Boston College’s 31-24 loss to Florida State left plenty of tape to sort through, and not all of it was discouraging. A few Eagles helped their standing in a game that dropped BC to 4-5 overall and 2-4 in the ACC, while others came out of it looking like they had more to answer for.
The clearest riser was Bo MacCormack III. The true sophomore has taken on a bigger role since Evan Dickens’ season-ending knee injury in the loss at SMU, and he kept making the most of it against the Seminoles.
MacCormack ran for 105 yards on 16 carries and scored BC’s first touchdown with a six-yard burst. It was the second time in the last three weeks he topped 100 rushing yards and found the end zone.
Since Dickens went down, the Westford, Mass., native has piled up 284 yards and four touchdowns in three games while averaging 5.7 yards per carry. He also added three catches for 24 yards, giving the Eagles another outlet in the passing game.
Ned Boldin Jr. also made his mark in a receiver room that still hasn’t settled on a true hierarchy. The redshirt freshman caught Mason McKenzie’s first touchdown pass of the game on a wide receiver screen to the boundary and turned it into a 29-yard score.
Boldin finished with just two receptions for 49 yards and that touchdown, but both catches mattered. His first grab, a 20-yard catch over the middle, came on the opening play of the drive that ended with the score.
Kicker Luca Lombardo turned in one of his steadier outings of the season. The Lou Groza semifinalist from last year converted all three extra points and drilled a 48-yard field goal in the first quarter to push BC ahead 10-0. After an up-and-down year, Lombardo looked much closer to his 2025 version on Saturday.
Marcus Upton added a splash play on defense. The true sophomore picked off his first career pass in the third quarter after a deflection bounced straight to him, and the interception helped set up the scoring drive that put BC in front 24-21. Upton returned it 24 yards and finished with eight tackles, including six solo stops.
Grayson Wilson’s brief appearance did not go nearly as well. The redshirt sophomore entered after McKenzie went to the medical tent following a seven-yard scramble and a hard hit to the head, then struggled through three throws.
He started with an incompletion, followed with a pass that lost four yards, and then threw a ball over tight end Kaelan Chudzinski and straight to Ja’Bril Rawls for an interception. BC needed a response after giving up a touchdown in the final minute of the second quarter on a fake field goal, but Wilson’s mistake made the situation worse.
On the other side of the ball, Ted Roof’s defense took a hit. Florida State scored on all five of its red-zone trips, the same problem BC had last week in the blowout loss at Duke, when the Blue Devils scored on all seven of their red-zone chances.
That kind of repeated breakdown points directly at Roof, the Eagles’ first-year defensive coordinator, and the lack of adjustment as the game unfolded stood out. The Seminoles also ran for 202 net yards and four touchdowns, controlling the second-half clock by a wide margin.
Against most ACC teams, that kind of run defense simply won’t hold up.
In Other News...
Boston College Let A Must-Win Slip Away At The Worst Time
Boston College needed a clean finish against Florida State, and instead the Eagles let a winnable game slip away in a 31-24 loss that leaves their bowl hopes fading. The result stung even more because it came against a Seminoles team that had not won a road game since 2023, turning what looked like a chance to steady the season into another missed opportunity for Bill OBriens group.
Safety KP Price and OBrien both had plenty to unpack afterward, with the game swinging on key plays and stretches where Boston College could not quite separate itself. There were also the usual late-game frustrations that come with a narrow loss, the kind that linger when a team knows how much was at stake and still walks off wondering how it let the moment get away. [Read more 🡒]
Florida States Youth Movement Just Changed The Feel Of This Team
Florida States win over Boston College had the feel of a team trying to redefine itself in real time. Under interim head coach Rick Stockstill, the Seminoles absorbed the kind of chaos that usually derails a season, with injuries thinning the roster and the aftermath of Mike Norvells dismissal still hanging over the program, yet they still found a way to leave with a 31-24 victory.
Amari Thomas was the player who carried the load, giving Florida State a steady rushing presence and finishing with two touchdowns. For a team searching for stability and a new identity, the bigger takeaway may have been the way the Seminoles kept answering Boston Colleges pushes and turned a shaky situation into a much-needed road win. [Read more 🡒]
Boston College Let Another Winnable Game Slip Away Again
Boston College had enough early offense to make Florida State work, and for stretches it looked like another ACC game the Eagles could keep within reach. Instead, a 31-24 loss left them with back-to-back defeats and a 2-4 mark in league play, another reminder of how thin the margin has been in these games when the Eagles fail to finish drives and sustain momentum.
The frustrating part was not just the final score, but how the game slipped away in the details. Boston College could not get enough stops when Florida State got close, and the offense bogged down in the fourth quarter as questionable play calling added to the sense of missed opportunity. For a team trying to turn close games into wins, this one fit a familiar and unwelcome pattern. [Read more 🡒]