The Boston College Eagles are back in the win column thanks to a workmanlike performance at Rutgers on Saturday.
Perhaps the Boston College Eagles football team prefers being out of the spotlight, doing their work in the shadows of Saturday at midday.
One week after a letdown performance against the Kansas Jayhawks, the Eagles (3-1) bounced back with a 30-16 victory over Rutgers. It was Boston College’s first road game of the season and they responded with a nice win over their former Big East foes.
AJ Dillon found the endzone twice as the ground game was in fine form. The Eagles rushed for 272 yards and produced all four of Boston College’s touchdown. This production helped overcome a shaky performance from quarterback Anthony Brown.
Brown was 13-25 on the day, throwing for 159 yards. He was out of sync most of the game, overthrowing open receivers on multiple occasions. Brown did have a much better second-half, completing five of seven for 73 yards.
Brown also carried the ball 11 times for 40 yards with a one-yard touchdown run included.
The defense of Boston College did a much better job against Rutgers (1-2, 1-1). One week after giving up 329 rushing yards and 48 points to Kansas, the Eagles dug in. The Scarlet Knights managed only 76 yards on the ground, averaging a meager 2.9 yards per carry.
Boston College still had a propensity for giving up the big play. Rutgers only touchdown was on a 74-yard catch-and-run from quarterback Artur Sitkowski to Raheem Blackshear. Sitkowski, filling in for normal starter McLane Carter, threw for 304 yards.
Mike Palmer had an interception for the Eagles and Brandon Barlow forced a fumble, recovered by Mehdi El Attrach.
All told, a nice way to get back in the win column. Here are four standouts from the victory.
Standout in the backfield
For the second straight week, AJ Dillon plowed and darted his way to the 150-yard mark. He landed on that number exactly, toting the ball 32 times.
His total on the season now stands at 468 yards, with 301 of those coming in the last two weeks. The offensive line, despite a slew of penalties today, is starting to gel, giving Dillon running lanes. Even when the lanes of traffic aren’t clear, Dillon manages to find gains of three yards or more. Since he was a freshman, Dillon has proved difficult to be a tough back to tackle.
Dillon’s touchdowns were his fifth and sixth on the ground in 2019, bringing his career total to 30. He is now in the third spot for career rushing touchdowns, four behind Keith Barnette.
David Bailey
Dillon has been at the top of the running back depth chart the last few seasons. And while he’s the clear cut starter, that doesn’t mean he’s the only fancy car available in the garage.
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David Bailey has proven to be just as valuable in 2019.
On his first carry against Rutgers, Bailey found open running room on the left side, sprinting his way to a 42-yard touchdown run. It was a career-long for the sophomore and his second rushing touchdown of 2019.
Bailey finished with 77 yards on 12 carries. In four games this season, Bailey has totaled 237 yards and is averaging 5.4 yards per carry.
Being able to spell Dillon for more than a play or two per quarter is integral to Boston College’s success. Bailey can be very productive, as he showed today and in Boston College’s rout of Richmond. There’s still a little bit of consistency to be found, but if he’s able to grind out 10-12 carries a game, the fresher and better Dillon will be as the season wears on.
Max Richardson
Redshirt junior linebacker Max Richardson was back to his tackling ways on Saturday against Rutgers.
He totaled 14 (10 solo) as the Eagles defense found a little bit of redemption for their atrocities from the week before.
Richardson was in the middle of everything all day long. If he wasn’t helping to take down running backs, Richardson was in pass coverage. Rutgers used a lot of screen passes, both of the running back and wide receiver variety, and Richardson was usually around the ball.
The one downside to Richardson’s day was that he was the man in coverage on Rutgers only touchdown of the day. Richardson fell for a fake from the Scarlet Knights’ Raheem Blackshear. This allowed Blackshear to be wide open and take the ball for a 74-yard score.
This was the only blemish on an otherwise outstanding day for Richardson, who leads Boston College with 36 tackles so far in 2019.
A convocation at tight end
Tommy Sweeney dominated the tight end at Boston College in recent seasons.
This season, it’s been a collection of players getting the job done. Hunter Long, Jake Burt, and Korab Idrizi have all accepted their roles through four games. And are all contributing in a variety ways.
The group combine to haul in seven passes for 91 yards against Rutgers, all part of something they’ve been doing all season.
Long leads the team in receptions and yards, with 9 and 139, respectively. The redshirt sophomore has already become a favorite target of Brown and is a downfield threat. This was witnessed in 2018, where Long had four catches for 106 yards.
Long is looking for his first touchdown of 2019. Those honors at the tight end position have belonged to Idrizi (2) and Burt (1).
All told, the three have combined for 24 receptions, 333 yards, and 3 touchdowns.
Boston College next takes the field on 9/28 when they play host to Wake Forest.