Boston College Hangs on to Defeat Syracuse, 37-31

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On a beautiful Saturday afternoon, the Boston College Eagles (5-4, 2-3) hosted the Syracuse Orange (6-3, 3-3) in an important ACC football game before a sold-out Alumni Stadium crowd. For Syracuse, being on the road has become somewhat common. This is the fourth road game in the last five contests for them and their record in that stretch is 3-1. With their six wins to date, the Orange have become bowl-eligible for the third straight season. It’s the first time this century that has happened for them. The last time this was done was back in 1995-99.

Boston College is looking to become bowl-eligible and a win on Saturday would go a long way to reaching that goal. As play began on Saturday, there were 53 teams with an active chance of becoming bowl-eligible in each of the last three seasons. Of those 53 teams, seven of them already had six losses. Boston College is trying not to become part of that list.

The coin toss to begin the game was won by Boston College and they deferred to the second half. That meant that the Orange got the ball first to begin the game. After a Syracuse punt, the Eagles’ first offensive series was more of a run game than anything else. The 10-play drive featured seven runs. The best of those runs was a 41-yard scamper by Jordan McDonald that put the Eagles into the red zone. The drive stalled there and they settled for a 29-yard field goal try that was missed by Liam Connor. With four minutes left in the quarter, the BC defense caused a turnover. A fumble recovery by Quintavios Hutchins off of a LeQuint Allen carry, set up the Eagles offense at the Orange 41-yard line. Three runs later, RB Kyle Robichaux turned the corner on the right side off tackle and ran down the sidelines for a 34-yard score. The touchdown is Robichaux’s sixth of the season. It was 7-0 BC with 2:43 left in the quarter. The first quarter came to an end with the Eagles up 7-0.

BC started the second quarter with the ball. Their running game was already paying off having gained 108 yards on 14 carries in the first. While the running game was good, the passing game was another story. QB Thomas Castellanos did not complete a pass in the quarter as he was 0-2. Syracuse, which had been very good on fourth down, gave it a shot at the BC 47-yard line. The try did not work and gave the Eagles great field position to work with. The Eagles cashed that in with a 6-play drive, including a 14-yard run off the left side by McDonald. That was finished off by a nine-yard TD pass from Castallenos to Lewis Bond on the left side. The score was Bond’s third TD catch of the season. It was Castellanos’s 18th touchdown pass of the year. With 8:50 left in the half, the Eagles were up 14-0.

Syracuse’s offense finally got going on their next drive. The six-play, 88-yard drive featured two big pass plays. The first one was a 30-yard pass from McCord to Oronde Gadsen (8 for 102 yards, TD) over the middle. Then a 17-yard pass to the right corner to Gadsen for the score to get the Orange back in the game at 14-7 late in the half. They got the ball right back and tied the game. A 29-yard run by McCord off right tackle was followed by a 26-yard pass to Jackson Meeks (7 for 105 yards) that put the ball at the BC 3-yard line. On the next play, Allen took a handoff and went right into the endzone for his 8th touchdown of the year. With two minutes left in the half, it was tied at 14-14. On the next drive, the Syracuse secondary came through. A deflected pass thrown by Castellanos was picked off by Jayden Bellamy, his second of the season. It did not amount to anything and the half came to an end at 14-14.

The first half was a tale of two different offensive approaches. Syracuse threw the ball very well as McCord was 11-of-21 for 179 yards and a score. BC ran the ball really well with 23 carries for 172 yards and a score. Jordan McDonald had 105 yards on nine rushes for an 11.7 average. After the Eagles took the third-quarter kickoff and did nothing with it, the Orange did something with their first drive. The eight-play, 59-yard drive was helped out by a pass interference call on CB Ashton McShane that put the ball in the red zone. Three plays later, Allen scored his second TD of the day. The four-yard run off the left side gave Syracuse their first lead of the day at 21-14. That was 21 unanswered points by Syracuse. On BC’s next possession, coach Bill O’Brien made a QB change. Out was Castellanos and in was Grayson Allen. The change was immediately felt. Three plays and 75 yards later, the Eagles were back in the endzone. Kyle Robichaux (28 carries, a career-high 198 yards) went 14 yards to pay dirt to re-tied the game at 21-21. He carried the ball three times for 60 yards on that drive. With 7:47 left in the third, we were all even.

BC retook the lead on a fumble that went through the endzone. The fumble by Mccord was caused by Eagle DE Donovan Ezeiruaku. The Eagles were back in front 23-21 with seven minutes left in the quarter. The change at the quarterback position flipped the Eagles’ offense. A 12-play drive that went 67 yards ended with McDonald (15 carries, 133 yards, TD) going off the right side for a 13-yard TD run. The third quarter ended with BC up nine at 30-21.

To this point in the game, the Eagles running game had 266 yards on 38 carries, and three scores. Both McDonald and Robichaux were over 100 yards on the ground. Off the bench, James was perfect at 3-of-3 for 27 yards. Syracuse came right back behind the arm and legs of their QB. The 10-play, 75-yard drive was finished off by a 12-yard TD pass from McCord (31-of-48, 392 yards and two TDs) to Darrell Gill Jr. It made the score 30-28 with 11:16 left in the game. For Gill, the TD catch was his second of the year. BC answered that with a score of their own. On a fourth down, Allen (5-of-6, 51 yards, TD) found a wide-open TE Jeremiah Franklin deep in the right corner of the endzone for an 18-yard TD pass. His third TD catch of the season. With 6:51 left, the Eagles were up 37-28.

A key BC defensive stand stopped Syracuse on a fourth-down pass try and gave the offense back the ball at their own 38-yard line with four minutes to go. The offense could not move the ball and punted it back to Syracuse. The Orange drove the ball downfield. They settled for a 25-yard FG by Jackson Kennedy that was good. With 1:16 left in the game, BC had a 37-31 lead. Syracuse tried an onside kick. After a penalty on the first try, the Orange was given a second chance at it. The second attempt was recovered by Boston College who then ran out the clock for the win. The win snapped a three-game losing streak for BC.

After the game, coach O’Brien thought his team played a “full 60 minutes game for the first time in a while.” On the QB change, he said “It was the best decision for the team”. He really liked the way the offensive line and tight ends won the battle at the line of scrimmage. The latter quote was echoed by Kyle Robicaux. Ezeiruaku said “We did a pretty good job of finishing today.” Something the team has not done over the past few weeks. Boston College hits the road for next week as they head to Dallas, Texas, and a date with SMU.