Boston College of old loses this game.
The best way to describe the feeling amongst BC fans in my life when the Eagles were down 20-7 with 8:44 to go in the third quarter to Western Kentucky is “triggered.”
That Jeff-Hafley-Steve-Addazio-song-and-dance of “one step forward, three steps back” was rearing its ugly head.
Local and national momentum from huge wins against Florida State and Michigan State through the first four weeks of the season was vanishing before our eyes at Alumni Stadium on Saturday, as the Eagles were playing their worst game of the season against the Hilltoppers of Conference USA - a team who lost earlier this season to Alabama 63-0.
It was 2014 all over again, losing to Colorado State 24-21 two weeks after upsetting USC in the inaugural Red Bandana Game.
Or maybe it was 2018, losing 30-13 on the road at Purdue after starting the season 3-0 and cracking the AP Top 25 for the first time since 2008.
Was it the start of what happened in 2021? That’s when BC lost four straight after a crowd-storming 41-34 overtime win at Alumni Stadium over a visiting Mizzou team from the SEC that had Eagles fans thinking the program had turned a corner.
Heck, look at last season’s home opener, where a Boston College team with real pressure to take a step forward lost to Northern Illinois of the MAC in overtime 27-24 to start Hafley’s final season 0-1. One week later, they nearly fell to 0-2 in a game against traditional rival Holy Cross from the FCS, eking out a win over the Crusaders 31-28.
Really just close your eyes and pick a year since Jeff Jagodzinski forced his own firing after the 2008 season, and you can find an example of what Saturday was becoming for the Eagles faithful.
And then, it wasn’t.
Boston College’s defense woke up, and forced WKU’s offense into a four possession stretch to close out the game that went interception, punt, fumble, turnover on downs. In that order.
Nestled in that stretch was a nine play, 57-yard drive from BC’s offense that ate up a good chunk of the fourth quarter clock, culminating in a 1-yard touchdown run from quarterback Grayson James to make it a 20-14 game.
Two possessions later, after a strip-sack by star defensive end Donovan Ezeiruaku gave BC the ball on WKU’s 20 yard line, the Eagles ate up 2:50 over six plays on their way to an 8-yard touchdown pass from James to junior wideout Jerand Bradley.
The extra point was good, and the Eagles led the ballgame for the first time all day 21-20 with 3:33 to go.
The Eagles held on for the win, moving to 4-1 on the season.
Crisis averted.
“I’m just speaking for myself here, but I have very high expectations for the team,” said first-year head coach Bill O’Brien. “So I look at it as definitely my fault when we don’t play well in the first half.
“And I saw that crowd, especially the students. I see the students and I feel bad that - we’ve got to play better in the first half of these games, and I know we can. And so I’ve gotta figure it out. I’ve gotta figure out what I can do better to get these guys playing better in the first half, because I take that to heart.”
O’Brien was referencing his team’s need for a second half comeback in consecutive weeks, as their last-second 23-19 win over Michigan State in Week 4 saw them down 13-9 with 12:35 to go in the third quarter.
“What I talked to them about at halftime is, ‘We don’t blame each other, we’re a team,’” said O’Brien postgame. “You know, it’s all about the team. That’s the great thing about football. You can talk about NIL, transfer portal, all this other stuff - in the end, it comes down to the team. And I think these guys are really starting to realize that.
“That’s what you saw in the second half. We played complimentary football. We played together as a team. That’s what we have to continue to try to do.”
BC had to find a way to win without Thomas Castellanos, their starting quarterback who missed the game with an undisclosed injury. Local media reported Castellanos looking hobbled at practice on Tuesday, so it was no surprise that James was named the starter ahead of Saturday.
And despite accounting for two of the team’s three touchdowns, James struggled to get in a rhythm for a majority of the ballgame.
James ended the game 19 for 32 passing for 168 yards, with 1 touchdown and 1 interception.
“I mean obviously it didn’t start great,” said James, a transfer who played his first two years of college ball at Florida International. “I mean, definitely some things to clean up. But I feel like I definitely was able to get settled in and just have the guys rally around me, and just know they have faith and confidence in me.
“And as you see - our defense balled out today. I mean, I don’t think we get the job done without them making some crucial stops. So I mean, just really playing some complimentary football and helping each other out was huge. But I mean, yeah, I haven’t been able to be out on the field in a while, so just being able to get back out there, get back in the groove, I feel like you could see that I was progressing as the game went on.”
One of those defensive players who “balled out” on Saturday was Ezeiruaku, who added to his impressive senior season with 14 tackles, 3 sacks, and 4 tackles for loss. All of that combined with his strip-sack that set-up the go-ahead score, Ezeiruaku clearly asserted himself as the best player on the field on Saturday.
“I felt like we kind of started off very slow - we didn’t really pick it up until the second half, and I kind of took that personally,” said the senior captain. “I know the beginning of the game, I started off slow, personally. Didn’t feel like I was doing what I needed to do, so kind of just did a little self-talk.
“You know, I need to be a leader for this team, and I need to do that through not just words, but through actions. So that’s pretty much what my mindset was going into the second half.”
And that he did.
Ezeiruaku’s 3 sacks pushes his season total to 8 - which leads the nation through Week 5 - and career total to 21.5, which moves him past Erik Storz (1994-97) and Chris Hovan (1996-99) for fourth-most in program history. Saturday marked the first three-sack game by an Eagle since Wyatt Ray in 2018.
And by my count - through three games at Alumni Stadium, there have been NFL scouts from at least the Ravens, Commanders and Lions in the press box. With Ezeiruaku’s 2024 looking as dominant as it has, logic tells you these teams have taken notice.
BC takes their 4-1 record on the road in Week 6 to Virginia (3-1), marking their first of seven-straight ACC games to finish out their regular season.
With their win in Week 1 over FSU in-hand, BC is one of seven teams in the ACC who is “undefeated” (1-0) in conference play through Week 5.