Week Six Notes: The NC State Game
October 11, 2021 | Football
Eagles host first Saturday primetime game since 2018 this week
GAME NOTES IN PDF FORMAT
Boston College opens its ACC home schedule in primetime versus No. 22/21 NC State Saturday evening at 7:30 p.m. It's the first Saturday night home game for the Eagles at Alumni Stadium since hosting No. 2 Clemson on Nov. 10, 2018. Saturday's Homecoming game will be broadcast nationally on ACC Network. Dave O'Brien, former BC quarterback Tim Hasselbeck and Kelsey Riggs have the television broadcast call on ACCN. Coverage on the Boston College Sports Network from Learfield begins at 7 p.m. with Jon Meterparel along with former BC standouts Pete Cronan and Scott Mutryn on the call. Fans can listen to the game locally on WEEI 850 AM along with on Sirius channel 135, XM channel 193 and online via SiriusXM channel 955.
Boston College dropped its first game of the season last time out at No. 25 Clemson, 19-13, on Oct. 2. NC State moved to 4-1 on the season following a 34-27 victory over Louisiana Tech on Oct. 2. Boston College and NC State meet for the 18th time in series history Saturday at Alumni Stadium. BC is 10-7 all-time against the Wolfpack, including a 7-3 mark in Chestnut Hill. The two teams began series play in 1936 at Fenway Park (7-3 BC win). Since BC joined the ACC, the Eagles are 9-6 against NC State. Only five of the ACC meetings between the two schools have been decided by 10 points or less.
BC has one North Carolina native on the 2021 roster - true freshman linebacker Bryce Steele (Raleigh). Steele has played in all five games this season at linebacker and on special teams for the Eagles. He has seven tackles in 2021.
In the last game against NC State in 2019, Boston College gained 532 total yards, including 429 on the ground, in a 45-24 win on Homecoming at Alumni Stadium. AJ Dillon rushed 34 times for a season-high 223 yards and three touchdowns. David Bailey put forth the best performance of his BC career, logging 182 yards and two TD's on 16 carries. In his first collegiate start, Dennis Grosel was 6-of-15 for 103 yards, while rushing four times for 21 yards. The redshirt sophomore connected with tight end Hunter Long three times for 84 yards.
Since 1996, two of the top 20 offensive performances have come against NC State. BC totaled 578 yards of offense on Oct. 4, 2008 against the Wolfpack, the 10th best single-game total since 1996. BC's 532 yards against State in 2019 rank 19th in a single-game since '96 for the Eagles.
BC Versus Ranked Opponents
BC is 31-117-1 all-time against ranked opponents. The Eagles defeated No. 25 Miami (unranked in the AP) 27-14 for their last victory against a ranked opponent in 2018. The Eagles have played NC State just two times when the Wolfpack were in the Associated Press Top 25 - a 17-14 loss at Alumni Stadium to the 23rd-ranked Wolfpack in 2017 and a 28-23 setback in Raleigh in 2018 to No. 23 NC State. The last win against an AP ranked opponent was against No. 9 Southern California (37-31) in 2014. Since joining the ACC in 2005, the Eagles are 10-40 against ranked teams. Boston College has not won a road game against a ranked opponent since a 27-17 victory at No. 20 Florida State on Nov. 15, 2008. The losing streak on the road against ranked opponents stands at 19 games for BC.
Scoring in Bunches
• Boston College has the nation's No. 26 scoring offense at 35.6 points per game.
• The Eagles scored 96 points through the first two games of the year, the second-best start after two games in 123 seasons of football at BC. Only the 2015 team scored more points (100) through the first two games of the year, with both games against FCS competition (24 vs. Maine; 76 vs. Howard).
All Systems Go
• Boston College has been on fire in the first half of 2021, outscoring opponents 85-30.
• The first quarter has been BC's second-highest scoring quarter of the season, outscoring the opposition 45-21 in the first 15 minutes of play.
• In the second quarter, BC has yielded just three field goals the entire season, holding a 40-9 advantage.
Money Down
• BC has been at its best on third down this season - both on offense and defensively.
• On offense, the Eagles are ninth nationally converting 51.6% of their third down conversions (33-of-64). That stat leads the Atlantic Coast Conference.
• Defensively, BC is limiting opponents to 27.6 % on third down, going just 16-of-58. The Eagles are seventh in the nation in third down defense, and third in the ACC behind NC State (2nd/23.9%) and Pitt (6th/27.3%).
• In 2019, one year prior to Jeff Hafley's arrival at the Heights, BC ranked 121st nationally in third down defense (46.5%). Last year, BC jumped all the way to 65th nationally on third down defense (40.4%).
• The Eagles have been very efficient on third down in the Hafley era as well. BC ranked 36th nationally in 2020 converting 44.2% of its third downs.
Thurin Time
• Boston College has been perhaps the nation's most complete special teams unit in 2021 under special teams coordinator Matt Thurin. The Eagles lead the country in kickoff returns (61.0 yards per return), rank ninth in net punting (43.8 yards per punt) and true freshman kicker Connor Lytton is one of 15 kickers nationally yet to miss a field goal this season (4-of-4). Lytton is 12-for-12 as well on PATs.
RB1
• Pat Garwo ripped off a career-long 67-yard run for BC's first touchdown to cap off a 99-yard scoring drive in the 41-34 OT win against Missouri.
• Garwo finished with his second 100-yard performance of the season and the second of his career with a career-high 175 yards on the afternoon. Entering the season, Garwo had 195 yards in 10 career games without a touchdown. In four games in 2021, Garwo has 412 rushing yards and four touchdowns.
• The 25 rushing attempts for Garwo were a new career-high, topping his previous best of 15 rushing attempts at UMass earlier this year. Garwo averaged 7.0 yards per carry for the game.
• Garwo is tied for eighth nationally with seven rushes of 20+ yards. He has four rushes of 30+ yards, also tied for fourth in the country. Garwo's 6.42 yards per carry rank 16th nationally and third in the ACC.
Tight End Production Continues
• Hunter Long led all tight ends nationally in receptions and was second in receiving yards for tight ends in 2020 en route to becoming a third-round pick by the Miami Dolphins in the 2021 NFL Draft.
• Graduate transfer Trae Barry has jumped right in to help fill the void with 14 receptions for 241 yards and two touchdowns.
• He is fourth in the country among tight ends averaging 17.2 yards per reception.
• Junior Joey Luchetti has formed a nice 1-2 punch for the Eagles at tight end, adding seven receptions for 83 yards in 2021.
Big Ben
• BC's fifth-year senior Ben Petrula has the second-longest active start streak in the nation at 53 games. After not playing in his first career game as a true freshman at Northern Illinois in 2017, Petrula moved to center and started the final 12 games of the season.
• Petrula has started all 53 games he has played in since.
500 Club
• Boston College finished the day with 525 total yards in the 51-0 win over Colgate - the 36th time since 1996 that BC gained 500+ yards from scrimmage. BC is 29-7 in those games.
• The 525 yards of offense were the most in the Jeff Hafley era for the Eagles.
• The six touchdowns from scrimmage were also the most of any game coached by Hafley at BC.
• BC averaged 9.4 yards per touch against Colgate, the second-highest total of the Hafley era. BC's 9.9 yards per touch in the 2020 Virginia game were the most during the Hafley era.
Game Captains
Colgate:Â Travis Levy, Zion Johnson, Jason Maitre
UMass:Â Grant Carlson, Brandon Barlow, Alec Lindstrom
Temple:Â Ben Petrula, Isaiah Graham-Mobley, Kobay White, Pat Garwo
Missouri:Â Joey Luchetti, Zay Flowers, Josh DeBerry
Clemson:Â Tyler Vrabel, Dennis Grosel, Vinny DePalma, Brandon Sebastian
Scout Team Players of the Week
Colgate:Â Dante Reynolds, Owen McGowan, Casey Phinney
UMass:Â Tony Muse, Deon Jones, Jalon Williams
Temple:Â Jackson Treister, Joe Marinaro, Luke McLaughlin
Missouri:Â Ryan Betro, Erik Larson, Joe Marinaro
Clemson:Â Jacob Kraft, Tommy Birmingham, Emmett Morehead, Jaylen Blackwell
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