Notre Dame football looks to maintain momentum, dominate Boston College

Notre Dame football made a statement in Week 12 against Navy. Will they be able to continue this dominance against the the Boston College Eagles?

Notre Dame is coming off an incredible performance over the Navy Midshipmen, winning 52-20. The Midshipmen were ranked No. 23 in the College Football Playoff rankings and were expected to put up a good fight.

This week, the Fighting Irish welcome ACC opponent, the Boston College Eagles. The Eagles enter the match against the No. 16 Irish with a record of 5-5. Notre Dame, on the other hand, is 8-2 with their lone losses coming to Georgia and Michigan.

Despite a commanding win over a ranked opponent, the Fighting Irish failed to move up in the rankings from last week. This week, Notre Dame will look for another big win over the Eagles in hopes of working their way into a New Year’s Six Bowl Game.

Here’s how to watch this year’s version of the historic matchup:

Date: Saturday, Nov. 23
Time: 2:30 p.m. ET
Location:  South Bend, Ind.
Venue: Notre Dame Stadium
TV: NBC
Live Stream: NBC Sports Live

Keys to Victory

The Irish showed many of those who doubted them that their offense can perform at a dominant level last week against the Midshipmen. Against Boston College, Notre Dame will need to keep the offensive efficiency at a high level. This can be best accomplished by establishing the connection between Ian Book and Chase Claypool early on in the game. Their defense, however, should continue to dominate the Eagles offensive line just as they’ve done to all of their previous opponents (minus Michigan).

Boston College has a much bigger hill to climb in order to keep this game competitive. The Eagles must win the turnover battle by a significant margin. Additionally, Dennis Grosel, who took over under center for the Eagles midway through the season, will need to have the game of his life. Grosel was initially a preferred walk-on and is slowly developing his game, but is far from where Steve Addazio would like him to be.

Betting Odds

Odds courtesy of The Action Network.

Point Spread: Notre Dame -19
Over/Under: 64

Prediction

This game is simply going to be a complete blowout. Navy is a much better team than Boston College and they looked totally helpless against the Irish last week. The Eagles did have bye week heading into this game, which may slow down Coach Brian Kelly’s team ability to get off to a fast start. However, by the end of the third quarter, the Irish will have their second and third string players still scoring against Boston College.

Final Score: Notre Dame 45, Boston College 7