After a disappointing loss to Stanford two weeks ago, Boston College football got a bye week to rest and regroup for their first real home game of the season against the Cal Golden Bears. Despite having that extra time, BC was not able to put together 4 quarters of winning football at Alumni Stadium on Saturday afternoon. They got out to a 14-0 lead, blew it, and then blew another 24-21 lead in the final minutes. They lost the game, 28-24, and fell to 1-3 on the season.
Dylan Lonergan and the BC offense
starting moving the ball downfield immediately as they received the game’s opening kickoff, completing a series of short passes to march into Cal territory. When the Eagles got within 10 yards of the endzone, Lonergan was able to score it himself on the ground to take an early 7-0 lead. Then after an interception on the other side by BC’s Omar Thornton, Turbo Richard was able to quickly run it in for another Boston College score. Less than halfway into the first quarter, BC was up 14-0.
Despite the early setback, Cal was able to put together a solid drive to counter BC. A few bad DPI and facemask penalties near the endzone put Cal in position to score, eventually punching it in with a 1-yard run by LJ Johnson Jr. Then after a BC punt, Cal was able to drive the ball down the field yet again to tie the game at 14-14. BC’s defense was unable to contain the short passing game, consistently giving up 5-15 yard throws with little resistance.
With under 4 minutes remaining in the first half, Turbo Richard broke out for a few solid runs to get BC into Cal territory. But Dylan Lonergan couldn’t continue to move the chains much past midfield. Luca Lombardo lined up for a 52 yard field goal and hit it with room to spare, setting up BC with a 17-14 lead going into halftime.
Cal started the second half with a bang, completing a 26 yard pass to Grizzell down the left sideline, but they weren’t able to continue driving the ball downfield. Lonergan was able to complete a few passes to Franklin, Bond, and Richard on his next drive to get into Cal territory, but an offensive pass interference call on Reed Harris pushed them back on third down, leading to a BC punt. Cal had to punt on their next possession also, followed by another BC punt, turning the 3rd quarter into a snoozefest of missed passes and receivers begging for penalty calls.
After BC’s punt only traveled about 30 yards and set up Cal in BC territory, the Golden Bears were finally able to get to work. A fade to Jordan King at the 11-yard line, followed by a BC offsides penalty, set Cal up in prime position for a touchdown. But a 4th down run stuff allowed BC to hold their lead at the goal line entering the 4th quarter. That moment of triumph was very short-lived, however. Lonergan threw an INT on the following possession deep in his own territory, which was quickly followed up by a punch-in score by Cal to take a 21-17 lead.
But Turbo Richard said not so fast. On BC’s ensuing possession, Turbo ran for 71 yards down the sideline, breaking tackles and converting a touchdown for BC. It was his longest career rush.
Cal came right back with a drive of their own, piledriving BC’s line into the ground with their rushing attack. But once they got stopped on 3rd & short, they tried to QB sneak on 4th & inches, only to get stopped again. The Eagles took over with a 24-21 lead and 8:11 remaining in the game, but failed to produce much of anything. They drained the clock down to 4:48 before punting back to the Golden Bears.
Cal converted a crucial third down early on their next possession, but then got hit with a holding penalty that set them way back behind the chains. With only two minutes remaining, Cal had to face down a 3rd & 11. They threw an incomplete pass that was broken up by Isaiah Farris on 3rd down, but Farris was then called for pass interference on 4th down that gave Cal some fresh life. That was quickly followed up by a 51-yard touchdown catch and run by Cal tight end Mason Mini to take a 28-24 lead.
BC had 1:30 remaining to score a TD and take the lead back. Despite multiple false starts setting them back, Dylan Lonergan was able to find a few passes to Lewis Bond and Reed Harris to get all the way down to the 5 yard line with 23 seconds remaining. But Lonergan threw an INT right at the goal line to end the game and send BC packing.
Takeaways:
- What a collapse. BC didn’t look particularly good in the second half, but they did enough to have the lead in the final minutes. Instead of eking out the close win, the defense utterly collapsed under pressure. Not only did Isaiah Farris commit a DPI penalty at a crucial moment, but the secondary completely blew their coverage on Mason Mini for that game-winning touchdown. Disaster.
- BC once again had little answers for the opponent’s rushing attack. Cal had multiple drives in which they were able to move the ball methodically and drain the clock. Cal’s Raphael finished the game with 113 yards and a TD. His backfield partner Johnson had a TD of his own.
- Lonergan’s passing was come-and-go. He showed flashes of his usual accuracy, but he also made a few bone-headed mistakes, like his INT deep in is own territory that set up a Cal TD, and then that final INT that sealed the game. He needs to be coached better on throwing the ball away when there’s nothing there, rather than trying to force it into tight coverage.
- The BC running game has life! Turbo Richard looked great in this game, racking up 171 yards and 2 TDs. With Lonergan having some of his own struggles, Turbo was able to break out and earn some hard fought yards for the Eagles in this one. Moving forward, they just need the passing and rushing to actually come together in the same game.
- 1-3 is a bad place to be. The schedule only gets harder from here. Especially with a defense that’s as banged up as this one. A bowl game is probably out of the question, and only the die-hards are going to be watching for the next few weeks. (Please don’t lose to UConn)
