The Associated Press

SOUTH BEND, Ind. - Notre Dame pushed its luck too far.

After seeing a stadium full of green "Return to Glory" T-shirts this season, the Fighting Irish decided earlier this week to join the party. It wasn't a good idea.

Wearing green jerseys at home for the first time in 17 years, fourth-ranked Notre Dame fumbled away a perfect season with a 14-7 loss to Boston College on Saturday.

"I thought it was a good way to encourage our fans in our sea of green we have been talking about," Tyrone Willingham said after his first loss as the Irish's head coach. "It's important, because it talks about an attitude, about the Notre Dame family coming together as one."

Instead, Notre Dame fell apart, and the green jerseys ended up motivating the Eagles instead.

"It felt like they didn't respect us at all," Boston College defensive end Mathias Kiwanuka said. "They thought they could come out and do anything; they didn't have to prepare the way they did other games."

Maybe he was right. A model of efficiency in winning their first eight games, the Irish lost three of their seven fumbles, and backup quarterback Pat Dillingham threw two interceptions. One was returned 71 yards for a touchdown by Eagles linebacker Jason Ott, making it 14-0.

"I was thinking, `Don't trip, don't trip,'" Ott said. "The trick is to be around the ball, and eventually something will happen."

Notre Dame (8-1) entered the game confident it had indeed returned to its glory years after a big win at Florida State last week. But the Irish gave the ball away all day, and Boston College (5-3) gladly took advantage, scoring both touchdowns courtesy of first-half turnovers.

"We killed ourselves putting the ball on the ground," Notre Dame center Jeff Faine said. "When you keep shooting yourself in the foot, it's tough to win."

The Irish held BC to 184 yards and nine first downs, but they couldn't overcome their own mistakes. Dillingham replaced Carlyle Holiday for the second quarter when the starter went out feeling "woozy" after a hit.

The bitter loss conjured memories of the 1993 season, when unbeaten Notre Dame defeated Florida State and became No.1, then lost the next week to Boston College in the final game of the regular season.

The Irish were having their best season since 1993 before running into the Eagles, who ended a 23-game regular-season losing streak against Top 25 teams. It was BC's first win over a top-10 team since beating No.8 Notre Dame in 1994.

Though Notre Dame was all but eliminated from national title contention, the Irish probably can earn a berth in a BCS bowl game if they close out the season with wins over Navy, Rutgers and USC.

Derrick Knight, who finished with 129 yards on 26 carries, ran 3 yards for a first-quarter touchdown, five plays after Ott recovered a fumble by tailback Ryan Grant.

The clincher came when Dillingham threw a shovel pass right to Ott, who caught the ball in stride and ran untouched for the score with 4:03 left in the first half.

Notre Dame, with an offense ranked 109th among 117 I-A teams, finally scored with 2:25 left when Holiday threw a 20-yard TD pass to Maurice Stovall.

The Irish didn't try an onside kick but got the ball back at their 24 with 12 seconds remaining. After a holding penalty knocked eight seconds off the clock, Holiday's final desperation pass was batted down at the BC 37 as the Eagles rushed the field and celebrated.

Several Boston College players tore up chunks of grass from the end zone, just as they did after a win here in 1999.

The Irish lost the last time they wore green - 35-28 to Georgia Tech in the 1999 Gator Bowl. The last time Notre Dame came out wearing green at home was Oct.26, 1985, when the players changed from blue to green jerseys at halftime of a 37-3 win over USC.

Perhaps the most famous switch to green came on Oct.22, 1977, when the Irish warmed up in blue, then came out in green and beat No.5 USC 49-19. The win was a springboard to the national title.

With such a poor past against BC in big games, Willingham believed the time was right to wear green. Eagles coach Tom O'Brien viewed the move as a compliment.

"The guys were excited when they saw the green jerseys," O'Brien said after his biggest win in six years at BC. "They took it as a great sign of respect that we made it ... that we were somebody to be reckoned with ... that they needed the green jerseys to beat us."

Boston College	6	8	0	0-14
Notre Dame	0	0	0	7-7

First Quarter

BC-Knight 3 run (kick failed), 2:39

Second Quarter

BC-Ott 71 interception return (St. Pierre pass to Ryan), 4:03.

Fourth Quarter

ND-Stovall 20 pass from Holiday (Setta kick), 2:25.

A-80,935.

	BC	ND
First downs	9	22
Rushes-yards	33-107	44-122
Passing	77	235
Comp-Att-Int	9-20-1	20-40-2
Return Yards	111	17
Punts-Avg.	10-35	4-40
Fumbles-Lost	0-0	7-3
Penalties-Yards	6-61	7-58
Time of Possession	26:02	33:58

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING-Boston College, Knight 26-129, team 1-(minus 1), St. Pierre 6-(minus 21). Notre Dame, Grant 27-107, Wilson 5-15, Lopienski 2-8, Holiday 9-4, Miller 1-(minus 12).

PASSING-Boston College, St. Pierre 9-20-1-77. Notre Dame, Holiday 16-32-0-198, Dillingham 4-8-2-37.

RECEIVING-Boston College, Knight 3-19, Hemmings 2-34, Ryan 2-12, Burke 1-8, Toal 1-4. Notre Dame, Battle 6-86, Jenkins 4-34, Stovall 3-33, Godsey 3-32, McKnight 2-37, Campbell 1-12, Wilson 1-1.