Sports, Football

Notebook: BC Leans on Defense in Win Over UNC

When Boston College football gave up a 95-yard touchdown return late in the second quarter, fans braving the rain and cold in Alumni Stadium probably felt some deja vu coming on as the Eagles’ lead over North Carolina was cut to 17–7. 

All season long, BC has shown stretches of playing well and gaining leads, then going on to collapse, giving their opponents surges that had resulted in a 5–5 record heading into Saturday’s game against the Tar Heels. 

The Eagles have found creative ways to lose—horrific punting, abysmal quarterback performances, and gaping holes in the secondary—to name a few. 

But on Saturday, BC didn’t surrender to its typical patterns. It didn’t let the kickoff return swing the momentum in the Tar Heels’ favor. Instead, the Eagles responded with a pick and a touchdown before the half, sustained their defensive excellence in the second half, and scored 17 more points before the game was over. 

Call that a good day for BC, or call it development under BC head coach Bill O’Brien. 

The point is, the Eagles were able to string together a full game of pretty clean football, and that yielded the results they didn’t find in the three-game ACC losing stretch earlier this season—three games the Eagles realistically could’ve won if they played with the continuity they did on Saturday in their 41–21 win over UNC.

Here are three observations from the Eagles’ win.   

Bowl Bound 

With Saturday’s win, BC officially claimed bowl eligibility in O’Brien’s first year on the Heights. It hasn’t been the picture-perfect road, and O’Brien is the first one to acknowledge that.

His team has been through a lot this season—ranging from starting the season 2–0, getting ranked for the first time since 2018, dropping three straight ACC games, benching its starting quarterback, then bouncing back with wins over Syracuse and UNC. 

The Eagles are 6–5—a record no better than they had last year at this time under Jeff Hafley. But the win of securing bowl eligibility before BC’s final game of the season is certainly a relief for the program. 

The “Bowl Bound” t-shirts waiting in BC’s locker room after the game aren’t the end. But they’re undoubtedly a start. 

Hindering Hampton 

Omarion Hampton entered Saturday’s game ranked second in the nation in rushing yards. He fell into third place after BC’s defense contained him. 

“These guys had to tackle,” O’Brien said.

Hampton rushed for just 53 yards on Saturday afternoon—the fewest he’s rushed in any game all season by over 20 yards. Plus, before facing BC, only four teams this season had successfully kept Hampton out of the endzone. 

One spot in the national rankings probably isn’t too big of a deal for Hampton. He still leads the ACC in rushing, with 386 more yards than second-ranked Brashard Smith. But holding Hampton to 53 yards on Saturday afternoon had much bigger consequences than sinking his stats a little—it’s how the Eagles won the football game.  

BC’s defense didn’t just completely deflate UNC’s run game—it shut down the Tar Heels’ entire offense. It was smothering while once again being led by Donovan Ezeiruaku, who logged two sacks, six tackles, and four quarterback hits. 

With six minutes remaining in the first half, UNC began its drive down 17–7. Hampton took the handoff on first down and was taken down after just a three-yard gain. Second down was nearly identical, and this time, Daveon Crouch downed Hampton after a 1-yard run. Then, on third down, Crouch sacked Criswell for a 10-yard loss. 

The Eagles’ offensive performance built off the defense. 

With less than two minutes left in the first half, Joe Marinaro picked off a frantic Jacolby Criswell’s pass and returned it to UNC’s 32-yard line. From there, the offense saw a good look at the end zone and capitalized with an 18-yard touchdown from Reed Harris that put the Eagles up 24–7 as they headed into their locker room. 

The win might’ve been the best example this season of BC playing a complete game on both sides of the ball, and it paid off as the Eagles picked up a 20-point win over an ACC opponent.  

Nothing Grey about Grayson

After Thomas Castellanos was benched and subsequently entered the transfer portal right before BC’s trip to Southern Methodist, it seemed like BC football was once again facing a quarterback crisis—a problem that has long plagued the program. 

But after Grayson James’ solid performance last week in Dallas, followed by another one this week against UNC, one has to ask—instead of being just another part of the larger problem, is it possible James is the solution? 

James finished Saturday’s game with 192 passing yards, a passing touchdown, a rushing touchdown, and 38 rushing yards. 

Five minutes into the second half on 2nd-and-5, James got the ball and threw a 48-yard pass to Harris to take the Eagles to UNC’s 43-yard line—his longest pass of the game. That’s the kind of pass James didn’t seem capable of making when he made his first start of the year earlier this season against Western Kentucky

He also hit Harris for an 18-yard touchdown pass at the end of the first half that padded BC’s lead and brought the momentum back after the Tar Heels scored a 95-yard kick return touchdown.

If the confidence James showed in the pocket on Saturday is any indication of how he’ll look going forward, it might be possible that BC has found its long-term solution, not its short-term fix. 

“Grayson’s got a great attitude,” Harris said before Saturday’s game. “He’s got great field awareness—he’s like a field general on the field. Everybody in the huddle respects him.” 

November 24, 2024

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