Boston College Can’t Hold Off Virginia’s Comeback (10-5-24)
By: Ty Tracy
All Photo Credit: Boston College Football
The Boston College Eagles travel down to Scott Stadium to take on the Virginia Cavaliers as both teams looking to get their second win in conference play. The Eagles coming off a tight victory against the Western Kentucky Hilltoppers 21 to 20 meanwhile the Virginia Cavaliers coming off a bye week getting themselves an extra week ready to play Boston College Eagles.
As the first half, Head Coach Bill O’Brien and the Eagles offense were rolling in the first two quarters scoring 14 points then holding the Cavaliers to two field goals in the first half making 14-6 until the second half and UVA started clicking. During the first half, Thomas Castellanos started the game 11/11 with two touchdown passes finding WR Jaden Skeete and TEKamari Morales wide open for scores, combined with a healthy dose of the freshman Turbo Richard early, and BC was doing everything right.
But In the second half, The Cavaliers completely took control of the ball game from there on out, exhausting the BC defense with a nearly eight-minute drive on their first possession out of the half. The Eagle’s offense moved away from the run and couldn’t get anything going. The Cavaliers’ defense forced the Eagles to turnover the ball three times while the Cavaliers’ front seven caused QB Thomas Castellanos was have turnover issues on one possession the Cavaliers forced a pick and fumble on back-to-back drives. The Cavaliers ended up taking the lead when QB Anthony Colandrea hit WR Malachi Fields on a 30-yard TD along with a successful two-point conversion putting them up 17 to 14 then Sanker picked up the ball near the sideline and returned it for a score.
Later, backup cornerback KendrenSmith intercepted a Castellanos pass with 3:04 left to seal the win 24 to 14. QB Castellanos was careless with the ball throwing two picks, two fumbles, and one fumble lost, and the Cavaliers were able to score twice from the turnovers including that fumble return creating a ten-point ball that iced the game. Thomas Castellanos finished the game throwing for 254 yards completing 73% of his passes with two passing TDs and two ints, but on the ground, he ran for negative nine yards from ten rushing attempts with six yards was his longest run of the game.
Head Coach Bill O’Brien was frustrated with the team’s performance in the second half and he mentioned that it was “poor coaching” on his end. He needs to look at the offense on why they were having a hard time in the second half compared to how they played in the first half. Boston College will have a bye week focused on their next opponent as they head back to Virginia again to take on the Virginia Tech Hokies on Thursday, Oct 17th.