Boston College Athletics
October 19, 2026 | Football, #ForBoston Files
BC overcame a slow start for one of its best wins of the 2026 season.
Fans walking through the Alumni Stadium turnstiles for the first quarter of Saturday's game between Boston College and Pittsburgh hadn't found their seats before the Panthers built a two-score lead. A 75-yard first play from scrimmage was particularly damaging in that regard, but less than two minutes elapsed off of the game clock before the Eagles found themselves in a nightmare scenario caused by a blocked punt on the first offensive drive of the game.
Hot dogs were barely cooked, and pretzels barely salted before BC was off schedule, so the resilience discovered over the next two quarters provided head coach Bill O'Brien with the example of the toughness he preached over the first six weeks. A 14-play drive covered six minutes and kept the Panthers away from the field before running back Bo MacCormack III halved a 12-0 lead, and the second quarter ended with BC in the lead when Javarius Green caught his first career touchdown reception.
From the surface level, momentum carried the Eagles into the locker room, but the key to the comeback 27-21 victory ironically occurred when the Panthers added three points to their early 9-0 lead. The safety from that blocked punt allowed them to retain possession after Andy Quinn's free kick, and eight straight plays produced positive yardage on a drive that could have sent the Eagles into a 16-0 tailspin. Three plays from the BC red zone instead ended with a one-yard run and two incompletions, and the Panthers were forced to kick a field goal.
Being held to minimal points in that situation allowed the Eagles to melt Pitt's aggressiveness, and the ensuing scoring drive pushed momentum back to BC. The high-tempo and fast-paced Panthers later failed to capitalize on any opportunities while the Eagles battled them through a more desirable rock fight that highlighted a spirit capable of carrying the team to its first ACC victory of the season.
"These guys did a really good job of being resilient," said O'Brien. "It didn't start very well at all. The first play was a touchdown, and then there's the blocked punt safety. These guys are tough. They're resilient. They hung in there offensively. We put together a good drive after the safety, and we were able to get something going. It's cliche, but we played six seconds per play, one play at a time, and we just played every single play. It's a story of its own, and we did a good job of it."
Pitt entered Saturday with a tenuous duality that struck a delicate balance after quarterback Mason Heintschel sustained a season-ending injury in the team's win over Virginia Tech. He'd posted the second-most yards in program history by throwing for 453 yards and seven touchdowns in the win over Miami (Ohio) and later tied the eighth-most yards by a Pitt quarterback by throwing for 403 yards and six touchdowns against Bucknell, but his failure to eclipse 250 yards against Central Florida and 150 yards against Syracuse doubled up the two-week period that largely produced 440 yards, no touchdowns and two interceptions under Holden Geriner.
Pat Narduzzi therefore made the decision to start freshman Corey Dailey for Saturday's game in Chestnut Hill, but the four-star prospect failed to break through BC's pass defense after Cataurus Hicks ran directly through man-to-man coverage for the explosive first score. He ultimately finished with a 11-for-25 completion rate for 193 yards, but he went 10-for-24 for 118 yards outside of the 75-yard play, without an additional touchdown and with a second quarter pass interception by safety KP Price while the second half ended with 3-of-5 drives going for field goals and no drives beyond the first explosive play ending in a touchdown.
"He's a young quarterback," said defensive back Carter Davis. "This was his first start, and he's talented. He has some things in his game that are going to be problems in the future. He has a good arm and can run. We got glimpses of that while we were playing, but I think we just did what we had to do. Pitt has a very good team, but overall as a team, we did our job."
"It was huge to hold them to field goals," explained O'Brien. "That was a big part of the game, and that was one of the main reasons - that and the explosive plays - of why we won."
Limiting Pitt's effectiveness allowed BC to turn the game into its more sustained cadence, and the Eagles finished with three drives lasting approximately six minutes or longer. Six drives elapsed 50-plus yards, and four of those drives ended in touchdowns with the other two ending in interceptions that were deep in Pitt's territory.Â
From an outside perspective, that means that the score could have actually been more lopsided than the offense's 395-yard day illustrated. Beyond the two picks, quarterback Mason McKenzie was 17-for-28 for 295 yards, and his three big passes in the second half contributed to the outstretched breakout. The 69-yard pass to Landon Wright opened the third quarter and pushed the lead to 21-12 with a third consecutive score, and their later 53-yard connection established Evan Dickens for a one-yard touchdown.
"There really wasn't anything new," said O'Brien. "There were a couple of wrinkles here and there, but nothing was totally brand new. I just thought that these guys really played well, for the most part, played a good game."
"We just tried to focus on one play at a time," said Wright. "Coach [O'Brien] was just telling us to finish one play at a time, reset after one play, and [move] onto the next. That was really just it. We were just trying to stay one play at a time."
Hot dogs were barely cooked, and pretzels barely salted before BC was off schedule, so the resilience discovered over the next two quarters provided head coach Bill O'Brien with the example of the toughness he preached over the first six weeks. A 14-play drive covered six minutes and kept the Panthers away from the field before running back Bo MacCormack III halved a 12-0 lead, and the second quarter ended with BC in the lead when Javarius Green caught his first career touchdown reception.
From the surface level, momentum carried the Eagles into the locker room, but the key to the comeback 27-21 victory ironically occurred when the Panthers added three points to their early 9-0 lead. The safety from that blocked punt allowed them to retain possession after Andy Quinn's free kick, and eight straight plays produced positive yardage on a drive that could have sent the Eagles into a 16-0 tailspin. Three plays from the BC red zone instead ended with a one-yard run and two incompletions, and the Panthers were forced to kick a field goal.
Being held to minimal points in that situation allowed the Eagles to melt Pitt's aggressiveness, and the ensuing scoring drive pushed momentum back to BC. The high-tempo and fast-paced Panthers later failed to capitalize on any opportunities while the Eagles battled them through a more desirable rock fight that highlighted a spirit capable of carrying the team to its first ACC victory of the season.
"These guys did a really good job of being resilient," said O'Brien. "It didn't start very well at all. The first play was a touchdown, and then there's the blocked punt safety. These guys are tough. They're resilient. They hung in there offensively. We put together a good drive after the safety, and we were able to get something going. It's cliche, but we played six seconds per play, one play at a time, and we just played every single play. It's a story of its own, and we did a good job of it."
Pitt entered Saturday with a tenuous duality that struck a delicate balance after quarterback Mason Heintschel sustained a season-ending injury in the team's win over Virginia Tech. He'd posted the second-most yards in program history by throwing for 453 yards and seven touchdowns in the win over Miami (Ohio) and later tied the eighth-most yards by a Pitt quarterback by throwing for 403 yards and six touchdowns against Bucknell, but his failure to eclipse 250 yards against Central Florida and 150 yards against Syracuse doubled up the two-week period that largely produced 440 yards, no touchdowns and two interceptions under Holden Geriner.
Pat Narduzzi therefore made the decision to start freshman Corey Dailey for Saturday's game in Chestnut Hill, but the four-star prospect failed to break through BC's pass defense after Cataurus Hicks ran directly through man-to-man coverage for the explosive first score. He ultimately finished with a 11-for-25 completion rate for 193 yards, but he went 10-for-24 for 118 yards outside of the 75-yard play, without an additional touchdown and with a second quarter pass interception by safety KP Price while the second half ended with 3-of-5 drives going for field goals and no drives beyond the first explosive play ending in a touchdown.
"He's a young quarterback," said defensive back Carter Davis. "This was his first start, and he's talented. He has some things in his game that are going to be problems in the future. He has a good arm and can run. We got glimpses of that while we were playing, but I think we just did what we had to do. Pitt has a very good team, but overall as a team, we did our job."
"It was huge to hold them to field goals," explained O'Brien. "That was a big part of the game, and that was one of the main reasons - that and the explosive plays - of why we won."
Limiting Pitt's effectiveness allowed BC to turn the game into its more sustained cadence, and the Eagles finished with three drives lasting approximately six minutes or longer. Six drives elapsed 50-plus yards, and four of those drives ended in touchdowns with the other two ending in interceptions that were deep in Pitt's territory.Â
From an outside perspective, that means that the score could have actually been more lopsided than the offense's 395-yard day illustrated. Beyond the two picks, quarterback Mason McKenzie was 17-for-28 for 295 yards, and his three big passes in the second half contributed to the outstretched breakout. The 69-yard pass to Landon Wright opened the third quarter and pushed the lead to 21-12 with a third consecutive score, and their later 53-yard connection established Evan Dickens for a one-yard touchdown.
"There really wasn't anything new," said O'Brien. "There were a couple of wrinkles here and there, but nothing was totally brand new. I just thought that these guys really played well, for the most part, played a good game."
"We just tried to focus on one play at a time," said Wright. "Coach [O'Brien] was just telling us to finish one play at a time, reset after one play, and [move] onto the next. That was really just it. We were just trying to stay one play at a time."
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