BC is going bowling!
On Saturday afternoon, Boston College and North Carolina met on a wet and windy football field in Chestnut Hill to duke it out, with a win for bowl eligibility on the line for BC. And the Eagles clearly showed that they had a lot to play for, as they jumped out to an early lead and never relinquished it, shutting out the UNC offense until garbage time for a 41-21 win.
Boston College started out the game with the ball and immediately started marching down the field, mostly through the air as Grayson James made some great passes to open receivers. But a questionable offensive pass interference call on Reed Harris, followed by a no call on the following play that saw Harris get pushed to the ground, resulted in a Boston College field goal attempt. Liam Connor hit the kick from 49 yards, marking his career long and BC’s second made field goal of the season. The Eagles did the same exact thing on the following drive, with Grayson James being able to punch in a touchdown this time to take a 10-0 lead as the second quarter started. With James under center, Bill O’Brien’s pro-style offense started cooking right away.
UNC started moving the ball in the second quarter, but were struggling with penalties and passing accuracy. So when they went for it on a 4th & short situation, it was surprising when they didn’t go to their all-ACC runningback and instead decided to get cute with a short passing play, which fell incomplete. Boston College followed that up almost immediately with another touchdown, this time coming from an end-around trick run by Johnathan Montague to give BC a 17-0 lead. But UNC returned the ensuing kickoff for a TD of their own to narrow the score to 17-7.
After some more back and forth where both teams couldn’t get much going, BC linebacker Joe Marinaro made a huge interception in UNC territory on a badly thrown pass. It was followed up by a deep shot from Grayson James to Reed Harris in the endzone, who made an incredible catch for a touchdown with under a minute remaining in the first half. BC led the game 24-7 at the half.
After a sack to start the second half for UNC, BC returned the Tar Heels’ punt to the 15-yard line, which nicely set up another Boston College score. Liam Connor kicked in his second field goal of the day to expand BC’s lead to 27-7. Then after being backed up to his own 3-yard line, Grayson James threw a bomb downfield to Reed Harris, who grabbed the rainbow pass past midfield. It was a backbreaker for UNC who had finally pinned the Eagles and desperately needed some momentum. BC marched it all the way down to the opposing goal line on that drive, but failed to convert on 4th & goal and instead gave it back to North Carolina.
But UNC still could not overcome the BC pass rush as the 4th quarter began. Multiple sacks set them back, and then a rushed pass by Criswell went right into the hands of BC’s Ryan Turner, who took the INT all the way to the house for a Pick 6. That play was the nail in the coffin of North Carolina’s day, as Boston College cruised the rest of the way to a 41-21 victory.
Takeaways
- Bill O’Brien’s offense is here and it’s beautiful. Finally BoB has a quarterback that can execute his pro-style offense and it’s already paying dividends. In just his third start of the season, Grayson James was slinging the ball across the field and receivers were getting wide open with some great play design. It’s a very promising sign moving forward that this coaching staff can be extremely effective with a good passing quarterback.
- The BC pass rush was DOMINANT. 7 total sacks and many more pressures totally stifled UNC quarterback Jacolby Criswell. This was basically a shutout, as North Carolina’s only score (until garbage time) came from a kickoff return. The turnaround from them this year, the reemergence of Donovan Ezeiruaku, and the emergence of Quintayvious Hutchins has been super impressive, especially considering how badly injuries have affected the secondary.
- Boston College is bowl-eligible. After that three-game losing streak with Castellanos as quarterback, it was starting to look like a rough beginning to the Bill O’Brien era. But he finally was able to get his offense in shape in time to grab six wins and get to the postseason.
- Field goals! Liam Connor was able to boot in two field goals, one of which was a career-long 49 yards. While I do enjoy a more aggressive offense that goes for it on 4th & short, it’s nice to know that the Eagles can put three points on the board when needed.