Boston College football may have taken a knee before to end games this season. But it has never taken one with the cushion of a double-digit lead.
BC cornerback Elijah Jones’ second interception of the Eagles’ Week Eight matchup against Georgia Tech (3–4, 1–3 Atlantic Coast) on Saturday changed that for BC (4–3, 2–2). There would be no wire-to-wire, nail-biting finish Saturday afternoon in Atlanta, Ga., as quarterback Thomas Castellanos’ knee touched the field with conviction to cap off a dominant 21-point BC fourth quarter and a 38–23 win—its third straight victory.
“It’s a good feeling when you know you got that clock all the way down under 40 and there’s nothing they can do about it,” BC head coach Jeff Hafley said.
The Eagles are no stranger to playing in close games. Heading into Saturday, five of its six games had been decided by three points or less, featuring zero double-digit, second-half leads.
So when BC took a 31–23 lead off Castellanos’ electrifying 4th-and-1, 43-yard rushing touchdown with 8:44 left in the game, it appeared Georgia Tech would fire back, as the Yellow Jackets had done all game. BC had allowed teams to do it all season.
Instead, Jones picked off quarterback Haynes King and Kye Robichaux subsequently exploded for a 57-yard rush that set up his own 3-yard touchdown to put BC ahead 38–23. Any Georgia Tech final chance evaporated with Jones’ second interception with less than six minutes remaining, pushing BC over .500 for the first time since the 2021 season.
“At one point, I thought the game was gonna be 27–24 like the rest of our games,” Hafley said. “Instead, we put our foot on the gas and we finished them.”
Castellanos and Robichaux beat up Georgia Tech on the ground all game to help BC notch 308 total rushing yards. Castellanos totaled 128 rushing yards on 13 carries for two touchdowns, while Robichaux totaled 165 rushing yards on 21 carries for two touchdowns as well.
“He’s big and strong,” Hafley said of Robichaux. “And then you can see in the second half he just starts to wear people out. … Really glad to have him back.”
Another trend of BC’s season has been starting games slow. But that was not the case on Saturday, as the Eagles put up 17 points in the first half to take a 17–10 halftime lead.
A 24-yard Liam Connor field goal at the 3:49 mark in the first quarter gave BC its initial 3–0 lead. Georgia Tech responded with a 10-play, 69-yard drive that Jamal Haynes capitalized on with a 16-yard rushing touchdown. Cornerback Amari Jackson fell on the play, allowing Haynes to waltz into the end zone untouched.
But Jackson certainly made up for it with his pick-six at the 1:42 mark—batting the ball down with his left hand while simultaneously pinning it to his hip, running 30 yards for a touchdown as the Eagles’ sidelines exploded to put BC back ahead 10–7.
“I was going for the [pass break up],” Jackson said. “I was just trying to swipe the ball down. It stuck to my hip, and I just took off running.”
It marked BC’s first pick six since Jahmin Muse’s 22-yard pick six against Colgate in 2021.
While Castellanos only rushed once in the first quarter, BC started calling more designed runs for the speedy signal caller in the second quarter. On one drive alone, Castellanos rushed six times en route to his 12-yard designed rushing touchdown to give the Eagles their seven-point lead heading into halftime.
Castellanos’ 11-yard rush on 4th-and-1 the play prior allowed BC’s drive to stay alive.
“Today was one of those days where we came out fast and we did what we needed to do,” Castellanos said. “We need to see more of that.”
The Eagles came out of halftime running the ball even more, and it worked. Robichaux notched 30 yards on the ground on three consecutive runs, but Castellanos’ play-action deep shot to Joseph Griffin Jr. proved costly. Griffin lost the ball in mid air and Ahmari Harvey intercepted it.
Just four plays later, King split BC’s defense, bursting for a 71-yard rushing touchdown. And four drives later, King orchestrated an eight-play, 89-yard drive to put Georgia Tech ahead 23–17.
But a 31-yard pass to Lewis Bond and a 27-yard pass to George Takacs—who previously had two drops in the game—catapulted BC down the field. Robichaux’s second-effort, two-yard rush, in which he lunged for the end zone, put the Eagles ahead 24–23. And BC never looked back in the 38–23 victory.
“We are turning this thing around,” Castellanos said. “Boston is back. Boston College football is back. We’re no longer the laughingstock of college football or the ACC. We’re back and we’re rolling.”
