Bill O’Brien has made a heavy emphasis on turnovers this season.
After a loss to Virginia in which turnovers sparked a 24-point comeback for the Cavaliers to beat Boston College football, O’Brien said there was no correlation between losing the turnover battle and winning the game. He has repeated it multiple times since.
But there has been another recurring problem which the Eagles have yet to find a solution for.
While BC won the turnover battle in its Friday-night matchup with Louisville at Alumni Stadium, forcing three and surrendering zero, it punted miserably. Two fourth quarter punts flew 24 and 30 yards set the Cardinals up with ideal field positioning, and they capitalized on both.
The Eagles went into the fourth quarter with a 10-point lead, and led 20–0 with just over six minutes left in the second quarter. But for the second time in the last three games, they let the opponent get the best of them in the final two quarters because of a fatal flaw. Before, it was turnovers. This time, special teams.
Despite making it interesting with some bold fourth-down conversions for touchdowns in the first half, and a career night for Quintayvious Hutchins, BC (4–4, 1–3 Atlantic Coast) could not overcome its punting woes in a 31–27 loss to the Cardinals (5–3, 3–2).
“I have no idea,” O’Brien said of how he is going to fix the punting issue. “We’ve got to punt better. I don’t know. We’re not coaching it good enough.”
Between Ivan Zinchenko and Sam Candotti, the Eagles could not figure it out with their boots. While the punting was a game-long issue, it came back to bite for one last treacherous stretch in the fourth quarter.
Zinchenko’s 24-yard punt turned into an 18-yard rushing touchdown for Isaac Brown, and Candotti’s 30-yard punt on the next drive turned into a six-yard scoring connection between Tyler Shough and Nate Kurisky to give Louisville its eventual four-point win.
Above all, it was a finishing problem, according to O’Brien, quarterback Thomas Castellanos, and nickel Cameron Martinez. It has been for the past three games, as BC has been outscored 46–0 in the fourth quarter combined.
“I think the second half, we just didn’t come out with the energy we needed to finish this game,” Martinez said. “I think that’s been a problem for us all year so far, is really not finishing in second halves.”
Martinez said if the Eagles can stay consistent for all four quarters, they can compete with anybody.
“We start out really hot,” Martinez said. “I think we can beat anybody in the country, too. We’ve just got to put that together for four quarters.”
While Quintayvius Hutchins didn’t have a starting role on the defense heading into this season, his physical growth over the summer transformed him. Hutchins grew three inches in the 2024 offseason, becoming a 6-foot-3, 246-pound force off the edge. His utilization started to increase under O’Brien.
With a first-quarter interception and a second-quarter forced fumble and recovery, Hutchins was a one-man wrecking crew in BC’s loss. Two essential fourth-down plays and Hutchins’ interception allowed the Eagles to slip away with a one-score lead in the first quarter.
On 4th-and-2 from BC’s 42-yard line, the Eagles forced Shough out of bounds for a gain of just one yard, resulting in a turnover on downs with 12:37 left in the first quarter. While BC went three-and-out, it reclaimed possession with its 10th interception of the season on Louisville’s next offensive drive.
The Eagles faced fourth-and-short, but opted to go for it with conviction.
Kamari Morales looped around the line of scrimmage and broke loose. He hauled in a light toss from Castellanos and trotted into the endzone for the 54-yard touchdown reception.
The Eagles went for it on fourth down again on their next offensive drive. Treshaun Ward capped off a 10-play, 61-yard drive with a four-yard touchdown catch on 4th-and-goal after runs of 25 and 18 yards. Ward accounted for 57 of the 61 total yards on the drive.
“What got us open in the first half was a couple of gadget plays,” O’Brien said. “We didn’t really do anything in the first half. It was pretty even. They turned the ball over. We did some good things in the first half but it wasn’t… we didn’t do much on offense tonight.”
Hutchins’ stellar night continued, though.
The defensive end delivered a massive hit on Louisville’s Ahmari Huggins-Bruce, popping both the receiver and the ball out of midair, and landed right onto the football. BC capitalized, as Kye Robichaux scampered in from four yards to make it 20–0 after a failed point after attempt.
But Lousiivlle cut the deficit to 10 points with a touchdown one minute before the half ended on Brown’s four-yard rushing touchdown, and a field goal with 10:35 left in the third quarter. The two sides traded blows to make it a 27–17 contest heading into the fourth quarter.
Then it became a three-point affair after Zinchenko’s shanked punt, and Louisville proceeded to score again on the next set of downs as well. The Cardinals finished the game with 461 yards of total offense, and 332 passing yards. Despite getting the ball with 1:25 left in the game, BC’s second-half offense floundered once again.
“The first half we played good complimentary football,” Castellanos said. “It’s the same thing occurring over and over again. We got to find a way to finish when we start fast. Maybe we gotta practice harder.”
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