Notre Dame @ Boston College preview

Last Meeting ( Oct 24, 2009 ) Boston College 16, Notre Dame 20

Boston College can even its alltime series with Notre Dame when the Fighting Irish invade Chestnut Hill Saturday night.

Notre Dame leads 10-9 after squeaking out a 20-16 win last year. The series began in 1975 and matches the only Catholic universities in the FBS.

Notre Dame fell to 1-3 under new coach Brian Kelly last week, getting demolished at home 37-14 by Stanford. Boston College, 2-1 under second-year coach Frank Spaziani, was shut out at home by Virginia Tech 19-0.

Kelly’s spread offense stumbled against a Cardinal defense that rushed three down linemen and dropped eight defenders into coverage.

The Irish somehow managed only 44 yards rushing, but Dane Crist hit 25 of 44 throws for 307 yards. Much of that yardage, however, came in garbage time. Meanwhile, the Irish defense was shredded by Stanford quarterback Andrew Luck. Notre Dame is giving up 28 points and 434 yards per game.

The Eagles opened with wins over Weber State and Kent State but couldn't mount any offense last week against Virginia Tech. Not surprisingly, Spaziani has decided to bench Dave Shinskie, who has completed barely half his throws and tossed four interceptions.

Saturday's starter won’t be announced until gametime, but the candidates are sophomore Mike Marscovetra and true freshman Chase Rettig. Marscovetra was Shinskie’s backup last fall while Rettig enrolled this past January.

Junior Montel Harris leads the Eagles and the ACC in rushing with 306 yards. He ran for 1,457 yards on 308 carries last season.

The Eagles likely will need a big game by Harris to keep up with Notre Dame's passing attack. Boston College ranks 84th nationally in pass defense.