Junior running back Jordan McDonald ran for 133 yards in the win over Syracuse yesterday.

Much as they had done against Virginia and Louisville, the Eagles jumped out to a multiple touchdown lead over Syracuse in the first half of their game yesterday. Syracuse, as had Virginia and Louisville, came back to tie and then take a 21-14 lead in the third quarter. Oh no, not that again.

And, indeed, it was not that again. With backup quarterback Grayson James stepping in for Thomas Castellanos early in the third quarter, the Eagles fought back. They scored three touchdowns in successive possessions, as well as a safety, and held off a comeback attempt by the Orange to win 37-31.

“I think it was probably the first time in a while, I would say all the way back to the beginning of the season, where we played a complete game,” said BC coach Bill O’Brien.

While each BC quarterback threw a touchdown pass, the Eagles offense was mostly on the ground. Of BC’s 378 yards total offense, 313 were by rushing, a season high. Senior running back Kye Robichaux ran 28 times for 198 yards and two touchdowns. Junior Jordan McDonald rushed for 134 yards on 15 carries and scored a touchdown. Both Robichaux and McDonald had runs of 41 yards.

BC had only four yards passing in the first half, with Castellanos completing two passes out of seven attempts, and throwing an interception. He was sacked twice. James was five-of-six in the second half for 51 yards, no interceptions, no sacks.

Receiving touchdown passes were redshirt junior WR Lewis Bond and junior tight end Jeremiah Franklin.

In terms of offense, Syracuse was almost a mirror image of the Eagles. Syracuse QB Kyle McCord threw 48 passes, completing 31 for 392 yards and two touchdowns. He threw no interceptions, but was sacked four times. Syracuse runners had 25 carries for only 39 net yards.

Highlights (9:55)

The Eagles ended a three-game losing streak with the win and improve to 5-4 (2-3). Next game is against SMU in Dallas, Saturday, November 16, at 12:30 pm PT.

Quarterback Thomas Castellanos is tackled by Louisville.

By the middle of the second quarter in last night’s game against Louisville, Boston College had scored three touchdowns and led the Cardinals, 20-0 (missed PAT after third touchdown). The Eagles were then outscored 31-7 and lost their third straight game, 31-27.

Louisville scored its first touchdown of the game just before halftime. On their next five possessions, from receiving the second half kickoff until the middle of the final quarter, the Cardinals kicked a field goal and scored three touchdowns.

After scoring a touchdown on their first possession of the second half, the Eagles gained one first down on their next four possessions, going three-and-out on three successive possessions. Their final two possessions of the game were turned over on downs.

In their last three games, all losses, BC’s opponents have outscored the Eagles, 46-0, in the fourth quarter.

“Can’t do it. Can’t play for 60 minutes,” said coach Bill O’Brien. “Can’t coach well enough to get them to play for 60 minutes. Got to coach a lot better. Got to watch the tape and figure out how to fix it. Terrible.”

BC punted the ball seven times and several poor punts gave Louisville relatively short fields. The Cardinals punted only three times.

Louisville gained 461 yards total offense in the game, including 332 through the air. BC had 318 yards total, 164 passing and 154 rushing. The Eagles had no turnovers, and intercepted Louisville twice and recovered a Cardinal fumble, but to no avail.

BC quarterback Thomas Castellanos was 13 of 28 passing for three touchdowns.

Highlights (8:36)

The Eagles fall to 4-4, 1-3 in the ACC. They have a bye week and next play Syracuse in Alumni Stadium on Saturday, November 9, time to be announced.

Former BC commit Bhayshul Tuten set a VaTech rushing record in the Hokies’ 42-21 win yesterday over BC.

Oh, the third quarter last night was fun!

It had been quite some time since Eagles fans had seen their team play exciting, proficient football. After forcing Virginia Tech to punt on their opening possession of the third quarter (something that had been unusual of late for BC), the Eagles got the ball with 11:59 remaining in the quarter. Then, in nine minutes, four seconds, BC scored touchdowns on their next three possessions.

Indeed, that those 21 points only reduced the Virginia Tech lead to 28-21 took a little off the level of satisfaction. Yet the notion of a revitalized BC squad playing for a potential comeback also added to the level of excitement. (Spoiler: VaTech won, 42-21.)

The Eagles even started a drive at the beginning of the final quarter, reaching midfield. On fourth down and less than a yard, BC lined up in the shotgun formation to keep the drive and the comeback alive.

In a lot of similar situations, college and pro teams will line up under center, sometimes even switching the often smaller quarterback for a bigger running back, with perhaps a couple of other backs in the backfield to push that ball carrier those several inches across the line to gain.  Not BC. And no first down. Turnover on downs at midfield. Three runs later, the Hokies pushed the margin to 35-21.

The Eagles still kept trying. Seven plays took them to the Hokies 18, but a high snap on a field goal attempt (field goal?) eluded the holder and it was recovered by VaTech. On the next play, freshman running back Bhayshul Tuten, who decommitted from BC to join the Hokies, ran 61 yards to make the final score 42-21.

“We definitely fought back to get ourselves back in the game,” said BC coach Bill O’Brien, “but we dug ourselves such a deep hole. It’s very difficult to come back from a four-score deficit.”

The less said about the first half of the game, the better. Stats tell the story. BC actually had the ball longer and ran more plays, 36 to 30 for VaTech, but the Hokies made bigger plays. They gained 332 yards, averaging just over 11yards per play, and most of them (188) on the ground. BC gained 134 yards total offense.

“I thought I had the team ready to go tonight, but I obviously didn’t,” O’Brien said. “I’ve got to figure out how to get the team ready to go. We’re better than that.”

For the game, the Eagles gained 372 yards and allowed 532 yards to the Hokies.

Perhaps a weird statistic, but in no quarter of the game did both teams score. It was sadly symmetrical that VaTech scored 14 points in the first, second, and fourth quarters, and BC scored 21 points in the third quarter.

BC quarterback Thomas Castellanos was 17 of 26 passing for 205 yards, two touchdowns, and no interceptions, but had two fumbles. He also ran for 58 yards net, second on the team to Turbo Richards’ 64 yards on nine carries.

VaTech’s Tuten set a new Hokies record, rushing for 266 yards on 18 carries.

Highlights (7:01)

The Eagles fell to 4-3, 1-2 in the ACC. Next is Louisville in Chestnut Hill, Friday, 4:30 pm PT.