Virginia Tech players interact with BC fans following one of their six touchdowns. Photo by Barry Chin, Boston Globe.
Most of you can, though you wouldn’t want to, think back to when BC football was 1-3 starting this season: ineffective on defense, inconsistent on offense, desultory overall. Yeah, well that was the team that showed up yesterday and basically allowed Virginia Tech to move up and down the Alumni Stadium field and win 48-22.
The Hokies gained 600 yards total offense, 363 yards rushing. It was almost a complete turnaround from what the Eagles had done in Syracuse the week before, when they had dominated the Orange. VaTech, however, came into the game not as a dominating team, but with a 4-5 record and losses to Rutgers and Marshall.
BC’s first play, a pass after receiving the opening kickoff, was intercepted and led to a 27-yard field goal and a 3-0 VaTech lead. The Eagles’ long bright spot of the game followed. An eight-play drive, featuring a 36-yard run by Alex Broome, ended with a four-yard touchdown run by Broome and BC’s only lead of the game.
From close to the end of the first quarter to nearly halfway into the third quarter, the Hokies scored 35 straight points to move ahead 38-7. Game over. The Eagles scored two more inconsequential touchdowns: an eight-yard pass from QB Thomas Castellanos to Jaedn Skeete and a one-yard rush by Xavier Coleman with 3:13 remaining.
“We got humbled today,” said Castellanos. “We were too worried about what the future may look like. We got too complacent.”
VaTech quarterback Kyrone Drones was the much better dual-threat quarterback on the field. He ran for 135 yards net on 20 carries, including a 59-yard run. He was 12 of 17 passing for 219 yards and two touchdowns.
The Hokies overall averaged 8.3 yards per play. In the first half alone, they outgained the Eagles 340-138 yards and led 31-7 at the half.
“Gosh, we missed a lot of tackles, which is not how we played these last five weeks,” Coach Jeff Hafley said. “We’ve got to take a look at why.”
BC had entered the game ninth in the country in team rushing yards, averaging 211.2 yards a game. They gained only 124 yards on the ground yesterday. Castellanos, who had led all quarterbacks in rushing, gained 46 net yards on 11 carries.
Highlights (9:40)
With their five-game winning streak over, the Eagles fell to 6-4, 3-3 in conference. This was their last regular season game on a Saturday. They next play Pitt at 4 pm this Thursday and meet Miami the morning after Thanksgiving.