They had ’em. They f’n had ’em
For more than a brief moment, it felt like Boston College (1-10, 0-7) was going to pull off the biggest upset of the day on Saturday, as they led No. 16 Georgia Tech (9-1, 6-1) 28-17 with 1:19 to go in the third quarter.
The announced crowd of 37,879 was buzzing, and you could see the student section starting to scheme up how they were going to storm the field for what would be the biggest upset for the football team at Alumni Stadium since 2014 (field storms against unranked opponents, while fun, don’t count).
Then, the wheels came off as the game rolled into the fourth quarter.
With under a minute to play in the third, a 35-yard pass play by Georgia Tech where Heisman Trophy candidate Haynes King definitely crossed the line of scrimmage while throwing the ball resulted in a first down for the Yellow Jackets on 3rd and 15 from the Georgia Tech 20 yard line. It was a brutal, brutal missed call that was made worse by BC head football coach Bill O’Brien losing his mind on the officials one play later, as his meltdown resulted in a 15-yard unsportsmanlike conduct penalty. Six plays later, and the Yellow Jackets were kicking a field goal to cut BC”s lead to 8.
On Georgia Tech’s next possession, they held the ball for 3:47 on a nine-play, 78-yard drive that resulted in a 2-yard touchdown run for King. Yellow Jackets missed the two-point conversion, and BC was now clinging to a 28-26 lead with 7:33 to play.
With BC receiving the ball with under 8:00 to play, conventional wisdom would tell you the Eagles should have been more than ready to eat as much clock as they could with their running backs, both of whom were having nice days on the ground - Turbo Richard, in particular, ended the day with 11 carries for 141 yards.
Instead, O’Brien opted for three straight pass plays, two of which were incompletions and one of which resulted in only a 7-yard gain. The three-and-out only ate 1:07 off the clock, and the punt by Shamus Florio only went 22 yards. Georgia Tech was taking over with 6:24 to play from their own 46 yard line down two. One play later, wide receiver Jordan Allen was making a house call from 54 yards out. An extra point later, and Georgia Tech was on top 33-28 with 6:14 to play.
An absolutely brutal sequence for an Eagles team that had the conference leaders on the ropes.
But on senior night, this BC group wasn’t going to go down without a fight. Without a win against an FBS team all season, they had nothing to lose.
Faced with a 3rd and 19 from their own 16 yard line, sophomore quarterback Dylan Lonergan found senior tight end Jeremiah Franklin for a 30-yard gain, taking the ball all the way up to the BC 46. One play later, Lonergan found senior wide receiver Lewis Bond on a short pass that ended up going for 11 yards. Eagles were moving, crowd was buzzing.
One play later, Richard put the exclamation point on his performance, exploding for a 43-yard touchdown run to give the Eagles a 34-33 lead with 4:09 to play.
Upset was back on the table. Orange jackets started lining the sidelines as if they had any shot to contain these kids who have been starving to celebrate anything this football season.
BC went for two, but tight end Kaelan Chudzinski could not come down with the catch in the corner of the end zone. The Eagles were clinging to a one-point lead with just over four minutes to play.
This, unfortunately for BC fans, was too much time for the Yellow Jackets. The Eagles’ defense, which has been their Achilles’ heel all season long, ran out of gas, and Georgia Tech methodically marched down field for what was eventually a game-winning 23-yard field goal by Aidan Birr.
13 plays, 68 yards, 3:58 off the game clock, and Georgia Tech was on top 36-34.
With 11 seconds left to play, BC took one last gasp of air. A 24-yard gain from Lonergan to Bond followed by a 5-yard illegal substitution penalty for the Yellow Jackets set BC for one final play with 1 second remaining with the ball on the Georgia Tech 46 yard line.
No Flutie Magic in the air on Saturday, as Lonergan’s final heave fell well-short of the end zone, and the Eagle faithful were forced to head towards the exits instead over the wall onto the artificial turf.
So concluded BC’s home schedule for 2025, where they went winless against FBS competition. Pairing that with their winless record on the road, the Eagles are now 0-10 this season against teams that play at their level of college football. Their lone win this season came in their opening game against FCS Fordham, who sits in last place in the Patriot League with a matching 1-10 record.
I’m not here to dump on O’Brien this week. His team played their asses off on Saturday, and just ran out of time. Do I think there were multiple points in the ballgame where decisions by O’Brien had a direct impact on what ultimately ended up being the final result? 100%. But I’ll give him credit for getting his team motivated to the point of almost beating a team that might just make the College Football Playoff in a few weeks. To do that with this group this late into the year is impressive.
“I feel terrible,” O’Brien said postgame, looking as downtrodden as he’s ever been at the podium. “I wish I could have figured out a way to get two more points. I just, I think these guys have given us everything they've got. I got their back the rest of their lives. I just think it's a great group of kids, and I just have not been able to get them over the hump.”
“So many close games - does it kind of boggle your mind that one hasn’t gone your way?” O’Brien was asked by a reporter in a follow-up
“Yeah - nothing boggles my mind. I've seen a lot,” said the 56-year-old. “I've been doing this a long time. I've seen a lot, and I just - I feel for the players. I just want the players to get some [and] have some success.”
They’ll have one more crack at an FBS win in 2025, as they head to Syracuse (3-7, 1-6) in two weeks to close out what will go down as one of the worst seasons in the history of the program. As of publishing, there’s no lines available yet for this Week 14 contest.
The Eagles are idle in Week 13 with their second bye of the season.
Listen to every snap of Boston College Football this season on WEEI, the Audacy app, and across the BC Eagles Van Wagner Sports Network.