On Saturday afternoon, the Boston College football team hosted the Pittsburgh Panthers at Alumni Stadium for the 2024 regular season finale. BC, winners of two of their last three with a new starting quarterback, were facing off against a skidding Pitt team that had lost four games in a row headed into Saturday’s match-up. Those fortunes continued as Boston College rode their passing game to yet another win and Pitt stumbled to their fifth-straight loss. With a win in the final week against Pitt, BC improved to 7-5 and now have a chance to win an 8th game in their bowl game, which would be their first 8-win season since 2009.
On the first drive, Pitt quarterback Nate Yarnell went down with an injury and was replaced with third-string David Lynch, who led Pitt to a punt to start the game. After BC failed to convert a 4th & 1, Yarnell returned to the game with some tape on his wrist. It was Boston College who got things going first on the scoreboard, as Jordan McDonald broke out for a 36-yard run to the house to take an early lead. But a muffed PAT resulted in just a 6-0 lead for the Eagles.
From there, the offenses mostly struggled to move downfield, but a BC punt got shanked so badly that it hit a Pitt player unexpectedly and was recovered by the Eagles to set them up close to midfield. The BC offense still had to punt though and Pitt got the ball back fairly shortly. But the Panthers still couldn’t get past the fierce Boston College pass rush and failed to connect on a 3rd & 13 play and were forced to punt yet again. It set up the Eagles to pass it way downfield for Reed Harris to grab a 53-yard bomb, which was shortly punched in by Kye Robichaux for another Boston College touchdown to take a 13-0 lead.
But the Panthers wouldn’t let the game get out of hand so quickly, as Yarnell picked apart the Boston College secondary all the way down the field, eventually converting for TD of their own to reduce the BC lead to 13-7. Then Pitt started to lead another efficient drive on their following possession as the first half was winding down. It looked like BC might be able to get the ball back early, but a long crosser route completion allowed the Panthers to keep driving. But big BC defensive lineman Ty Clemons picked off a bothered pass by Yarnell and suddenly was running down the field the other way for a pick 6 to give the Eagles a 20-7 lead as the first half came to a close. Before the final 33 seconds had closed out, though, Pitt managed to get their way into field goal range and kicked a long 57-yard kick to make it 20-10.
BC tried to convert on 4th & short on their opening drive of the first half, but they opted to pass the ball and couldn’t connect on the sideline. Pitt took the ball from there and shredded BC’s secondary as the Eagles pass rush was failing to generate any pressure on Yarnell. Pitt converted yet another 3rd & long and worked their way into a shovel pass for a touchdown to bring the game within 3 points for the Panthers. Reed Harris was able to draw a pair of pass interference penalties on the following drive to help the BC offense move up the field and then he made an incredible grab on 3rd & 10 for a touchdown that gave BC a 27-17 lead. Harris has had some really incredible catches this year and quickly is rising through the ranks as possibly Boston College’s best pass-catcher.
Pitt would try to get back in the game early in the fourth quarter, but a fumbled snap on a 4th down conversion attempt dashed that effort and allowed BC to get the ball back to run the clock down and extend their lead. Kye Robichaux and the offensive line started to bully guys down in the trenches before Grayson James was able to lock in for a 4th down conversion to Lewis Bond and then a TD pass to Kamari Morales. Taking a 34-17 lead halfway into the 4th quarter, BC had a firm control of the game.
Pitt wouldn’t go out quietly, though. The Panthers quickly worked their way downfield once again, shredding the thin Boston College secondary for several chunk plays in a row, eventually scoring another TD with 4 minutes remaining in the contest. But they kicked their ensuing onside kick out of bounds and BC ran the clock down to 2 minutes before punting it away. The Panthers couldn’t keep up their late momentum and a 4th down stop eventually led to a 34-23 Boston College win.
Takeaways
- Reed Harris is the man! The dude was making spectacular downfield grabs and drawing pass interference penalties left and right. He’s really emerged this season as a big threat to take the top off of opposing defenses. Here’s to hoping he stays at BC next year and continues to play a key role in Bill O’Brien’s offense.
- BC’s offense was multi-faceted. They relied pretty heavily on the passing game in this one, but Robichaux and McDonald were able to get some big time runs when it mattered most. With a tough offensive line and a QB that has made some timely throws downfield, this Boston College team can win a game in a lot of different ways.
- Trouble converting in the short passing game. Pitt’s defensive weakness was the dink-and-dunk pass game, but it seemed that Grayson James couldn’t connect with his receivers in many 3rd down or 4th down situations when BC decided to pass for short yardage instead of rushing it. Whether it was a miscommunication on route timing, or it was a simple over/underthrow by James, a few promising BC drives died earlier than they should have. Nonetheless, they converted an all-important 4th down pass to Lewis Bond in the 4th quarter to secure the win.
- BC’s secondary had a rough day. Nate Yarnell had some very nice throws downfield that were able to gash BC’s defense for 20-30 yards at a time. The defensive line was able to get some pressure to stop the bleeding at various points in the game, including a few sacks for Donovan Ezeiruaku, but a better quarterback and passing offense definitely would have been abusing the thin Boston College secondary even more.