Boston College Athletics
Photo by: Joe Sullivan
The Replay: Virginia
October 06, 2024 | Football, #ForBoston Files
BC squandered an early 14-0 lead and dropped a 10-point loss in Charlottesville.
Bill O'Brien didn't mince words in the aftermath of his team's 24-14 loss to Virginia.Â
He'd just walked off the Scott Stadium field to the frustrating chorus of blue-and-orange cheers from the home crowd despite watching his Boston College team gain a 14-0 lead in the early stages of the first half. His quarterback returned from a one-week absence to complete his first 11 passes while systematically and thoroughly dismantling the Cavaliers' multiple-front defense while his defense stuffed UVA's hope of establishing a pregame offensive scheme. The thorough and complete domination teetered the two-score lead on the brink of a blowout. At 4-1 with one Atlantic Coast Conference win already in the tank, the first half gave significant wind to long-lost and long-sought notion of Boston College elevating its game to spots occupied by Clemson, Miami and league newcomer Southern Methodist, while a return to the national polls felt inevitable.
Then it all unraveled, and O'Brien, decidedly unhappy after Virginia's 18-point fourth quarter assisted the 24-point meltdown, laid bare an emotional palate capable of souring even the sweetest play from that first half.
"Nobody was great," said the coach in his postgame remarks. "Nobody was great. We had 10 guys on the field for the first play of the last drive on offense. It was terrible. We can put it on me, [and] blame it all on me. We got to do a better job. We got to coach better. We got to play better. We got a long way to go."
Losses crystallize issues affiliated with a poor performance, but Saturday seemingly lowered an 800-pound gorilla onto several areas associated with BC's first five games. A third down defense ranked near the bottom of the ACC surrendered a percentage well over its 35 percent success rate while eight penalties totaling 85 yards were both two times and three times a season-long average for one of the country's most efficient teams. A positive takeaway margin flipped significantly with two interceptions and a fumble recovered for a touchdown while sack numbers and defensive rushing yardage all inverted to an opponent.
Thomas Castellanos, meanwhile, struggled after starting 11-for-11 and 15-for-17 by going 7-for-13 with two interceptions and no explosive plays after a 31-yard pass to Lewis Bond with 3:40 remaining in the third quarter. Two of his first three drives were touchdown-scoring clock consumers chewing 75-plus yards across nine plays, but his fourth quarter ended with four straight turnovers and seven points surrendered to an opposing defense's overall rush.
"I think the rush got a little bit better," admitted O'Brien. "They bottled us up a little bit on coverage, and it was kind of a back-and-forth game there for a while. Then we turned it over, and when you turn it over, you're concerned about making sure you call the right call so you don't turn it over again. So that's kind of what happened [in the second half]."
"We preached [starting fast] all week in practice," said offensive lineman Drew Kendall. "We started fast in practice and made sure that was a big emphasis for the week. It all started [in practice] on Tuesday and Wednesday, and I think, as an [offensive] line, we played fast, but we had to finish it in the end."
Virginia resiliently used BC's inability to bury the game to its advantage and came out with blazing success in the third quarter. The three straight punts from the first quarter became bygone byproducts of early struggles after two straight 10-plus pay drives ended in field goals before the half, but the warning signs associated with the 15-play, 81-yard drive in the third quarter evaporated when the Wahoos failed to convert a fourth down at BC's goal line.Â
They later converted their first interception into a touchdown by going 50 yards in two plays and scoring on a 30-yard pass from Anthony Colandrea to Malachi Fields, after which Jonas Sanker recovered a fumble and ran 40 uncontested yards for a go-ahead score on the next drive. A third consecutive BC drive ended with a turnover on downs before Will Bettridge missed a 47-yard field goal for the Cavaliers, but the fourth drive ended with Castellanos throwing an interception to Kendren Smith and receiving an unnecessary roughness penalty after the play ended.
It helped push Colandrea back above water to 179 yards and a touchdown by the end of the game, and three receivers, including Fields, ended with four receptions while Harvard transfer Tyler Neville caught two balls for 36 yards. Kobe Pace rushed for 83 yards while Xavier Brown averaged an identical 4.4 yards per carry, and Sanker finished with six tackles opposite an eight-tackle performance from linebacker Kam Robinson.
"They executed a little bit [better] than we did in that second half, especially in that fourth quarter," said defensive lineman Donovan Ezeiruaku. "We just have to do better and execute our jobs."
Losing this game didn't cripple BC's chances at improving its perceived seven-win glass ceiling, but it certainly left a sour taste for a team that harbored hopes for a return to the national Top 25 with a victory. Earning its way to 4-1 with a win for the first time in six years, BC sought its first 5-1 record since the 2008 season and its first 2-0 start to ACC play since the 2007 season, a two-year stretch featuring the Eagles' only appearances in the league's championship game. They hadn't won in Charlottesville since 2017 and hadn't won their first two ACC road games since 2014, but finding a way back into the national rankings offered optimism for a team that sought to emulate the 2018 team's ability to claw back into the rankings after its first, one-week stint ended with a loss to Purdue.
Instead, the Eagles found themselves on the outside of a ranking reshuffle occurring as the result of a number of upsets across the national spectrum. Four ACC teams remained in the newest Associated Press poll after Pittsburgh joined Southern Methodist, which replaced Louisville, alongside Miami and Clemson, while UNLV fell out of the rankings after losing to Syracuse.
BC previously held 55 votes as the third-highest team outside the top-25 as recently as Week Five, but after falling to 18 votes last week, the loss to Virginia eradicated any numbers around the Eagles, having instead been replaced by the Orange and the four votes remaining in Louisville's possession.
"We have to look in the mirror," said O'Brien. "Everybody in the program has to self-assess, coaches and players all have to look and see what we can do to be better because we're a lot better than we showed. Give Virginia credit, they did a good job in the second half, but we have improve."
BC returns to the field on Thursday, October 17 when it travels to Virginia Tech for a nationally-televised midweek night game.Â
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He'd just walked off the Scott Stadium field to the frustrating chorus of blue-and-orange cheers from the home crowd despite watching his Boston College team gain a 14-0 lead in the early stages of the first half. His quarterback returned from a one-week absence to complete his first 11 passes while systematically and thoroughly dismantling the Cavaliers' multiple-front defense while his defense stuffed UVA's hope of establishing a pregame offensive scheme. The thorough and complete domination teetered the two-score lead on the brink of a blowout. At 4-1 with one Atlantic Coast Conference win already in the tank, the first half gave significant wind to long-lost and long-sought notion of Boston College elevating its game to spots occupied by Clemson, Miami and league newcomer Southern Methodist, while a return to the national polls felt inevitable.
Then it all unraveled, and O'Brien, decidedly unhappy after Virginia's 18-point fourth quarter assisted the 24-point meltdown, laid bare an emotional palate capable of souring even the sweetest play from that first half.
"Nobody was great," said the coach in his postgame remarks. "Nobody was great. We had 10 guys on the field for the first play of the last drive on offense. It was terrible. We can put it on me, [and] blame it all on me. We got to do a better job. We got to coach better. We got to play better. We got a long way to go."
Losses crystallize issues affiliated with a poor performance, but Saturday seemingly lowered an 800-pound gorilla onto several areas associated with BC's first five games. A third down defense ranked near the bottom of the ACC surrendered a percentage well over its 35 percent success rate while eight penalties totaling 85 yards were both two times and three times a season-long average for one of the country's most efficient teams. A positive takeaway margin flipped significantly with two interceptions and a fumble recovered for a touchdown while sack numbers and defensive rushing yardage all inverted to an opponent.
Thomas Castellanos, meanwhile, struggled after starting 11-for-11 and 15-for-17 by going 7-for-13 with two interceptions and no explosive plays after a 31-yard pass to Lewis Bond with 3:40 remaining in the third quarter. Two of his first three drives were touchdown-scoring clock consumers chewing 75-plus yards across nine plays, but his fourth quarter ended with four straight turnovers and seven points surrendered to an opposing defense's overall rush.
"I think the rush got a little bit better," admitted O'Brien. "They bottled us up a little bit on coverage, and it was kind of a back-and-forth game there for a while. Then we turned it over, and when you turn it over, you're concerned about making sure you call the right call so you don't turn it over again. So that's kind of what happened [in the second half]."
"We preached [starting fast] all week in practice," said offensive lineman Drew Kendall. "We started fast in practice and made sure that was a big emphasis for the week. It all started [in practice] on Tuesday and Wednesday, and I think, as an [offensive] line, we played fast, but we had to finish it in the end."
Virginia resiliently used BC's inability to bury the game to its advantage and came out with blazing success in the third quarter. The three straight punts from the first quarter became bygone byproducts of early struggles after two straight 10-plus pay drives ended in field goals before the half, but the warning signs associated with the 15-play, 81-yard drive in the third quarter evaporated when the Wahoos failed to convert a fourth down at BC's goal line.Â
They later converted their first interception into a touchdown by going 50 yards in two plays and scoring on a 30-yard pass from Anthony Colandrea to Malachi Fields, after which Jonas Sanker recovered a fumble and ran 40 uncontested yards for a go-ahead score on the next drive. A third consecutive BC drive ended with a turnover on downs before Will Bettridge missed a 47-yard field goal for the Cavaliers, but the fourth drive ended with Castellanos throwing an interception to Kendren Smith and receiving an unnecessary roughness penalty after the play ended.
It helped push Colandrea back above water to 179 yards and a touchdown by the end of the game, and three receivers, including Fields, ended with four receptions while Harvard transfer Tyler Neville caught two balls for 36 yards. Kobe Pace rushed for 83 yards while Xavier Brown averaged an identical 4.4 yards per carry, and Sanker finished with six tackles opposite an eight-tackle performance from linebacker Kam Robinson.
"They executed a little bit [better] than we did in that second half, especially in that fourth quarter," said defensive lineman Donovan Ezeiruaku. "We just have to do better and execute our jobs."
Losing this game didn't cripple BC's chances at improving its perceived seven-win glass ceiling, but it certainly left a sour taste for a team that harbored hopes for a return to the national Top 25 with a victory. Earning its way to 4-1 with a win for the first time in six years, BC sought its first 5-1 record since the 2008 season and its first 2-0 start to ACC play since the 2007 season, a two-year stretch featuring the Eagles' only appearances in the league's championship game. They hadn't won in Charlottesville since 2017 and hadn't won their first two ACC road games since 2014, but finding a way back into the national rankings offered optimism for a team that sought to emulate the 2018 team's ability to claw back into the rankings after its first, one-week stint ended with a loss to Purdue.
Instead, the Eagles found themselves on the outside of a ranking reshuffle occurring as the result of a number of upsets across the national spectrum. Four ACC teams remained in the newest Associated Press poll after Pittsburgh joined Southern Methodist, which replaced Louisville, alongside Miami and Clemson, while UNLV fell out of the rankings after losing to Syracuse.
BC previously held 55 votes as the third-highest team outside the top-25 as recently as Week Five, but after falling to 18 votes last week, the loss to Virginia eradicated any numbers around the Eagles, having instead been replaced by the Orange and the four votes remaining in Louisville's possession.
"We have to look in the mirror," said O'Brien. "Everybody in the program has to self-assess, coaches and players all have to look and see what we can do to be better because we're a lot better than we showed. Give Virginia credit, they did a good job in the second half, but we have improve."
BC returns to the field on Thursday, October 17 when it travels to Virginia Tech for a nationally-televised midweek night game.Â
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Players Mentioned
Wednesday, September 09
Wednesday, September 09
Wednesday, September 09
Tuesday, September 08
