After a very lackluster win last week, Notre Dame faces a Boston College team that is only 3-7 but is rated the best defensive team in the country. I'm calling tonight's game a "trap game" for the Irish.

ND, as stated many times in the past few weeks, must win out to get into the national championship tournament. Despite the win over Wake Forest, a team that was 3-6 entering the game, the Irish were outplayed as Wake Forest finished with better stats on offense and defense. The good news is that ND remained fourth in the championship rakings.The thing that was noticed the most from writers who covered the game and by this writer, was the fact that Notre Dame showed little or no emotion despite the fact it was the last home game in South Bend for 27 seniors. But lack of emotion and sometimes lack of motivation is becoming a trademark for Brian Kelly coached teams. A bad trademark.ND is all business and you can't fault that approach. But sometimes more emotion is needed and the Irish have not always displayed that. I feel emotion is needed in a championship run and ND must display it, especially in the final two regular season games. Emotion only showed up in spurts last week.Kelly said he wants the Irish to play more aggressively tonight as the Eagles are far from a pushover.ND's potent offense was held in check by Wake. Quarterback DeShone Kizer had his worst game since he took over that position late against Virginia. Kizer had 30 yards on 13 carries, with his seventh and eighth rushing touchdowns. He threw for 111 yards on 13 of 19 passing. The plus is the Irish went turnover-free in the game for the 19th time for a Kelly coached squad.ND needed a TD drive in the fourth quarter to preserve the win over the underdog Demon Deacons. Take Josh Adams' 98 yard TD run out of the equation and you can see why that late score was the difference between an upset loss and so-so win.There were a lot of lows in the game for the Irish. They ran a season-low 49 offensive plays and had a season-low 282 yards against a freshman/sophomore-laden Wake team that came in ranked 32nd nationally in total defense. Also, ND's defense, time and again, allowed Wake to rack up yardage and keep drives alive despite the fact that the Deacons were ranked among college football's worst in rush offense.I hope last week's game was a wakeup call for the Irish and Kelly. ND must not only win tonight, but has to do it with authority and dominate the game. Next week the Irish travel to dangerous Stanford, an 8-2 team that was in the title mix until last week's loss to Oregon.As we noted the Irish face a BC team that is primed to upset the Irish in historic Fenway Park in Boston. The game is the seventh installment of the Shamrock Series, a ND home game away from South Bend.The Eagles are led by quarterback Troy Flutie, who has completed 24 of 48 passes for three scores this season. BC has also used John Fadule (31-for-51, one TD) at the QB spot. The top rusher is Tyler Roase with 342 yards on 70 carries and five TDs and Jeff Smith, 311 on 53 and five scores. Top receivers are Thadd Smith 216 yards on 13 catches and two TDs and Charles Callingan, 175 yards on 11 catches and one TD.Boston College has wins over Maine, 24-3; Howard, 76-0; and Northern Illinois, 17-14. The losses have been to Florida State, 14-0; Duke, 9-7; Wake Forest, 3-0; Clemson, 34-17; Louisville, 17-14; Virginia Tech, 26-10; and North Carolina State, 24-8. The Eagles are coached by Steve Addazio, in his third year. He was once an assistant coach at ND.A important note about the TV coverage. This is the first time in the 25-year marriage between NBC-TV and ND that an Irish home game will not be on the main network. The game will be televised on the NBC Sports Network with a 7:40 p.m. kickoff. The NBC Sports Network can be found at dial position 75 on Blue Ridge Cable and dial position 29 on Service Electric Cable.IRISH NOTES ... Adams finished the game with 141 yards on 17 rushes and a score. Starter C.J. Prosise missed the game due to a concussion in the Pitt game. He took part in pre-game warmups but it was decided to hold him out. He will play tonight. Speaking of Prosise he is one of 12 semifinalists for the Doak Walker award, given annually to the nation's top running back. Three finalists for the award will be named on Nov. 24, with the winner unveiled on Dec. 10. He needs only 25 yards tonight to reach 1,000 for the season ... Will Fuller caught just three passes for 37 yards; Chris Brown three for 27; and Torii Hunter Jr., two for 22 ... Defensively Jaylon Smith had an outstanding final game in ND stadium with 14 tackles. Backing him up were Joe Schmidt with 10, Max Redfield with eight and Elijah Shumate seven. Romeo Okwara had three sacks ... The Deacons won the battle of first downs, 23-15; time of possession, 35:48 to 23:12; and total yards, 340 to 28 .... LB James Onwaulu is out for the remainder of the regular season with a left leg injury. Backup freshman receiver Equanimeous St. Brown is out with a separated shoulder and will miss the final two games ... With Adams' 141 rush yards, ND has had a rusher with at least 100 plus yards in 8 of 10 games this year ... The Irish have scored 22 points or more in all 10 games so far this year, marking the first ND team to do that since the 1949 team did it in a 10-game season ... The annual Blue-Gold game for 2016 will return to ND stadium. Last year the spring game was played in LaBar Practice complex due to work at the ND stadium and had very limited seating ... Fuller made the cut to 10 semifinalists for the Biletnikoff Award for the nation's top receiver. Fuller is also one of 15 semifinalists for the Walter Camp National Player of the Year award. The list will be cut to five finalists on Dec. 2, with the winner revealed Dec. 10 ... Offensive tackle Ronnie Stanley remains in the running for two major post-season awards. He is one of six finalists for the Outland Trophy, given to the nation's top interior offensive or defensive lineman. He is also a finalist for the Polynesian College Football Player of the Year award - the only one of the five finalist who doesn't play for a Pac-12 school ... ND is favored by 16 tonight. But I'm not as sure about a Irish win for one reason - Kelly. He does not do a good job in preparation for key games and does not have his team "up" for many games. He is no Lou Holtz when comes to getting a team emotionally ready for a game. But ND has enough talent to beat the Eagles. The Eagles will be a test for the Irish offense, that struggled last week against a so-so Wake Forest defensive unit. ND's defense is still not consistent ... In my preseason picks I have the Irish winning tonight, barely, and I will stay with that prediction.