BC's Harris and McGowan, Familiar With Pitt's Play Style, Pumped to Face ACC Foe

Pittsburgh is no stranger to Boston College football linebacker Owen McGowan, a senior captain, or Reed Harris, a redshirt-sophomore.

Since the beginning of the 2023 season, McGowan has faced the Panthers every year. This upcoming Saturday will mark the third consecutive appearance he has made against Pitt in his five-year collegiate career.

“It's good [to have familiarity with them],” McGowan said. “You can kind of go back and see the different players from last year, what they did last year. So it's kind of a familiarity thing, like we've played out there, so we'll kind of know it going back there. So I think that's a benefit for us.”

The Eagles last saw Pitt at home on Nov. 30, 2024, when they beat the Panthers, 34-23, to reach the seven-win mark in the regular season for the first time since 2018.

Harris led BC's receivers in the contest with 85 yards and a touchdown on three receptions, including a long catch of 53 yards.

His touchdown score of 28 yards was an unbelievable catch—and also left him shaken up after grabbing the ball over his defender in Randy-Moss fashion—and showed the type of potential he has displayed so far this year.

Harris said that Pitt plays quarters in zone coverage, which divides the field up between the secondary into four quadrants, assigning two cornerbacks and two safeties to cover the deep half of the field.

As a deep threat himself, Harris said he is excited for the matchup.

“We need to take advantage of that, whether it's in the run or the pass game,” Harris said. “They've got experienced players at corner. Both of them are graduates, so they know what to look for. I played against them last year. This is going to be a good matchup again. I made plays. They made plays. So it's just going to be … a fun game.”

Harris, a 6-foot-5 wideout who transitioned from quarterback to wide receiver in college, has taken off this year due to his improvement of the fundamentals.

"You got to be able to want the ball," Harris said. "You have to need the ball, because that's what makes a receiver."

He currently ranks second on the team in receiving yards, behind Lewis Bond, with 250 yards and two touchdowns on 15 receptions.

Harris credits this to Bond, in part, for taking him and the rest of the wideout room under his wing beyond what a captain is required to do. This is part of the reason that the Eagles’ passing offense ranks No. 4 in the nation with 1,378 total receiving yards.

“We're always with each other on the field,” Harris said of Bond. “We're always out there together when the ones are going and he's probably one of the most generous teammates I've ever had. He is, he has a really high generosity level. And he'll do, he'll do whatever you ask him. He'll do anything for you. And the same thing should be done, vice versa. So he's really, a really good guy.”

Turbo Richard’s performance this past Saturday against California (171 rushing yards, two touchdowns of 27, 71 yards) will be a tough act to follow against the formidable Panthers’ linebacker unit.

But getting Harris and Bond as involved as possible, including pass-catching threats like Jeremiah Franklin, Dawson Pough, Luke McLaughlin, and Richard, for that matter, will be essential for BC in the matchup.

“They got a lot of good players on their defense,” Harris said. “We can't overlook our opponents. We have to acknowledge what they are. They got good linebackers. They got good design and [a] good secondary. They fly around on film. They can hit, they can cover. So it's a great challenge for us. It's a great opportunity.”

On the defensive side, containing Pitt all-purpose back Desmond Reid will be a priority, according to McGowan.

"He's really dynamic,” McGowan said. “He's really quick, good with the ball in his hands. He can make you miss, and he has good contact balance, too, so he's pretty strong at the point of attack. We got to keep him bottled up and do our best of keeping him inside, and don’t let him break our containment.”

Reid manufactured 1,545 total yards last season on top of nine total touchdowns, rushing and receiving combined.

Alongside him is Eli Holstein, the Panthers’ starting signal caller who transferred from Alabama, like BC quarterback Dylan Lonergan, and made 10 starts last season for the Panthers, including all four for Pitt (2-2) so far this year with no setbacks due to injury—he missed three games in 2024 with a leg injury.

Holstein has registered 1,050 passing yards on a completion rate of 63.2 percent, along with 11 touchdowns and just five interceptions.

“He's good, he's a big kid, he's a willing runner, he's pretty athletic, and I think he has really good arm strength, and he wants to throw the ball downfield, so it'll be a good challenge,” McGowan said.

McGowan said that the team is staying confident in the coaches’ message of sticking with a one-play-at-a-time attitude, and that the Eagles are just a few plays away from having it all click for them.

“Yeah, just trying to stay positive,” McGowan said. “There's a lot of football left to be played, a lot of ACC games left to be played. Yeah, we're 1-3, but I think in each game there's been a lot of positives, obviously some negatives that we're working on, but, um, yeah, we've shown a lot of flashes, and we're kind of just trying to harp on staying positive and that it's not the end of the world. We got a lot of ball left to be played.”

Harris said that if it weren’t for coach Derrell Wyatt, who coaches the Eagles’ wide receivers, he would not be nearly as locked in when it comes to his daily routine.

“Coach Wyatt's got a really good influence on me,” Harris said. “He's a really structured and disciplined coach. And I like that from a coach, because I don't want to be able to slack off at any point. I always want someone that holds me accountable. And those are all the things that I look for in a coach, and he has most of those attributes.”

The rest of the coaching staff is very consistent in their message as well, according to Harris.

“So all the coaches are basically like that, like that's, that's what's good about our coaching staff,” Harris said. “They all know where they want to go. They're all on the same page. So that's good for players to pick up on, because we know what direction we need to go.”