Weekly Kickoff: Boston College vs. #2 Notre Dame

A look at the big game coming up for the Eagles on Saturday

On Saturday night, #1 Clemson a team that had won 39 straight regular season games, was stunned by an explosive Notre Dame team. Now, riding high the Irish have to face another nemesis. Their catholic rivals, the Boston College Eagles. 

The two teams have played in some memorable matchups over the years. But find any Notre Dame fan and ask them about the two school's history in the "Holy War", and they will bring up the same moment again and again.

'93, David Gordon. 

Turn back the clock a moment, and remember what happened right before that game. The Irish, underdogs defeated FSU, a team that was just the type of juggernaut that Clemson is today. Irish were riding high, they were on the cover of Sports Illustrated, and it looked like a trip to the national title game seemed a foregone conclusion. They were heavy favorites against the Eagles....

Sounds familiar doesn't it?

This game is going to be soaked in drama, and not just because of the eerie parallels to a game played 27 years ago. Just look at the two signal callers. Notre Dame quarterback Ian Book rightfully kept his job as starter, which forced Phil Jurkovec who called Notre Dame his dream school, to enter the transfer portal. He ended up at Boston College, and has his chance for revenge on Saturday.

Jurkovec has been consistently downplaying the importance of this game. When asked about it he just brings up "the friends I still have on the team." But deep down you can sense that this game means a lot more to him. Notre Dame is a program that recruited him over practically every major school in the country. And then when Jurkovec got to South Bend he was never really given a chance. Beating them is going to give the Eagles signal caller even more motivation when they take the field.

For new head coach Jeff Hafley and his program, this is also a big moment. A win against a Top 5 program would catapult BC's profile nationwide. And they are getting Notre Dame at just the right moment. There is a post-Clemson hangover, teams notoriously play poorly the week after playing the Tigers. Both Virginia and Wake Forest lost to NC State the following week, while Georgia Tech got thrashed by the Eagles. 

Playing against the Tigers is a game that players and coaches have to put everything they have in to try and win, and there seems to be a letdown the week after, just look at how Boston College looked against Syracuse this weekend. Now the Eagles get ND after their biggest win in a long time, one that took two overtimes to win. "Hangover" is going to be a word you hear a lot this week. 

But this game is going to be a really tough one for the Eagles. They have not beaten the Irish since 2008, as both programs have gone in different directions. Boston College has struggled to reach the Top 25 and middled in the lower half of the ACC, while Notre Dame has regained their national footing and continually battles for a place in the college football playoffs.

Saturday's game will be the next chapter in this saga. There will be a lot of emotions, not just because of the rivalry, but because this game will also be the Red Bandanna game. The special uniforms, made to honor 9/11 hero Welles Crowther seems to give Boston College an emotional boost when they wear them. Special things are known to happen, just ask USC. Will that happen on Saturday? 

Tune in to ABC at 3:30 to find out. 

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