Notre Dame football emerged from Week 10 of the 2025-26 season with a 25-10 over Boston College. This victory places the team at 6-2 overall heading into the first release of College Football Playoff rankings.
Most of the fanbase expected this game to be an uneventful box to check off before seeing what the Committee is thinking. Alas, it was more “exciting” than any of us hoped for.
Now to the numbers.
Scoring Context
The differential for the Boston College game was +15, on the lower end of ND’s differentials in wins this season. The floor was +10 last week against USC. This outing was the second lowest scoring for the Irish, with the low being 24 points put up against now floundering Miami (FL) in the season opener. But it was another particularly low scoring game for opponents and Boston College finished the matchup with only 10 points on the scoreboard.
Total Offense
Through Week 10, Notre Dame’s offense is averaging 459 yards of overall production. And they hit right at that mark with 458 yards of total offense against Boston College. They had a slightly more efficient offense game than in recent outings with 8.3 yards gained per play. The best efficiency comparisons this season came against Purdue (8.5) and Arkansas (8.9).
Passing Context
Notre Dame’s passing attack made a big improvement from last week’s off game against USC. In Week 8, the Irish put up only 136 yards through the air but tallied up 299 against Boston College. And in some more statistical weirdness, they were right at the season passing yard average of 299.
CJ Carr completed 18 of his 25 attempts for a 72% completion rate. The stats for the team overall was 18 for 26 and a 69% completion rate.
Receivers
Wide receivers Jordan Faison and Will Pauling, along with running back Jeremiyah Love, led the team with four receptions a-piece. Faison finished the game with 82 yards and an average of 20 yards per catch. Will Pauling recorded 73 yards through the air and one touchdown.
Tight end Eli Raridon and borderline tight end (from a physical size perspective) Malachi Fields also made size-able contributions. Raridon finished the Boston College game with three catches for 59 yards and Fields had 52 yards and one touchdown.
Rushing Context
Notre Dame dropped off in its utilization of the rushing game when compared to recent matchups. The team recorded 29 rush attempts, and the season low was 28 in the Miami (FL) game. Through Week 10 they’re averaging 188 yards on the ground, and the stat was 159 rushing yards against Boston College. It was a pretty solid game from an efficiency standpoint, and the Irish averaged 5.5 yards per carry.
Rushers
Jeremiyah Love presents us with another outstanding rushing performance. He recorded 17 carries for 136 yards and averaged 8 yards per carry against Boston College. Love was also responsible for both of the Irish’s touchdowns earned on the ground. Jadarian Price finished with nine rush attempts for 12 yards and CJ Carr got the same production for his two rush attempts.
Defense: Passing Context
Boston College threw the football 45 times against Notre Dame, a season high for opponents so far. They completed 30 of those passes for an impressive 67% completion rate. They finished with 269 total passing yards, placing them roughly in the middle of the pack for ND opponents. One of the mist important stats in this area, though, is Notre Dame defense’s three interceptions. Freshman safety and Indiana native Tae Johnson continues to improve and walked away with two of those picks. Sophomore safety Adon Shuler nabbed the team’s other interception against Boston College.
Defense: Rushing Context
The Irish defense had a phenomenal day up front. They held Boston College to a net 12 rushing yards and an abysmal average of 0.4 yards per carry. An opposing team hasn’t rushed for more than 100 yards against Notre Dame since the Arkansas game and the average rushing yards allowed through Week 10 is 90.
Defense: Impactful Plays
Notre Dame’s defense put up some pretty impressive impact stats against Boston College. As a unit, they finished the game with six sacks, 12 tackles for loss and seven pass deflections.
The linebackers played a big role in this area. Kyngstonn Viliamu-Asa recorded 1.5 sacks and 2.5 tackles for loss, Drayk Bowen finished with one sack, two tackles for loss and one pass deflection. Jaylen Sneed recorded one sack and one tackle for loss.
Final Thoughts
The ESPN-YouTube TV “thing” ruined my CFB Saturday way more than the Irish’s performance against BC.
Notre Dame looked good in all of the major stat categories. And despite some early struggles they still finished with a +15 victory. I’m very curious to see what the CFP Committee has to say about things but I’m not particularly worried about how they’ll evaluate ND. A bunch of big-time programs are either already on fire or quickly heading in that direction. Things have gotten sticky for Notre Dame at some points along the way but this team is looking to be one of the most stable going into Week 11.
