Boston College Athletics
The Replay: Cincinnati
September 06, 2026 | Football, #ForBoston Files
Positives emerged, but BC dropped its first game of the 2026 season.
The biggest concern facing Boston College head coach Bill O'Brien ahead of Saturday's season opener against Cincinnati had little to do with his team's ability or its potential for growth over the course of a 12-game season. He understood how many steps had been taken over the first four weeks of training camp, over the summer conditioning months before that, and during spring practice after he recruited more than four dozen new arrivals to a program that needed to reinvigorate itself in the wake of last season. Studying that output on a daily basis left little doubt in his mind about how to game plan or how to move the team forward towards its ultimate goal of a 12-game foundation for the future.
The team, he rationed, would eventually get to a point where all of that would pay dividends. The biggest concern, instead, was if that would appear in time for a victory over a Bearcat program that advanced to last season's Liberty Bowl under a fourth-year head coach with a knack for producing offensive wizardry. Even if there were growing pains, which nearly everyone in Chestnut Hill expected, a rebirthed Cincinnati style was arguably the biggest threat to BC's ability to achieve and maintain an early balance and harmony.
The wake of Saturday's 34-15 loss to the Bearcats, then, struck the chord between the worst fear and a growing reality. On the bad side, a first loss after falling behind by three-plus scores on the road is a damaging headline, and no improved output was good enough to keep the game from getting out of hand in the third and fourth quarters. To the good, though, an improved second half witnessed BC's ability to begin gelling, and the biggest step now becomes moving through the issues to recalibrate ahead of the next all-important game against Rutgers.
"We have to coach it better, no doubt about it," said O'Brien in his postgame remarks. "There were too many false starts, snaps over the head of the quarterback, missed tackles, things like that. But we'll get right back to work here on a short week, and we fought to the end. We have to understand that we can't do those things and expect to win. We don't have that type of team. No team can do that, so we have to coach it better."
The loss underpinned a ballyhooed debut performance by nearly two dozen new starters on both sides of the ball despite arguably outplaying the Bearcats for swaths of both halves. They outgained the Bearcats in the first quarter by controlling the clock for nearly 10 minutes of game time, and quarterback Mason McKenzie's 12-yard pass to Brady Clough was more than double the entire passing attack by Cincinnati starter JC French IV. Through the first 15 minutes, a 4-for-6 passing day from McKenzie balanced nearly four yards per rush on the ground with 34 yards passing, and the lone third down conversion - a key number to have watched - was in the Eagles favor alongside a fourth down conversion.
Nothing more than a single explosive play kept the score at a 3-0 advantage for the Bearcats, which is why frustration mounted during a much more difficult second quarter. A dramatic improvement in Cincinnati's offensive execution offset and unbalanced the Eagles defense, which surrendered 90 yards and the game's first touchdown while failing to get off the field on third down. More specifically, a four-yard run from Cincinnati's own 35-yard line cut enough yardage off of the Bearcats' deficit to allow for a gadget play through wide receiver Malachi Henry, which in turn kept BC on its heels for a 21-yard pass by French to running back Zion Johnson. Finally pushed into plus territory, Johnson gained 22 yards across two carries before French found JV Gibson for a red zone touchdown and a 10-0 lead at halftime that extended to 24-0 when two elongated scoring drives flanked a BC turnover after the break.
"They have a really good offensive line," said O'Brien. "There were semifinalists for the Joe Moore Award last year, and a lot of the guys were back. They did a good job, but we missed a lot of tackles. I think we need to get back to practicing tackling every day, and maybe we have to practice it a little bit differently. When we're [at the spot], we have to make the tackle, and we probably missed double-digit tackles."
The self-inflicted issues ultimately buried BC under that unmanageable deficit and overshadowed an offense that steadily improved over the first three quarters. Each of those three touchdown drives, for example, existed because of an issue that ended drives where the Eagles moved the football. The defense had just forced a three-and-out in the second quarter and overcame an early false start to drive 56 yards over 13 plays before stalling out with a missed field goal opportunity, and a fumble in the third quarter was sandwiched between the two touchdown drives that consumed seven-plus minutes of Cincinnati offense.
In a manner of hypothetically speaking, converting those two drives to 10 or 14 points would have significantly altered Cincinnati's stance in a one or two-score game, and BC would have been able to enter the fourth quarter within striking range of the Bearcats. Instead, an Evan Dickens touchdown at the end of the quarter completed a seven-play, 75-yard drive that only sliced the game to 24-8. Cincinnati was able to add insurance scores that forced a more lopsided result.
"It's all things that we work hard at," said O'Brien. "It didn't translate to the field, so that's on me. That's not good coaching, and we have to figure out how to coach it better because we see it done right in practice. It didn't translate to the field, so maybe we have to do different drills. That's on the whole. We have to coach it better."
Looking ahead, the short week leading into Friday night's home opener adds a bit of urgency to a compacted schedule that's not slowing down with the season underway. The film will ultimately reveal that the Eagles rushed north of four yards per carry and just missed a 400-yard day on offense while holding Cincinnati to less than 350 yards on its home turf, and any criticism surrounding the offensive line's ability to pass protect slipped to nearly 13 yards per completion for a quarterback who was an unknown commodity ahead of Saturday's game. Even the seven penalties and three fumbles equaled Cincinnati - though the lost fumble ultimately led to a Bearcat touchdown.
All are positive steps, and while the loss - and the scoreboard - revealed a disappointment that won't recede into the record books, a rightward path and the long season's success is dependent on fixing those issues during a week leading directly into one of the most important games on the BC schedule.
"[Mason] made some great plays on some bad football," explained O'Brien. "I'm not saying it was great play, but there were really good decisions that helped us. He's a very, very bright guy. I feel terrible for him because he gave us everything, and we have to coach better around him. I felt like we got into a rhythm in the second half and did some things, and we got into a rhythm in the first half times, but then something would happen - whether it was a false start or a sack or a TFL or whatever, we really have to look at the tape [because] I think there's a lot to build on.
"But we have to build on it."
The team, he rationed, would eventually get to a point where all of that would pay dividends. The biggest concern, instead, was if that would appear in time for a victory over a Bearcat program that advanced to last season's Liberty Bowl under a fourth-year head coach with a knack for producing offensive wizardry. Even if there were growing pains, which nearly everyone in Chestnut Hill expected, a rebirthed Cincinnati style was arguably the biggest threat to BC's ability to achieve and maintain an early balance and harmony.
The wake of Saturday's 34-15 loss to the Bearcats, then, struck the chord between the worst fear and a growing reality. On the bad side, a first loss after falling behind by three-plus scores on the road is a damaging headline, and no improved output was good enough to keep the game from getting out of hand in the third and fourth quarters. To the good, though, an improved second half witnessed BC's ability to begin gelling, and the biggest step now becomes moving through the issues to recalibrate ahead of the next all-important game against Rutgers.
"We have to coach it better, no doubt about it," said O'Brien in his postgame remarks. "There were too many false starts, snaps over the head of the quarterback, missed tackles, things like that. But we'll get right back to work here on a short week, and we fought to the end. We have to understand that we can't do those things and expect to win. We don't have that type of team. No team can do that, so we have to coach it better."
The loss underpinned a ballyhooed debut performance by nearly two dozen new starters on both sides of the ball despite arguably outplaying the Bearcats for swaths of both halves. They outgained the Bearcats in the first quarter by controlling the clock for nearly 10 minutes of game time, and quarterback Mason McKenzie's 12-yard pass to Brady Clough was more than double the entire passing attack by Cincinnati starter JC French IV. Through the first 15 minutes, a 4-for-6 passing day from McKenzie balanced nearly four yards per rush on the ground with 34 yards passing, and the lone third down conversion - a key number to have watched - was in the Eagles favor alongside a fourth down conversion.
Nothing more than a single explosive play kept the score at a 3-0 advantage for the Bearcats, which is why frustration mounted during a much more difficult second quarter. A dramatic improvement in Cincinnati's offensive execution offset and unbalanced the Eagles defense, which surrendered 90 yards and the game's first touchdown while failing to get off the field on third down. More specifically, a four-yard run from Cincinnati's own 35-yard line cut enough yardage off of the Bearcats' deficit to allow for a gadget play through wide receiver Malachi Henry, which in turn kept BC on its heels for a 21-yard pass by French to running back Zion Johnson. Finally pushed into plus territory, Johnson gained 22 yards across two carries before French found JV Gibson for a red zone touchdown and a 10-0 lead at halftime that extended to 24-0 when two elongated scoring drives flanked a BC turnover after the break.
"They have a really good offensive line," said O'Brien. "There were semifinalists for the Joe Moore Award last year, and a lot of the guys were back. They did a good job, but we missed a lot of tackles. I think we need to get back to practicing tackling every day, and maybe we have to practice it a little bit differently. When we're [at the spot], we have to make the tackle, and we probably missed double-digit tackles."
The self-inflicted issues ultimately buried BC under that unmanageable deficit and overshadowed an offense that steadily improved over the first three quarters. Each of those three touchdown drives, for example, existed because of an issue that ended drives where the Eagles moved the football. The defense had just forced a three-and-out in the second quarter and overcame an early false start to drive 56 yards over 13 plays before stalling out with a missed field goal opportunity, and a fumble in the third quarter was sandwiched between the two touchdown drives that consumed seven-plus minutes of Cincinnati offense.
In a manner of hypothetically speaking, converting those two drives to 10 or 14 points would have significantly altered Cincinnati's stance in a one or two-score game, and BC would have been able to enter the fourth quarter within striking range of the Bearcats. Instead, an Evan Dickens touchdown at the end of the quarter completed a seven-play, 75-yard drive that only sliced the game to 24-8. Cincinnati was able to add insurance scores that forced a more lopsided result.
"It's all things that we work hard at," said O'Brien. "It didn't translate to the field, so that's on me. That's not good coaching, and we have to figure out how to coach it better because we see it done right in practice. It didn't translate to the field, so maybe we have to do different drills. That's on the whole. We have to coach it better."
Looking ahead, the short week leading into Friday night's home opener adds a bit of urgency to a compacted schedule that's not slowing down with the season underway. The film will ultimately reveal that the Eagles rushed north of four yards per carry and just missed a 400-yard day on offense while holding Cincinnati to less than 350 yards on its home turf, and any criticism surrounding the offensive line's ability to pass protect slipped to nearly 13 yards per completion for a quarterback who was an unknown commodity ahead of Saturday's game. Even the seven penalties and three fumbles equaled Cincinnati - though the lost fumble ultimately led to a Bearcat touchdown.
All are positive steps, and while the loss - and the scoreboard - revealed a disappointment that won't recede into the record books, a rightward path and the long season's success is dependent on fixing those issues during a week leading directly into one of the most important games on the BC schedule.
"[Mason] made some great plays on some bad football," explained O'Brien. "I'm not saying it was great play, but there were really good decisions that helped us. He's a very, very bright guy. I feel terrible for him because he gave us everything, and we have to coach better around him. I felt like we got into a rhythm in the second half and did some things, and we got into a rhythm in the first half times, but then something would happen - whether it was a false start or a sack or a TFL or whatever, we really have to look at the tape [because] I think there's a lot to build on.
"But we have to build on it."
Players Mentioned
Sunday, September 06
Sunday, September 06
Sunday, September 06
Saturday, September 05
