'Some Guys Weren’t as Locked in': Boston College Football's Road Troubles Continue at Stanford

In Bill O'Brien's career at BC, the Eagles are 1-7 when they are not playing at Alumni Stadium in Chestnut Hill, Mass.

Sep 13, 2025; Stanford, California, USA; Boston College Eagles wide receiver Reed Harris (right) runs after a catch against Stanford Cardinal safety Mitch Leigber (left) during the third quarter at Stanford Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Darren Yamashita-Imagn Images | Darren Yamashita-Imagn Images

After Boston College football’s 30-20 loss to Stanford on Saturday, wide receiver Reed Harris—who caught seven receptions for a career-high 141 yards—was not shy about calling out certain teammates who, in his eyes, did not prepare adequately for the road matchup from a mental standpoint.

“Everybody has to keep their mind in the right space,” Harris said. “And looking back on these 24 hours, I think it’s noticeable that some guys weren’t as locked in as they needed to be, and that probably translates to the game. That definitely translates.”

BC head coach Bill O’Brien preaches toughness and discipline, but toughness and discipline were not displayed by the Eagles in their second road defeat of the year.

Poor body language on the sideline was one thing for the Eagles (1-2, 0-1 ACC)—senior captains Lewis Bond and Quintayvious Hutchins both lost their tempers at some point during the game, the television broadcast showed, even smashing their helmets onto the grass in frustration.

This is understandable with the nature of how Saturday's game went, but it's the leaders who are responsible for setting the right example.

"Yeah, it starts with the leadership,” linebacker Owen McGowan said of BC’s poor body language. “It starts with the captains. They need to make sure, no matter what the score of the game is, no matter what point of the game it is, if it's a bad play, good play, [that] we need to stay [even-keeled]."

Bad snaps by starting center Dwayne Allick Jr., who was benched after halftime for Michael Crounse, and untimely turnovers—including Turbo Richard’s second fumble in three games at the 1-yard line—made matters worse.

But if the Eagles can’t control what can be controlled—the four-inch space between their two temples—there are going to be problems down the road which are going to be hard to cure, and that starts with bad coaching.

“This is such coach speak, I hate even saying it, but I just told the team, ‘We’re all in it together,’” O’Brien said. “There’s no finger pointing. The coaches, we were terrible tonight. We got to coach better. [It] starts with us. [It] starts with me. You know, that will lead to better play. We got to figure a lot of things out.”

In his career as the head coach of the Boston College football program, O’Brien has a record of 1-7 on the road, including a bowl game loss at Yankee Stadium to Nebraska in the 2024 Bad Bow Mowers Pinstripe Bowl—a neutral site.

The Eagles have not won a game as the visitor since Sept. 2, 2024, when they defeated then-No. 10 Florida State in O’Brien’s first career game. The Seminoles went 2-9 in their final 11 games.

“We can’t win on the road,” O’Brien said. “We haven’t won on the road since Florida State, and we got a long way to go. We just keep fighting. It’s the only choice we have, is to keep working and figure things out. And that’s what we’re going to do.”

Circling back to Harris’ comments, staying locked in on the road means treating every game as the visitor like a business trip, he said.

“I think it was going to start with our mentality,” Harris said. “Coach tells us every time before we get on the plane that this is a business trip. It's not a field trip.”

While that may sound obvious or arbitrary, this is a factor of playing on the road that needs to be taken very seriously by BC if it wants to find success outside of Chestnut Hill, Mass. That, and eliminating bad football.

The Eagles have not lost a game by more than 10 points since Oct. 17, 2024, when BC fell to Virginia Tech on the road, 42-21.

“We got to eliminate bad football so we can win close games,” O’Brien said. “Because we're going to be in a lot of close games. And so far, we cannot [eliminate bad football].”

Belief is still there for O’Brien in the coaching staff’s ability to anchor this message into the players, but if it isn’t resolved sooner than later, more regression is on the way.

“We got a good coaching staff,” O’Brien said. “I believe in the coaching staff, but we did not do a good job tonight, and we have to do a much better job coaching.”