Boston College Athletics
Photo by: Anthony Garro
The Replay: Duquesne
September 07, 2024 | Football, #ForBoston Files
BC blitzed and bombed the Dukes en route to a 56-0 shutout.
Boston College entered Saturday's matchup against Duquesne with vibes flowing through every corner of Alumni Stadium. The Eagles' victory over No. 10 Florida State hadn't yet faded into the rearview mirror for fans who didn't have a chance to celebrate with their team ahead of the home opener against the Dukes, so the pregame atmosphere raging through Chestnut Hill centered itself on a bursting enthusiasm for a team now knocking on the door of national polls for the first time in six years.
The Dukes were a defending conference champion within the championship subdivision, but they represented a speed bump between BC and next week's matchup against another top-ranked opponent. They were pesky, but they didn't carry the weight necessary to compete with a team likely bound for its own top-25 spot. They were talented, but the disparity on either side of the ball wore them down on the path to the Eagles' 56-0 victory.
"I think [our] guys have worked very hard," said head coach Bill O'Brien. "I was really happy to see that we hit [Jerand Bradley] on a chop route. We his Lewis Bond, who played really well, and seeing some of these guys get in there and run the ball the way that we did, obviously with Kye [Robichaux] and [Treshaun Ward] getting in there, but Turbo [Richard] and Jordan McDonald, I was happy to see that. I was happy to see a lot of offensive linemen [rotate into the game], so I'm happy for everybody."
Duquesne started well enough to stop BC on its first offensive drive, but the game flow quickly devolved into a steady diet offering of Eagle offense. For a second week, an offensive line protecting quarterback Thomas Castellanos established a pocket firm enough to save time, and the quick strike attack found separation for a second straight week by evolving the receivers' ability to shake coverages on downfield routes.
Three Eagles went for completions longer than 25 yards, and what started with Jerand Bradley's 30-yard catch on BC's second drive continued with a 72-yard touchdown catch by Reed Harris and a 49-yard score to Lewis Bond. Both Bond and Harris went for 35-plus yards after the catch, and Kamari Morales added a fourth first-half score for the first string with a four-yard catch after a separate 25-yard pass from Castellanos to Bond.Â
"It's not just me," Castellanos said. "It's the guys that surround me that know what we can do this year. We can be special, we just have to stay humble because we use everybody and we can [learn] from each other."
The onslaught forced Duquesne quarterback Darius Perrantes into a one-dimensional passing scheme that failed to gain any traction throughout the lopsided first two quarters. His longest completion was, unfortunately, an interception that Khari Johnson returned 45 yards for a score at the start of the second quarter, and a lockdown on his receivers produced minimal production beyond Tedy Afful's three catches for 25 yards. His first pass of the third quarter, a second down attempt that occurred after a three-yard loss on a half-opening run by Shawn Solomon, was likewise picked off by Jalen Cheek before BC's second string offense made its first appearance of the 2024 season.
Duquesne's entire offensive production suffered setbacks throughout the afternoon and didn't scrape 100 total yards until the third quarter after mustering 87 yards in the first half. Perrantes was 7-for-14 ahead of the first half break, but the team's 2.6 yards per play average failed to exceed more than 50 yards on the ground before BC made wholesale changes in the third quarter.
"I've never been a part of a blowout like that," Bond admitted, "where I didn't play the second half at all. But it was good to get everybody in the game. We have young guys, and it was good to see a lot of people play."
The win felt expected for an ACC team now expecting itself to contend for the league's upper echelon, but taking care of that business lent an air of totality to the team's overall domination. Castellanos finished 9-for-10 for 234 yards and four touchdowns while becoming the first BC quarterback to throw three touchdowns of 30 yards or longer length since Anthony Brown's 2018 performance against Wake Forest - though Brown completed the task over all four quarters while Castellanos only played the first half - and Ward and Kye Robichaux finished with rushing averages well over four yards per carry before Turbo Richard led all backs with 77 yards on 15 carries and Datrell Jones scored his first career touchdown with a 47-yard run to daylight.
Lewis Bond, meanwhile, caught all five of his targets for 98 yards and narrowly missed an opportunity to hit 100 yards for the first time since last year's game against Virginia while Harris caught the longest touchdown catch since Zay Flowers' 61-yard pass at Wake Forest in 2022 while becoming the first Eagle to catch a 70-yard touchdown pass since Hunter Long's touchdown catch from Phil Jurkovec during the COVID-impacted 2020 season.
The first shutout in three years, meanwhile, mirrored the first 50-point output since the 51-0 win over Colgate during the 2021 season while falling one score short of the 60-point outcome since a 62-14 win over Holy Cross during the 2018 season. The 563 yards of offense were the most since last year's Georgia Tech win, and the 350 yards from the first half were the most since the 2019 team rolled Syracuse for 484 yards en route to a record-setting 691-yard day.
"I was happy for our kids," said O'Brien, "especially a guy like Khari Johnson, who has been around here for a long time and had a pick-six. I thought Tommy did a good job. I think we ran the ball hard. I think we rushed for a decent amount of yards, but I [still] thought we left some yards out on the field. I thought the defense really held up. Anytime you get a shutout, I think that's obviously very, very good."
For O'Brien, the good feelings and vibrations elicited by the blowout victory won't last long with a trip to a Missouri team ranked ninth and 10th in the nation's two preeminent polls. In a sign of the unknown, BC received the 27th-most votes in the Associated Press rankings ahead of Saturday afternoon but only received seven points in the coaches' poll. A reflection of Florida State's fall after starting the season No. 10, the trip to Columbia is more hotly anticipated because of the Eagles' drive to gain national recognition against a team that finished last season ranked eighth after a New Year's Six bowl win over Ohio State.
"We said after [Florida State] that the game was over," Bond said. "We aren't a team that could say, 'Oh we're playing Duquesne, we can chill now.' We have to get locked in [every week]."
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The Dukes were a defending conference champion within the championship subdivision, but they represented a speed bump between BC and next week's matchup against another top-ranked opponent. They were pesky, but they didn't carry the weight necessary to compete with a team likely bound for its own top-25 spot. They were talented, but the disparity on either side of the ball wore them down on the path to the Eagles' 56-0 victory.
"I think [our] guys have worked very hard," said head coach Bill O'Brien. "I was really happy to see that we hit [Jerand Bradley] on a chop route. We his Lewis Bond, who played really well, and seeing some of these guys get in there and run the ball the way that we did, obviously with Kye [Robichaux] and [Treshaun Ward] getting in there, but Turbo [Richard] and Jordan McDonald, I was happy to see that. I was happy to see a lot of offensive linemen [rotate into the game], so I'm happy for everybody."
Duquesne started well enough to stop BC on its first offensive drive, but the game flow quickly devolved into a steady diet offering of Eagle offense. For a second week, an offensive line protecting quarterback Thomas Castellanos established a pocket firm enough to save time, and the quick strike attack found separation for a second straight week by evolving the receivers' ability to shake coverages on downfield routes.
Three Eagles went for completions longer than 25 yards, and what started with Jerand Bradley's 30-yard catch on BC's second drive continued with a 72-yard touchdown catch by Reed Harris and a 49-yard score to Lewis Bond. Both Bond and Harris went for 35-plus yards after the catch, and Kamari Morales added a fourth first-half score for the first string with a four-yard catch after a separate 25-yard pass from Castellanos to Bond.Â
"It's not just me," Castellanos said. "It's the guys that surround me that know what we can do this year. We can be special, we just have to stay humble because we use everybody and we can [learn] from each other."
The onslaught forced Duquesne quarterback Darius Perrantes into a one-dimensional passing scheme that failed to gain any traction throughout the lopsided first two quarters. His longest completion was, unfortunately, an interception that Khari Johnson returned 45 yards for a score at the start of the second quarter, and a lockdown on his receivers produced minimal production beyond Tedy Afful's three catches for 25 yards. His first pass of the third quarter, a second down attempt that occurred after a three-yard loss on a half-opening run by Shawn Solomon, was likewise picked off by Jalen Cheek before BC's second string offense made its first appearance of the 2024 season.
Duquesne's entire offensive production suffered setbacks throughout the afternoon and didn't scrape 100 total yards until the third quarter after mustering 87 yards in the first half. Perrantes was 7-for-14 ahead of the first half break, but the team's 2.6 yards per play average failed to exceed more than 50 yards on the ground before BC made wholesale changes in the third quarter.
"I've never been a part of a blowout like that," Bond admitted, "where I didn't play the second half at all. But it was good to get everybody in the game. We have young guys, and it was good to see a lot of people play."
The win felt expected for an ACC team now expecting itself to contend for the league's upper echelon, but taking care of that business lent an air of totality to the team's overall domination. Castellanos finished 9-for-10 for 234 yards and four touchdowns while becoming the first BC quarterback to throw three touchdowns of 30 yards or longer length since Anthony Brown's 2018 performance against Wake Forest - though Brown completed the task over all four quarters while Castellanos only played the first half - and Ward and Kye Robichaux finished with rushing averages well over four yards per carry before Turbo Richard led all backs with 77 yards on 15 carries and Datrell Jones scored his first career touchdown with a 47-yard run to daylight.
Lewis Bond, meanwhile, caught all five of his targets for 98 yards and narrowly missed an opportunity to hit 100 yards for the first time since last year's game against Virginia while Harris caught the longest touchdown catch since Zay Flowers' 61-yard pass at Wake Forest in 2022 while becoming the first Eagle to catch a 70-yard touchdown pass since Hunter Long's touchdown catch from Phil Jurkovec during the COVID-impacted 2020 season.
The first shutout in three years, meanwhile, mirrored the first 50-point output since the 51-0 win over Colgate during the 2021 season while falling one score short of the 60-point outcome since a 62-14 win over Holy Cross during the 2018 season. The 563 yards of offense were the most since last year's Georgia Tech win, and the 350 yards from the first half were the most since the 2019 team rolled Syracuse for 484 yards en route to a record-setting 691-yard day.
"I was happy for our kids," said O'Brien, "especially a guy like Khari Johnson, who has been around here for a long time and had a pick-six. I thought Tommy did a good job. I think we ran the ball hard. I think we rushed for a decent amount of yards, but I [still] thought we left some yards out on the field. I thought the defense really held up. Anytime you get a shutout, I think that's obviously very, very good."
For O'Brien, the good feelings and vibrations elicited by the blowout victory won't last long with a trip to a Missouri team ranked ninth and 10th in the nation's two preeminent polls. In a sign of the unknown, BC received the 27th-most votes in the Associated Press rankings ahead of Saturday afternoon but only received seven points in the coaches' poll. A reflection of Florida State's fall after starting the season No. 10, the trip to Columbia is more hotly anticipated because of the Eagles' drive to gain national recognition against a team that finished last season ranked eighth after a New Year's Six bowl win over Ohio State.
"We said after [Florida State] that the game was over," Bond said. "We aren't a team that could say, 'Oh we're playing Duquesne, we can chill now.' We have to get locked in [every week]."
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