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, No. 4 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,” coach Tyrone Willingham said after his first loss at Notre Dame. “It’s important, because it talks about an attitude, about the Notre Dame family coming together as one.”

Instead, the Fighting Irish fell apart, and the green jerseys ended up motivating the Eagles instead.

“It felt like they didn’t respect us at all, ” 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.”

The Fighting Irish lost three of their seven fumbles, and Pat Dillingham threw two interceptions. One was returned 71 yards by linebacker Jason Ott.

“I was thinking, ‘Don’t trip, don’t trip,”‘ Ott said of the touchdown. “The trick is to always be around the ball and eventually something will happen.”

Notre Dame's Arnaz Battle is tackled after a short gain by Boston College linebacker Vinny Ciurciu. The Eagles stunned the No. 4 Fighting Irish, 14-7, Saturday at Notre Dame Stadium in South Bend, Ind.

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 the Eagles (5-3) gladly took advantage, scoring both touchdowns courtesy of first-half turnovers.

“We killed ourselves putting the ball on the ground,” center Jeff Faine said. “When you keep shooting yourself in the foot, it’s tough to win.”

Notre Dame held BC to 184 yards and nine first downs, but the Irish could not 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 Fighting 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.

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