The Holy War Comes Home: No. 5 Notre Dame Puts Its Miami Momentum on the Line Against Boston College

One week after the biggest win of its season, Notre Dame comes home Saturday to a rivalry that has always been about more than football. The Fighting Irish host Boston College at 3:30 p.m. Eastern at Notre Dame Stadium, with the game on NBC and Peacock, in the 29th meeting of the series known as the Holy War.

The two schools are the most prominent Catholic universities playing major college football, and the student newspaper serving Notre Dame and Saint Mary's devoted a feature this week to the shared faith and history that tie the programs together. Notre Dame enters 8-1 and Boston College 4-5, according to game previews, and the Irish are chasing an 11th straight win over the Eagles.

The reason the whole country is watching South Bend is what happened last Saturday. Notre Dame, ranked 11th by the College Football Playoff committee at the time, beat No. 1 and previously unbeaten Miami 31-24 on November 7, and Yahoo Sports' account of the game singled out Luke Talich as the Irish player who saved the day.

Quarterback CJ Carr was the engine. He completed 29 of 40 passes for 319 yards and three touchdowns against the Hurricanes, and Athlon Sports reported that Notre Dame followed the win by announcing Carr as a semifinalist for the Walter Camp Player of the Year award.

The selection committee took notice. In its second set of rankings, the committee moved the Irish up six spots to No. 5, with Georgia taking over the top spot, Fox News' OutKick reported. Previews of Saturday's game list Notre Dame at No. 3 in the AP poll.

On paper, the Eagles look like a team the Irish should handle. But Boston College has a quarterback who can make a defense pay for one missed assignment. Previews describe Mason McKenzie as a true dual-threat who has carried the ball 145 times this season, a workload that puts pressure on linebackers and safeties to stay disciplined for four quarters.

That matters because the Irish defense has been patched together. Before the Miami game, Notre Dame ruled out linebacker and captain Drayk Brown, safety Brauntae Johnson and cornerback DJ McKinney with injuries, according to One Foot Down. Coach Marcus Freeman's staff has had to lean on depth, and a mobile quarterback is exactly the kind of opponent that tests a reshuffled back seven.

There is also the calendar. Big wins are followed by quiet weeks, and quiet weeks are where seasons get lost. Every coach in America preaches it, and Notre Dame fans of a certain age do not need the lesson. The Irish have won 10 straight in this series, but this rivalry has a long history of its own, and the Eagles will arrive with nothing to lose and a chance to wreck a playoff resume.

I love this game because it reminds us what college football can be. Two universities founded on the same faith, built by priests and generations of families who passed their loyalty down like an heirloom, meeting in late autumn with prayers said in both locker rooms. That is the kind of tradition no conference realignment or television contract can manufacture.

For Notre Dame, the task is simple to say and hard to do: treat Boston College like Miami. The Irish did not climb from 11th to fifth by accident. They did it by winning the biggest game on their schedule, and now they have to show the committee that the Miami performance was the standard and not a peak. A sloppy first half against a 4-5 team would invite exactly the kind of doubt that dogged them when the committee first slotted them outside the top 10.

Carr has earned the attention, and the national awards talk will follow him into this game. But the quarterback who wins a Holy War in November is usually the one who protects the football and lets his defense do the rest. If the Irish keep McKenzie in front of them, avoid turnovers and play with the same edge they had against the Hurricanes, they should be 9-1 by dinnertime and still firmly in the hunt for a home playoff game or better.

For Boston College, there is no better chance to turn a season around than an afternoon against the Irish on network television. Upsets in this rivalry have defined careers before. The Eagles will believe they can write another chapter.

Kickoff is set for 3:30 p.m. Eastern. Whatever the scoreboard says, it will be worth remembering that the best rivalries in this sport are the ones where both sides still kneel in the same pews when it is over.