No. 18 Notre Dame scored on its first eight drives and cruised to a 44-0 win over visiting Boston College on a snowy Saturday in nonconference action at South Bend, Ind.
Audric Estime rushed for two touchdowns and Logan Diggs had a team-high 122 yards and a score on 15 carries, leading the Fighting Irish (8-3) to their fifth straight triumph.
Notre Dame finished with a 437-173 advantage in total yards. The count was 336-81, including 214-1 on the ground, in the first half.
Freshman cornerback Benjamin Morrison intercepted three of BC quarterback Emmett Morehead’s passes. Isaiah Foskey became Notre Dame’s all-time sacks leader, taking down Morehead for his 25th to end the opening half.
Quarterback Drew Pyne went 13 of 25 for 156 yards and one touchdown.
For BC (3-8), which has lost five of six, Zay Flowers had 46 receiving yards and Alex Broome rushed for 25. Morehead ended 9-for-22 for 117 yards and was sacked four times as the Eagles turned the ball over five times.
On defense, Vinny DePalma had a game-high 12 tackles.
After Diggs ran for 51 yards on the opening play from scrimmage, the Irish got stopped in the red zone and settled for Blake Grupe’s 26-yard field goal.
It was 10-0 in less than three minutes. Morrison picked off Morehead to end the Eagles’ first series prematurely, leading to a Diggs 1-yard score on his fifth consecutive carry.
An eight-play, 81-yard drive resulted in the second straight Notre Dame touchdown and a 17-0 lead. Pyne went 6-of-7 on a drive that finished with a 1-yard TD to Matt Salerno with 4:15 left in the first.
BC’s Donovan Ezeiruaku broke up a third-down pass, holding Notre Dame to a 41-yard field goal to begin the second quarter.
Grupe was called upon again at 8:27 before halftime, hitting from 46 after a penalty and Pyne’s scamper coming up short of a first down.
Estime (7 yards) and Chris Tyree (12) rushed for TDs in the final 3:04 of the first half.
Aside from two of Morrison’s interceptions, BC fumbled twice and punted twice in the first half.
Following another Morrison pick, Estime ran to the left for a 6-yard score with 8:54 to play in the third.
–Field Level Media
