish charge and brought the Eagles from the 16 to the 8-yard line. One play later Green scampered around the left side of the line for a touchdown and an eventual 7-3 lead over the Irish. The fake field goal by the Eagles stripped Notre Dame of its momentum and placed the necessary force squarely in the hands of Boston College.
The fake was Lou Holtz’s special play. First-year coach Dan Henning was not supposed to be doing this to the Irish. Leading up to the game, Henning labeled Holtz the Zeus of college football. No one could have noticed. It was one thing for the Irish to be outplayed on offense, defense, kicking, strength and every other phase of the game. But being out-tricked by Boston College was another story. Notre Dame always had the full bag of tricks sitting under the bench. Boston College, like the Grinch, stole every last bit of the show. Besides the fake field goal, split end Clarence Canon threw complete to Greg Grice off a reverse to set up another BC touchdown.
Nothing had to be more nerve-wracking for the Irish after BC scored. On each ensuing kickoff, BC kicker Jeff Beckley would crush the ball through the end zone. The Irish had to be talking to themselves. Mike Miller and Co. had no chance for the big play or even slightly decent field position. Simply put, it was another example of how Henning out-coached his former mentor.
As a result of all this, the beleaguered defense was forced to pick up the slack left by the impotent offense. The defensive-men held the field and kept the Irish in the game to the end of the half. They did not win back the momentum, but they gave Notre Dame a chance to take back the lead in the second half – an opportunity which was never taken.
The Irish should have come into the second half flying. Just before the end of the second half, after missing a field goal, they held off a late passing surge by Boston College quarterback Mark Hartsell. For the second time, they faced David Gordon in a field goal situation. After missing the 44-yard field goal, his second miss of the day, much of theEagles’ momentum waned. Here was Notre Dame’s opportunity to take control – opportunity lost.
But after halftime the Eagles picked up where they left off. On the first possession Powlus was severely pressured by the Boston defense. On the other side, BC and running back Justice Smith ran through an overworked Irish defense that barely had enough time to step off the field and get a drink before being called back on to keep theIrish in the game. Sophomore Smith rushed for a career-high 147 yards. It was the only time he cracked 100 yards on the season.
Boston College took advantage of Notre Dame’s thoroughly fatigued defense, scoring on its first two possessions of the half. Between the two drives, the BC offense allowed its defensive crew to rest for only two minutes, after a three and out series by hapless Notre Dame.
But there would be one last glimmer of hope for Notre Dame. Having orchestrated a spectacular come back in the two teams’ meeting of the previous season, Holtz seemed prepared to do the same as the fourth quarter dawned with Notre Dame down 24-3. On their first possession of the quarter the Irish put a scare into the crowd as Powlus and the offense came alive. Not since their first possession had the Irish put points on the board. A key play came on a third and nine at the Notre Dame 47, when Powlus hit Mayes for a seventeen-yard pick up and a first down at the BC 36. The lrish March was on.
Holtz decided to go back to the running game of Randy Kinder, and two plays later No. 25 charged into the end zone on a fifteen yard run; Down by fourteen, the Irish were going for two. Enter Derrick Mayes and his timely acrobatics for a successful attempt.
The Irish sidelines were buzzing, an after manhandling the Eagles’ offense, the Irish regained possession. The crowd noise simmered to a murmur as Powlus and the offense took the field. Memories of last year became more vivid. Notre Dame decided to go for the big play. After being chased out of the pocket Powlus threw the pass. The ball seemed like it floated through the air forever. But the eventual roar of the crowd signaled the interception by Eagles defensive back Terrence Wiggins. And just as quickly as the ball was taken away, so were the Fighting Irish’s hopes of a 10-1 record and a shot at the national champion ship.
Few positives could be scraped up after this one. RandyKinder’s 143 yards rushing on twenty-two carries established him as legitimate “go to guy” for the offense. But the absence of Becton and Zellars was crucial. Notre Dame’s longest play fro scrimmage was a 25-yard thrust by fullback Marc Edwards. The tremendous heart of the Notre Dame defense should not be overlooked. Although they gave up 244 yards rushing, 160 of that came in the second half when they occupied the field for more than twenty minutes. A final tally of the time of possession showed that the defense was on the field almost forty out of the full sixty minutes of the ball game.
A jaded Coach Holtz preached optimism and promised better in the future. “We’re going to get this God-dawg thing turned around,” said Holtz. “We are going to get back on top. And we are going to get back on top sooner than people think. This is the most physical manhandling we’ve had in a long time. That was not Notre Dame. That’s not the way Notre Dame should be and that’s not the way Notre Dame will be.”