CHESTNUT HILL, Mass. — The Notre Dame championship chase was, in fact, just that: A chase, a full-on sprint after others in clear sight but clearly ahead in the distance. It's not a hunt if you're ahead, and whatever the Irish did, they were going to need others to tumble and drop to pass them by.
And as they trotted onto the Alumni Stadium turf on Saturday for the usual mundane warm-ups and pregame routine, Notre Dame was one step closer to the BCS championship game, whether players knew it at the time or not. Thousands of miles away, No. 1 Alabama had fallen. It was a seismic ripple. It was precisely what the Irish needed.
With such supercharged stakes, of course, came the responsibility to avoid an unsightly meltdown against unsightly, two-win Boston College. There would not be another epic upset in this series, only mauled Eagles, dispatched by a 21-6 score that will ensure the No. 4 Irish creep up in the polls but not ensuring they won style points in doing so.
Everett Golson threw for 200 yards and two scores while running for another, Theo Riddick rushed for 104 yards and the defense stiffened from the second quarter on, but Irish tailbacks coughed up two momentum-killing fumbles. Notre Dame perfunctorily made its way to 10-0 for the eighth time in school history, and voters will decide how high they climb after that.
With Texas A&M stunning Alabama, the Irish were all but assured of moving to the No. 3 position, at least, in the next set of BCS rankings. But Oregon and Kansas State still were preferred in the human component that makes up two-thirds of that BCS formula. As tantalizing as being one spot away from the national title matchup is, it was still one spot away.
So the relative beauty of these victories may come into play if future losses by Oregon and Kansas State don't. And it remains to be seen if grinding, imperfect victories like Saturday's are anyone's style.
Notre Dame had just three first-half possessions, thanks to a ball-hogging, clock-chomping offense that excelled at keep-away. The first example: A 95-yard marathon on the Irish's first possession, capped by a Golson 2-yard touchdown run to open the scoring midway through the first quarter.
Boston College frayed some nerves with a field goal drive followed by forcing a George Atkinson III fumble, but the ensuing drive sputtered. Notre Dame's next series did not. That one would eat up 81/2 minutes of clock over 16 plays, with a Golson-to-Troy Niklas touchdown strike making it 14-3.
Golson hit a wide-open John Goodman for an 18-yard touchdown on the first series after halftime — a modest nine-play march — to extend the lead to 21-3.
It wasn't close, really, with the Irish converting 10 straight third downs through late in the third quarter. But it was uneven, even as Notre Dame suffocated the possibility of another season-killing Boston College upset, a la 1993 and 2002. The Irish won, which is what they needed to keep doing.
But was it aesthetically pleasing? Was it enough if the final stages of the BCS race is essentially a pageant? Beauty may be in the eye of the vote-holder.
bchamilton@tribune.com
Twitter @ChiTribHamilton
Notre Dame moves to 10-0
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Notre Dame moves to 10-0
