Rakes Report #203: It doesn't show signs of stopping and we brought some corn for popping (The Boston College Review)
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~optional musical accompaniment~
1) One of the more enjoyable traditions of the last few years has been not simply winning on Senior Day but doing so in a fashion that sends off frontline starters in style while allowing for an emptying of the bench in the final quarter. I am very pleased that Marcus Freeman continued that tradition in his first year at the helm, just as I’m happy he defeated Boston College for the ninth straight time, with a bunch of the recent margins being rather lopsided. This was circled as a potential trap game for all sorts of narrative reasons but when the actual football was played the only trap was Boston College immediately falling through the ice into a spike-lined pit. I hope they had a pleasant trip afterwards when they were shipped back to Boston after enjoying a day with a mix of sunshine and blinding snow that could only be described as aggressively Midwestern.
Congrats to the seniors, who were involved with a playoff run (or two, for the fifth years) earlier in their careers, saw that dream die eight days into the season and still held it together to put the Irish in a position to have a successful autumn. Even before those opening losses, Isaiah Foskey could have easily looked at the turbulence of last December and opted for the NFL, but he stayed, and became the school’s career sacks leader in his final home game. Same opportunity was available to Jarrett Patterson but he stayed as another anchor for the program’s transition, powering through an offseason injury and spearheading a dominant rushing attack in his campus farewell. And because we hope for consistent year-after-year excellence, it was fun to see some young players making impacts as well.
Considering the feelings about the season in the aftermath of Stanford, the joy provided by these last two home games would have been tough to imagine. I’m so jealous of everyone who was in attendance, two incredible scenes folks will carry with them forever. Your chances of winning a championship are slim in any given season, so if you’re doomed to fall short of that before September ends why not win as many games as you can, make a few memories and perhaps, to close things out, spoil the playoff hopes of your biggest rival?
2) Boston College had managed to find a little bit of success these last couple weeks with their passing game but they ran into a brick wall on Saturday, unable to crack 200 yards of total offense and earning an embarrassing seven first downs prior to their final garbage time drive. Zay Flowers had one big play but that was about it, with Cam Hart corralling him on a pair of short throws and Benjamin Morrison coming through with not one nor two but three more interceptions, his duo of November home games eclipsing the careers of most college defensive backs. Throw in the fumbles and you have to credit the Eagles for looking at Brian Mason’s success and insisting on not even attempting many punts. Chess, not checkers.
That’s the second straight Senior Day shutout following last year’s 55-0 blanking of Georgia Tech (love this Shitty ACC Team Invitational to close out the home slate) and now the Irish have held their opponents scoreless in seven of the last eight home quarters. Foskey getting the record in front of that crowd was such a fun moment, but my favorite takedown of an Eagles quarterback came on the blitz from Xavier Watts where he looked like a predator in a nature documentary. Jaylen Sneed tied for the team lead in tackles with his frenzied late-game effort, something that’s heartening for the long term. In all, two dozen players had at least one tackle, which is the kind of thing that happens when you’re absolutely annihilating a hapless opponent and sending them into an existential crisis about whether they need to fire their coach. Good work everyone.
3) On Notre Dame’s first eight offensive possessions, they scored. On their ninth, they failed to convert a fourth down inside the Boston College 10-yard-line. On their tenth and final opportunity with the ball, they finally engaged the Sot Protocol after a couple carries from freshman Gi'Bran Payne. An absolutely dominant performance from the moment Logan Diggs carried for 51 yards on the first snap of the game. More than once in the second half the Irish faced a third and long where they simply lined up and ran for it because they could. Audric Estime is up to 12 total touchdowns on the season (11 rushing) and Chris Tyree found the endzone as well, with the three tailbacks combining for 202 yards on just 19 carries in the first half, which is a pretty good per-attempt rate. A dominant day on the ground, with as successful a first half as you’ll see and then some romping through the elements in the second.
Tough to really evaluate the passing game considering the conditions and margin of victory for most of the afternoon, but Drew Pyne fell in between the poles we’ve seen him bounce off of over the course of the season. Deion Colzie remains a sort of Pyne whisperer, bringing out the best of him a time or two a game, and Jayden Thomas remains sturdy. Loved Tommy Rees drawing up a couple gimmick passes to get Michael Mayer to over 2,000 receiving yards for his career in his final game at Notre Dame Stadium and getting Matt Salerno a touchdown on his Senior Day. Enjoyed adding a wrinkle to the highly efficient Mitchell Evans package, and relieved Evans seems fine after he went down in the early going. Blake Grupe bounced back after a tough stretch, delivering repeatedly in the worst possible conditions.
This is as much about the special teams and defense as it is the offense, but the following stat remains bewildering to me: This is the first time Notre Dame has scored 35 or more points in five straight games since 1943. They have never crossed that mark in six straight, meaning if they can again go for 35 in the Coliseum — which they might need to do if they want to defeat the Trojans — this team will be alone in history. Weird!
4) Winning Is Hard/Schadenfreude Round Up: Boy, where to start. Tennessee just needed to beat South Carolina and Vanderbilt and they would have had a great shot at the first playoff bid in school history. Unfortunately for them they got absolutely trucked as three-touchdown favorites in Columbia, trailing 63-31 until a vanity touchdown in the final minutes. North Carolina’s playoff hopes were a little slimmer, but they could have talked themselves into contending for a bid if they ended up as 12-1 ACC Champions. They were three touchdown favorites at home against Georgia Tech and lost, ending those dreams. Tough day.
Michigan and TCU barely scraped out wins against Illinois and Baylor, needing late field goals, while Georgia struggled against Kentucky and Ohio State had issues with Maryland. Was not an inspiring day for the top of the polls. Other ranked losses: Utah at Oregon, Oklahoma State at Oklahoma and NC State at Louisville (Dave Doeren always finds his level). Florida got bowl eligible last week and didn't show up for their next game in Nashville, losing to Vanderbilt. If Clark Lea can pull the upset this weekend over a dispirited Rocky Top, he'll have the Commodores bowl eligible in his second season there, a real accomplishment.
Nebraska blew a fourth quarter lead to Wisconsin. Purdue struggled with Northwestern but pulled it out, meaning we are an Illinois win away from the Wildcats going 0-for-the-United-States. Sparty blew a big halftime lead against Indiana and now they need to win in Happy Valley to get bowl eligible. Matt Campbell lost another close game and the Cyclones will not be bowling. Liberty lost at home to Virginia Tech. Syracuse has lost five straight and now plays a sad finale against Boston College after a season that started so promisingly.
Getting this late in the season it’s healthy to share the work here so I’m turning over the close of this section to Friend of the Report Jessica Smetana, a Miami resident who is stuck hearing so much about Hurricane football for professional reasons that it could be classified as cruel and unusual punishment. Appreciate her contributions:
The funniest possible outcome for the final two weeks of the college football season would have been Texas A&M losing to UMass and then somehow beating LSU in the regular season finale. The Aggies were well on their way to fulfilling half of that prophecy with -3 yards rushing midway through the 2nd quarter against the 102nd ranked rushing defense in the country. Late touchdowns in the second and fourth quarters for A&M gave way to a very unsatisfying 20-3 victory over college football’s worst team.
Meanwhile in Clemson, Miami showed Tigers fans what a frustrating offense really looks like. The Hurricanes gained just 98 total yards to Clemson’s 447, in one of their more depressing outings of the season. (Which is saying a lot for a team that was also outgunned by Middle Tennessee earlier this fall.)
While we’re talking total yards, No. 14 Mississippi had 703 of them and still managed to lose badly to now bowl-eligible Arkansas. If the ND-Navy game upset you, it could have been worse. Navy upset No. 20 UCF while attempting one (1) single pass — which went incomplete — and rushing for 248 yards.
5) To close the book on Boston College, the Eagles have not defeated Notre Dame since George W. Bush was in the White House – a long time! Jeff Hafley was riding high after his first season there but despite the best efforts of some favorable coverage fans are already calling for a change. The Irish have again rocked around the ACC, continuing their dominance of the conference. As a final general rule, if no one is asking for you to give a statement, you really should never issue one on your Instagram.
Beating Southern Cal is going to be tough. It’s possible, absolutely, but Caleb Williams is a potential Heisman winner and future number one overall pick, meaning the gap at quarterback is somewhat wide. There’s no margin for error here on offense, because the Irish are going to have to score: It has to be Good Pyne, it has to be Good Plays only from Tommy and the offensive line has to play at a Clemson-level of dominance and not slip at all. This is a Trojan defense that hasn’t been efficient on a play-to-play basis but has had a knack for turnovers, so it’ll have to be a clean game from Pyne and the tailbacks. The Irish defense acquitted itself well against two really good offenses earlier this season and they’re playing at a very high level, but Williams plus a healthy Jordan Addison is as nasty as a combo as you’ll see.
This season has been what it needed to be: Played better at the end than at the beginning, maintained momentum in recruiting and gave Irish fans something to dream about going forward. There were disappointments, certainly, but also some high points and no real signs of systemic issues. But what I would like, very much, is to send a resounding statement to close things out: Beat SC. Take their chances at a playoff bid away like in 2017. Stake a claim to the first win in the Freeman/Riley rivalry.* Secure a likely Top 15 finish in the final poll. Give yourself a chance at a Top 10 finish and 10-win season.
* Chances of the losing team’s fans saying “Okay, good job, but wait until our coach has his full roster in place” are 100%.
Gonna be tough, but tough isn’t impossible. Be the more physical team. Take advantage of being the side that can play looser. Steal this one and go into the offseason on the highest possible note.
One more game. Go Irish. Beat Trojans. Happy Thanksgiving.
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