Nolan James Jr. brings a nine-game touchdown streak into today’s matchup with Boston College, and that’s only part of the momentum Notre Dame is carrying into Notre Dame Stadium. The Irish also come in off a win over No. 1 Miami, a result that put Marcus Freeman in a very small club: he became the seventh Notre Dame head coach to beat the nation’s top-ranked team.
Boston College, meanwhile, arrives at 4-5 with a series history that has swung hard in Notre Dame’s direction. The Irish and Eagles were tied 9-9 at one point, but Notre Dame has since taken control and now leads the all-time series 19-9.
The Irish are chasing their 11th straight win over Boston College, though several recent meetings have been tight, including 20-16 in 2009, 16-14 in 2011, 19-16 in 2015 and 25-10 last year. Notre Dame is a 29½-point favorite, with rain possible in South Bend.
The streaks around this team are everywhere. Notre Dame has won 12 straight games in November under Freeman and is 15-2 in the month overall during his tenure, including 8-0 at Notre Dame Stadium.
The Irish have also scored at least 24 points in 21 straight games, a program record, and at least 20 points in 35 consecutive games, another program best. Against ACC opponents at home, Notre Dame has won 26 straight, and it will be going for No. 27 against Boston College.
The offense has been efficient in another way, too: Notre Dame has gone six consecutive games without allowing a sack of CJ Carr. Irish quarterbacks have thrown 287 passes and been sacked only twice.
Carr has now thrown 172 straight passes without an interception, with the last pick coming against Purdue on the first drive of the second half in Game 4. He also posted 319 passing yards against Miami last weekend, his first 300-yard game of the 2026 season and the third of his career.
Notre Dame’s turnover edge has been a major part of the story. The Irish are plus-16, second-best in the country behind New Mexico’s plus-18.
They’ve also been hard to crack on the ground, allowing just four rushing touchdowns all season. No running back has scored a rushing touchdown against Notre Dame this year; the four scores allowed have come from Michigan State QB-C am Fancher, BYU QB-Bear Bachmeier and Navy QB-Jackson Gutierrez.
A few individual numbers stand out from last week’s win over Miami. WR-Micah Gilbert caught nine passes for 98 yards and scored two touchdowns, both career highs in the 31-24 victory over the top-ranked Hurricanes.
LB-Kyngstonn Viliamu-Asa made his first start of the year in that game, his fourth start overall. S-Luke Talich, who has started just seven games in his four-year Notre Dame career, all this season, already has seven career interceptions after picking off Miami in the second half.
There’s also a shakeup in the starting lineup today. With LB-Drayk Bowen out with a right foot injury, his streak of 36 consecutive starts ended.
Against Boston College, S-Adon Shuler and OG-Anthonie Knapp are expected to start, which would be Shuler’s 38th career start and Knapp’s 37th. NB-Christian Gray is also expected to start for the 33rd time in his college career.
Freeman’s win over Miami also added another line to Notre Dame’s history against No. 1 teams. The Irish have 10 victories over the top-ranked team at the time of the game, and the list includes Miami in 2026, Clemson in 2020, Florida State in 1993, Colorado in 1990, Miami in 1988, Pittsburgh in 1982, Texas in 1977, Alabama in 1973, Texas in 1970 and Northwestern in 1936.
The program’s history at the top is unusual in one more way. There were no polls during Knute Rockne’s tenure, and Frank Leahy, despite winning four national titles, never beat a No. 1 team.
Leahy did tie No. 1 Army in 1946 and lost to No.
1 Michigan State in 1952.
In Other News...
Boston College Fans Witnessed A Notre Dame Moment Bigger Than The Game
Dan Hicks had become such a steady presence on Notre Dame broadcasts that his absence was impossible to miss during Saturdays home game against Boston College. Jason Benetti stepped in on NBC and handled play-by-play in Hicks place, a notable change for a booth that Irish fans have associated with Hicks since 2013, when he became the lead voice for Notre Dame home games.
The moment carried extra weight because Hicks died unexpectedly at 64 following an acute illness, ending a long NBC career that stretched back to 1992. Benetti paid tribute to Hicks during the broadcast, turning what might have been a routine substitution into something more reflective, and a reminder that sometimes the most memorable part of a game day has little to do with the scoreboard. [Read more 🡒]
Notre Dames Defense Has One Worry Fans Cant Ignore After BYU
Notre Dames defense looked like two different units in its first two major tests, and the contrast was hard to miss. Against Miami, the Irish got the kind of quarterback pressure defensive coordinator Chris Ash wants from his group, and that disruption helped tilt the game their way. It was the cleaner version of the plan, the one that showed how effective the front can be when it gets home and forces the issue.
BYU, though, made the conversation a little more complicated. The pressure did not show up as consistently, and head coach Marcus Freeman pointed to execution and control as the areas that needed attention during that game. The bigger question now is whether Ash keeps leaning on the same aggressive approach or adjusts it as Notre Dame moves deeper into the schedule, because the answer could shape how steady this defense looks from here. [Read more 🡒]
Boston College Faces A Brutal Notre Dame Test With Plenty At Stake
Boston College heads into South Bend carrying the burden of a two-game losing streak, and the challenge waiting there is about as steep as it gets in November. The Eagles are 4-5 and trying to steady themselves against a No. 3 Notre Dame team that has won two straight and has been one of the sports most consistent contenders this season.
For the Irish, this is the kind of late-season matchup that can keep the playoff conversation moving in the right direction, especially with the regular season winding down and the margin for error shrinking. Boston College will bring its captains, recent results and roster into a setting where Notre Dame has every reason to protect its standing, but the bigger question is whether the Eagles can turn a difficult trip into something more than just another test. [Read more 🡒]