As Boston College football handily went up 14–0 over Virginia with 13:08 left in the second quarter on Saturday afternoon, it appeared as though the Eagles would coast to a 5–1 overall record and a 2–0 ACC record—feats not seen in Chestnut Hill since 2007 and 2008, respectively.
Nearly three full quarters and 24 unanswered points later, the prospect of BC reaching those marks was long gone.
Despite entering halftime with a 14–6 advantage and a guarantee of receiving the ball to open the third quarter, the Eagles’ offense proceeded to collapse, while Virginia (4–1, 2–0 Atlantic Coast) chipped away at BC’s lead and eventually took it, ultimately downing the Eagles (4–2, 1–1) 24–14.
“Give Virginia credit, they did a great job,” BC head coach Bill O’Brien said after the loss. “We did not do a good job. Thank God we got 12 days before our next game. Maybe we can get some things corrected. Bad—all the way around.”
BC had no issues to start the first quarter, forcing a quick Virginia punt before getting to work on its opening drive.
With Thomas Castellanos back under center, BC cut through Virginia’s defense like butter. Highlighted by a 34-yard pass from Castellanos to Kamari Morales and capped off by a nine-yard touchdown pass to Jaedn Skeete, the Eagles had no trouble driving 78 yards down the field to take an early advantage with 7:38 left in the first quarter.
BC kept up its offensive dominance as the first quarter wound down. Castellanos continued to let it fly, connecting with Reed Harris for a 27-yard completion to start the drive. The Eagles continued to drive as the second quarter began, taking a 14–0 advantage courtesy of a 29-yard touchdown pass from Castellanos to Morales.
“Doesn’t matter,” O’Brien said of the Eagles’ fast start to the game. “Doesn’t matter. Doesn’t matter. You gotta play 60 minutes, it’s not a 30-minute game.”
That was the last time the Eagles scored.
BC elected to defer the kickoff after winning the coin toss prior to the game, and as the clock wound down on the first half, BC looked to take full advantage.
Turbo Richard propelled the Eagles downfield via three rushes totalling 31 yards, but BC failed to capitalize and punted to the Cavaliers who began to mount their comeback.
The Eagles appeared to be doing everything they could to help Virginia bring the game within one score as the second quarter wound down. A targeting penalty on Khari Johnson that resulted in his ejection and an illegal-hands-to-the-face penalty on Sedarius McConnell helped the Cavaliers make their way into field goal range, making it a 14–6 game at the half.
“Yeah, I think it played into the loss,” Donovan Ezeiruaku said, regarding penalties and undisciplined play. “It was pretty significant, obviously coach O’Brien preaches playing disciplined football, penalty-free football, and those are things that we can control on the field.”
After the Eagles failed to extend their lead in the opening drive of the second half, Virginia launched a 7:42 drive that ended on the Eagles’ two-yard line. Anthony Colandrea and the Cavaliers went for it on 4th-and-2 but KP Price broke up the pass to force a turnover on downs and avoid a Virginia touchdown.
BC ended up punting the ball right back to the Cavaliers, though, and they picked up where they left off.
The Eagles held strong in the red zone, though, and contained Virginia to a field goal to make it a 14–9 game with 13:29 left in the fourth quarter.
On the next BC drive, disaster struck for the Eagles and everything began to spiral. Castellanos threw an interception and Virginia made quick work of the Eagles’ defense, needing just two plays for Colandrea to find Malachi Fields in the end zone.
The Cavaliers converted on the two-point conversion and established a 17–14 advantage with 10:39 left in the game.
On the next BC drive, Castellanos fumbled, and the ball was promptly picked up by Jonas Sanker who took it to the house for a touchdown. Will Bettridge knocked down the PAT, and the Eagles found themselves on their heels with 6:02 left on the clock.
And with 3:14 left on the clock, Castellanos threw another interception to put any hopes of the Eagles advancing to 5–1 to rest.
“We have to look in the mirror,” O’Brien said. “Everybody in the program has to self-assess, coaches and players. We all have to look and see what we can do to be better, because we’re a lot better than what we showed today.”
