Mustangs Stampede Eagles, 45-13, as BC's Struggles Continue

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A terrific Saturday afternoon at Alumni Stadium awaited both the SMU Mustangs and the Boston College Eagles before a crowd of 38,345. These were two teams going in very different directions. For the Mustangs, a win was crucial to keep their hopes alive for a spot in the conference championship game for the second straight season. For Boston College, the top priority was simply trying to snap an eight-game losing streak and secure its first win over an FBS team this year.

First-Half Fumbles Plague BC

BC won the coin toss and deferred to the second half, giving the Mustangs the ball to start the game. Kevin Jennings started at quarterback for SMU, while Grayson James started for BC for the third straight game.

After each team punted on their opening drives, the Mustangs’ second drive produced the game’s first score. A 7-play, 70-yard drive took 2:05 off the clock, highlighted by a 44-yard pass and run from Jennings to Jordan Hudson down the right sideline to the BC 1-yard line. On the next play, Derrick McFall scored on a run to give SMU a 7-0 lead, marking his second touchdown of the year.

The Eagles’ next two drives quickly went bad with turnovers.

On the second drive, Allen was sacked and lost the ball on a fumble recovered by SMU’s D.J. Warner, his first recovery of the year. This turnover resulted in a successful 20-yard field goal by Sam Keltner, putting SMU up 10-0 with 6:35 left in the first quarter.
The Eagles turned the ball over for the second straight drive when Allen (0-of-2, 0 yds, 2 fumbles) fumbled the snap, which was recovered by FS Ahmaad Moses, his first recovery of the season.

The Eagles’ defense stepped up after the second turnover to stop the Mustangs’ offense. After three ineffective drives, Coach Bill O’Brien made a quarterback change, bringing in Dylan Lonergan. The first quarter ended with SMU leading 10-0. BC had the ball four times and gained only 46 total yards, while SMU racked up 147, with 107 through the air.

Late Second Quarter Action

Late in the half, SMU struck again with a 4-play, 68-yard drive that took only 1:20. The big plays were a 36-yard pass from Jennings to Yamir Knight and, on the very next play, a 25-yard touchdown pass from Jennings to Hudson in the right corner of the endzone, extending the lead to 17-0. This was Hudson’s fourth receiving touchdown and Jennings’ 19th TD pass of the season.

With a little over two minutes remaining, BC finally got on the board with a 31-yard field goal by Luke Lombardo (17-3). The BC defense then made a big play just before the half when Jennings’ pass was tipped and intercepted by Josiah Griffin. That turnover set up another 36-yard field goal by Lombardo, sending the teams to the locker room with the Mustangs leading 17-6.

SMU Blows it Open in the Third

Despite turning the ball over twice and giving it up on downs twice in the first half, the Eagles were still in the game as the third quarter began. However, SMU quickly put the game out of reach.

After a BC three-and-out to start the half, SMU added to its lead with a 61-yard touchdown pass from Jennings to Knight down the middle. It was now 24-6 Mustangs with 10:02 left.

An interception of Lonergan by SMU led to another score on the very next drive: a 37-yard touchdown pass from Jennings (his third of the game) to Matthew Hibner, his third of the year. The score made it 31-6 SMU with 4:30 left in the quarter. The quarter ended with SMU up 31-6, marking Jennings’ second 300-yard passing game of the season.

Dominant Finish and Post-Game Reflection

Through three quarters, BC was a woeful 1-for-11 on third downs, finishing the game 2-of-15. SMU finished 8-of-14 on third downs and had already eclipsed 400 yards of total offense for the third time this year.

In the fourth, a 6-yard TD run by McFall pushed the lead to 38-6 with 13:26 left. BC finally scored its first touchdown of the game on a 5-yard pass from Lonergan to Jordan Macdonald (38-13).

Jennings then exited the game having gone 16-of-32 for 326 yards and 3 TDs, 1 INT. Running back TJ Harden contributed 130 yards on the ground on 16 carries. Knight was the top receiver with 7 catches for 162 yards and 1 TD. McFall added another score, a 48-yard run down the left sideline, for his third TD of the game. The score stood at 45-13 with 6:39 to go, allowing the reserves to finish the game.

The final score was SMU winning 45-13. SMU’s defense was highly effective, totaling 8 sacks and 9 tackles for losses, though the team racked up 13 penalties totaling 155 yards.

After the game, a somber BC Head Coach Bill O’Brien stated, “I have not done a good job of coaching this team.” He added that SMU “did a better job than we did.”

BC wide receiver Lewis Bond is closing in on Zay Flowers’ receiving record with his 9 catches for 94 yards on Saturday. He needs just three more receptions to tie the record of 200, with two games left. Despite the loss and being 3-of-4 in the red zone on the day, Boston College still seeks its first FBS win of the year, with its next chance coming next Saturday on Senior Day against Georgia Tech.