4 hours ago 1

Final: BC Flounders out West, Falls to Stanford 30-20

Boston College dropped its ACC opener to Stanford 30-20 in true ACC after dark fashion. Despite taking a 17-6 lead in the second quarter, BC was undone by a flurry of turnovers, listless play, and a few untimely injuries. The Eagles defense in particular allowed a career-day on the ground, continuing to have issues bringing Stanford’s offense to the ground. After the game, O’Brien remarked “We’re not a very good football team right now” a far cry from the feeling after last week’s shoot-out loss.

Right from the start, BC was operating at half speed as Stanford marched down the field on their first two possessions. Stanford quarterback Ben Gulbranson found open receivers, and running back Micah Ford ran at will for a career-day of 157 yards.

The Eagles defense fortunately didn’t break and held Stanford to field goals to give the offense time to show up. Luca Lombardo opened the scoring for the Eagles with a 51-yard field goal, and the Eagles started to find that rhythm. The defense forced consecutive three-and-outs, and Lonergan hit Turbo Richard out of the backfield for a 49-yard score to give BC the lead. Lonergan then found Reed Harris deep down the field to set up a Jordan McDonald score and push the Eagles up two scores not even halfway through the second quarter. It looked like BC would run away with it, as the BC defense to stopped Stanford on downs.

That’s when the wheels fell off for BC. After a botched snap in Stanford territory, it took Gulbranson just three plays to find his tight end Sam Roush deep down the field. A missed tackle on BC’s part, and the tight end was off to the races for a 69-yard touchdown. Two plays later, a Cardinal defensive back jumped on Lonergan’s pass and took it to the house.

Just like that, a two-score swing that had O’Brien’s team down 20-17 late in the second quarter. The offense salvaged a last-minute drive for Lombardo to hit one again, this time from 31 to tie the game up at half.

Now it was BC’s offense’s turn to sputter, completely stalling out after halftime, mustering just 76 yards of offense and zero points in the second half. The run game vanished, and any hopes of a comeback were dashed when Richard had another week with a goal line fumble with the opponent recovering it in the end zone for a touchback and breathing room.

The defense only allowed 10 more points and stood tall through almost all of the third quarter, but their inability to manage any stops after that was a disaster-class.

Ford took Richard’s fumble 75 yards on the very next play, and completed the solo effort with a score right after. The injuries piled on, with Jude Bowry and Daveon Crouch going down, sucking even more energy out of the Eagles. Lonergan was sacked on the next possession, and Stanford was once again able to hit an explosive run. BC’s shored things up one last time and held the Cardinal to a short field goal. With the Eagles now down 10 early in the fourth, the offense simply couldn’t click and Florio was punting again. There was no urgency and you could see the Eagles were ready for bed. The offense picked up just 15 yards over nearly four minutes before the punt. Stanford was able to milk the final 7:30 (!) of play with short run after short run. Gutless.

The late-night matchup was one to forget as the Eagles head to the bye week. BC was downright terrible. The self-inflicted wounds and overall undisciplined play were largely uncharacteristic of what O’Brien’s teams have displayed thus far. The poor tackling, not so much. This was the nadir, ironically broadcasted by Steve Addazio on color. The Eagles have a lot to address moving forward if they have any hopes of salvaging the season.