Boston College needed only a couple of ugly minutes to fall behind, then spent the rest of the afternoon digging out and eventually leaving Pitt with a 27-21 loss on Saturday.
Mason McKenzie was the center of it all for the Eagles, throwing two touchdown passes while completing 17 of 28 throws for 295 yards with two interceptions. His biggest strike came on Boston College’s first drive of the second half, when he connected with Landon Wright on a 69-yard touchdown that pushed the Eagles in front 21-12.
Pitt, meanwhile, got a tough first start from true freshman Corey Dailey after Mason Heintschel was lost for the season with a torn ACL in his right knee during the win at Virginia Tech two weeks earlier. Dailey finished 11 of 25 for 193 yards, two interceptions and a touchdown.
"It was pretty much what I thought it would be," Dailey said of his first start. "It's faster.
People are flying around, trying to confuse you. That's what college football is."
The Panthers came out swinging and stunned Boston College on the game’s first snap from scrimmage. Dailey launched a 75-yard touchdown pass to Cataurus Hicks, and after the Eagles went three-and-out, Kanye Thompson blocked a punt that was knocked out of the end zone by a BC player for a safety. That gave Pitt a 9-0 lead before the game had really settled in.
But Boston College steadied itself fast. Down 12-0, the Eagles answered with the next 14 points and grabbed control on McKenzie’s 11-yard touchdown pass to Javarius Green.
"I think these guys did a really good job of being resilient. It didn't start very well at all," said BC coach Bill O'Brien, who called an early timeout late in the opening quarter to fire up his defense.
Boston College safety Carter Davis said the message never wavered on the sideline.
"On the sideline I kept telling everybody: 'We're good. We're good.'
It's football," BC safety Carter Davis said. "They jumped out on us.
They had the blocked punt; everything that could have gone wrong for us went wrong at that time."
The Eagles kept extending the lead in the second half. McKenzie and Wright struck again on a 53-yard completion, and one play later Evan Dickens finished off a 1-yard touchdown run to make it 27-18 after Pitt had pulled within range on two Antonio Chadha field goals, from 29 and 42 yards.
Pitt made one last push when Raion Strader picked off McKenzie for the second time and gave the Panthers the ball at the BC 8 with just over two minutes left. But Charlie Comella answered with an interception to end it.
The game also included a return for Boston College linebacker Bodie Kahoun, who played his first game after being taken off the field by ambulance in a Sept. 11 victory over Rutgers.
Pitt’s discipline became a major problem as the afternoon wore on. The Panthers were flagged 10 times for 103 yards in the first half and finished with 13 penalties for 133 yards overall. They also dealt with repeated breakdowns in the secondary against a Boston College team that entered 16th in the league in passing yards per game.
For Boston College, the win moved the Eagles to 3-3 overall and 1-2 in the Atlantic Coast Conference. Pitt fell to 5-2 and 2-2 after its brief run in the AP Top 25 ended with last week’s home loss to North Carolina.
Boston College’s week had already been unusual before kickoff, with GM Kenyatta Watson abruptly leaving the program. O'Brien declined to go into detail during his media availability on Thursday.
Pitt’s next chance comes at No. 3 Miami next Saturday at noon.
In Other News...
Narduzzi Just Left Pitt Fans With A Bigger Question Before Miami
Pat Narduzzi spent much of his postgame session sorting through what went wrong in Pitts 27-21 loss at Boston College, from the offenses uneven rhythm to the penalties and defensive issues that helped shape the result. He also addressed the decision to start Corey Dailey after a week-long competition, a move that put the quarterback situation front and center even as the coach emphasized the need to dig into the tape and clean up the details before the Panthers move on.
The bigger question now is whether that same uncertainty follows Pitt into next weeks matchup with Miami. Narduzzi left plenty to review after the loss, but he did not give the Panthers any clarity on how he plans to handle the position moving forward, which leaves the upcoming preparation a little more complicated than a typical postgame reset. [Read more 🡒]
Boston College Finally Stopped The Slide In A Wild Pitt Escape
Boston College came to Pittsburgh needing a reset after back-to-back losses, and it got one in a game that never settled into a comfortable rhythm for either side. The Eagles and Panthers traded punches throughout, with Phil Jurkovec hitting Javarius Green and Landon Wright for touchdowns while Bo MacCormack III and Evan Dickens added scores on the ground to keep Boston College in the hunt.
What made the afternoon feel so frantic was how often the lead changed hands and how little margin either team could find late. Pitt had chances to push things back in its direction, but the fourth quarter turned into a nerve-wracking sequence of turnovers and stalled drives, and Boston College found just enough execution at the end to leave with a 27-21 win and finally stop the slide. [Read more 🡒]
Boston College Gets A Needed Boost For A Crucial Pitt Test
Boston College heads into its ACC matchup with Pitt looking to steady itself after back-to-back conference losses, and the Eagles will at least have a little more help on hand when the Panthers come to town. The return of linebacker Bodie Kahoun and offensive lineman Michael Crounse gives Boston College a boost at two spots that matter on a short week, especially with the Eagles still searching for their first conference win.
The timing matters for Pitt, too, because this is the kind of test that can tell you plenty about a team in October. The Panthers arrive with only one loss, coming off a defeat to UNC, and they will see a Boston College group trying to patch itself together before a crucial ACC game that could shape the middle of the league race. [Read more 🡒]