Boston College Defeats Pittsburgh on Senior Day, 34-23

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There is nothing like Senior Day in college football. On Saturday afternoon before a crowd of 29,704, the Boston College Eagles had their as they gave their senior players a well deserved moment before they took on the Pittsburgh Panthers. A win by the Eagles would give them a seven-win season for the first time since 2018. It would also give them a six-win home season for the first time since 2009. Pittsburgh on the other hand, is struggling. They have lost four in a row after starting the season 7-0.

Boston College won the coin toss and elected to defer to the second half. The Panthers started the game with the football. Nate Yarnell started at QB for the Panthers. After two third down completions, an injury forced him to turned the drive over to David Lynch. The Eagles defense took care of things and Grayson Allen and the offense got their first chance with the ball. BC followed up with a 10-play, 74 yard drive that featured seven running plays and two pass completions. One of those went to Lewis Bond over the middle for 25 yards then another 27-yard completion to Kamari Morales on the right side stalled inside the ten yard line. Pittsburgh’s defense stiffened and the Eagles turned the ball over on downs.

They got the ball back after a Panthers punt and the Eagles used their second drive of the quarter to get in the end zone. It would take three plays, one in the air for 26 yards to TE Jeremiah Franklin over the middle. On the next play, Jordan McDonald (9 carries, 60 yards, TD) ran right up the middle for 36 yards and a score. The point after was muffed and Boston College had a 6-0 lead at the end of one.

The Eagles caught an early second quarter break when Liam Connor’s bad punt was touched by a Panthers player and recovered by BC. However, the Eagles did nothing with the break and with 10:21 left in the half, the game was still 6-0 BC. BC added to their lead at 6:35 of the quarter by Kyle Robichaux (21 carries, 71 yards, TD) on a two-yard run up the middle. The score was set up by an Allen to Reed Harris hookup deep over the middle for 53 yards. The extra point was good and the Eagles now had a 13-0 lead.

The Pittsburgh offense finally got going with Yarnell back under center. An 8-play, 75-yard drive resulted in a Yarnell to TE Garvin Bartholomew connection for 11 yards in the left portion of the end zone. The extra point was good and with little over three minutes left it was a 13-7 BC lead. With half a minute left in the half, the Eagles defense added to the score. A pick-6 by BC DT Ty Clemson of 54 yards gave the Eagles a 20-7 lead. The interception of Yarnell was made possible by pressure from DE Neto Okpala up the middle. The Panthers would take advantage of getting the ball back just before the half. Senior placekicker Ben Sauls hit a 57-yard FG just before time expired to bring the Panthers back to within ten at 20-10 at the half.

At the half, the Eagles were already over two hundred yards of offense (226). QB Grayson Allen was an efficient 9-11 for 151 yards. His counterpart, Nate Yarnell, was up to the task going 13-22 for 163 yards with a TD and INT. Pittsburgh gained 200 yards in the first half themselves.

Since BC won the coin toss to begin the game, they started the third quarter with the football. The opening drive of the quarter ended with BC turning the ball over on downs at the Pittsburgh 35-yard line. It was the second time that BC had done this. The Pittsburgh offense knew what to do when they got the ball. An 8-play 65-yard drive resulted in a Yarnell shovel pass to Bartholomew touchdown of five yards that brought the Panthers back to within three at 20-17 with 7:50 left in the third. BC came right back with a 28-yard touchdown catch by Harris (3 catches, 85 yards, TD) down the right sidelines that put the Eagles back up by ten at 27-17 with 2:33 left in the third. The quarter ended with BC in front.

The fourth quarter was an early tale of punting by both teams. The Eagles did force the Panthers to turn the ball over on downs for the first time in the game. That defensive stop gave the offense another opportunity to expand their lead. The offense did just that on Allen’s (20-28, 253 yards, 2 TDs) second TD of the game to Morales over the middle for 15 yards to give the Eagles a 34-17 lead with 6:12 left in the game. After the game, his coach called James’ performance his “best game.” Things were starting to look good for win #7 for Boston College.

Pittsburgh added a 15-yard TD from Yarnell (23-42, 296 yards, 3 TDs, INT) to Mumpfield who caught the ball at the BC 7 yard line and bullied his way into the end zone to make it 34-23 BC with 3:50 left. That score would be the last points of the game. Boston College won on Senior Day 34-23 over Pittsburgh and finished the regular season at 7-5, 4-4. Pittsburgh ends their year on a five-game losing streak and finishes 7-5, and 3-5 in league.

After the game, head coach Bill O’Brien talked about “how proud of the team he is.” He thought Clemons pick-6 was a “huge play.”

When asked about Donovan Ezeiruaku, who finished the game with 3.5 sacks, O’Brien called him “one of the best players to play here.”

James, who has been through a lot this season, said “A winning season, that’s our goal.” Morales (4 catches, 51 yards, TD) said “it’s been a blessing to be a part of coach O’Brien offense.”

A side note about the future of the BC program. Coach O’Brien mentioned that 13 or 14 players that have been signed by the program will be early enrollees during the spring semester. A good sign for the future of the program. So too is having another game, which the team will find out about on December 7.