Boston College Athletics
Photo by: Joe Sullivan
September 03, 2024 | Football, #ForBoston Files
The Eagles defanged FSU with a dominating 28-13 win in Tallahassee.
The run-up to Monday night presented Florida State as an insurmountable mountain for an upstart Boston College side. The Eagles consistently presented a tough challenge to the stingiest Atlantic Coast Conference team, but experts saw the perceived discrepancy in athleticism, speed, skill and raw ability as too much of a hurdle for the team's raw horsepower and rugged strength.
BC punched from a different weight class that didn't include incoming transfers from Alabama or a top-15 class within the high school recruiting bureaus, and the Week Zero loss to Georgia Tech served notice for a Seminole awakening within Doak Campbell Stadium's Week One matchup. The Florida humidity was an additional factor for a New England team unaccustomed to the conditions, which is why the better team would ultimately enforce its will in a matchup littered with blowout conditions.
In actuality, the experts were actively correct: the better team imposed its style on an opponent unsuited for a physical matchup in the humidity. One look at the emptying fourth quarter stands, though, told a very different story about a BC team that found its groove in a 28-13 victory that harbors hopes for a launchpad into the 2024 season.
"[The players] put a lot of work into the offseason," head coach Bill O'Brien said of the team's victory, "from winter conditioning to spring practice to summer practice [and into] training camp. So I'm very proud of these guys. They were resilient [enough] to come down here against a team that, in their minds, had to have this win. It's a heck of a statement for BC, but it's [also] just one win. We have to understand that, and we have to be able to handle that success."
The surreality of watching Florida State wilt under its own home lights converted dreams to nightmares for a team that effectively changed the postseason playoff picture by its omission last season, but BC battered the Seminoles by controlling the entire pace and tempo of the first half. A first quarter drive that started with over nine minutes remaining bled into the second quarter after Thomas Castellanos converted three different third downs, including two at intermediate length, after which his touchdown run on a fourth third down on the first play of the second quarter staked the Eagles to a 7-0 lead.
He later converted another third down before completing a 13-yard swing pass touchdown to Treshaun Ward, but the grim reality, by then, was well-settled on an FSU sideline demoralized by two three-and-outs and six plays across the first 20 minutes of game clock. Falling behind 14-0 without an opportunity to settle into any kind of rhythm meant quarterback DJ Uiagalelei needed to throw to set up the run, a strategy that fed his inability to check into secondary or tertiary targets against disguised coverages.
"I thought our front played really well," O'Brien said. "In combination with the pressure we were able to get, our coverage was good. [Defensive coordinator Tim Lewis] makes the calls, and he was really good. We did a good job of stopping the run. They rushed for [21] yards, so we did a great job of that, and that's something we're going to have to continue to do."
Uiagalelei finished 21-for-42 for 272 yards and a touchdown, but BC's defensive strength exposed FSU's offensive inefficiencies in specific areas. An explosive play, for example, by Uiagalelei found Jaylin Lucas for a catch-and-run from the BC 30-yard line to the shadow of the Eagles' goal line after punting issues forced a short field, but Donovan Ezeiruaku immediately pushed the Seminoles into a non-competitive shot at the goal line with an eight-yard sack on the very next play. Uiagalelei was later pressed into a 3rd-and-goal situation from the 13-yard line, but an unflattering throw to tight end Kyle Morlock was broken up by linebacker Kam Arnold's fade-back, middle-of-the-field coverage.
Settling for a field goal in that situation solidified BC's two-possession lead after the 14-0 start, and later struggles forced FSU to kick a second field goal after the offense fell short on its only sustained drive of the first half. At that point, facing a potential two-for-one opportunity around halftime, a possible shot at a 14-14 tie in the third quarter instead turned into a disaster after a fourth-down attempt went sideways ahead of Max Tucker's interception run to daylight.
"Tim is a good teacher," O'Brien noted. "[The players] have a lot of confidence in him and his staff. He's got really good guys underneath him with Dan O'Brien, Ray Brown and Jeff Commissiong, and then the [graduate assistants] and analysts, where we have Tito Pasqualoni, Tom Jurkovec and Will Blackmon. We have a strong defensive staff and good defensive players, so that combination, we've got to keep that going. We've got to keep that kind of [success] to sustain week-in and week-out."
Shutting down FSU's offense ultimately enabled BC to achieve synergy and balance by forcing the Seminoles to defend long, time-consuming drives in the heat and humidity. The Eagles' running game was on point by creating three different 70-yard rushers and just under 40 minutes' worth of possession time, and scheme play design opened the outside speed routes for Treshaun Ward's 61 yards on three catches. His lone incomplete target would have given him significant yardage on BC's first drive if he hadn't dropped an unforced error on the catch, but Castellanos finished 10-for-16 for 106 yards with two scores by casually spreading multiple targets to four receivers with seven different players catching one pass.
"[Tommy] managed the game very well," O'Brien said. "He's a very dynamic player. I think the key for us this year came in the offseason when we told him things to improve upon - footwork, taking care of the ball, reading coverages, understanding our offensive scheme, protections, things like that. He's done a really good job of that, and he has to stay consistent with that throughout the year because it's only one game. I'm not trying to take anything away from the win…but it's just one game, and he played really well in the game. He's got to keep that going."
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BC punched from a different weight class that didn't include incoming transfers from Alabama or a top-15 class within the high school recruiting bureaus, and the Week Zero loss to Georgia Tech served notice for a Seminole awakening within Doak Campbell Stadium's Week One matchup. The Florida humidity was an additional factor for a New England team unaccustomed to the conditions, which is why the better team would ultimately enforce its will in a matchup littered with blowout conditions.
In actuality, the experts were actively correct: the better team imposed its style on an opponent unsuited for a physical matchup in the humidity. One look at the emptying fourth quarter stands, though, told a very different story about a BC team that found its groove in a 28-13 victory that harbors hopes for a launchpad into the 2024 season.
"[The players] put a lot of work into the offseason," head coach Bill O'Brien said of the team's victory, "from winter conditioning to spring practice to summer practice [and into] training camp. So I'm very proud of these guys. They were resilient [enough] to come down here against a team that, in their minds, had to have this win. It's a heck of a statement for BC, but it's [also] just one win. We have to understand that, and we have to be able to handle that success."
The surreality of watching Florida State wilt under its own home lights converted dreams to nightmares for a team that effectively changed the postseason playoff picture by its omission last season, but BC battered the Seminoles by controlling the entire pace and tempo of the first half. A first quarter drive that started with over nine minutes remaining bled into the second quarter after Thomas Castellanos converted three different third downs, including two at intermediate length, after which his touchdown run on a fourth third down on the first play of the second quarter staked the Eagles to a 7-0 lead.
He later converted another third down before completing a 13-yard swing pass touchdown to Treshaun Ward, but the grim reality, by then, was well-settled on an FSU sideline demoralized by two three-and-outs and six plays across the first 20 minutes of game clock. Falling behind 14-0 without an opportunity to settle into any kind of rhythm meant quarterback DJ Uiagalelei needed to throw to set up the run, a strategy that fed his inability to check into secondary or tertiary targets against disguised coverages.
"I thought our front played really well," O'Brien said. "In combination with the pressure we were able to get, our coverage was good. [Defensive coordinator Tim Lewis] makes the calls, and he was really good. We did a good job of stopping the run. They rushed for [21] yards, so we did a great job of that, and that's something we're going to have to continue to do."
Uiagalelei finished 21-for-42 for 272 yards and a touchdown, but BC's defensive strength exposed FSU's offensive inefficiencies in specific areas. An explosive play, for example, by Uiagalelei found Jaylin Lucas for a catch-and-run from the BC 30-yard line to the shadow of the Eagles' goal line after punting issues forced a short field, but Donovan Ezeiruaku immediately pushed the Seminoles into a non-competitive shot at the goal line with an eight-yard sack on the very next play. Uiagalelei was later pressed into a 3rd-and-goal situation from the 13-yard line, but an unflattering throw to tight end Kyle Morlock was broken up by linebacker Kam Arnold's fade-back, middle-of-the-field coverage.
Settling for a field goal in that situation solidified BC's two-possession lead after the 14-0 start, and later struggles forced FSU to kick a second field goal after the offense fell short on its only sustained drive of the first half. At that point, facing a potential two-for-one opportunity around halftime, a possible shot at a 14-14 tie in the third quarter instead turned into a disaster after a fourth-down attempt went sideways ahead of Max Tucker's interception run to daylight.
"Tim is a good teacher," O'Brien noted. "[The players] have a lot of confidence in him and his staff. He's got really good guys underneath him with Dan O'Brien, Ray Brown and Jeff Commissiong, and then the [graduate assistants] and analysts, where we have Tito Pasqualoni, Tom Jurkovec and Will Blackmon. We have a strong defensive staff and good defensive players, so that combination, we've got to keep that going. We've got to keep that kind of [success] to sustain week-in and week-out."
Shutting down FSU's offense ultimately enabled BC to achieve synergy and balance by forcing the Seminoles to defend long, time-consuming drives in the heat and humidity. The Eagles' running game was on point by creating three different 70-yard rushers and just under 40 minutes' worth of possession time, and scheme play design opened the outside speed routes for Treshaun Ward's 61 yards on three catches. His lone incomplete target would have given him significant yardage on BC's first drive if he hadn't dropped an unforced error on the catch, but Castellanos finished 10-for-16 for 106 yards with two scores by casually spreading multiple targets to four receivers with seven different players catching one pass.
"[Tommy] managed the game very well," O'Brien said. "He's a very dynamic player. I think the key for us this year came in the offseason when we told him things to improve upon - footwork, taking care of the ball, reading coverages, understanding our offensive scheme, protections, things like that. He's done a really good job of that, and he has to stay consistent with that throughout the year because it's only one game. I'm not trying to take anything away from the win…but it's just one game, and he played really well in the game. He's got to keep that going."
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Players Mentioned
Sunday, October 25
Sunday, October 25
Saturday, October 24
Saturday, October 24
