The final two minutes before the first half, especially as the team who received the kickoff in the beginning of the game, is one of the most crucial two-minute stretches in football. For Joe Marinaro, that truth sunk in.
With 1:55 left in the first half, North Carolina’s offense ran onto the turf looking to make it a one-score game, down 17–7. Since the Tar Heels deferred the pregame coin toss, they would receive the ball to start the third quarter.
What happened next only lasted six combined plays, and it gave Boston College football a 17-point lead.
The pocket collapsed on 2nd-and-10, and Quintavious Hutchins and Donovan Ezeiruaku wrapped up Jacolby Criswell for a loss of six yards. Criswell took his time on the ensuing third down, scanning the field for open reads. But the only open person he found was on the other team.
Marinaro picked off Criswell and returned the ball to the Tar Heels’ 32-yard line, setting up the offense with a chance to cement a firm advantage. In just 24 seconds, Grayson James did just that, tossing an 18-yard touchdown pass to Reed Harris. After the score, Ryan Turner picked off Criswell again on a last-second Hail Mary attempt to end the half.
“Probably the best example of complimentary football,” BC head coach Bill O’Brien said. “[Marinaro] makes a huge play. You talk about a BC guy. He’s a BC guy.”
By the end of the third quarter, the Eagles (6–5, 3–4 Atlantic Coast) led in total yards 359–80. Ezeiruaku’s two sacks and two tackles for loss spearheaded a defense which racked up seven sacks and eight tackles for loss, along with three interceptions.
BC also stunted Omarion Hampton’s rushing attack in the 41–21 win over the Tar Heels (6–5, 3–4) at Alumni Stadium, which secured bowl eligibility for the Eagles. Doug Flutie’s 1984 team was there to witness it all on the 40th anniversary of the “Hail Flutie.”
“They kind of put Boston College on the map,” offensive lineman Drew Kendall said. “They were a top five team in the country—No. 2. What they did has kind of allowed Boston College as a program to thrive.”
Hampton entered the contest with the second-most rushing yards in the country behind Boise State’s Heisman-favorite back, Ashton Jeanty. Hampton only registered 53 rushing yards in UNC’s loss.
“These guys had to tackle,” O’Brien said. “We had to do a good job of staying in our gaps. To stop a guy like that—he just rushed for 250 against Wake [Forest]—that’s a big accomplishment.”
James, meanwhile, finished with 192 passing yards, 38 rushing yards, and two touchdowns. Lewis Bond caught nine passes for 81 yards, and Turner registered his second interception of the game with a 78-yard pick six in the final quarter.
“I don’t think anything can replace experience,” James said. “I feel like I’ve gotten better every game that I’ve played in, every practice as well. Game reps are paramount. I know I’m comfortable with the guys out there, and I’m just operating.”
On the first drive of the game, BC set up for a 49-yard field goal—potentially the longest of Liam Connor’s career.
Coming into Saturday’s contest, the Eagles ranked last in the country in field-goal makes with just one.
But Connor drilled the kick to give BC an early 3–0 lead.
BC extended that lead less than two minutes into the second quarter.
James took a designed keeper, which completely faked out the Tar Heels’ goal-line prevention, for a three-yard touchdown run. Connor made the extra point to give BC a two-score edge with 13:41 left in the first half.
The misdirection blueprint remained in stock on the Eagles’ next scoring opportunity.
From North Carolina’s 24-yard line, Treshaun Ward took a handoff and flipped the ball to John Montague running an end-around. Montague found open space with blockers and tumbled into the endzone for his first touchdown run of the season.
Immediately after, Chris Culliver exploded on the Tar Heels’ kickoff. After turning on the jets, Culliver never got touched, tacking on North Carolina’s first points of the day with the 95-yard return to cut the deficit to 17–7.
Marinaro and Turner’s pair of picks at the end of the first half had the Eagles coasting into halftime, though, and the second half proved to be just as much of a blowout.
“Ryan Turner has gone from the bottom of the depth chart to the top,” O’Brien said. “He’s earned it. He has stuck with it. It hasn’t been easy for him. He’s probably third, fourth on the depth chart at times, but keeps plugging away.”
Connor nailed his second field goal of the game with 11:20 left in the third quarter from 27 yards out, and Turner’s pick six made it 34–7 early in the fourth quarter. Robichaux took a direct snap out of the wildcat and scored from eight yards to make it 41–7 just over 7:00 later.
Davion Gause added two touchdowns in garbage time gave the Tar Heels their last lick of hope.
Wearing his “Bowl Bound” shirt after the game, Marinaro let out a sigh of relief.
“This means a lot,” Marinaro said. “It’s my fifth year here. My first year was the COVID year, didn’t go to a bowl. My second year was the Military Bowl, got canceled because of COVID. We didn’t go to a bowl my junior year. So this is like my second real bowl experience, or will be. It’s my last year here. You just want to make the most out of it.”
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