Four Downs: Rutgers
September 22, 2019 | Football, #ForBoston Files
BC got back on the winning track with a 30-16 victory in New Jersey.
A football team's first road game is one of the most unique experiences in sports. The entire experience is an isolation exercise devoid of outside interference from the moment the players and coaches leave their own locker room. Everything - the bus ride, the flight, the hotel, the walkthrough, the ride to the opponent's stadium - lacks interaction outside of the team until it bursts out of a tunnel into an unfamiliar, hostile environment. The 24/7 nature of the trip creates a critical enthusiasm steeped in reflection and understanding stemming from the "us-vs.-them" mentality.
It teaches a team about its soul, and the game performance often reflects the lesson. On Saturday, Boston College put it all on display as part of a 30-16 victory over Rutgers at SHI Stadium.
"It was a great day to come down here and bounce back from a week ago," head coach Steve Addazio said. "We played a team that had a week off, a team that did a good job preparing for us with that rest. We came off an emotional game. We had a great week of practice, and our kids came out and played really hard."
The loss to Kansas deflated the first two wins' good feelings. It created a cruel adversity because a week went by without immediate answers, generating more outside doubt. The entire week became an evaluation process, an internal analysis where the results would be laid bare on the field. The team that took the field in New Jersey looked and felt different from last Friday, a result of getting on the road and continuing an inquisitive dialogue surrounding the team's why.
"I feel a whole lot better today, from the standpoint that we responded," Addazio said. "That's a thing you have to grow in football. When you get punched in the face, you have to be able to learn how to respond. We opened up with a huge, ACC win. Then we carried that momentum. Then we got hit in the face, and we had to respond. Now we're going to head back into ACC play as a better football team."
The end result was the third win of the season at the season's quarter pole. It re-racked the season heading into ACC play, and it allows for some more momentum before a nationally-televised home game against Wake Forest. It's a different kind of inertia built by momentum, and it will carry the team into this week's preparations.
"For me as a player, my evaluation is that we're a tough group," running back AJ Dillon said. "We played with a lot of effort (against Rutgers). I feel like if we can continue to stay where we're at right now and keep it up every week, we can do well."
Here's what else we learned from the BC win over Rutgers:
*****
First Down: Bounce Back Performance
Rutgers trailed, 7-0, when it faced a third down conversion on its second drive of the game. It only needed four yards to move the chains, so it called a play for dual-purpose running back Raheem Blackshear to option out of the backfield. Max Richardson drew coverage from the linebacker spot, and when Blackshear popped out for a quick catch, Richardson came flying forward with a head of steam.
It was a little too much, though, and he flew right by, leaving Blackshear wide open. It gifted the shifty running back a downfield look, and he took off, leaving the sticks well behind. Safety Mike Palmer charged over to help, but Blackshear shifted slightly left in stride, leaving the defender in his dust. He ran untouched and uncontested to the end zone from there, tying the game at 7-7.
"It was my coverage responsibility, and I played a little top heavy," Richardson said. "Raheem Blackshear is a great player and he put a move on me, and he was off to the races. We knew he would be a big factor in the offense, and we tried to neutralize him. That was a great play he made."
It created an all-too-familiar anxious dread among the BC faithful because it looked awfully familiar to last week's meltdown against Kansas. But instead of wilting, the defense this time answered the bell, holding Rutgers without a touchdown the rest of the way. It still surrendered some chunk yards, but it reduced the Scarlet Knights to failed third down conversions, especially in the second half.
Richardson and Palmer rebounded from the earlier blown coverage to record a combined 22 tackles. Richardson recorded a career-high 14 tackles and over two tackles for loss, and Palmer ended the Rutgers offensive day with a fourth quarter interception. The collective unit held the Scarlet Knights to only 76 yards on the ground and limited Sitkowski to 230 yards after the big play, including less than 100 in the second half.
"It's very good to come off of a tragic loss like last week, when we were very underwhelming, and hold (Rutgers) to 16 points," Richardson added. "That's one of our defensive goals, to hold a team to under 20 points. It's a great win; we'll never overlook any win. It's a great team win."
*****
Second Down: Thunder Rolling
BC lost the Kansas game in the third quarter when it sandwiched surrendered points around a pair of three-and-out offensive drives. It bogged down the entire team's tempo largely because the offense called pass-first options, stopping the clock on missed plays while handing the ball back to the Jayhawks against a worn-out, tired defense.
On Saturday, the Eagles reasserted their mindset by simply ramming the ball into Rutgers' defensive teeth. It was blunt force offense paved by an offensive line featuring a definitive size advantage over the Scarlet Knights front seven.
"We do really well opening," offensive lineman Ben Petrula said. "Our second half play isn't usually as great, but I think we really stuck it to (Rutgers). We had a good stop on defense, a good drive on offense, so that really helped us. That's a big part of winning the game, when they get the ball (to start the second half) and stopping them there to get the offense going."
It turned BC's offense into a relentless steamroller with three rushing options. AJ Dillon posted 150 yards and two touchdowns, but David Bailey opened the game with a 42-yard touchdown run of his own. Quarterback Anthony Brown then added his own complementary piece with 40 yards on 11 carries, running his own touchdown right up the middle in the red zone.
It was a total flip from last week, and it helped the Eagles win time of possession for the first time this year. They went 11-of-21 on third and fourth down conversions and polished off Rutgers with an 11-minute fourth quarter in which the Scarlet Knights could only run 11 plays. BC, meanwhile, ran more than double that in rushing plays alone, gaining eight first downs to end the threat.
Every member of the offensive line produced a highlight-reel block. John Phillips pulled to the left side of the line and sealed a hole with Tyler Vrabel on Bailey's touchdown run. Zion Johnson helped push Dillon and Brown through interior runs. Alec Lindstrom paced forward progress on Brown's touchdown draw. Petrula controlled outside sweeps. Tight ends Chris Garrison and Korab Idrizi combined with him to control defensive backs and linebackers.
"I like the fact that we had a couple of drives at the end that were big time drives," Steve Addazio said. "We were able to control the ball and run the ball well. AJ Dillon had almost 160 yards. David Bailey had about 80. I thought Anthony Brown ran the ball real physical, real tough today. And our offensive line did a great job."
*****
Halftime Hits
-Shoutout Rutgers for holding a brewfest prior to the game as part of its tailgate. The Rutgers community hosted a festival of over 30 craft and local beers, and admission included a ticket to the game against BC. The only reason why I bring this up is because the Scarlet Knights invited a Bruce Springsteen cover band called "The B Street Band" to play…I know, I know.
-I know it's peak leaf season in northern New England by the Canadian border, but I'm still good with this hot weather that keeps showing up. At least there was hockey in Conte Forum yesterday, and shoutout to the women's hockey team for upending the Professional Women's Hockey Players Association team, 3-2.
-I know you're not supposed to wear white after Labor Day, but the road uniforms sure did look nice, didn't they? I always forget how much I love the standard white jersey.
-Speaking of jerseys, yesterday felt a little bit classic with the way the uniforms lined up against one another. Rutgers wore those traditional red shirts and red helmets, and BC wore its traditional whites and gold helmets. Given the flashback feel of a BC-Rutgers game, I quite enjoyed getting into the time warp feeling of red-vs.-white.
-I'm going to ask Scott Mutryn if he would ever go back to wearing the BC-in-the-collar and BC-in-the-trim uniforms from way back in the 1990s.
*****
Third Down: Battling For Consistency
Both units made plays when called upon, but the overall team performance was still far from perfect. The offense still had trouble completing passes with consistency, while the defense still gave up its chunk plays against an opposing offense. Though improved, it's part of the ongoing, continuing process of improving into the season's midway point.
"The theme this week was effort and finish," Steve Addazio said. "Those two things, we wanted to have that every day. I felt like we had to reclaim that one step at a time, that one series at a time, one quarter at a time, one day at a time mentality, while maintaining effort in a nice elongated period. That's a developmental thing, and I thought today was a great opportunity to see that development."
Steve Addazio talked during the week about the different pieces that go into a completed pass. A missed assignment on one play can push a quarterback to move the wrong direction, and it can become problematic if a receiver breaks a route too soon or too early. One or more of these factors exacerbates the issues and results in missed plays or turnovers. BC didn't have the turnovers offensively, but there were still a number of missed plays left on the turf.
In the second quarter, for example, Anthony Brown threw a pass behind Travis Levy, who was engaged with a defender moving forward. Rewatching the play shows Brown anticipating a back shoulder fade pass, but there's no way of knowing if Levy broke too early or was forced too far downfield by an engaged defender. In the end, it's a shared responsibility among the entire team because it fell incomplete.
Those plays are compensated by the offense, though, which is why BC made a concerted effort to go to the run game. The incompletions glare as singular examples in place of the game plan, which determined ahead of time to advantageously attack a tired, undersized Rutgers defensive front.
"We made a conscious decision to run Anthony more," Addazio said. "He's an outstanding athlete. He's a real dual threat. We've got to bring that piece back alive. He's a big, strong guy that can run and change direction. And he's got a real edge to him right now."
*****
Fourth Down: Boston, Massajersey
Having a road game mentality meant BC sprinted out of its tunnel to see a stadium awash in red-and-white graphics. The midfield logo was different, and the pregame preparations weren't the comfortable surroundings from Alumni Stadium. One thing probably helped with a quick adjustment, though: a home field advantage.
The close proximity enticed a number of Boston College fans into commuting to New Jersey, and they combined with New York's strong alumni presence to create a maroon-and-gold presence at SHI Stadium. It lifted the BC sideline, especially in the moments where it needed elevation.
"To see our fans from New Jersey and from New York come out for Boston College was really meaningful," Steve Addazio said. "It really meant a lot to our program and to our players."
The win retained special meaning for the New Jersey players who returned home to play before friends and family for the first time. Hometown relationships always run deeper than college commitments, and there's no way of knowing the true emotional impact of playing a game in the same zip code as where they played Pop Warner and high school.
"I used to talk about coming back here and playing when I was younger," Anthony Brown said. "When I finally saw that we were playing Rutgers this season, it was a lot of enjoyment, a lot of excitement, just to come back to play in front of family and friends. It was great getting a win back at home."
"It's an important game for us coming back to our home state," Ben Petrula said. "Our families were all here so that's cool. I think that's the best part, just playing in front of your family. Not just your family that comes to every game, but your family that can't always come. My grandparents can't come to every game, but they were at this game, which was really nice."
"(It's) not just Catholic schools, but they're an important piece," Addazio said. "We are a big believer in the five-hour radius (for recruiting). Boston College and New Jersey go hand-in-hand like a glove. It's very, very important to us and will always be very, very important to us. There's a lot of pride on our team for those Jersey kids. There's BC pride. Then there's pride from New Jersey."
*****
Point After: Wake Forest
The BC win was a statement for the ACC, which had an up-and-down week in college football. Pittsburgh scored the biggest win of the day with a 35-34 upset over No. 15 Central Florida, and No. 1 Clemson held serve in a 52-10 rout of Charlotte. No. 21 Virginia continued to shed its dark horse status by improving to 4-0, defeating Old Dominion, 28-17, and Syracuse went back to .500 by dropping 52 points on Western Michigan in a 19-point victory.
Almost all of them were offset by some kind of setback, though. Miami struggled to a 17-12 win over Central Michigan, and NC State held off Ball State with a 34-23 win. Florida State looked to regain its mojo with 21 first quarter points against Louisville, but the Cardinals nearly completed a comeback before ultimately losing, 35-24, in a game that would've upended the Atlantic Division.
North Carolina took the worst loss of the day, dropping a 34-31 decision to Appalachian State. The Tar Heels were 2-0 to start the season but are now .500 and facing their own first brand of adversity.
Next Saturday's opponent, Wake Forest, remained undefeated by beating Elon, 49-7. Jamie Newman threw for 351 yards and five touchdowns, and Kenneth Walker III had 91 yards and a score as part of a 214-yard output. The Deacs defense, meanwhile, held the Phoenix to 183 yards of total offense and only 88 yards passing as part of a 607-183 yards advantage.Â
The win improved Wake to 4-0, and while it only received votes last week, the football program will likely draw its share of attention in the national polls this week.
The BC-Wake Forest game will be at 3:30 on Saturday afternoon as part of the ACC Network's daily coverage.
It teaches a team about its soul, and the game performance often reflects the lesson. On Saturday, Boston College put it all on display as part of a 30-16 victory over Rutgers at SHI Stadium.
"It was a great day to come down here and bounce back from a week ago," head coach Steve Addazio said. "We played a team that had a week off, a team that did a good job preparing for us with that rest. We came off an emotional game. We had a great week of practice, and our kids came out and played really hard."
The loss to Kansas deflated the first two wins' good feelings. It created a cruel adversity because a week went by without immediate answers, generating more outside doubt. The entire week became an evaluation process, an internal analysis where the results would be laid bare on the field. The team that took the field in New Jersey looked and felt different from last Friday, a result of getting on the road and continuing an inquisitive dialogue surrounding the team's why.
"I feel a whole lot better today, from the standpoint that we responded," Addazio said. "That's a thing you have to grow in football. When you get punched in the face, you have to be able to learn how to respond. We opened up with a huge, ACC win. Then we carried that momentum. Then we got hit in the face, and we had to respond. Now we're going to head back into ACC play as a better football team."
The end result was the third win of the season at the season's quarter pole. It re-racked the season heading into ACC play, and it allows for some more momentum before a nationally-televised home game against Wake Forest. It's a different kind of inertia built by momentum, and it will carry the team into this week's preparations.
"For me as a player, my evaluation is that we're a tough group," running back AJ Dillon said. "We played with a lot of effort (against Rutgers). I feel like if we can continue to stay where we're at right now and keep it up every week, we can do well."
Here's what else we learned from the BC win over Rutgers:
*****
First Down: Bounce Back Performance
Rutgers trailed, 7-0, when it faced a third down conversion on its second drive of the game. It only needed four yards to move the chains, so it called a play for dual-purpose running back Raheem Blackshear to option out of the backfield. Max Richardson drew coverage from the linebacker spot, and when Blackshear popped out for a quick catch, Richardson came flying forward with a head of steam.
It was a little too much, though, and he flew right by, leaving Blackshear wide open. It gifted the shifty running back a downfield look, and he took off, leaving the sticks well behind. Safety Mike Palmer charged over to help, but Blackshear shifted slightly left in stride, leaving the defender in his dust. He ran untouched and uncontested to the end zone from there, tying the game at 7-7.
"It was my coverage responsibility, and I played a little top heavy," Richardson said. "Raheem Blackshear is a great player and he put a move on me, and he was off to the races. We knew he would be a big factor in the offense, and we tried to neutralize him. That was a great play he made."
It created an all-too-familiar anxious dread among the BC faithful because it looked awfully familiar to last week's meltdown against Kansas. But instead of wilting, the defense this time answered the bell, holding Rutgers without a touchdown the rest of the way. It still surrendered some chunk yards, but it reduced the Scarlet Knights to failed third down conversions, especially in the second half.
Richardson and Palmer rebounded from the earlier blown coverage to record a combined 22 tackles. Richardson recorded a career-high 14 tackles and over two tackles for loss, and Palmer ended the Rutgers offensive day with a fourth quarter interception. The collective unit held the Scarlet Knights to only 76 yards on the ground and limited Sitkowski to 230 yards after the big play, including less than 100 in the second half.
"It's very good to come off of a tragic loss like last week, when we were very underwhelming, and hold (Rutgers) to 16 points," Richardson added. "That's one of our defensive goals, to hold a team to under 20 points. It's a great win; we'll never overlook any win. It's a great team win."
*****
Second Down: Thunder Rolling
BC lost the Kansas game in the third quarter when it sandwiched surrendered points around a pair of three-and-out offensive drives. It bogged down the entire team's tempo largely because the offense called pass-first options, stopping the clock on missed plays while handing the ball back to the Jayhawks against a worn-out, tired defense.
On Saturday, the Eagles reasserted their mindset by simply ramming the ball into Rutgers' defensive teeth. It was blunt force offense paved by an offensive line featuring a definitive size advantage over the Scarlet Knights front seven.
"We do really well opening," offensive lineman Ben Petrula said. "Our second half play isn't usually as great, but I think we really stuck it to (Rutgers). We had a good stop on defense, a good drive on offense, so that really helped us. That's a big part of winning the game, when they get the ball (to start the second half) and stopping them there to get the offense going."
It turned BC's offense into a relentless steamroller with three rushing options. AJ Dillon posted 150 yards and two touchdowns, but David Bailey opened the game with a 42-yard touchdown run of his own. Quarterback Anthony Brown then added his own complementary piece with 40 yards on 11 carries, running his own touchdown right up the middle in the red zone.
It was a total flip from last week, and it helped the Eagles win time of possession for the first time this year. They went 11-of-21 on third and fourth down conversions and polished off Rutgers with an 11-minute fourth quarter in which the Scarlet Knights could only run 11 plays. BC, meanwhile, ran more than double that in rushing plays alone, gaining eight first downs to end the threat.
Every member of the offensive line produced a highlight-reel block. John Phillips pulled to the left side of the line and sealed a hole with Tyler Vrabel on Bailey's touchdown run. Zion Johnson helped push Dillon and Brown through interior runs. Alec Lindstrom paced forward progress on Brown's touchdown draw. Petrula controlled outside sweeps. Tight ends Chris Garrison and Korab Idrizi combined with him to control defensive backs and linebackers.
"I like the fact that we had a couple of drives at the end that were big time drives," Steve Addazio said. "We were able to control the ball and run the ball well. AJ Dillon had almost 160 yards. David Bailey had about 80. I thought Anthony Brown ran the ball real physical, real tough today. And our offensive line did a great job."
*****
Halftime Hits
-Shoutout Rutgers for holding a brewfest prior to the game as part of its tailgate. The Rutgers community hosted a festival of over 30 craft and local beers, and admission included a ticket to the game against BC. The only reason why I bring this up is because the Scarlet Knights invited a Bruce Springsteen cover band called "The B Street Band" to play…I know, I know.
-I know it's peak leaf season in northern New England by the Canadian border, but I'm still good with this hot weather that keeps showing up. At least there was hockey in Conte Forum yesterday, and shoutout to the women's hockey team for upending the Professional Women's Hockey Players Association team, 3-2.
-I know you're not supposed to wear white after Labor Day, but the road uniforms sure did look nice, didn't they? I always forget how much I love the standard white jersey.
-Speaking of jerseys, yesterday felt a little bit classic with the way the uniforms lined up against one another. Rutgers wore those traditional red shirts and red helmets, and BC wore its traditional whites and gold helmets. Given the flashback feel of a BC-Rutgers game, I quite enjoyed getting into the time warp feeling of red-vs.-white.
-I'm going to ask Scott Mutryn if he would ever go back to wearing the BC-in-the-collar and BC-in-the-trim uniforms from way back in the 1990s.
*****
Third Down: Battling For Consistency
Both units made plays when called upon, but the overall team performance was still far from perfect. The offense still had trouble completing passes with consistency, while the defense still gave up its chunk plays against an opposing offense. Though improved, it's part of the ongoing, continuing process of improving into the season's midway point.
"The theme this week was effort and finish," Steve Addazio said. "Those two things, we wanted to have that every day. I felt like we had to reclaim that one step at a time, that one series at a time, one quarter at a time, one day at a time mentality, while maintaining effort in a nice elongated period. That's a developmental thing, and I thought today was a great opportunity to see that development."
Steve Addazio talked during the week about the different pieces that go into a completed pass. A missed assignment on one play can push a quarterback to move the wrong direction, and it can become problematic if a receiver breaks a route too soon or too early. One or more of these factors exacerbates the issues and results in missed plays or turnovers. BC didn't have the turnovers offensively, but there were still a number of missed plays left on the turf.
In the second quarter, for example, Anthony Brown threw a pass behind Travis Levy, who was engaged with a defender moving forward. Rewatching the play shows Brown anticipating a back shoulder fade pass, but there's no way of knowing if Levy broke too early or was forced too far downfield by an engaged defender. In the end, it's a shared responsibility among the entire team because it fell incomplete.
Those plays are compensated by the offense, though, which is why BC made a concerted effort to go to the run game. The incompletions glare as singular examples in place of the game plan, which determined ahead of time to advantageously attack a tired, undersized Rutgers defensive front.
"We made a conscious decision to run Anthony more," Addazio said. "He's an outstanding athlete. He's a real dual threat. We've got to bring that piece back alive. He's a big, strong guy that can run and change direction. And he's got a real edge to him right now."
*****
Fourth Down: Boston, Massajersey
Having a road game mentality meant BC sprinted out of its tunnel to see a stadium awash in red-and-white graphics. The midfield logo was different, and the pregame preparations weren't the comfortable surroundings from Alumni Stadium. One thing probably helped with a quick adjustment, though: a home field advantage.
The close proximity enticed a number of Boston College fans into commuting to New Jersey, and they combined with New York's strong alumni presence to create a maroon-and-gold presence at SHI Stadium. It lifted the BC sideline, especially in the moments where it needed elevation.
"To see our fans from New Jersey and from New York come out for Boston College was really meaningful," Steve Addazio said. "It really meant a lot to our program and to our players."
The win retained special meaning for the New Jersey players who returned home to play before friends and family for the first time. Hometown relationships always run deeper than college commitments, and there's no way of knowing the true emotional impact of playing a game in the same zip code as where they played Pop Warner and high school.
"I used to talk about coming back here and playing when I was younger," Anthony Brown said. "When I finally saw that we were playing Rutgers this season, it was a lot of enjoyment, a lot of excitement, just to come back to play in front of family and friends. It was great getting a win back at home."
"It's an important game for us coming back to our home state," Ben Petrula said. "Our families were all here so that's cool. I think that's the best part, just playing in front of your family. Not just your family that comes to every game, but your family that can't always come. My grandparents can't come to every game, but they were at this game, which was really nice."
"(It's) not just Catholic schools, but they're an important piece," Addazio said. "We are a big believer in the five-hour radius (for recruiting). Boston College and New Jersey go hand-in-hand like a glove. It's very, very important to us and will always be very, very important to us. There's a lot of pride on our team for those Jersey kids. There's BC pride. Then there's pride from New Jersey."
*****
Point After: Wake Forest
The BC win was a statement for the ACC, which had an up-and-down week in college football. Pittsburgh scored the biggest win of the day with a 35-34 upset over No. 15 Central Florida, and No. 1 Clemson held serve in a 52-10 rout of Charlotte. No. 21 Virginia continued to shed its dark horse status by improving to 4-0, defeating Old Dominion, 28-17, and Syracuse went back to .500 by dropping 52 points on Western Michigan in a 19-point victory.
Almost all of them were offset by some kind of setback, though. Miami struggled to a 17-12 win over Central Michigan, and NC State held off Ball State with a 34-23 win. Florida State looked to regain its mojo with 21 first quarter points against Louisville, but the Cardinals nearly completed a comeback before ultimately losing, 35-24, in a game that would've upended the Atlantic Division.
North Carolina took the worst loss of the day, dropping a 34-31 decision to Appalachian State. The Tar Heels were 2-0 to start the season but are now .500 and facing their own first brand of adversity.
Next Saturday's opponent, Wake Forest, remained undefeated by beating Elon, 49-7. Jamie Newman threw for 351 yards and five touchdowns, and Kenneth Walker III had 91 yards and a score as part of a 214-yard output. The Deacs defense, meanwhile, held the Phoenix to 183 yards of total offense and only 88 yards passing as part of a 607-183 yards advantage.Â
The win improved Wake to 4-0, and while it only received votes last week, the football program will likely draw its share of attention in the national polls this week.
The BC-Wake Forest game will be at 3:30 on Saturday afternoon as part of the ACC Network's daily coverage.
Players Mentioned
RB
/ Football
QB
/ Football
TE
/ Football
TE
/ Football
OL
/ Football
RB/WR
/ Football
OL
/ Football
DB
/ Football
OL
/ Football
OL
/ Football
LB
/ Football
OL
/ FootballMen's Basketball: Hampton Press Conference (Nov. 18, 2025)
Wednesday, November 19
Heights Hockey Rewind | UMass
Tuesday, November 18
Football: Head Coach Bill O'Brien Postgame Press Conference (November 15, 2025)
Sunday, November 16
Football: Dylan Lonergan Postgame Press Conference (November 15, 2025)
Sunday, November 16
