Everything Boston College Football Coach Bill O'Brien Said After SMU Loss

O'Brien was unsatisfied with the Eagles' third- and second-down play calling in the blowout loss.

John Sexton / Boston College Eagles On SI

In the 2025 edition of the Red Bandanna game, Boston College football suffered its ninth loss in a row on Saturday afternoon, falling to SMU, 45-13. The Mustangs generated 574 total yards of offense and outscored the Eagles 28-7 in the second half.

BC football head coach Bill O’Brien started his career in Chestnut Hill, Mass., by leading the Eagles to a 7-6 record and a bowl game in 2024, in which BC lost to Nebraska in the Bad Boy Mowers Pinstripe Bowl, but his second campaign at the helm has extinguished all of the program’s hopes for the near future.

The Eagles are now 1-9 this year with an 0-6 conference record with two games left in the season—a home matchup against No. 16 Georgia Tech on Nov. 15 at 3:30 p.m. and a road contest at Syracuse on Nov. 29 at TBD.

Here is everything O’Brien said in his SMU post-game press conference.

Q: Was this the consequence of turnovers and explosive plays?

O’Brien: “Yeah, we couldn't do much in the first half offensively. I thought the defense did some good things in the first half, right? Obviously, gave up almost 600 yards of offense, but that was, you know, a lot of that was late. Guys fought, you know. Give SMU credit, they did a better job than we did today.”

Q: Execution in the redzone, just walk us through those first couple of drives where you aren’t able to convert on fourth down.

O’Brien: “Yeah, I thought about kicking a field goal, but I didn't think it was a field goal type of game, right? So less than 4th-and-4, I said, we got to go for this. Just didn't execute. Really, it was more about the second and third down calls that we weren't able to, you know, execute. Again, like, I told the team I have not done a good job this year. And these kids, these guys, are fighting, and we got two opportunities left. This week is these seniors, their last home game. So we got to go out and we got to play hard for them.”

Q: Just kind of the reverse from last week with Grayson [James] starting then getting pulled, other than the obvious with the turnovers, what did you see early on that made you make that change?

O’Brien: “Yeah, it was just tough. You know, it was just tough. Grayson was fighting, but, you know, from the first check down that he threw, where he threw it at the back's feet, just thought that today, thought that Dylan [Lonergan] gave us a better chance. So that's why I did it.”

Q: Just wondering about some of the fourth down calls in the first half, and what the decision-making processes were between taking the field goal or not.

O’Brien: “That’s what I just said. You know, 4th-and-4 I was going for it. I didn't think it was a field-goal game, you know what I mean? I didn't think it was a field-goal game. I thought it was a touchdown game. And so I think the third down calls, I wish we could have those back, because I don't think those were great play calls. But going for it on fourth down was really a necessity, I think, relative to who we were playing.”

Q: Kevin Jennings, what does he bring to the table?

O’Brien: “I mean, you know, we did some good things against him, you know, I think he's a little banged up, so give him a lot of credit. He's a tough guy. He makes a lot of plays. He's a competitive guy. He's definitely, over the last couple years, one of the best guys we've gone against. He does, he does a really good job.”

Q: Thinking about the last home game, like you mentioned, for the players next week. Do you mind if you share a little bit of what you told them?

O’Brien: “I told them, you know, I tell them the same thing every week. I tell them that, that again, I have not done a good job of coaching this team. This team has not been coached, you know, very well. And I tell them, ‘Look, you guys got to keep playing hard.’ We got to coach better. I got their back, you know. I told them [that] this week is a big week, because it's the last game for a lot of guys in this room.”

“A lot of them sit in this front row, seniors that are playing their last game at Alumni [Stadium] against a very good team, against a very good Georgia Tech team. But it's their last hurrah. You know, we'll have something for them on Friday, for their parents and things like that, and we're excited about that. And I just, I just asked them to keep showing up, showing up to work, and I believe that they'll do that. They'll keep working, and then we'll compete on Saturday.”

Q: Just wondering if you feel like the lapses in defense, especially when it leads to chunk plays for the opposing team, do you feel like that’s kind of a contagious thing, that once one thing happens, it tends to keep unraveling throughout the game?

O’Brien: “I think that if it's a problem in the beginning of the season and you can't solve it, then, you know, it just becomes a problem throughout the season. Whether it's long runs where we can't set the edge, or we don't fit the gap right, or whatever it might be, we've seen that over and over again, and we just have not been able to fix it, have not been able to coach it, and have not been able to fix it. So I take responsibility for that. But yeah, I think it's a snowball effect. If you can't get it fixed early on, then you're gonna have trouble fixing it in November.”