Boston College Football Four Downs: Texas State Game

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Boston College head coach Jeff Hafley‘s career was only in its second game, but he knew exactly how his Eagles would win another game. They trailed, 21-7, to a determined, plucky, upset-minded Texas State team, and he hadn’t lost a shred of hope. He kept his own faith and was well aware that BC could erase two touchdowns in an instant.

His team didn’t let him down. The Eagles stormed back from down two touchdowns to score 17 unanswered points, and Hafley’s charges remained undefeated with a 24-21 victory in the 2020 home opener at Alumni Stadium.

“I had told (the team) before the game and all week that it’s how we’re going to play football,” Hafley said. “We’re going to have energy and fight, and, in the fourth quarter, that’s when we have to win the game. In the fourth, our team comes together to clap it up. We don’t just stand there and hold up four fingers. Our team comes together, and that’s what we talk about. Regardless of the score, we’re going to win it in the fourth. I’m confident that we’re going to do that, and that has to be our mentality all year.”

It felt miraculous, but BC didn’t exactly need divine intervention once it righted a boat tossed by stormy seas. The Bobcats chewed more than six minutes of game time with a 13-play drive over 87 yards to take the two-score lead and put BC back on its heels. The Eagle offense responded with a touchdown of its own, but the fourth quarter opened with exactly one prior three-and-out for Texas State in the first quarter.

“They hit us on some plays, and we did things that were inconsistent,” Hafley said. “We had guys uncovered, and it was simple things. I knew it would come down to defense. We had to get the offense the ball back quicker and get them into some rhythm. We weren’t getting three-and-outs, and we were on the field too long. It was a team game that we had to work together.”

That’s when both Travis Levy and Max Richardson grabbed the proverbial bull by its horns. As the third quarter turned into the fourth, Levy delivered an impassioned sideline speech to the entire roster before the defense held Texas State to a punt.

Later on, it proved Hafley prophetic when a three-and-out set a tone for a scoring drive, and another three-and-out led to BC’s game-winning field goal.

“If you could’ve looked on the guys’ faces in the fourth, down multiple possessions, there was no doubt they were going to score,” Hafley said. “It says everything about this team. I don’t care how we win games. I want to get better, and we’re going to coach better. But I’m not going to make excuses for winning games. Backs up against it, and they have been up against it, we don’t flinch.”

With the win, BC erased its third-largest deficit to win a game. It was the first time the Eagles rallied from two touchdowns or more in 15 years, and it was the first double-digit comeback since the Matt Ryan game at Virginia Tech in 2007. It was an early-season, watershed moment for the new head coach, whose team was forced to battle by an opponent bent on earning respect.

Some other takeaways from the win over Texas State:

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First Down: Boston College Offense, Part II

Jeff Hafley spent last week preparing his team for a different look for Texas State. BC had blown out Duke last Saturday, but the admittedly-vanilla play calling rested on comfort and hid behind the ease of execution. He knew the offense, in particular, needed to diversify for the future, and the Eagles further spent time expanding their playbook for Texas State.

It did not yield immediate results. Phil Jurkovec was brutally efficient with his completion percentage in the early part of Saturday, but he struggled to find the same explosiveness from the Duke game. It sputtered through four drives of three or four plays, and Jurkovec threw his second deep ball interception in as many weeks. It came after a deep ball into triple coverage failed to connect with Hunter Long.

That changed in the fourth quarter when Jurkovec started executing those secondary reads. His 11-yard pass to Jaelen Gill was his only completion longer than 10-yards on the game-tying drive, and his scramble on a pass to Gill on third down extended the drive when Texas State committed a roughing the passer penalty. It took two more passes after that to finish a drive with eight yards for a score.

“Coach Cignetti was dialing up some multiple coverage beaters with check-downs,” Jurkovec said. “When they dropped out, we just decided to check the ball down to whatever was open, whatever they were giving us.”

That’s all saying something considering Jurkovec’s final numbers. He finished 26-for-38 for 210 yards and a touchdown while running for 37 yards and two scores. His 26 completions were the most in three years and marked the most completions by a BC quarterback in his first Alumni Stadium start since Matt Hasselbeck completed 25 passes against Virginia Tech in 1996… and he didn’t exactly play that well by his own account.

“In the first half and for most of the game, we weren’t playing that well,” Jurkovec said. “(Texas State) was dropping out (in coverage), and I was getting greedy to extend plays and make plays downfield. I wasn’t taking what they were giving and checking down to move the sticks forward.”

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Second Down: Texas State Offense

The greater New England football community knew nothing about Texas State when Boston College scheduled the Bobcats. It didn’t know much about the Sun Belt Conference or the strong football culture in San Marcos, Texas. There was only minimal awareness about the Bobcat’s 1-2 record and how it could have – and very well should have – been undefeated coming into this week.

It’s safe to say that everyone – myself included – will never forget the Bobcats.

“I knew we’d be in for it,” Jeff Hafley said. “I wasn’t giving anyone coach-talk earlier in the week…I have a lot of respect for (Texas State). They’re so fast and get on the perimeter. They have shiftiness, and (wide receiver Marcell Barbee) can get to balls on the outside. They have a ton of players on that offense who could start in the ACC, and they’re well-coached.”

BC knew Texas State would take its shots downfield, but that didn’t stop quarterback Brady McBride from executing deep range, fast throws to his receivers. At one point, he completed six out of seven throws, with his lone miss being Mike Palmer’s interception, and twice went on complete passing runs of four and five consecutive throws.

He twice hit Barbee for touchdowns in the BC red zone, but the second score sparked a change in the defensive approach to the Bobcats’ quick throw game. McBride missed two of his next three passes and wouldn’t complete consecutive throws the rest of the way. In the fourth quarter, after BC tied the game, Jeremiah Haydel dropped a would-be catch, and McBride missed Blake Aragon on second down. His third-down pass to Barbee fell short of the sticks and forced a punt that led to the game-winning score.

“They did a great job in space, quick,” Palmer said. “We didn’t see that last week, but once we figured it out, we settled down. We got used to their speed, and we calmed down. We kept telling ourselves to lock in, that it would come down to the end of the game.”

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HAF-time Hits

-Jon Meterparel tweeted a picture from the stadium yesterday, and from his view, I could pick out where my dad’s season tickets have been for the past 28 years. The sight of an empty stadium was weird and eerie, but I understand the necessity behind it all.

-That said, the broadcast this week was phenomenal. Evan Lepler and Charles Arbuckle could not have been any better, and sideline reporter Abby Labar is a true professional. The coverage was great, and I honestly couldn’t tell, at home, that the stands were empty.

-Prior to the fourth quarter, the words “Alexa, play Mr. Brightside” came flying out of my mouth, followed by, “Alexa, turn it all the way up.” I’m not even remotely sorry.

-I can’t even begin to describe how excited I am to have Joe Tessitore broadcasting college football at Boston College next week. National television, North Carolina, Saturday afternoon. It’s going to be amazing.

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Third Down: Boston College Defense

The Boston College newswire lit up before the game with the formal addition of Maine graduate transfer Maximilian Roberts. A defensive end from Delaware, Ohio, he had 19 tackles last year for the Black Bears after spending three seasons at Fordham. The well-traveled end totaled just under 90 tackles in his career and transferred after the Colonial Athletic Association opted out of playing fall sports in 2020.

Less than two hours after the formal announcement, he was in uniform and making five tackles, including two for losses with more than one sack as the BC defense bore down in the victory. It was part of a larger curriculum by the coaching staff designed to play as much personnel as possible.

“We all bought in and stayed locked in,” defensive back Mike Palmer said. “Nobody dropped their head, offensively or defensively. We were all mentally locked in, and we just had to play ball.”

In the end, it worked to BC’s advantage when Jahmin Muse was ejected for targeting and Deon Jones went down with an injury. In stepped freshman Kam Arnold, a raw talent who seamlessly filled the void.

“We play with three safeties,” Jeff Hafley said. “Jahmin got ejected, and Deon went down, so Kam stepped up as a true freshman. He did a really nice job. It was his first action, and he was the next guy up.”

Rotating and substituting is a huge component of Tem Lukabu‘s defense, and the different packages offer an array of looks against opponents. More importantly, it gets players snaps and playing time as a way to keep everyone fresh. In the event of an emergency, a player isn’t entering a game cold or raw, and teammates are used to playing with different players as a way to enhance competition for snaps.

“It was Kam’s first real action,” Palmer said, “so we just pulled him aside and told him that he’s been working for this moment. We were ready and good to go. We told him it’s football. It’s what he’s played his whole life, just in a different stadium. We just kept his head loose and thinking the last mount possible.”

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Fourth Down: More Defense

The early-game growing pains aside, individual plays completely disrupted quarterback Brady McBride’s ability to get after the BC defense at various points.

Early in the game, his interception to Mike Palmer nearly resulted in a touchdown for BC, but the tip drill stemmed from a brutal pass rush. Both TJ Rayam and Isaiah McDuffie showed a blitz up the middle, and McBride panicked into a throw of his back foot. Josh DeBerry popped the pass in the air and into the lunging arms of Palmer.

“I wasn’t thinking about much,” Palmer said of the pick. “I was surprised at first. I looked up, and the closest guy was a lineman on the hash mark. I have never seen that much space before. It was somewhat relieving, and there was a sea of blockers for me. It set up the offense for a score.”

“It was a great play,” Jeff Hafley agreed. “Josh DeBerry tipped it up to him, and it got right to (Palmer). I just wished we scored on it. I would’ve loved to see him get it in. We almost had another interception when DeBerry almost caught another one. The ball came up on him quick, and he couldn’t get his eyes on it quick enough. We have to take the ball away on defense, and hopefully, we’ll continue to do that.”

Later in the game, BC made adjustments and really got after the backfield. On third and long with a tie game, a jailbreak, all-out blitz forced McBride to aimlessly throw one into no man’s land after Marcus Valdez won the race to the backfield. The incompletion enabled BC to hold onto two timeouts for the game-winning drive.

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Point After: College Football is BACK.

This weekend represented a turning point for college football in the COVID-19 era. The SEC spun up its play (more on that in a second), and the Pac-12 and Mountain West Conference announced respective return to play plans for the upcoming months. It brought everything full circle when the Mid-American Conference, the first league to opt-out of fall, 2020, opted back in with a six-game schedule.

The weird cycle only means that the rankings and predictions over the next couple of months are going to get wackier, and none of that touched the actual results of teams already in action on Saturday, which made things even crazier.

Take Mississippi State in its first game under Mike Leach’s Air Raid offense. Quarterback KJ Costello completed 36-of-60 passes for 623 yards and five touchdowns in a 44-34 win … over the defending national champion, in Baton Rouge. It came hours after No. 3 Oklahoma suffered a 38-35 loss at home to Kansas State and on the same day that No. 8 Texas and Texas Tech combined for 119 points in an overtime game. No. 22 Army, for what it’s worth, lost to No. 14 Cincinnati, a sleeper pick at one point for the College Football Playoff before leagues started returning, but the Black Knights ran a no-huddle, pass offense, which is a lot like saying they read ancient Aramaic.

Elsewhere, The U is back. No. 12 Miami led Florida State, 38-3, at halftime and ruined the Seminoles’ trip to South Florida with a 52-10 result. That was almost as close as No. 13 UCF’s win over East Carolina, 51-28, while No. 19 Louisiana made a really solid case to stay in the polls with a 20-18 win over Georgia Southern.

No. 21 Pittsburgh snuck past No. 24 Louisville, and Syracuse beat Georgia Tech after a 30-minute delay to retest players out of an abundance of caution. It was the first game in the refurbished Carrier Dome, which has a brand new scoreboard and roof to go along with improved lighting.

At 2-0, Boston College has a case to earn a national ranking, but a number of factors are going to impact how voters view the Eagles. I can’t tell how voters would interpret Saturday, and the addition of new teams under consideration is going to jam the rankings. I’m on record saying that I was a little uncomfortable with voting Big Ten teams back in so quickly, and I don’t want to proselytize or preach about righteous voting; I’m just happy teams are determining safe ways to return to play.

Either way, next week will represent a giant test for the Eagles. North Carolina is 1-0 but steadily moved up to the fringe of the Top Ten. The Tar Heels were No. 11 in last week’s AP Top 25 and No. 12 in the Coaches Poll but haven’t played since an opening week win over Syracuse. They had been scheduled against Charlotte on September 19, but COVID concerns canceled that game. They were unable to secure an opponent on short notice, creating a full two-week bye between games.

BC and North Carolina will play at Alumni Stadium next week at 3:30 p.m as part of the ACC’s featured national television coverage. The game will be televised on ABC and will once again feature an empty stadium in Chestnut Hill due to COVID-19 precautions.