Boston College Football Seizes Road Triumph Over Syracuse in Season Finale

The Eagles picked up their first FBS and ACC win of the season with the road victory against the Orange.

Nov 29, 2025; Syracuse, New York, USA; Boston College Eagles quarterback Grayson James (3) stiff arms Syracuse Orange linebacker David Omopariola (18) during the first half at the JMA Wireless Dome. Mandatory Credit: Rich Barnes-Imagn Images | Rich Barnes-Imagn Images

After Boston College football lost to No. 14 Georgia Tech on Nov. 15, 36-34, in which it blew an 11-point, fourth-quarter lead, Bill O’Brien pleaded for one thing in particular. The loss marked the Eagles’ 10th consecutive defeat.

“I've seen a lot, and I just, I feel for the players,” O’Brien said. “I just want the players to, I want the players to have some success.”

On Saturday afternoon, at the JMA Wireless Dome in Syracuse, N.Y., that wish came true.

BC blew out its Northeast rival, Syracuse, by a final score of 34-12 to earn its first FBS and Atlantic Coast Conference win of the season. The Eagles (2-10, 1-7 ACC) scored 28 straight points to start the second half after the first ended in a 6-6 stalemate.

Redshirt-senior wide receiver Lewis Bond caught eight passes for 171 yards—a season high for the program’s total receptions and single-season receptions record holder—and sophomore running back Turbo Richard rumbled for 102 rushing yards and two touchdowns on 15 carries, averaging 6.8 yards per carry.

And in the most-fitting manner possible, the quarterback who marched BC to victory over the Orange (3-9, 1-7 ACC) was redshirt-senior Grayson James, who entered his final collegiate game as a backup to redshirt sophomore Dylan Lonergan—just like he has done for the majority of his career in the maroon and gold.

“I haven’t really thought about it, but I would say [that it was fitting], just kind of [because of] how my time has been at Boston College,” James said. “I would say that, you know, it kind of fits the narrative. But like I said, I was always ready for my number to be called on.”

Lonergan injured his throwing-hand thumb on the Eagles’ opening drive, according to O’Brien, which forced him out of the game for the remainder of the contest. 

It did not matter, however, because once James settled in, he was more than serviceable under center—James went 16-for-24 for 288 yards through the air.

“I’m very proud of Grayson,” O’Brien said. "He’s shown up. He’s one of the best teammates I’ve ever been around in 33 years. He’s just an awesome guy. He deserves to go out a winner like this. He’s shown to be a hell of a relief pitcher. Comes in, he’s ready to go.”

O’Brien mentioned that crossing routes were heavily effective in the passing arena against Syracuse’s secondary, which is young but well-coached—Fran Brown, the Orange’s skipper, came from a defensive backs’ background before his tenure at the helm of the program.

“I mean, we had a million crossing routes,” O’Brien said. “It was awesome.”

While the Eagles failed to score a touchdown in the first half, they manufactured two scoring drives of less than a minute in the third and fourth quarter, respectively, capped off by Richard’s 16-yard and 46-yard rushing scores.

https://t.co/r80FI44c00 pic.twitter.com/ryqX9mVn9Q

— Boston College Football (@BCFootball) November 29, 2025

Senior running back Jordan McDonald tallied BC’s two additional second-half touchdowns on scampers of 2 and 14 yards, respectively, in the third and fourth quarter as well—the latter of which made it 34-6 in favor of the Eagles with 9:24 left in regulation. 

The only negative takeaway from the game, per se, was that junior kicker Luca Lombardo missed his first field goal of the year, a 40-yard attempt in the early stages of the third quarter, which he pushed just to the right of the post—he finished the season 16-for-17 on field goals and 35-for-35 on extra-point attempts.

"I didn't say anything to Luca," O'Brien said. "You know, it's hard to be, I mean, he's, he's striving for perfection. He almost got it, you know what I mean?"

Lombardo drilled two field goals prior to his miss, a 30-yarder in the first quarter and a 31-yarder with 0:28 to go in the second quarter to knot the score up at six apiece. 

His first-half point total of six were the only points BC mustered in the initial two quarters of action, but they also matched that of Syracuse kicker Tripp Woody, who notched field goals of 49 and 29 yards.

The Orange did not reach the endzone until the 3:20 mark of the final quarter, when senior tight end turned wildcat quarterback Dan Villari rushed in for a one-yard touchdown to cement the final score at 34-12 after a failed two-point passing attempt.

“I think it’s always important to end on a winning note,” O’Brien said. “It hasn’t been a great year … the record’s not great, but at the end of the day, these guys fought. They came here on the road and it’s not easy to do that when you’re coming in here 1-10. … They gave us everything they’ve got.”

According to O’Brien, it had been so long since BC last tasted victory that some of its players forgot how to sing the fight song, which is a tradition the Eagles partake in after wins.

W vibes#NEXTLEVEL | 🦅 pic.twitter.com/prE6MxslIr

— Boston College Football (@BCFootball) November 30, 2025

"The locker room was awesome,” O’Brien said. “We always sing the fight song when we win, but we haven't won in a while, so I think we kind of had to get back in that routine."

Junior safety KP Price, who registered a team-high 10 tackles—all solos—to finish the season with a team-high 93, said he had a pretty good idea of who the culprit was.

"Yeah, I forgot who, but somebody tried to start it,” Price said. “I think it was Jude, big Jude Bowry, he tried to start it. He messed up 'the one, the two, the one, two, three.' He started stuttering. We let [somebody else] take over.”