Boston College Opens 2023 With OT Loss to Northern Illinois 27-24

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On Saturday afternoon, the Boston College Eagles opened up year four of the Jeff Haffley era vs Northern Illinois. Since coach Haffley has been at the Heights, BC is 2-1 on opening day. Against the Huskies, the Eagles brought a five-game winning streak into the contest with the last meeting taking place on September 1, 2017, at DeKalb. The Eagles return 51 lettermen from a season ago. Northern Illinois begins season number 122 and there 55th as an FBS Subdivision program. In the preseason Mid-American Conference poll, the Huskies were ranked third in the West Division. Offensive line play was going to be key in this one. The Huskies’ sixth member of last year’s offensive line that was ranked 10th in the country in fewest sacks allowed (12 in 12 games). Boston College, on the other hand, struggled with O-Line play as members of the group missed a combined 33 games in 2022, good for 55% of potential starts.

Both teams have quarterbacks returning from 2022. For the Huskies, Rocky Lombard begins his third year as the Huskies QB. A season ago he made only four starts due to injury but still managed a .667 completion percentage. The Huskies are 10-6 in games he starts and 11-6 in games he appears in. Emmett Morehead will run the Eagles offense. He started the last four games of 2022 throwing for 1,029 yards and nine touchdowns, a 59.9 completion rate. A key for the Eagles’ offense will be their ability to run the ball. A problem that a season ago was never solved.

Northern Illinois won the toss and decided to defer to the second half, and with that, the 2023 college football season was underway. The first quarter of the new season was uneventful for both sides. Northern Illinois used two of their three first-half timeouts because of communication issues. Boston College was not much better, changing quarterbacks midway through. Morehead started and could not move the team so Haffley turned to sophomore Thomas Castellanos to get things moving in the right direction. In a drive that started toward the end of the first quarter and continued into the early second, he showed signs of being able to move the team with his legs. However, penalties would end the drive.

At the 6:32 mark of the first half, the Huskies had used all of their first-half timeouts. Playcalling continued to be an issue for the Huskies on offense. Northern Illinois finally put the game’s first drive together. A Lombard to TE Chris Carter pass set up the Huskies at the BC 20-yard line. From there, Lombard would hit Kacper Rutkiewicz on a third-down completion of nine yards to keep things alive. From the wildcat, running back Justin Lynch found running back Antario Brown in the left flat for a seven-yard TD, and Northern Illinois had a 7-0 lead. A lead that the Huskies would take with them to the locker room.

The Eagles QBs combined to throw for only 45 yards on 8-of-16 passing. They were able to gain 90 yards on the ground with Castellanos leading the way with 40 yards. Lombard was 6-of-12 for 96 yards and a score. The Huskies added another 72 yards on the ground. Northern Illinois was better on third down going 5-for-8. The Huskies took the opening kickoff of the second half and marched down the field doing the damage, for the most part, on the ground. They would get their second touchdown of the day when Brown took it over the right side and into the endzone from two yards out. The drive covered 10 plays and went 75 yards in 4:27 seconds. Northern Illinois now had a 14-0 lead. Morehead returned at quarterback for the Eagles in the third. Nothing was happening for the Eagles on offense, a break was needed. On the Huskies’ second drive of the half, Lombrad fumbled the football and it was recovered by Kris Banks of BC at the Huskies 25-yard line. Castellanos returned as the Eagles QB, and 1:55 seconds later the Eagles were in the endzone for the first time in 2023. Castellanos found Lewis Bond open over the middle for an 11-yard touchdown pass and the extra point made it a 14-7 Huskies lead halfway through the third quarter. On BC’s next possession, Castellanos underthrew his intended receiver and was intercepted by JaVaughn Byrd in Eagles territory. The Huskies had the ball and the lead heading to the fourth.

The Huskies would take the turnover and turn it into points. They got some help from the Eagles’ defense, as CB Elijah Brown was called for pass interference on a fourth-down pass attempt. Brock Lampe took a handoff and found the end zone from a yard out to give Northern Illinois a 21-7 lead with 9:24 left in the game. The Eagles were in trouble on opening day. They got that score back on the next drive. Castellanos uses his legs to escape and find Bond twice. Once on a fourth down scramble for 10 yards, then finding him down the left sideline for 16 more. The Huskies helped out by committing a couple of penalties, and Castellanos finished off the drive with a two-yard run to the right corner of the end zone. It was 21-14 Huskies with 5:59 left. The Eagles’ defense came up with a much-needed stop and the offense would get the ball back with one timeout and 3:23 left to tie or take the lead. From the Eagles 33-yard line, Castallnos did his thing through the air completing a pass to Ryan O’Keefe for 22 yards, then finding Jaden Williams in the right corner for a 30-yard score. With 1:44 left the game was now tied at 21-21.

The Eagles defense held and gave the offense a chance to win the game in regulation. From the Eagles’ 34-yard line with 39 seconds left, the offense could not move the ball and punted it back to NIU with 15 seconds to go. The Huskies did not have enough time and the game went to overtime. Northern Illinois won the coin toss to start OT and decided to play defense first. The Eagles had the first crack from the 25-yard line. BC did not move the ball and Liam Connor attempted a 39-yard FG which was good. NIU needed at least a field goal to keep the game alive. Boston College was now up 24-21. NIU made plays on their drive. First, Lombard hit Lampe on the right side for 16 yards as Lampe made a nice one-handed catch. Gavin Williams took a handoff and gained eight yards to the Eagles one-yard line. Lombard took care of it himself with a 1-yard plunge into the end zone for the 27-24 victory. Lombard finished his day 13-for-29, 165 yards, and a rushing score.

After the game, Coach Haffey was “very disappointed in the performance.” He thought his team had to start fast and did just the opposite. He was most disappointed in the penalties his team took (10-for-93 yards) and two fourth-down calls he harped on as killers. Overall, he mentioned the inconsistent play of his team that led to the final result. The one big question becomes whether the Eagles found a new QB. Castallonas was 13-of-28, 138 yards, 2TD and 1INT. He also led the team in rushing with 67 yards on nine carries and a score. After the game, he said, “I knew I was coming in the game in the third series.” He brought life to the offense and the team when he entered the game. Morehead struggled all day going 4-of-10 for 30 yards and never got anything going. It will be interesting to see how Haffley handles this for next week’s game with Holy Cross. This is the second year in a row that Boston College has lost the opener. Next week is a key week to show this will not be a repeat of last season.