After Boston College football raced out to a 4–1 September that included a road upset over then-No. 10 Florida State and a thriller Red Bandanna Game victory over Michigan State, the month of October told a different story.
October sent the Eagles crashing back down to Earth with consecutive losses to Virginia, Virginia Tech, and Louisville—a crushing 0–3 stretch. Blown leads and flat starts threatened to derail a season that had begun with BC’s first AP Top-25 appearance since 2018.
Back at .500, the Eagles weren’t quite dead in the water, but they faced a crossroads.
“We had a decision to make,” BC starting quarterback Grayson James said. “We were 4–4. … We knew we had a good stretch of games in front of us to go out there and dictate the outcome of our season.”
Led by head coach Bill O’Brien, the Eagles’ new mantra became “Remember November.”
“I think it was the first of November,” Donovan Ezeiruaku said. “We sat here in a team meeting. Coach O’Brien, he put up on the board—it was a long acronym. And it was ‘They’ll Remember What You Do In November.’ That was the acronym, and it was important to win as many games as we possibly could in November, because they do remember what you do in November.”
The Eagles’ November started with a quarterback change bold enough to catalyze an upset win over Syracuse. It ended with that new quarterback leading BC (7–5, 4–4 Atlantic Coast) to a 34–23 Senior Day win over Pittsburgh (7–5, 4–4)—closing out a 3–1 month and a 7–5 regular season.
“No, we’re not an undefeated team, but I think we’re a good football team,” O’Brien said after the game. “I think we’ve improved as the year has gone on. A lot of credit for that goes to the players and the coaching staff. I’m just very proud to be their head coach, very proud today to have a chance to possibly win eight games, which hasn’t been done in a long time—just proud to be associated with Boston College football.”
Three weeks into his tenure as BC’s official starter, James found a rhythm from the jump, complemented by a strong ground attack. Jordan McDonald opened the scoring for the Eagles in the first quarter with a 36-yard scamper, and Kye Robichaux followed with a 2-yard punch-in the following quarter—enough to put BC ahead 13–0.
But after the Panthers found the end zone for the first time all day in the second quarter, momentum began to slide their way. With Pitt threatening to take its first lead of the game with less than two minutes to play in the first half, Neto Okpala zeroed in on his target. Racing in untouched, Okpala leapt all over Panthers’ quarterback Nate Yarnell, leaving him no choice but to fling the ball out ahead of him.
The pass attempt never had a chance.
After sputtering in the air for a brief moment, the ball found the hands of Ty Clemons, who rumbled home for 54-yard touchdown—BC’s first pick-six authored by a defensive lineman since 2007.
“I didn’t even know [Clemons] had the ball until I looked and I’m like, ‘Okay, who’s that running?’” said Ezeiruaku, who notched a team-high 3.5 sacks. “‘Oh wow, that’s No. 90.’ I’m just very excited for my brother right there—screaming my head off. Actually, I think I had a headache after.”
Even following Clemons’ pivotal play, however, the Panthers still clung to a flicker of life. Ben Sauls drilled a 57-yard field goal as the first half expired, and Pitt notched the first score of the second half to cut its deficit down to 20–17.
“Little things that we got to keep improving on—kickoff there, we gave up some yards, had a penalty, and then they were able to kick a 57-yard field goal,” O’Brien said. “So we got to learn from that situation.”
And after Nate Matlack sacked James to set up a BC 3rd-and-20, the Panthers seemed poised to snatch the lead away from the Eagles. Instead, James dug in, looked to the end zone, and connected with Reed Harris, who submitted his best Randy Moss impression to push the Eagles ahead 27–17.
The highlight-reel touchdown continued Harris’ ascent among BC’s deep receiving corps.
“Reed Harris is one of the most improved players on our team,” O’Brien said. “He’s come a long way, made a lot of big plays in the last three or four games, very proud of him, and he’s got a great future.”
The play also cemented James’ emergence as the Eagles’ starter. James, who finished the game 20 of 28 with 253 yards, has now guided BC to a 4–1 record in games where he has seen playing time.
“Grayson is somebody that we’re just very proud of,” O’Brien said. “Here’s a guy that’s come back from injury and then to play today, [which] I thought was probably his best game. He just did a great job. He managed the game very well. He did not turn the ball over.”
James tacked on another score late in the fourth quarter, this time to Kamari Morales—his sixth touchdown grab of the season, enough to put the game away for good.
“I attribute it to their work ethic,” O’Brien said of BC’s November rebound. “They stuck with it. They never quit. There’s no quit in Boston College football—that word, we don’t use that word. So these guys stuck with it, even though some of those weeks were tough. Losing to Louisville—we’re up 20–0 in that game. Losing to SMU was a tough loss, because we felt like we were in that game. But at the end of the day, they came back.”
The win moved BC one step closer to its first eight-win season in 15 years.
“I think we’ve built some mental toughness throughout the year, and hopefully that’ll sustain into the bowl game and into the offseason,” O’Brien said.
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