Boston College Eagles: 3 takeaways from victory over Temple Owls

Winning pretty is always a best case scenario for any team, as the Boston College Eagles proved in week 1 of the 2021 season. A victory over Colgate had the Eagles flying high.

Winning ugly has its merits, too. Namely that the important thing was taken care of.

Boston College (3-0) experienced the latter on Saturday, in what at first glance looks like an easy 28-3 win over the Temple Owls (1-2). The win was a methodical, workmanlike performance for Boston College, one that shows the Eagles can win even when a high-octane offense falls flat.

In starting with three straight wins for the first time since 2018, the Eagles used a gritty effort on defense to pave the way. Here are three takeaways from Saturday’s victory.

Boston College Eagles: Defense rocking and rolling

The first-half effort from the Boston College defense was something to behold. The Eagles held Temple to 58 total yards and three first downs.

Nearly all of those yards were on Temple’s fourth drive, which accounted for 46. Prior to that drive, Boston College’s defense was stout, forcing three straight 3-and-outs to open the game.

The Eagles added another before halftime and ended with five on the game in holding the Owls to only 3-14 on third-down conversions.

Temple was able to find some momentum in the second-half but managed to collect only a field goal in the scoring department.

Fourth-down stops were huge, too, with Boston College holding Temple to 1-4. There was a huge stop in the second-half with Temple threatening to score. And Isaiah Graham-Mobley had one in the first-half, picking up a huge hit to keep the Owls from converting on 4th-and-three.

Graham-Mobley, the graduate transfer from Temple, had another excellent game. His nine tackles led the team as he continues to settle into a leadership role on defense.

Boston College did give up a few big plays in the pass game, but ultimately nothing that hurt them. Up front, Boston College held Temple to only 78 rushing yards and collected four sacks. Sophomore defensive tackle Khris Davis had his best game of the season with five tackles and 1.5 sacks.

This unit seems to be coming together, with the unit on the same page throughout much of the game. Which was a good thing because the offense did not look very in sync.