Coming off a potentially season-defining win against Michigan State, Bill O’Brien’s message prior to Boston College football’s (4–1, 1–0 Atlantic Coast) 21–20 win against Western Kentucky (3–2, 1–0 Conference USA) couldn’t be any clearer.
“If there’s a letdown, absolute shame on Boston College football,” O’Brien said on Wednesday. “We need to show up and be ready to play noon kickoff.”
Through three quarters of football, however, all the signs of a major letdown were materializing.
With starting quarterback Thomas Castellanos sidelined due to an undisclosed injury, backup Grayson James took over an offense in disarray. James, an FIU transfer making his first start in an Eagles uniform, looked jittery and indecisive, struggling to find an early rhythm.
The game refused to fare any better for the Eagles on the other end either. WKU took just about whatever it wanted from BC, piling up 247 overall first-half yards, a number of chunk plays, and a 20–7 lead heading into the final 15 minutes.
But with less than seven minutes to play and the Eagles still down 20–14, Donovan Ezeiruaku had seen enough.
“I felt like we started off very slow,” Ezeiruaku said. “We didn’t really pick it up until the second half. And I took that personally.”
After already logging a career-high 14 total tackles and two sacks up to that point, BC’s senior edge rusher had one more highlight play left in the tank. On a 3rd-and-5 backed up in his own territory, WKU quarterback Caden Veltkamp looked downfield to convert on an easy completion, just as he had done for the past three quarters.
Ezeiruaku, meanwhile, zeroed in on his target, broke through the edge, and jarred the football loose.
It was BC’s ball, and eventually, BC’s win—signed, sealed, and delivered by its star game-wrecker.
“[Ezeiruaku] knows when the time is right to make a play,” O’Brien said. “He’s got good timing. He knew that we needed a play right there—he made a play.”
Six plays later, James connected with his high school teammate Jerand Bradley in the back of the end zone to give BC its first lead and the 21–20 victory.
“Once he called it, I knew it was a touchdown,” Bradley said. “I told [Lewis Bond], I was like, ‘This is a touchdown.’ And then I see the coverage that we had—it was perfect. Grayson, I see him roll out a little bit. He gave me a perfect lob, and I knew I had to get it.”
The win clinched the Eagles’ best start since 2021 and is their largest comeback of the season so far.
“It’s a credit to our kids,” O’Brien said. “They work very hard. I’m happy for them.”
WKU imposed its will on BC’s defense from the jump, needing less than 18 minutes to establish a 14–0 lead. And even after catching a break with a Veltkamp interception late in the first quarter, James gave the ball right back to the Hilltoppers, who cashed in with their second touchdown of the afternoon.
Though BC eventually added a touchdown a few drives later courtesy of Kye Robichaux, WKU notched a chip-shot field goal just as the first half expired and headed into the locker room up 17–7.
“It wasn’t a real happy locker room at halftime,” O’Brien said. “I’m just speaking for myself here, but we have very—I have very high expectations for the team. So I look at it as definitely my fault when we don’t play well. And I see that crowd, especially the students—I see the students and I feel bad.”
For the second straight game, the Eagles trailed at the half.
“I’ve got to figure out what I can do better to get these guys playing better in the first half, because I take that to heart,” O’Brien said.
The Hilltoppers knocked BC onto the ropes midway through the third quarter, and the Eagles appeared to be crashing back down toward .500.
But led by Ezeiruaku, the Eagles stayed composed enough to fight back into the game.
“The message from player to player was just, ‘No panic,’” Ezeiruaku said. “‘There’s no need to panic. We are a resilient team.’”
James—who finished the game with 168 yards and two touchdowns—picked up his first score as an Eagle early in the fourth quarter in a drive sparked by a Kam Arnold interception. And from that point on, BC’s defense clamped down.
The Eagles’ defense shut down WKU in its final three drives, enough for BC to cap off the game with a pair of James kneel downs.
“I think our defense balled out today,” James said. “I don’t think we get the job done today without them making some crucial stops.”
With the win, BC overcame its largest fourth-quarter deficit in a victory since 1988.
“We have to figure it out and get better,” O’Brien said. “But yeah, our guys hung in there. They’re very resilient. They’re a very tough group of guys.”
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