Report card: Grading Notre Dame football in Irish win over Boston College

Notre Dame had no trouble taking care of Boston College, 44-0, in snowy South Bend on Saturday. Here are BlueandGold.com’s grades of the Irish in their blowout victory.

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Notre Dame Passing Offense: B

The numbers aren’t incredible; junior quarterback Drew Pyne was 13-of-25 for 156 yards and 1 touchdown. He did not throw an interception, though, which is objective No. 1 for the backup-turned-starter. He also spread the ball around to six different receiving targets.

Junior tight end Michael Mayer led the way with 5 catches for 64 yards. Former walk-on Matt Salerno caught the first touchdown pass of his career. Sophomore wideout Deion Colzie moved the chains on third down, which has become a good trend for the blue and gold.

You’d have liked to have seen a better completion percentage than 57.7%, but completing 6-of-7 passes for 77 yards on the drive that ended in the Salerno score was a positive stretch. When the Irish are running the ball well, they really only need one drive like that per game from Pyne. They got it vs. the Eagles.

Notre Dame Rushing Offense: A+

Now that was more like it.

After getting shut down for less than 100 yards for just the second time this season vs. Navy, the Notre Dame ground game got back on track for 281 yards and 4 touchdowns vs. Boston College. Sophomore running back Logan Diggs did the heavy lifting with 15 carries for 122 yards and a score. Sophomore Audric Estimé carried 11 times for 71 yards and 2 TDs. Junior Chris Tyree had 6 rushes for 50 yards and 1 TD. Even sophomore wide receiver Lorenzo Styles had 2 rushes for 27 yards.

The Eagles’ defensive front was no match for the Notre Dame offense line. The Irish committed itself to running the ball once again. They were able to do so 38 times for 7.4 yards per carry. It helps when the first tote of the game is a 51-yard scamper by Diggs.

That set the tone. And the Irish did not stop churning.

Notre Dame Passing Defense: A+

Have a day, Benjamin Morrison.

The freshman cornerback intercepted three of Boston College redshirt freshman Emmett Morehead’s passes. His first set up the Notre Dame offense on the 20. The Irish turned it into 7 points. They turned the other two INTs into 10 points. Morrison had a hand in three scores for the Irish.

Morehead was 9-of-22 for 117 yards. The Irish sacked him 4 times for a loss of 33 yards. Senior wide receiver Zay Flowers had 3 catches for 46 yards. Any secondary facing a player of his caliber would take that. It was an outstanding day for the Irish passing defense.

Notre Dame Rushing Defense: A+

It was an even better day for the Irish rushing defense.

The Eagles were credited with 36 rushes for 56 yards including sacks. Without them, they still only ran 32 times for 89 yards. That’s 2.8 yards per carry. The Eagles did not have a rushing play go for more than 8 yards. Even without graduate student Jayson Ademilola in the lineup, Notre Dame won the war in the trenches. Boston College had no room to run.

Notre Dame Special Teams: B+

The streak snapped. Notre Dame did not block a punt. Freshman kickoff specialist Zac Yoakam only had 4 touchbacks on 9 kicks in the blustery South Bend weather, too. He kicked the ball out of bounds twice.

Graduate student punter Jon Sot’s lone boot went for 41 yards into the wind. Salerno had a 28-yard punt return, Notre Dame’s longest of the season. It set the Irish up across midfield. Notre Dame scored a touchdown on the ensuing drive.

The special teams MVP was graduate student Blake Grupe, who made all three of his field goal attempts from 26, 41 and 46 yards away.

Blocked punts aren’t entirely necessary for a solid day of special teams.

Notre Dame Coaching: A

No letdowns.

Hand it to head coach Marcus Freeman and the coaching staff. Notre Dame was once again ready to play from the start in jumping out to a 17-0 first-quarter lead and a 37-0 halftime advantage. The Irish covered a touchdown-plus point spread for the first time in six tries this season.

Freeman said the pregame messaging centered on owning the moment and leaving no doubt. Notre Dame did that in a big way and was rewarded handsomely for it.