Boston College is 7-0 for just the fifth time in 107 seasons, the first time since 1942, and beat its rival Notre Dame for the fifth straight time. The Irish lead the series between the only two Catholic schools to play major college football 9-8, but the Eagles have won six of the last seven.

The Eagles appeared ready to blow the game open when Ryan threw a 9-yard scoring pass to Callender to make it 20-0 with 11:42 left in the third quarter. The score was set up when Tyronne Pruitt intercepted a pass by Jimmy Clausen and returned it 30 yards to the Notre Dame 11.

However, the Irish (1-6) scored a pair of touchdowns 95 seconds apart to cut it to 20-14. Evan Sharpley, who replaced the ineffective Clausen, threw a 19-yard TD pass to Robby Parris and linebacker Brian Smith returned an interception 25 yards for a touchdown.

The Eagles quickly regained control after the Irish were called for excessive celebration and penalized 15 yards on the kickoff. Brad Newman returned the kick 18 yards to the Notre Dame 44 and the Eagles needed only five plays to score. Ryan, throwing quickly to beat the blitz, hit Kevin Challenger for a 13-yard TD to make it 27-14.

The Irish appeared to have cut the lead to 27-21 with 5:47 on a 13-yard pass from Sharpley to Parris on fourth-and-1, but tackle Mike Turkovich was called for holding. Sharpley threw the ball away under heavy pressure on fourth-and-11 as the Eagles ended the Irish threat.

Notre Dame failed to end BC's undefeated season, something the Eagles did to the Irish in 2002 when they were 8-0 and ranked fourth and in 1993 when they were 10-0 and ranked No. 1.

The loss in 1993 cost the Irish a national championship as they finished No. 2 to Florida State, a team they beat the week before the loss to BC.

Ryan, 21-4 as a starter, picked the Irish apart with a series of screens and short passes to offset Notre Dame's repeated blitzes. He was 32-of-49 passing, but his longest pass of the game was for 22 yards to Callender. Callender caught 10 passes for 91 yards and rushed for 90 yards on 23 carries.

Sharpley was 11-of-29 passing for 135 yards in the second half. BC, which entered as the No. 3 defense against the run holding opponents to 49.7 yards a game, held the Irish to 27 yards rushing. It was the fifth time this season the Irish were held to less than 50 yards rushing.

The Eagles had 459 yards total offense, while the Irish had just 222 yards.

While the Eagles depended heavily on the pass, it was a 52-yard run by L.V. Whitworth that got BC going on its first possession. Whitworth ran left pass safety David Bruton before Bruton caught him on the 7-yard line. Callender scored on the next play, but the Eagles missed the point after.

The Eagles went ahead 13-0 1:32 before halftime when Callender got over the goal line just as he was hit by several Notre Dame defenders on third-and-goal from the 1. The score was set up when Irish punter Geoff Price put his knee on the ground at the BC 41-yard line to try to pick up a low snap.

The Irish had just 79 yards in the first half as Clausen was 7-of-19 passing for 60 yards and was pulled after throwing his second interception on the first play of the second half.

Notre Dame has lost five straight to Top 5 teams since beating fifth-ranked Michigan in 2005 in Charlie Weis' second game as coach of the Irish.