Boston College heads to Dallas this Saturday with a stiff test waiting in No. 21 SMU, and the challenge starts with stopping senior quarterback Kevin Jennings.
He has already shown what kind of damage he can do, throwing for more than 430 yards twice this season while piling up 12 touchdown passes against only five interceptions. That’s the kind of production that can wreck a game fast.
The Eagles do have one reason for optimism: their pass defense has been solid. Boston College has held opponents to 165.8 passing yards per game, which ranks fourth in the ACC. Still, senior defensive back Max Tucker made clear this week that the task is bigger than just matching up one-on-one.
“I’ve played Kevin since my freshman year, so just knowing that he’s going to extend plays,” Tucker said on Tuesday. “I feel like we have to defend everything.
… I feel like we got to guard it all, because they’re not going to run the same plays they ran last week. … This week they’re just going to see what they can attack us with, and they’re going to attack us the best they can.”
That mindset fits the job in front of Boston College’s defense. Jennings is dangerous when he has room to breathe, but the Eagles need to make the pocket uncomfortable and force him toward the edges. He can move, but he’s at his best when he can stand in cleanly and work through his reads without pressure closing in.
That means defensive coordinator Ted Roof will likely need to be creative. Whether it’s blitzing from the secondary or bringing five or more defenders to the line, the goal is the same: don’t let Jennings settle in and pick apart the coverage. Boston College’s secondary has been good enough to handle added help in the box, and that gives the defense some flexibility to attack.
Of course, Boston College can’t expect the defense to carry the whole afternoon. The Eagles also need their own offense to stay on the field and keep SMU’s attack sitting on the sideline. That’s been a problem so far, especially through the air and on third down, where BC has struggled to sustain drives.
Bill O’Brien knows the offense has to be cleaner.
"We have to be better offensively,” O’Brien said on Tuesday. “We know that.
We’re working hard together to really try and improve it, whether it’s schematically or techniques or maybe different players, whatever it is. We’re all in it together."
For that to happen, quarterback Mason McKenzie needs more than just his legs, even though that remains his biggest weapon. He has to build more rhythm with his receivers and tight ends, something that was hard to do against the Hokies because of the weather.
The injury situation hasn’t helped. Brady Clough, Boston College’s top available tight end for the first two games of the season, has missed the past two weeks, and he had been a dependable check-down option for McKenzie.
McKenzie also has to do his part with accuracy and decision-making. He needs to cut down on turnovers, trust his receivers, and give them chances to make plays even when the throws are contested.
The Eagles also don’t have the kind of wideout who can function as a built-in safety valve the way Lewis Bond did last year, something O’Brien has acknowledged. That puts even more pressure on the rest of the passing game to find answers.
One possible pivot is the ground game, where Evan Dickens has shown he can be a factor. He has averaged just 11.3 carries per game, but Boston College may need to lean on him more if it wants a different rhythm on offense.
And then there’s the red zone, where the margin for error disappears. Boston College simply has to finish drives with points. The Eagles came up empty on five red-zone trips against Maine, but they were better against the Hokies last weekend, when McKenzie scored twice on short runs.
Penalties can’t keep piling up down there, either. Every mistake that pushes Boston College backward makes the job harder and wastes scoring chances.
Fourth down could also become a deciding point, depending on how O’Brien reads the situation in the moment. There have been times when a field goal may have made sense, but those decisions will come down to feel once the game is moving.
In Other News...
Boston College Fans Get An Early Read On Saturdays Lineup Shift
Boston College heads to Dallas on Saturday to face No. 21 SMU with a 2-2 record and an early ACC test still in front of it, and the latest official depth chart offers the first real look at how the Eagles are lining up for the matchup. The chart spans offense, defense and special teams, giving a clearer sense of who is in the mix as the season settles in and the stakes rise against an SMU team that is 3-1 overall and already has a conference win.
The most interesting part for BC fans is less the opponent than the movement within the lineup itself, where the staff is signaling how it wants to sort through the next stretch of the season. There are also a few spots on the chart that suggest the Eagles are still sorting out roles in key areas, which makes this week's reveal worth watching even before the first snap in Dallas. [Read more 🡒]
Boston College Faces A Brutal Test After That Virginia Tech Collapse
SMU and Boston College are heading into a familiar sort of ACC clash in Dallas, where the programs will meet for the fourth time in their recent series and the Mustangs carry a 3-1 edge. For Boston College, it is another chance to steady itself after the Virginia Tech collapse, with the Eagles trying to put the focus back on execution and the adjustments that coaches have been talking through all week. SMU, meanwhile, brings one of the leagues most productive offenses into the matchup, with quarterback Kevin Jennings giving the home side a steady edge in the league-wide conversation.
Boston College has enough of its own offensive firepower to make this interesting, and Mason McKenzie remains a key part of that picture after ranking sixth in the ACC. The bigger question is whether the Eagles can clean up the things that have been hurting them in recent weeks and match SMUs tempo without letting the game get away from them early. Both staffs have already spent time discussing recent performances and what needs to change, which makes this one feel less like a simple rematch and more like a test of which team can actually absorb the lessons from last week. [Read more 🡒]
Boston College Enters A Defining Hockey Season Without A Full Reset
Boston College is heading into the 2026-27 mens hockey season in a familiar place for a top program, but with a very different look. A wave of departures to professional hockey has opened up major holes, and coach Greg Brown is leaning less on the idea of a reset than on development and continuity as the Eagles try to keep their standard intact. The roster is being reshaped, but the expectation around Chestnut Hill remains the same: compete at the highest level while new pieces settle in and existing players take on larger jobs.
Browns message suggests the season will be judged as much by how quickly the group forms an identity as by the win total alone. Boston College finished last year with 20 victories, yet the larger lesson was that consistency and finishing sharp still needed work, especially in a league where the margin for error is thin. With so much change in the lineup, the Eagles are hoping the next step is not a rebuild but a refinement, even if the path there will look a lot different. [Read more 🡒]