Anthony Brown’s career day starts BC’s season off right

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It was over at halftime, and that’s the way it should have gone. The Boston College Eagles kicked off what has the potential to be a special season with a 55-21 thumping of the UMass Minutemen.

The score doesn’t even do justice to BC’s utter domination; the Eagles led 48-7 at halftime, and most of the starters didn’t see action in the second half.

BC’s offensive outburst of 622 yards fell just 44 yards short of the program’s single-game total offensive record set in 1982 against Penn State. Also, Anthony Brown’s 245.9 passer rating is the highest single-game passer rating for a BC QB since 1996.

“But all in all, I thought it was a great opening day performance,” Addazio said of his team post-game. “Our goal for our kids was to play at the highest level, give all the effort they had, be physical, be fast, be relentless, and play together, and I thought that we certainly saw that. We had zero turnovers, and I thought that was great. It was great. That’s our goal.”

Sophomore sensation AJ Dillon kicked off his Heisman campaign with 20 carries and two receptions for a total of 125 yards. The UMass defensive line actually did an admirable job of guarding Dillon after a blazing start, as 52 of Dillon’s 125 all-purpose yards came on the opening drive.

In his return from a knee injury suffered last November against NC State, Brown produced his best game as a collegiate athlete. Brown completed 15 passes of 21 attempts for 279 yards to eight different receivers, and the knee held up fine when tested with a nice juke on an 8-yard run in the second quarter.

The Brown-Kobay White connection was on point. On the final two plays of BC’s second TD drive, the duo connected for a 25-yarder on a wheel route and a 34-yard deep ball to the end zone.

He did it again! Kobay hauls in a 27-yard TD reception from Brown in the end zone and the Eagles' lead is 41-7.#WeAreBC pic.twitter.com/CdpIs6LufN

— Boston College Football (@BCFootball) September 1, 2018

The offense was energetic all afternoon. The speed with which the unit operated on the opening drive was striking. Healthy doses of jet sweeps and quick passes kept the Minuteman defense reeling, which opened up the deep ball for the aforementioned White touchdown.

Brown and Dillon departed at halftime. EJ Perry took over as the signal-caller and went a solid 3-for-4 for 30 yards. He also ran twice for 23 more yards.

Travis Levy and Davon Jones split time as RB2 in the first half and RB1 in the second half. The shifty, dual-threat running back Levy carried the ball 10 times for 40 yards and took a screen pass for eight yards. The ground-and-pound style of Jones translated to two goal-line rushing touchdowns.

The only glimmer of hope for UMass, if it can even be called that, came when BC led 28-7 in the second quarter. After the offense went three-and-out in its own territory, a poor snap over the head of Grant Carlson almost gave UMass the ball at the goal line, but Carlson was able to get off a punt that bounced to the UMass 49.

The next BC drive ended in a touchdown, but two false starts and a botched snap cost the Eagles the 7th point. UMass’ Marquis Young returned the ensuing kickoff 78 yards to the BC 17. A 12-yard completion put the Minutemen in a goal-to-go situation, but DB Hamp Cheevers forced and recovered a fumble.

The Eagles put the exclamation point on the game with a 59-yard pick-six by Lukas Denis to cap the 48-7 first half.

Next up for BC is an old rival: the Holy Cross Crusaders. The Crusaders, an FCS team in the Patriot League, shouldn’t provide any more of a challenge for the Eagles than UMass posed.

Don’t sleep on these Eagles; it’s a great time to be a BC fan. Steve Addazio has had his fair share of critics, but he backed up his talk of a beautiful offense. The outlook is bright on The Heights.