Dylan Lonergan's Four Touchdown Passes Not Enough in BC's Double OT Loss to MSU Spartans
What a difference a week makes.
One day, you’re blowing out an FCS opponent by 60 points for a layup victory. Six days later, you’re making your first road start of your college career against a Big Ten opponent in primetime hours on NBC.
Dylan Lonergan was surgical in the first half of Boston College football’s Week Two matchup at Michigan State, going 18-for-22 through the air for 217 yards and three touchdowns, including completing at least one pass to eight different players.
Lonergan cooked in the first half 👨🍳
— Boston College Football (@BCFootball) September 7, 2025
18-22
217 YDS
3TDS pic.twitter.com/vX1d7rlRHY
The second half, however, exposed some of the inexperience which Lonergan arrived in East Lansing, Mich., with. By the four-minute mark of the fourth quarter, the Eagles had only registered 79 yards of total offense in the second half.
"They just started bringing more pressure,” Lonergan said. “And we were prepared for that all week. So I thInk I just had to do a better job getting us in the right Mike [identifications], the right protections, so that we could've been better off."
Down 27-24 after a second straight Martin Connington field goal, Lonergan was thrust into a situation that no first-year starter is fully prepared to face.
With two minutes left, and a first down at BC’s 48-yard line, Lonergan showed why he is not your typical first-year starter, driving the Eagles down the field to put kicker Luca Lombardo in a position to force overtime, which he did with a successful 38-yard field goal.
In overtime, however, the quarterback on the other side of the field got the best of BC. In the second round of the extra periods, MSU’s Aidan Chiles ran for a three-yard touchdown and ensuingly completed a pass to Omari Kelly for the two-point conversion, lifting the Spartans (2-0) over the Eagles (1-1), 42-40, after a back-and-forth matchup from start to finish.
“It’s never good to lose,” BC coach Bill O’Brien said. “We don’t accept losing at Boston College, but there’s a lot of positives that came out of this game.”
Containing Chiles, or the lack thereof, was a constant battle for BC’s defense in the loss, particularly when it mattered most. There were too many routine tackles which could have been made—and should have, in the eyes of O’Brien—but were left on the field, allowing the junior signal caller to beat the Eagles with his legs and exacerbate containment issues.
"At this point, all we can do is learn from it,” safety KP Price said. “We can't do nothing about it honestly, so just keep on moving forward. Keep being the same people that we are and improving each and every day. It's not any type of character issues or anything internal we have to fix."
Overtime was just as seesaw-esque as regulation was, with Michigan State and BC trading consecutive touchdown blows before the final two-point conversion between Chiles and Kelly snapped off the Eagles’ hopes once and for all.
In the initial round, MSU tight end Jay Coyne was left unmanned in the flat, and Chiles flipped a five-yard touchdown pass to him before the Spartans’ backup kicker, Martin Connington, knocked in the extra point.
The Eagles’ offense bounced back right away to tie the game at 34 apiece thanks to a six-yard touchdown pass from Lonergan to Jeremiah Franklin and a successful Luca Lombardo point after attempt.
BC put the ball back in the Spartans’ court by scoring once again, which started with a clutch linkup between Lonergan and Franklin and culminated in an eight-yard rushing score for Turbo Richard. But Lonergan threw an incompletion on the two-point attempt following the touchdown.
After a Makhi Frazier 13-yard trot on the Spartans’ second overtime drive, Chiles put MSU in the endzone once again, tying the game, 40-40.
Chiles bought himself time to throw the ball on the following two-point attempt—the last of the game—and finally located an open receiver in a striding Kelly in the back-left corner of the endzone.
Aidan Chiles connected with Omari Kelly on the two-point attempt to seal the deal for @MSU_Football in 2OT 😤
— Big Ten Network (@BigTenNetwork) September 7, 2025
📍 Cliffs #PlayofTheGame pic.twitter.com/oNfvpYAmTk
“There’s a lot to build on,” O’Brien said. “There’s a lot to fix. We haven’t played in the ACC yet. We got our first ACC game next week, but a lot to build on. No doubt about a lot of positives. It’s not great to lose, that’s not what I’m saying, but I do think there’s a lot to build on.”
Overall, Lonergan went 34-for-45 for 390 passing yards and four touchdowns in the defeat.
Eleven of his 34 completions were caught by Lewis Bond, who registered 90 receiving yards, eight by Franklin (84 yards, touchdown), and seven by Richard (66 yards, touchdown). Jaedn Skeete (three receptions, 43 yards) and Reed Harris (two receptions, 32 yards) caught touchdown passes from Lonergan as well in the first half.
"Overall, I think the offensive line did a great job protecting me all game,” Lonergan said. “And yeah, I mean as far as batted balls [go], [they] are gonna happen. But, you know, I gotta do a great job trusting them and just getting the ball out on time."
With the game tied, 24-24, and the Spartans threatening after an Elijah Tau-Tolliver touchdown was called back due to a holding call on offensive lineman Stanton Ramil, redshirt-senior linebacker Owen McGowan made one of the clutchest defensive plays of the game, sacking Chiles for a 12-yard loss and forcing MSU to kick a field goal.
"Big time sack,” Price said. “I told him, as soon as he made the play, the whole defense told him, like, that's what we need. We were fluctuating up and down throughout the whole game. ... That was a big-time play for us."
But even after tying the game and then forcing overtime from a Quintayvious Hutchins sack and quarterback pressure, the Eagles could ultimately not finish the job, falling 42-40.
“It hurts to lose like that,” O’Brien said.
Graham Dietz is a 2025 graduate of Boston College and subsequently joined Boston College On SI. He previously served as an editor for The Heights, the independent student newspaper, from fall 2021, including as Sports Editor from 2022-23. Graham works for The Boston Globe as a sports correspondent, covering high school football, girls' basketball, and baseball. He was also a beat writer for the Chatham Anglers of the Cape Cod Baseball League in the summer of 2023.
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