(photo courtesy Notre Dame Athletics)

(Chestnut Hill, MA) — It was as ugly a win as Notre Dame has had all season.

It’s still a win.

Despite red zone deficiencies, special team fallacies and some absurd penalties, the 12th-ranked Fighting Irish still managed to persevere and hold off Boston College, 25-10, on a cool November evening in New England.

As usual, running back Jeremiyah Love led the way for the Irish with 136 rushing yards and two touchdowns, the second coming on an electrifying 94-yard romp in the fourth quarter to put the game away.

Quarterback CJ Carr added 299 passing yards and a pair of touchdown tosses to bolster the offense, but the real star was the Irish defense which picked off three Boston College passes and continued its solid mid-season play.

After a sluggish first quarter, the Irish struck on the first play of the second quarter, as Carr unloaded a deep throw on 4th-and-6 and caught Malachi Fields in stride for a 40-yard touchdown. Noah Burnette’s PAT attempt caromed off the right upright to make it 6-0.

Carr threw basically the same route later in the quarter, this time Will Pauling on a 44-yard touchdown pass. The two-point conversion failed and Notre Dame had a 12-0 lead.

The Eagles then made things nervous for the Irish faithful. First, reserve quarterback Greayson James came off the bench and found Reed Harris on a 25-yarde go route, beating Leonard Moore, closing the deficit to 12-7 at halftime.

At the start of the third quarter, Boston College embarked on a 21-play drive (aided by a questionable roughing the passer call on Josh Burnham), but had to settle for a 25-yard field goal from Luca Lombardo, narrowing the gap to 12-10.

Notre Dame wasted little time responding with a seven-play, 75-yard drive capped by Love’s three yard jaunt to paydirt. This time Marcello Diomode missed the extra point and it was 18-10.

The Eagkes were threatening again when pressure flushed James to his left and his throw was pilfered by Adon Shuler at the Irish 6. On the ensuing play, Love burst through a giant hole up the middle and raced 94 yards for the clinching score. Erik Schmidt, who earlier missed a short field goal, gave the Irish their only kicking point of the night to account for the final score.

The Irish linebackers played well with Drayk Bowen recording a game-high 14 tackles, two tackles for loss and a sack. Kyngston Villiamu-Asa added nine tackles, while safety Tae Johnson recorded two interceptions.

Notre Dame has now won six straight, raising its record to 6-2, with the first College Football Playoff rankings coming out Tuesday. The Irish play host to 7-1 Navy next Saturday night at Notre Dame Stadium, with kickoff at 7:30.

For analysis, postgame comments and more, make sure you listen to Notre Dame Federal Credit Union’s Irish Football Fix, Monday night at 7, on Pulse FM (103.1)