Four Downs: UMass

The University of Massachusetts entered Saturday's intrastate clash with Boston College with an already-uphill battle staring it in the face. Starting quarterback Tyler Lytle was injured in last week's blowout loss to Pittsburgh, and Brady Olson, his replacement, was likely facing his first-ever minutes as a true freshman. Six months removed from his final high school season, Olson would face the Eagles' defense one week after it blasted Colgate in a shutout victory, and he would do so behind a young, inexperienced offensive line that absorbed a dozen hits to its quarterback last week.

It spelled a recipe for a long afternoon, but Olson orchestrated a strong day for the Minutemen in the face of several unforced BC errors. UMass posted the first three-touchdown quarter against BC since last year's Notre Dame game, and it scored more points than in any other game against its in-state rival since 1972 as the two teams slogged through the second half of a 45-28 result in Amherst.

"They were self-inflicted wounds," BC head coach Jeff Hafley said. "We need to go out and make them drive the ball and not give them free yards. I need to do a better job. I thought we had it last week, but it's a tale of two cities. But it's also good to get a little adversity, especially early in the season, and we'll fight back."

It didn't need to be a Picasso, but BC's performance on Saturday wasn't the prettiest game of the Hafley era. There were positives, especially given the return of Dennis Grosel after Phil Jurkovec sustained a wrist injury and the breakout of running back Pat Garwo, but nine penalties for 99 yards overshadowed the overall performance, especially in light of the 42 points scored between the two teams in the third quarter.

It bookended a helter skelter third quarter that saw UMass rally after an initial struggle. The Minutemen scored first, having recovered a fumble on a play that knocked Zay Flowers out of the game temporarily, but their explosive, 56-yard touchdown pass from Olson to Rico Arnold was immediately erased by a six-play, 75-yard drive over the next three minutes. BC then forced a three-and-out and went up, 28-7, on its next play when Grosel hit Trae Barry for a 44-yard catch-and-run score.

The quarter took a turn for the surreal from there. Travis Levy fumbled a punt return at his own one-yard line which in turn gifted UMass a score, but BC returned serve when Jaiden Lars-Woodbey returned a Vinny DePalma forced fumble for a 41-yard touchdown of his own. But the Eagles took a personal foul on the ensuing kickoff and a pass interference on the next drive to give another score back to UMass before the end of the quarter.

"Really, truthfully, it was disappointing," Hafley said. "Last week was so clean and this one wasn't. I felt like we were just giving [UMass] yards and first downs. No disrespect to them. I thought they did some really nice things, but it was like every drive was the result of self-inflicted wounds."

In total, Olson was only 3-of-9 for the quarter and the running game only averaged 2.1 yards per carry, but UMass scored 21 points. The Eagles still led, but the waters muddied enough to mute the postgame celebration enough for Hafley. As the new week dawns, BC is 2-0 and brimming with optimism even though work is clearly left on the table.

Here's more from BC's 11th consecutive state championship win:

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First Down: The Fixer

No football team ever wants to lose its starting quarterback, and the news of Phil Jurkovec's removal from Saturday's game ricocheted through the national media as much as it did through McGuirk Stadium. Injured on the wrist on the first drive of the game, he was taken out and did not return after evaluation in the locker room.

The nightmare scenario was luckily avoided, though, by the presence of Dennis Grosel, a player who - whether fortunately or unfortunately - has plenty of experience in subbing in for an injured starter. He entered the game and finished off the win for the Eagles in his third consecutive season substituting for an injured QB1.

Grosel went 11-for-14 for 199 yards and a touchdown and recorded the fourth-best single-game passer rating since 1996. His pass to Barry for a 44-yard score in the third quarter came at a juncture when the game was starting to slip a bit, and his near 200-yard mark pushed him over 1,700 career passing yards. In the absence of Flowers, who exited in the third with a leg injury and later returned, he was able to spread the ball around to five different receivers.

"When Dennis walks on the field, you don't blink," Jeff Hafley said. "You only think about the rest of the game. That's how much confidence we have in him. That's how good of a player he is."

It represented another trademark performance for the unflappable graduate student who was once a former preferred walk-on. Named backup quarterback in 2019, he became the starter when he relieved Anthony Brown following the incumbent's leg injury against Louisville. Grosel threw for three touchdowns in that game, a feat he matched against Louisville last season when he entered for Jurkovec. On Saturday, he completed a trifecta, coming off the bench for his third straight season with a win in relief.

"[Offensive coordinator Frank Cignetti] says that if you've been around for long enough, you've been around long enough," Grosel said. "It's the same stuff as in practice, so why change anything? We just act like it's business as usual."

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Second Down: GarwOOAAAH Nelly!

Boston College as a bruising power running game took a backseat last season when the coaching change necessitated a flip to the pass-first, pro-style offense. The Eagles became a high-flying team, and though they didn't minimize the run game, its conspicuous absence was a notable omission for a team known for barreling over opponents for the past decade.

On Saturday, Pat Garwo brought horsepower back to the BC offense with a thunderous display reminiscent of both Andre Williams and AJ Dillon when he rushed for 160 yards. He averaged more than 10 yards per carry and recorded the first 150-yard game for the Eagles in almost two years, and though he didn't score, he sliced through the midfield and stiff-armed his way through the UMass defense with an ease unseen by BC backs over the last 18 months.

"We've been working on the running game from camp [through] to the first and second game," Garwo said. "It's a big emphasis because we know we can hit it. We have a lot of good back. We trust that everyone on the offensive line is experienced, and we knew we had to get that going [against UMass]."

Garwo's totals marked the first 150-yard game since both Dillon and David Bailey broke the plane against Syracuse in 2019, and he became the first player to hit the century mark since Bailey repeated the feat against the Orange last season. It was part of a three-headed attack with Alec Sinkfield and Levy, who combined for an additional 93 yards on 20 carries while each scoring an individual touchdown. Levy, meanwhile, more than made up for his fumbled punt return when he returned a 96-yard kickoff for a touchdown.

Dennis Grosel added a third ground score, and BC, the former run-first team, used its offensive line to average almost two yards more per carry than the Minutemen.

"It means a lot, really, for this team," Garwo said. "We really wanted to establish a run [after] last year [because] we weren't productive at all. Getting a lot of guys experience, working on it day-by-day, gets us closer. This was really a big day, and we need to build on it more and more."

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HAF-time Hits

-Another win pickup for Nostra-dad-us in the Rubin household. His pregame prediction: BC 45, UMass 10. For the second straight week, he hit BC's number on the nose.

-The Rubin household enjoyed a patio tailgate for this one complete with hamburgers and hot dogs. A little traditional, but we were saving the sausages and steak tips for the NFL Sunday dinner. Of course that probably means we're just doing chicken in the slow cooker or just ordering takeout once laziness seeps in.

-Returning a kick of any kind is still the most exciting game in all of football. Maybe because it's the least expected, but as soon as the seas part for the returner and he takes off, the organic rush of the crowd and the sideline is the greatest play possible. I love it.

-Since the first meeting as FBS opponents in 2014, BC has beaten UMass by an average of 33-16. Saturday was the smallest margin of victory by two points over the 2016 meeting in Foxborough when BC beat UMass, 26-7.

-The average margin of victory in those four meetings is now 24 points, but Saturday was the third time in the last seven meetings that the margin of victory was less than 20 points.

-BC has won the last three meetings in Amherst by an average of 10 points dating back to 1980.

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Third Down: Construction Projects

The best indicator of how the game would end happened in the second quarter when UMass went the length of the field against the BC defense for the first time with a drive that started in the first quarter and bled into the second period.

A roughing the passer gifted the Minutemen a fresh set of downs near the BC red zone, and UMass pushed its way down inside the 10-yard line with a deliberate, sustained offense. The defense held, though, largely because the Minutemen ran two fourth down conversion plays after failing on third-and-short. On the first, Olson kept the drive alive with a six-yard rush from the BC eight, but the second resulted in a turnover on downs at the one.

Perhaps the best indicator for the game's outcome happened in the second quarter when UMass drove the length of the field against the BC defense for the first time. What started in the first quarter bled into the second period, and a roughing the passer penalty moved the Minutemen close to the BC red zone with a fresh set of downs.

"I thought [Olson] was a pretty good quarterback," said safety Jaiden Lars-Woodbey. "I thought they gave us a great look today, and huge shout out to them. They handled adversity, just like how we had to handle adversity on our end. I think it was pretty interesting."

In total, UMass ran eight plays inside the BC 10 and five plays from either the two or the one. That the offense failed to punch in points illustrated the work in progress and foreshadowed the inconsistencies of a team that only converted two of its eight third down opportunities. The offense was able to go 3-for-5 on red zone opportunities and convert 14 points of BC turnovers, but there was a lack of sustained movement in between the individual opportunities.

UMass nevertheless finished with 335 yards, its most since a 310-yard output against Northwestern in November of the 2019 season. It was only the second time the Minutemen cracked 200 yards over the last season-plus worth of work, but the question for them now remains how to sustain it into next week's game against Eastern Michigan.

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Fourth Down: Not a Banner Weekend [Again]

BC had its issues with UMass, but the entire ACC struggled as a whole this weekend after several teams failed to stamp their performances for a second straight weekend.

Florida State looked great last week against Notre Dame but lost to Trae Barry's former teammates at Jacksonville State on a Hail Mary at the end of the game. That stole the headlines from Miami, which struggled to beat Appalachian State at home in South Florida. Virginia Tech only led Middle Tennessee by a touchdown at halftime, and Syracuse lost to Rutgers while NC State lost to Mississippi State.

I mention this only because I want to reinforce not getting too high or too low based on one result. FSU lost, but the remainder of the results can be easily erased with strong showings moving forward. Michigan infamously lost to Appalachian State when the Mountaineers were an FCS school in 2007, but the Wolverines rallied to win eight straight before beating a top-10 Florida team in the Capital One Bowl.

Oklahoma, likewise, lost to Iowa State in 2017 but won out to advance to the College Football Playoff in a wild, herky-jerky year in the Big 12. Even BC has a reminder after it started 2-0 in 2010 before losing five straight in October of that season and before rallying to win five in a row to advance to a bowl game that year.

There are examples across the board, and the lesson always holds firm that teams will face adversity over the course of a six-month season. Nothing is set in stone in the second week of September, and there is more than enough football to redefine and change storylines.

This was a strange week in college football, but for someone, it will be a good battery test before the battles that define the late weeks every year.

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Point After: Temple

BC's next opponent, Temple, is one such case of how much one week can make a difference. On Friday, the Owls were 0-1 after getting blown out by Rutgers on the road, but they enter this week fresh off of beating Akron, 45-24 win that saw them rally from down a touchdown after the first.

Temple scored 31 points between the second and third quarters and wasted the Zips' fast start with 422 total yards over the course of the game. The Owls averaged over seven yards per play and were particularly effective in balancing their attack with 245 yards in the air and 177 on the ground. Quarterback Justin Lynch was brutally efficient, going 19-for-23 with two touchdowns and no picks, while running Tayvon Ruley and Ra'Von Bonner combined for 115 yards and a score.

The matchup is a rematch of sorts from the 2018 season when BC scored 31 points in the first half en route to a 45-35 victory. It also echoed back to an older time and was the first meeting between the two schools since the 2004 phase of the Big East's realignment. This is the Eagles' first trip to Philadelphia since that era, which marked both schools' exit after three consecutive years in the Keystone State.

Players Mentioned

David Bailey

Trae Barry

Vinny DePalma

Zay Flowers

Dennis Grosel

Phil Jurkovec

Travis Levy

Alec Sinkfield

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