Notre Dame earned another dominant home victory as the Irish beat Boston College by a convincing 41-7 score. It improves the Irish to 9-1 and boosted their College Football Playoff resume. The Irish led throughout, taking a 31-0 lead into the halftime break in a game where Notre Dame outgained Boston College by a 500-136 margin.

In a win this dominant there are going to be plenty of standouts, but three players stood out and get top honors.

Stats: 5 catches, 86 yards, 17.2 YPC, 1 TD
Runners Up: RB Jonaz Walton, OL Guerby Lambert, RB Nolan James Jr.

Gilbert had a second straight strong performance, leading the Irish with 86 yards through the air and tying for the team lead with five catches. The North Carolina native also got the Irish on the board early, breaking off a deep route and working back to the sideline to haul in a CJ Carr pass on a scramble. Gilbert made the tough catch, broke a tackle and scampered into the end zone to give the Irish their first points of the game.

He wasn't done, as Gilbert caught four more passes and was a consistent chain mover for the Irish. All five of his catches went for a touchdown or a first down. That includes a 15-yard catch-and-run to convert a 2nd-and-12, a 20-yard catch to convert a 2nd-and-10, an 18-yard catch-and-run to convert a 2nd-and-4 and a clutch 7-yard gain to convert a third-and-5. Notre Dame was efficient and methodical in the win over Boston College, and Gilbert played a crucial role in that.

Running backs Jonaz Walton and Nolan James Jr. also deserve special mention. The duo combined for 214 rushing yards on 29 carries and a pair of scores, averaging 7.4 yards per carry. James was the standout early, racking up 59 yards in the first half, including 32 in the first quarter alone. Walton came off the bench and hammered Boston College, with 84 of his yards coming in the second half as helped put the game completely away.

Stats: 7 tackles
Runners Up: DE Boubacar Traore, S Luke Talich, CB Christian Gray

Notre Dame was without team captain Drayk Bowen for the second straight game, but Viliamu-Asa was able to step into the lineup for the second straight game and fill that big void. Against Boston College, Viliamu-Asa was given the challenging task of largely being the spy on mobile quarterback Mason McKenzie, and he handled that role quite well. Viliamu-Asa was disciplined, closed well when McKenzie scrambled, gave him fits in space on bootlegs and was also able to provide pressure when asked to blitz. Viliamu-Asa has always been flashy, but in this game he also provided a steady presence up the middle, which helped the Irish defense dominate the Eagles.

He wasn't the only star for the Irish defense, which completely shut down the BC offense. In fact, the only time BC got close to the end zone was on a drive where the Irish offense spotted them the ball deep with an interception and after a fumbled punt. Outside of that, Boston College did nothing on offense. Defensive end Boubacar Traore continued his brilliant season, shutting down the edge in the run game and harassing McKenzie. His sack and forced fumble in the second quarter resulted in Jaylen Sneed recovering the ball in the end zone.

On the back end, safety Luke Talich continued his brilliant season and was active in the run game. Nickel Christian Gray was also very sticky in coverage and was a force against the perimeter run and screen game.

Stats: 2-2 field goals, 5-5 extra points

Porath scored 11 points against the Eagles, hitting all five of his extra points and drilling field goals from 40 and 37 yards. It's nice having a steady presence in the kicking game after seeing this position struggle so much in 2025.

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