Boston College Loses to Syracuse on Senior Night, 32-23

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Alumni Stadium was a hopping place on Saturday night. The reason for that was the final appearance of the Eagles seniors on the field wearing maroon & gold. Senior Day of Night is always a special time, and this one would be no different. Boston College was hoping to send them off on a good note as they hosted Syracuse. Both teams came into this game struggling. The Orangemen had lost five in a row while the Eagles had lost five of their last six games. A clear and cool night awaited both teams. The long season that began back in early August for both teams would be over after this night.

This is the 56th time these old Big East rivals have met. Syracuse got the opening kickoff as BC decided to defer to the second half. The Eagles defense came up with the first big play of the game as Orangemen QB, Garrett Shrader, was stripped by Eagles MLB Bryce Steele. He would also recover the fumble. It set up the Eagles deep in Syracuse territory. The result of the great field position was a 28-yard FG by Connor Lyfton to give BC an early 3-0 lead. The next series was a three-and-out for Syracuse. The Eagles’ special teams came up with big play number two of the quarter as an Orange punt was blocked and once again the Eagles offense was deep in Syracuse’s end of the field. This time BC offense hit paydirt as QB Emmett Morehead found Zay Flowers on the right side for a seven-yard touchdown reception. The TD was the 11th of the season for the senior wideout. BC was rolling with a 10-0 lead five minutes in. On the next Eagle drive, Flowers went over 1,000 yards in receiving for the season with a 33-yard catch down the left sideline. The first quarter came to an end with BC driving and leading 10-0.

Boston College ended the first quarter with 78 yards of total offense and they began the second quarter looking to add to that number. Syracuse put together a 12-play, 66-yard drive behind the arm and legs of Shrader. He completed four passes and ran the ball twice but the drive did stall. However, they got a FG out of it as Andre Szmyt hit a 47-yard field goal to cut the lead to 10-3 BC. Syracuse’s defense gave the offense a chance to score more points as Morehead was sacked and fumbled the ball. The sack and fumble recovery was by Anwar Sparrow. The Orangemen were set up to tie the game just before the half ended. However, two bad penalties taken by members of the Orangemen offensive line took away the chance for points. Morehead moved the Eagles down the field and gave Lyfton a shot at a 45-yard field goal which he missed. The teams went into the locker room with the Eagles ahead 10-3.

The game was also starting to get chippy as both teams had to be separated by the officials and both teams’ coaching staffs as the half came to an end. Boston College, despite having been outgained in the first half (145 to 133), was perfect in the red zone (2-2) and was 4-of-7 on third down. Syracuse was 1-of-5 on third down.,0-for1 on fourth down, and 0-for-1 in the red zone. Each team had a possession, and Syracuse took advantage of theirs as a long 12-play 88-yard drive that took seven minutes to run ended on a 29-yard field goal by Szmyt. BC lead was now 10-6 with 1:34 left in the quarter. The third quarter ended with the Eagles still in the lead at 10-6.

Boston College began the fourth with the football and was on the move. They would find the endzone on a 5-yard run by RB Pat Garwo. The big play on the drive was a 30-yard completion from Morehead to Flowers down the right sideline. Boston College’s lead was now 17-6 with 12:58 left in the game. Syracuse would not go away and on the next drive found the endzone for the first time on the night. Shrader found Davaught Cooper on the left sideline all by himself. Cooper did the rest as he waltzed in for an 8-yard touchdown reception. The Orangemen went for two and failed, so with 9:56 left the lead was now 17-12 BC. Syracuse was starting to take the game over. The next time they touched the ball they took the lead for the first time on the night with a 58-yard catch and run. Shrader hit Damien Alford who beat his man down the right side and took it to the house. The 2-point try failed once again, but now Syracuse had a one-point lead at 18-17 with 7:05 left. The Orangemen’s defense stepped it up and Morehead was sacked by defensive end Steve Linton deep in BC territory. Sean Tucker headed to the right and ran it in from 5 yards out to give Syracuse an eight-point lead at 25-17 with 2:29 to play. Boston College’s next drive resulted in turning the ball over on downs. The Orangemen ran out the clock and in doing so scored one more time as Tucker (21 carries 125 yards, 2 TDs) went left and 29 yards later found himself in the endzone, 32-17 Syracuse. Boston College added one more score with 07 seconds left as Morehead (27-of-36, for 242 yards and two TDs) found Flowers (eight catches for 110 yards, two TDs) one more time from two yards out. As for Flowers, he now has 29 career touchdown catches at BC which is a new record.

The final score was Syracuse 32 and Boston College 23.. BC finishes 3-9, 2-6. Syracuse is 7-5, 4-4.

Shrader ended his night 21-of-27 for 285 yards and two touchdowns. He was sacked seven times on the night, but in the end, the result is what matters most. The next stop for Syracuse is a possible bowl game in December. Boston College will look ahead to off-season work which will include spring ball.