BC and ND football: No love lost

The rivalry is stoked by
the high number of
Notre Dame supporters — and haters — in Boston.

SOUTH BEND, Ind. (AP) — Notre Dame defensive end Trevor Laws knows he’s supposed to have bad feelings toward Boston College. He’s just not sure why.

“There’s a little bit of animosity or something going on there. But personally, to me, it’s all good,” he said.

For fans, the rivalry isn’t hard to understand. As Catholic universities with high academic standards, the schools draw some of the same applicants. They also are the only two Catholic schools playing major college football, so bragging rights at church Sunday morning are at stake.

By rivalry standards, though, it’s a relatively new series. The Irish and Eagles have played only 16 times, most recently 13 straight seasons through 2004. Of the 11 other Notre Dame opponents this year, the only teams they’ve played less are UCLA and Duke.

It’s different for BC, though, which moved from the Big East to the Atlantic Coast Conference in 2005. The only teams on its schedule it has played more than the Irish are Army, Massachusetts and Miami.

The rivalry is stoked by the high number of Notre Dame supporters — and haters — in the Boston area. About 2,000 students attended a pep rally Tuesday night for the Eagles.

“Our fans, our campus is pumped up,” BC safety Jamie Silva said.

Emotions are running high around Notre Dame as well.

“I have a friend who was asking, ‘Do you guys on the team hate BC as much as we do?’ ” Irish left tackle Sam Young said.

“We can feel the hatred for BC throughout our fans,” nose tackle Pat Kuntz said.

Some Notre Dame fans refer to BC as Fredo, the character in “The Godfather” who betrays the family and is told by Michael Corleone: “You broke my heart!”

The Eagles have broken Notre Dame’s heart twice, costing the Irish a national championship in 1993 and upsetting the fourth-ranked Irish again in 2002 when they were 8-0. But that’s not the reason for the derogatory nickname.

Irish fans believe the Eagles don’t show Notre Dame the proper respect. Some of the bad feelings stem from how a few BC players celebrated its victories in 1999 and 2002 by tearing up grass at Notre Dame Stadium and because BC players trashed the visitors’ locker room in 2002.

Some BC fans think Notre Dame fans are arrogant snobs who can’t stand being beaten by another Catholic school. They say the Irish fans can’t stand that BC has won five of the last six games so they find non-game items to whine about. They also say Notre Dame started the bad blood in 1992 when the Irish ran a fake punt while up 37-0 en route to a 54-7 victory.