Boston College 30 Rutgers 16: Eagles Grind Down Scarlet Knights

It wasn't pretty, but the Boston College Eagles took care of business against Rutgers today winning 30-16. The story of the game was the rushing attack for Boston College, which amassed 272 yards, averaging 4.7 yards per carry. Rutgers had no answer for AJ Dillon who wore the defense down into the fourth quarter, and finished off Chris Ash's squad with a soul crushing 16 play drive late in the game.

The game was sloppy for Boston College, after they marched down the field and scored on a long David Bailey touchdown run, they allowed a 74 yard touchdown run to Raheem Blackshear that felt eerily similar to the Kansas game. Mike Palmer whiffed on a tackle and because of that a 15 yard gain turned to a TD to the house. After a Rutgers field goal, the momentum swung back to BC as Blackshear returned the favor fumbling the ball at the 10 yard line which four plays later Anthony Brown converted for a TD run from the one yard line.

In terms of the offense Brown was definitely not showing his A Game today. He overthrew Korab Idrizi on a simple pass, and struggled to make passes longer than a few yards during the first half. However in the second half BC started running him more and this opened up the offense and led to the go a head touchdown. Artur Sitkowski the Rutgers quarterback who was thrown in to start late this week, had a great game, but made a pivotal error late in the fourth quarter when being chased by Bryce Morais threw up a jump ball that was intercepted by Palmer. BC ran out the clock and moved up to 3-1.

It was a win for BC and there were certainly some positives. Just a week after allowing 300+ yards rushing, they held Rutgers to 79 yards on the ground. I thought Max Richardson and Jake Burt both had fantastic games, as Richardson led the Eagles in tackles and Burt made an incredible leaping catch on an overthrown Brown pass. Jason Maitre looks like he could become a serious talent at cornerback.

However, there are still some major concerns with that defense. Artur Sitkowski was efficient and moved the ball around easily, while BC struggled again to get pressure on him. Anthony Brown was not accurate and there were some odd play calls, especially those that had him rolling out against his body.

BC clearly has some things to work on, and they are going to have to take huge steps if they want a shot against Wake Forest who has been playing some good football. But for now a win is a win, and the Eagles are 3-1.