Boston College Eagles: Dennis Grosel puts up gaudy numbers in loss
A career-day from Dennis Grosel and a high-octane offense weren’t enough to lead the Boston College Eagles to victory number seven in 2020.
It’s fair to say this was not the season-ending result the Boston College Eagles expected when Saturday began.
With no guarantee of a bowl game on the horizon, the Eagles (6-5, 5-5) set out to treat this game as a finale for 2020. Boston College, however, had trouble all day on defense, resulting in a 43-32 victory for the Virginia Cavaliers.
It was the first-ever victory by Virginia over Boston College, who had defeated the Cavaliers (5-4, 4-4) in six previous meetings.
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This was despite Dennis Grosel having the game of a lifetime as the Eagles were able to pass with ease most of the afternoon.
Grosel — filling in for an injured Phil Jurkovec — passed for 520 yards, a mark that tied him with Boston College legend Doug Flute for a single-game record. Grosel was 32-46 and tossed four touchdown passes as he relied on the deep ball all game long.
Jurkovec was injured in the third quarter of Boston College’s victory last week over Louisville and missed this game with shoulder and knee injuries.
Filling in admirably, Grosel also threw three interceptions. All three picks were thrown with Boston College in Virginia territory and two eventually led to Virginia touchdowns on long drives.
The game was truly a tale of two halves for the Eagles, especially on offense. If not for two late drives and scores in the fourth quarter, Boston College was fairly pedestrian in the second-half after scoring 17 first-half points.
An interception, two 3-and-outs, and a failed fourth-down conversion on the Virginia 32 was not the ideal second-half start for Boston College, who trailed 20-17 at the half.
It was a deflating effort by the Boston College defense, however, that ultimately led to the loss.