BC goes all out to beat ND
Gonzalez's diving catch lifts Eagles with :54 left
SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- They believe too.
Borrowing a little bit of karma from the Red Sox' run to the World Series, Boston College yesterday fashioned a stirring comeback in rallying from a 20-7 halftime deficit to pull out a 24-23 victory over No. 24 Notre Dame before a stunned sellout crowd of 80,795 at Notre Dame Stadium.
"The whole week of practice we were just focused on getting a win," said junior defensive end Mathias Kiwanuka. BC was coming off a 20-17 overtime loss last week against Big East foe Pittsburgh at Heinz Field. "When things started to go wrong -- I don't want to use the slogan -- but we kept the faith."
With the series between the nation's only two Division 1-A Catholic institutions set to go on hiatus for the next two seasons before resuming here in 2007, the Eagles (5-2) captured their fourth consecutive victory over Notre Dame (5-3) and fifth overall in the last six meetings. Not even the presence of the leprechaun-like Regis Philbin at Notre Dame's pep rally Friday night at the Joyce Center could change the Irish's buzzard luck against the Eagles.
"It's my graduation present to my kids," BC coach Tom O'Brien said, wearily, referring to his son, Danny, and daughter, Bridget, who are BC seniors. "I'm sure they'll ask their mother for something else, but this is what I gave them."
BC senior quarterback Paul Peterson (27 of 41, career-high 383 yards, 2 touchdowns, 2 interceptions) commemorated Doug Flutie's 42d birthday yesterday with a Flutie-like performance. He rallied the Eagles for a winning score with 54 seconds left when he connected with Tony Gonzalez, who made a brilliant diving grab in the end zone to beat Notre Dame defender Mike Richardson.
"We made up our minds that we were going to take a shot right there and not wait to the end to see if we could get one," said BC offensive coordinator Dana Bible. "To their credit, there was great coverage. You can't minimize that. But Tony made a fine play and the line gave Paul enough time."
That play was preceeded by a fourth-and-13 conversion that proved just as heroic. With BC needing to go 45 yards to erase Notre Dame's 23-17 lead, the Eagles called time out with 1:41 to go.
"Paul came over to the sideline and said, `Get me out of the pocket,' " O'Brien said.
The coaching staff complied with his request.
"It just gives me a better chance to see what's going on downfield," Peterson said. "For me to get out of the pocket, I think I can run and make something happen as well. What happens is, if I start running, someone's got to come with me and another guy's going to be open and that's what happened."
Peterson rolled right and connected with junior wideout Larry Lester for a huge 17-yard gain that gave the Eagles a first down at the ND 30, setting up Peterson's TD toss to Gonzalez.
While Lester had a longer catch (of 50 yards), his 17-yard grab proved to be the biggest of a career-high effort (8 catches, 111 yards) that helped him atone for a costly fumble he committed in overtime last week against Pittsburgh.
"Larry stepped up, man," Peterson said. "He didn't let down and he didn't let what happened last week deter him from being a better player."
On the next play, Gonzalez replaced Lester and caught the winning TD pass. "I ran a straight go [route]," Gonzalez said. "When the ball was in the air, we jumped at the same time. When [Richardson] jumped, he got higher than me and his momentum carried him forward and so I ducked underneath him and the ball was right there and I grabbed it out of the air."
Notre Dame mounted one last-gasp rally with 51 seconds left that ended when D.J. Fitzpatrick's 55-yard field goal attempt fell well short of its mark as time expired.
The Eagles had taken a 7-0 lead on L.V. Whitworth's 2-yard plunge with 7:54 left in the first quarter. But the Irish rallied for 20 points on Brady Quinn's 33-yard TD to Matt Shelton, Quinn's 1-yard plunge in the second (set up by Mike Goolsby's 24-yard interception return) and Darius Walker's 9-yard run that capped a demoralizing 13-play, 91-yard drive that left BC with a 20-7 halftime deficit.
BC retreated to its locker room where the Eagles were subjected to an angry locker room tirade from several players, the most vocal from junior linebacker Ray Henderson.
"I went nuts at halftime," Henderson said. "I flipped out on the team. We were much better than the way we played in the first half. We made too many mental errors, we were giving up stupid plays that we shouldn't have given up, and we knew were better than that.
"I called everybody out, including myself, and told them it was now or never. This is our season right here. We couldn't lose any more games. I called on everybody to step up and not to give them an inch, not to give them any chance to breathe and that's what we did."
After throwing a pair of interceptions in the first half, Peterson atoned in the second, completing 19 of 23 passes for 297 yards and 2 TDs. He drove the Eagles 87 yards from their 4 to the ND 4, completing 6 of 6 attempts for 76 yards, but came away empty-handed when Derek Landri blocked Ryan Ohliger's 22-yard field goal attempt.
After Fitzpatrick pinned the Eagles at their 8 with a career-long 67-yard punt, Peterson had BC on the march when he connected with Lester on a 50-yard pass to the ND 28. Three plays later, Peterson connected with Joel Hazard on a 21-yard TD strike to pull the Eagles within 20-14 with 3:53 left in the third quarter. Kiwanuka's 9-yard sack forced Notre Dame to punt, giving BC another opportunity when the Eagles marched 68 yards to the ND 4. BC, settled for a 21-yard field goal by Ohliger.
The Irish, however, expanded their lead to 23-17 with 2:51 to go when Fitzpatrick converted a 43-yard field goal.
"We were in our locker room at halftime and you could tell we were going to turn this thing around," Gonzalez said. "Everyone in the locker room was so excited and no one wanted to leave here with a loss. Everyone felt that we were going to leave here with a win." More important, they believed it, too. 