Is Saturday Night All Right?
UHND.com - Charles R. Stappenbeck
10/26/2001
From one of the most storied match-ups in college football history to one of Notre Dame’s most intense rivals of the 90’s, the Irish take their .500 record to Chestnut Hill on Saturday night to face the Boston College Eagles. Looking for the first road win of the season and some rare success under the lights, Notre Dame should be seeing the toughest opponent of the month.
Like most games, this one should be settled in the trenches. BC has their traditionally staunch offensive line creating gaps for one of the best backs in the nation, William Green. With his upper body strength and wide out speed, Green will remind many Irish fans of former ND great, Ricky Watters. Weaver, Roberts, Wisne and the rest need to eat up space in the middle and allow the linebackers to record the bulk of the tackles. If Green breaks through early and often, look for the safeties to be biting and the ultra-efficient Brian St. Pierre to strike big. St. Pierre doesn’t strike Foley-esque fear in you? Maybe his 142 QB rating will. He also has a complement of 5 receivers (including Green) with 13 or more receptions.
On the other side of the ball, the Irish season continues to rest on the young but capable shoulders (legs?) of QB Carlyle Holiday. ND has been a different team through out the recent home stand and must continue the diversification of the offensive game plan. The return of Arnaz Battle gives Holiday another weapon. After being held out of the Southern Cal game, Battle is said to be 100% and needs to see 5-7 touches on Saturday. A healthy Julius Jones and Tony Fisher will certainly help Holiday as well, but it will be interesting to see if Terrance Howard is back in the tailback mix for good.
Despite the 3-game win streak, the Irish are still in a "nothing left to lose" mode. Bob Davie is done and even running the table can’t change that now. If this doesn’t give Davie and Rogers carte blanche, what will? Let’s open things up, win out, win a bowl and bring on Gruden. Go Irish, beat Eagles.