Turnovers

Its always tough to win when your team commits five turnovers. BC's last six possessions of the game went like this: fumble, interception, punt, punt, interception, interception. Harris' fumble on the goal line was an inexcusable and costly miscue. The botched handoff lies with Shinskie, generally speaking it is always the quarterback's fault for not putting the ball in the right spot for the running back. Shinskie made some poor decisions late in the game by forcing some bad throws when he should have thrown the ball away. Dave Shinskie played pretty well throughout the game. He actually threw for more yards than Clausen (279 compared to 246) in this game. But his play was overshadowed my his three big interceptions. You can understand he was trying to press and make a play but the offense had been able to move the ball. They key is to remember that Shinskie is just like any other true freshman and these mistakes are part of the learning curve.   Defense holds ground The defense gave up some yardage but they key number is that they held Notre Dame's vaunted offense to just 20 points, their lowest scoring output of the season. Although they were unable to force any turnovers they kept Notre Dame from executing any deep passes and put the Eagles in a great position to win the game which is all you can ask from them.   Rich Gunnell The senior captain had been quiet for the last few weeks but he broke out in a big way Saturday. Gunnell led the way with 10 catches for a career high 179 yards and a touchdown. He consistently found the soft spots in Notre Dame's secondary and had some crucial grabs throughout the game.   Mike Morrissey The former walk-on got the start and played well on a big stage. He was very active all game recording eight tackles. He also excelled in pass coverage with a pass breakup and limited tight end Kyle Rudolph to just one catch. Morrissey has developed into a consistent performer and has the quickness and agility to cover the more athletic tight ends.   Harris held in check Montel gained just 28 yards on 22 carries (1.1 average) on Saturday. He has averaged just 2.1 yards per rush in three road games this season compared to 6.2 yards per carry at home this year. Without looking to much into this discrepancy I would chalk up his lack of success to simply heavy game planning and preparation by ND. Harris was coming off a monster performance and the Irish did not want to let him run wild again. Harris did find the end zone once but was quiet for most of the day and his longest rush was only 14 yards.
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