Boston College Eagles: 3 takeaways from victory over Syracuse

Fireworks were at a minimum on offense for the Boston College Eagles, but the defense stood tall in victory over the Syracuse Orange.

A season ago when the Boston College Eagles and Syracuse Orange met, the teams combined for 85 points amid a record-setting day by the Eagles on the ground.

In 2020, both teams decided to bring a little defense to the game.

Boston College (4-3, 5-3) outlasted Syracuse (1-6, 1-7) on Saturday in a battle of place kickers, with the Eagles picking up a 16-13 victory.

Coming off a tough loss to the top-ranked Clemson Tigers, it was going to be interesting to see how the Eagles bounced back. It wasn’t a flawless effort against the Orange by any means, but for such a close game, it never really felt like Boston College was in danger of losing this one.

Not so impressive was the play of the offense in Syracuse territory.

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The Eagles only found the end zone once, on 20-yard touchdown pass from Phil Jurkovec to Zay Flowers late in the second-quarter.

Aaron Boumerhi kicked three field goals (33, 34, 22), the final one producing Boston College’s final score with 2:05 remaining. Boumerhi also missed from kicks of 52 and 39 yards.

This game could have easily been a rout as Boston College moved the ball well on many drives, even with punting four times on the day. The offense totaled 399 yards, did not turn the ball over, and did not give up a sack.

Jurkovec was 20-29 on the day for 208 yards and the touchdown pass.

The offense may have had trouble finding the end zone, but the defense played one of their best overall games of the season.

Boston College Eagles defense holds firm

There are certain games in which teams are ripe for a letdown. The Boston College Eagles, facing a team averaging 19 points per game and starting their third-string quarterback, could have been one of those teams.

Instead, the defense did what it was supposed to do, especially in the second-half.

The Eagles allowed only 88 total yards after halftime. Syracuse’s only touchdown was on their final drive of the game, marching 75 yards (25 were abetted by back-to-back penalty calls on Brandon Sebastian).

It was a workmanlike effort that surged in the fourth quarter, in which the Eagles had three sacks and forced two turnovers.

After taking a 13-6 lead, Boston College had sacks on consecutive plays. The first went to Chibueze Onwuka, followed by a nice sack by Shitta Sillah.

On the next Syracuse series, Max Richardson picked up a sack. On third-and-16, defensive back Jason Maitre had his first interception of the season.

After another three-and-out by Boston College’s offense, Luc Bequette made a monster play, ripping out the ball from Syracuse’s Sean Tucker’s hands and recovering it in Orange territory.

Richardson, who entered the game tied for second in the nation in tackles, added to his total with 10 more. He finished with two sacks.

A 1-2 punch in the ground game

For only the second time this season, the Boston College Eagles had life in the running attack.

Syracuse entered the game allowing 228 rushing yards per game so it only seemed plausible that Boston College would be able to run the ball. It wasn’t too the tune of the 496 rushing yards they put on Syracuse in 2019, but the 191 in this game got the job done.

David Bailey — who dropped 172 yards on 16 carries against the Orange in 2019 — led the way with 25 carries for 125 yards. He consistently moved the pile all day and was rarely stopped for anything less than three yards.

Travis Levy also had a respectable day on the ground with 17 carries for 73 yards.

It was nice to see these two produce in tandem, helping Boston College control the clock. In the third quarter alone, the Eagles held the ball for just over 12 minutes over the course of two drives.

Flowers continues to bloom

As he has done throughout the season, Zay Flowers proved to be a reliable asset on the field.

In addition to his toe-tapping touchdown reception — his sixth of the season — Flowers again was Jurkovec’s number-one target. The sophomore receiver finished with six catches for 64 yards.

And it’s much more than deep passes in which Flowers is being targeted. There has been a more concerted effort to get him the ball in the short passing game. Like in the first quarter, when Flowers caught a seven-yard slant and turned it into a 39-yard gain.

Flowers and the rest of the offense will look to turn their drives into more points next Saturday (11/14) when they host the Notre Dame Fighting Irish.