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  • This Oct. 20 file photo shows Notre Dame coach Brian Kelly checking the replay screen during the first half of an NCAA college football game against Brigham Young in South Bend. THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

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November 10, 2012

NOTRE DAME FOOTBALL: Boston College has been spoiler

Eagles have derailed Irish’s national title hopes twice before

By JIMMY GOLEN Associated Press

BOSTON — There’s plenty of football history to talk about at Notre Dame, an eight-time Associated Press national champion that is once again undefeated and trying to peek its way into the NCAA title discussion.

One subject they try to stay away from: The rivalry with Boston College.

The only other Catholic school playing in the FBS, Boston College has twice spoiled Notre Dame’s unbeaten seasons and eliminated it from the national championship chase. Now, the Fighting Irish (9-0) are heading to Chestnut Hill and hoping to avoid another upset that would destroy their very outside chance at an NCAA title.

“I’m starting to hear about it,” nose guard Louis Nix III said this week as the Fighting Irish prepared for the game known locally as “The Holy War.” ‘’A lot of people saying, ‘Blah, blah, blah. BC is going to come in,’ and we might lose. I guess because 20 years ago they beat us when we were undefeated, which I don’t see what that has to do with now.”

Notre Dame has finished first eight times since the AP poll began ranking teams in 1936. This year, the Irish are No. 4 heading into Saturday night’s game, and they would likely need two of the other unbeaten teams — Alabama, Oregon and Kansas State — to lose in order to claim a spot in the BCS title game.

Of course, the Irish would also need to win out, and that starts with a victory against a Boston College (2-7) team that is having its worst season in more than two decades. But the Eagles have always posed problems for their Catholic rivals, beating them six straight times from 2001-08.

That streak included a 2002 win over a fourth-ranked and unbeaten Notre Dame team. In 1993, 17th-ranked BC beat the No. 1 Irish 41-39 on a field goal as time expired.

“I didn’t know that,” Kelly joked with reporters this week. “But I do now, and I’ll put that in the history bank of more information that I have that I won’t use.”

One Notre Dame player who is already familiar with the history is center Braxston Cave, who grew up as a Notre Dame fan in nearby Mishawaka, Ind., and is named after former Notre Dame fullback Braxston Banks. He said that when Boston College ended Notre Dame’s 8-0 start in 2002 he was so angry he threw something through a window.

“I remember watching it as a kid, the upset,” he said. “But it’s a new team, new players, and we’re going out there and get things done.”

Banks doesn’t hear much about it these days, except when fans bring it up on Twitter or when he hears the comments from people in Boston.

“There’s a lot of name-calling that goes back with Notre Dame and Boston College,” he said. “(It’s) mostly among fans. But a lot of guys, especially BC, look forward to playing Notre Dame because we’re just one of those teams on their schedule.”

 

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