Boston College Eagles vs Notre Dame Fighting Irish Match Player Stats On Nov 21, 2015

The Sports Xchange
Nov 21, 2015

BOSTON -- Fourth-ranked Notre Dame didn't score any style points but did win another football game on Saturday - and they did it at sold-out Fenway Park.

On a day that saw No. 3 Ohio State lose, the Fighting Irish (10-1) fumbled, stumbled and bumbled their way to an unimpressive 19-16 victory over Boston College.

The Irish turned the ball over five times and also recovered four other fumbles, lost the ball three times in the red zone, and botched an extra point - all in the first three quarters. The Eagles (3-8) made noise late but still dropped their seventh straight.

It was the first football game played at Fenway since the Boston Patriots beat the Cincinnati Bengals 33-14 on Dec. 1, 1968. ND was actually the home team in the Shamrock Series contest.

DeShone Kizer threw two touchdown passes and three picks in leading the shaky Irish offense with wide receivers Amir Carlisle and Chris Brown catching the TD passes.

Justin Yoon kicked 30- and 35-yard field goals for the other points for ND, which had four turnovers at Clemson in its only loss and came in with 12 on the season in 10 games.

BC freshman Colton Lichtenberg kicked a 43-yard field goal that made it 10-3 in the third quarter - Lichtenberg's first college field goal in four tries.

Freshman quarterback Jeff Smith, who entered the game in the third quarter, sprinted 80 yards for a fourth-quarter touchdown, but BC then took a delay of game penalty that led to a two-point conversion failure.

BC freshman walk-on quarterback John Fadule started, left and played again late but left to undergo concussion protocol. Smith threw a 3-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Charlie Callinan with 54 seconds left, but ND recovered the ensuing onside kick.

Kizer finished 20 of 38 for 320 yards, with Carlisle catching seven for 97 yards and Brown six for 104.

Fadule was 7 of 16 for 64 yards and Smith 5 of 6 for 24, while Smith rushed for 100 yards and Fadule 64.

ND running back CJ Prosise cleared the 1,000-yard mark for the season with a 31-yard run in the first half but left the game soon after with an ankle injury and didn't return.

It was ND's fifth win over an ACC team this year, a record for the Irish over any conference in a season. The Irish finish their regular season at Stanford next Saturday.

The game was a homecoming for ND coach Brian Kelly, who was born in nearby Everett.

BC safety Justin Simmons had two interceptions and forced and recovered a fumble.

The Irish did what they could to hold the Eagles in the game early, but still took a 10-0 lead in the first quarter.

Notre Dame took advantage of a dreadful opening kickoff and got a 31-yard run by Prosise and a pass interference call in the end zone to get down to the BC 7. But John Johnson intercepted Kizer's pass in the end zone.

Following a BC punt, Notre Dame got the ball down to the BC 13 but had to settle for a 30-yard field goal from Justin Yoon, who attended high school nearby.

Notre Dame fumbled the ball away on its next possession but got the ball back when BC failed on a fake punt. This time, Joon's 44-yard field goal attempt hit the right upright but BC roughed the kicker, the drive continued and Carlisle caught a flanker screen and used a nifty move to score.

The yardage after the first quarter was 152-26.

Notre Dame was at the BC 4 after Sherman Alston muffed a punt, but freshman running back Josh Adams fumbled the ball back to BC. The Irish got the ball back and Kizer threw another interception.

At the half, the yardage was 193-91 but Notre Dame had fumbled four times - losing two - and thrown two picks.

NOTES: Red Sox great David Ortiz offered his Fenway Park locker to Notre Dame WR Torii Hunter Jr. and, with Ortiz's locker wider than others, the son of the retiring baseball player shared the space with fellow WR Will Fuller. Hunter Jr. vowed to jump over the wall and into the Red Sox bullpen if he scored a touchdown in that end zone -- the back of the end zone close to the wall -- in honor of his dad going over the wall on an Ortiz playoff homer. Hunter Sr. was at the game. ... With this being a matchup of the only Catholic schools playing FBS football, security was predictably tight. ... BC ends its season at Syracuse next week and opens 2016 against Georgia Tech in Dublin, Ireland. ... A moment of silence was held for Doug Flutie's parents, who passed away within an hour of each other on Thursday. Doug Flutie worked the game as a TV analyst.