Boston College’s 2026 opener at Cincinnati exposed a lot of the same issues that haunted the Eagles last fall, and a major offseason overhaul couldn’t hide them for long.
BC came into Saturday having added more than 20 players through the transfer portal, along with a new defensive coordinator and several new position coaches after a rough 2-10 season. But in a 34-15 loss to the Bearcats, the Eagles still ran into familiar trouble: pre-snap penalties, shaky special teams, and a costly sequence at the end of the first half that left points on the field.
There were bright spots, too. Transfer quarterback Mason McKenzie made his first FBS start and kept battling through the kind of heavy hits that could have ended a lesser performance.
He never quit, even after absorbing some brutal collisions to the head. But BC simply couldn’t stack enough positives to offset the mistakes.
Cincinnati got on the board first with Stephen Rusnak’s 54-yard field goal, the longest of his career, after BC’s opening drive stalled. The sequence leading to the kick included a Kris Jones tackle for loss and a combined sack by Christian Hudson and E’LIa Boykin on fourth down.
The Bearcats then widened the gap in the second quarter after converting a fake punt on 4th-and-5 from their own 39-yard line. That kept alive a 13-play, 80-yard march that ended with JC French IV’s first touchdown pass of the season, a four-yard slant to JV Gibson with 7:48 left in the half. Gibson bobbled the ball before securing it and getting down before hitting the turf.
BC finally found some life late in the half and reached the red zone after a 15-yard McKenzie run. But after a timeout with 33 seconds left, McKenzie threw three straight incompletions.
On the second one, tight end Danny Edgehille appeared to catch the ball, fumble it, and recover it in the end zone, but officials ruled it incomplete and the call stood after review. FOX’s rules analyst said on the broadcast it was a catch and fumble, recovered for a touchdown.
Then Luca Lombardo, who made 16 of 17 field-goal attempts for BC last season, missed a 35-yarder, and the Eagles went into halftime scoreless.
Cincinnati took control in the third quarter by leaning on its run game. Nine of the Bearcats’ first 11 plays after halftime were runs, and the first drive of the half averaged 7.8 yards per carry before French scored on a four-yard run to make it 17-0 with 10:36 left in the quarter.
French found the end zone again on the next possession. Cincinnati mixed in gains of eight, five, two, four, and 20 yards to move back into scoring position, then French capped the drive with another four-yard keeper after a 12-yard pass to Gibson. Rusnak added the PAT for a 24-0 lead.
BC answered on the next drive. Evan Dickens, who finished with 47 rushing yards on 11 carries, punched in a four-yard touchdown, and McKenzie ran in the two-point conversion to trim the margin to 24-8.
The Eagles had another chance early in the fourth after forcing a three-and-out. They drove all the way to the Cincinnati three-yard line, but the series collapsed from there: Dickens lost two yards on second down, McKenzie was incomplete on third, and then he was sacked for a seven-yard loss on fourth-and-5. That turnover on downs ended BC’s threat.
Rusnak added a 44-yard field goal with 5:00 left, and French scored his third rushing touchdown of the night with 1:59 remaining. McKenzie hit Jonathan Montague Jr. for a 23-yard touchdown with a minute left to close the scoring at 34-15.
BC also had to deal with injuries in the second half, as starting center Michael Crounse and left tackle Veguer Jean-Jumeau both left the game. Head coach Bill O’Brien said he is hopeful they will be fine.
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