Notre Dame Eliminates the Suspense : Nonconference: The No. 8 Irish score on their first five possessions and beat Boston College, 54-7.

Eighth-ranked Notre Dame scored on its first five possessions Saturday and routed ninth-ranked Boston College, 54-7.

Rick Mirer passed for three touchdowns and ran for one and Reggie Brooks rushed for 174 yards and two touchdowns for Notre Dame (7-1-1), which took a 37-0 halftime lead.

“This is one time where I can stand up here and say our football team was terrific,” Irish Coach Lou Holtz said. “This happened to be one of those days where everything went well.”

Said Eagle linebacker Tom McManus: “We didn’t in our wildest dreams expect this.”

The Eagles’ offense and defense, ranked sixth and seventh nationally, produced little of either, gaining only 11 yards during the first half while Notre Dame had 347 yards.

“We knew we had to play these guys tough because of their great defense,” Brooks said. “We had been hearing, ‘Boston College this, and Boston College that,’ so we came in knowing we had something to prove.”

The only touchdown for Boston College (7-1-1) came with 57 seconds to play when Glenn Foley threw a four-yard pass to Pete Mitchell. The Eagles converted their only third down of the game on the 68-yard drive.

“We were trying, but it was as if no one could make a play to get us going,” Boston College Coach Tom Coughlin said.

Foley, who had four touchdown passes during a victory over Penn State, completed 11 of 28 passes for 121 yards. Chuckie Dukes, who had been averaging six yards per carry, ended his streak of seven consecutive 100-yard games with 17 carries for 74 yards.

Mirer, who completed 13 of 18 passes for 180 yards, threw scoring passes to running backs who had never caught a ball before.

“Everyone was fired up,” Mirer said. “I wasn’t shocked because I thought we could play this well.”

He capped Notre Dame’s first possession with a nine-yard touchdown pass to Lee Becton, Becton’s first career reception. Mirer completed passes of 20 and 17 yards to Lake Dawson and Irv Smith during the 66-yard drive.

Notre Dame then stopped the Eagles inside their 30 and needed only 1:41 for a 69-yard scoring drive that ended on a 37-yard pass play to Jerome Bettis.

Karmeeleyah McGill forced a fumble by Foley on the Eagles’ next possession that was recovered by the Irish at the Boston College 21. Mirer ran 16 yards for a touchdown on third down with 1:16 to play in the quarter.

Boston College then drove to its 34, its best offensive effort in four tries, before the Irish sacked Foley on consecutive plays.