Recap: Boston College comes back to win 21-20 against Western Kentucky

On Saturday afternoon, the Boston College Eagles hosted the Western Kentucky Hilltoppers for their final non-conference game of the 2024 regular season. BC, coming off a big win against Michigan State in the Red Bandanna Game, came into this one without its starting QB Thomas Castellanos game and instead started FIU transfer Grayson James under center. James did just enough to end the afternoon with a win for his Eagles, throwing a late TD pass in the fourth quarter to give the Eagles a 21-20 victory.

Western Kentucky got the first score on the scoreboard with a short TD pass after methodically working its way down the field with a lot of help from its tight end River Helms. BC soon got a break when Khari Johnson intercepted a poorly thrown pass on WKU’s next possession, giving the Eagles good field position, but Grayson James threw an INT of his own right back to the Hilltoppers. So the Hilltoppers kept throwing to Helms and marched right back down the field to take a 14-0 lead a few minutes into the second quarter. WKU carved up the BC zone defense while BC’s new QB really struggled with the pressure WKU applied with their blitz attacks. And Grayson James couldn’t improvise with his rushing ability nearly as much as Castellanos. Another empty BC possession followed and they seemed to prefer throwing the ball to James rather than using their deep backfield of RBs.

However, toward the end of the second quarter, Boston College’s offense began to figure some things out. Grayson James got the ball out quicker and the running backs jumped out at a high rate and eventually beat the WKU defense. They made it to the goal line and hit Kye Robichaux to bring the game back to 7 points.

However, Western Kentucky came right back, spreading the ball around the field and doing a good job of getting the ball to its players in open space. They managed to get into the redzone before running out of time in the first half and settling for a field goal to take a 17-7 halftime lead.

BC’s first possession of the second half ended as quickly as it began when Lewis Bond fumbled the ball while attempting to jump over a defender. WKU capitalized on the early mistake and pushed back downfield, not quite reaching the end zone, but kicking a field goal to extend its lead to 20-7. However, Grayson James seemed more comfortable and had more options on the next drive as WKU tried to overwhelm him and managed to get the offense going quicker. James fit right in with the receivers when they got some space against 1-on-1 coverage, and he was able to put BC offside for a while. But the pass rush eventually managed to score a sack, forcing the Eagles to punt again.

From there, Western Kentucky continued its mid-range passes and short runs until BC’s Kam Arnold intercepted a bounced pass, giving the Eagles a key opportunity to get back into the game. Treshaun Ward went wide with a wheel route to get the Eagles into the redzone, which was followed by a quick pass to Jaeden Skeete at the goal line and then a short TD run by Grayson James to get the Eagles back to just 20 -30 to bring. 14 deficit.

After a few empty balls from both teams, Donovan Ezeiruaku made a great play when he eliminated Veltkamp and BC gave the ball back into the opponent’s territory with just a few minutes to play. Ezeiruaku was all over the field on Saturday and capped it off with a great individual game to give his team another chance. Grayson James made a couple of great passes on the ensuing possession, getting it to Jerand Bradley in the end zone for a 21-20 lead with 3:33 to play. Despite struggling for long periods, BC managed to take a late lead with a loss of possession and a short offensive move and not give up in a game in which they were two points behind.

WKU quickly went nowhere on the first three plays of their next drive, but converted a huge 4th down while their backs were to their own goal line. When a defensive pass interference was then reported, the Hilltoppers suddenly threatened to take back the lead. But Veltkamp was increasingly pressured and he couldn’t keep up with his receivers as the BC defense held strong on another 4th down attempt, allowing them to win 21-20.

Takeaways

• Are we the team that everyone else doesn’t like losing to? That’s two weeks in a row where BC was somewhat outplayed, but continued to press and take advantage of lucky moments to stay close enough to ultimately pull out a narrow win. Once again a great coaching performance from BoB, even if the game instructions seemed a bit strange at times.
• Grayson James did what he had to do. He looked like a solid passer when he had an open receiver and could get the ball out quickly and at pace. Not always accurate, but useful. But when the play broke down and he was in the pocket for more than a few seconds, he struggled to improvise and was really no longer a threat with his legs. And WKU quickly realized they could just send a blitz and pressure him on every play.
• BC’s offensive line works well when they have a QB who can fight like Castellanos, but today they let a lot of pressure through to James. And the running game was much less effective when the WKU defense knew the QB wasn’t a threat to the run. Hopefully this won’t be a relevant weakness in the coming weeks and BC will return to a run-heavy schedule when TC returns.
• Donovan Ezeiruaku WHAT A GAME! Multiple sacks, including the huge strip sack in the final minutes of the fourth quarter that turned the game on its head. He was a huge leader on the BC defense this year and a big reason they were so competitive in close, chaotic games.
• Zone defense is not It. WKU was busy carving up the BC secondary all day, often only being stopped when it made a stupid substitution. Until the end, when the pressure was simply too great. But if Ezeiruaku and the DL can’t get to the QB quickly enough, it seems pretty easy for opposing offenses to find an open receiver.