Wearing the green, Irish's Luck Runs Out - Associated Press 11/2/02

SOUTH BEND, Ind. - Notre Dame pushed its luck too far.

After seeing a stadium full of green "Return to Glory" T-shirts this season, the Fighting Irish decided earlier in the week to join the party. It wasn't a good idea.

Wearing green jerseys at home for the first time in 17 years, No. 4 Notre Dame fumbled away a perfect season with a 14-7 loss to Boston College yesterday.

"I thought it was a good way to encourage our fans in our sea of green we have been talking about," coach Tyrone Willingham said after his first loss at Notre Dame. "It's important, because it talks about an attitude, about the Notre Dame family coming together as one."

Instead, the Fighting Irish fell apart, and the green jerseys motivated the Eagles instead.

"It felt like they didn't respect us," BC defensive end Mathias Kiwanuka said. "They thought they could come out and do anything; they didn't have to prepare the way they did other games."

Maybe he was right. A model of efficiency in winning their first eight games, the Fighting Irish lost three of their seven fumbles, and backup Pat Dillingham threw two interceptions. One was returned 71 yards for a touchdown by linebacker Jason Ott.

"I was thinking, 'Don't trip, don't trip,' " Ott said. "The trick is to always be around the ball."

Notre Dame (8-1) entered the game confident it had indeed returned to its glory years after a big win at Florida State last week. But the Irish gave the ball away all day, and the Eagles (5-3) gladly took advantage, scoring both touchdowns courtesy of first-half turnovers.

"We killed ourselves putting the ball on the ground," center Jeff Faine said. "When you keep shooting yourself in the foot, it's tough to win."

Notre Dame held BC to 184 yards and nine first downs, but the Irish could not overcome mistakes. Dillingham replaced Carlyle Holiday for the second quarter when the starter went out feeling "woozy" after a hit.

The bitter loss conjured memories of the 1993 season, when unbeaten Notre Dame defeated Florida State and became No. 1, then lost the next week to Boston College in the final game of the regular season.

The Fighting Irish were having their best season since 1993 before running into the Eagles, who ended a 23-game regular-season losing streak against Top 25 teams. It was BC's first win over a top 10 team since beating No. 8 Notre Dame in 1994.

While Notre Dame was all but eliminated from national title contention, the Fighting Irish probably can earn a berth in a BCS bowl game if they close out the season with wins.

Derrick Knight, who had 129 yards on 26 carries, ran 3 yards for a first-quarter touchdown, five plays after Ott recovered a fumble by tailback Ryan Grant.

The clincher came when Dillingham threw a shovel pass right to Ott, who caught the ball in stride and ran untouched for the score with 4:03 left in the half.

Notre Dame, with an offense ranked 109th among 117 Division I-A teams, finally scored with 2:25 left when Holiday threw a 20-yard touchdown to Maurice Stovall.

The Irish did not try an onside kick but got the ball back at their 24 with 12 seconds remaining. After a holding penalty knocked eight seconds off the clock, Holiday's final desperation pass was batted down at the BC 37 as the Eagles rushed the field.

Several players tore up chunks of grass from the end zone, just as they did after a 1999 win here.

The Irish lost the last time they wore green - 35-28 to Georgia Tech in the 1999 Gator Bowl. The last time Notre Dame came out wearing green at home was Oct. 26, 1985, when the players changed from blue to green jerseys at halftime of a 37-3 win over Southern Cal.

With such a poor past against BC in big games, Willingham believed the time was right to wear green. BC coach Tom O'Brien saw the move as a compliment.

"The guys were excited when they saw the green jerseys," O'Brien said after his biggest win in six years at BC. "They took it as a great sign of respect that we made it ... that they needed the green jerseys to beat us."