Everything Boston College Head Coach Bill O'Brien Said After Win Over Fordham

The Eagles earned their first win of the year over the Fordham Rams on Saturday.

Aug 30, 2025; Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts, USA; Boston College Eagles head coach Bill O'Brien congratulates running back Turbo Richard (2) on his touchdown against the Fordham Rams during the second half at Alumni Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Eric Canha-Imagn Images | Eric Canha-Imagn Images

CHESTNUT HILL, Mass. — Boston College football opened its 2025 season with a dominant 66-10 win over the Fordham Rams at Alumni Stadium on Saturday.

After the game, Eagles head coach Bill O'Brien spoke on his team's performance.

Below is a transcript of everything O'Brien said.

Q: Everybody was looking for Dylan's debut. Just what were your thoughts and assessments?

O’BRIEN: Yeah, look, it's a first [game for] college football. He played in some blowout games at Alabama, but first start and I thought he did a lot of good things. There's a lot to work on. He'd be the first to tell you that. Gotta be more consistent overall, not just him, but offensively. Kind of got a little sluggish there with the few series there in the first half, but I thought we played well, played much better complimentary football as a team in the second half.

Q: Coach, you mentioned that the sluggish [play], sort of area there. The drive going into halftime to make it 21-3, that felt like a momentum shift. How big was that for you guys?

O’BRIEN: That was an important drive. That was a two-minute drive. I thought the guys did a great job. I took a timeout at the end of that drive just because they were tired and I just felt like I wanted to give them a little break right there. But good drive, well executed. Dylan did a good job. The receivers, tight ends, good pass protection. Yeah, it definitely was a good way to go in at halftime. No doubt.

Q: What was it like to see Bam [Crouch] have that moment?

O’BRIEN: That was a great play. We had a play there. possibility of a play scoop and score at the end of the half. Didn't get that one. To see Bam get a pick six like that, Bam's had a really good offseason. He's a great leader. Bam's a great Boston College story. He's what BC is all about. He's been through a lot of adversity in his life and you couldn't be more proud of that guy. I think he's a captain. Just a hell of a guy.

Q: Coach, what was your assessment of the run game and how the offensive line held up? 

O’BRIEN: Yeah, it was okay. I think the protection was better than the run game. Give Fordham a lot of credit. They moved around a lot. They were not standing still. They were moving on every play, blitzing, twisting, doing a lot of different things, but we have to do a better job of blocking movement. And so I thought we got it going a little bit in the second half. I think Turbo did a good job at getting us going,  but we got to really work on that this week. No doubt.

Q: Coach, the defensive effort today, only giving up 177 total yards today. Just what can you say about that dominant performance?

O’BRIEN: Give the players and the coaches on that side of the ball a lot of credit.They fixed some things right away after the first series, got some things fixed, and from that point forward until the very end there, I thought we played really dominant defense, which was great to see. Players did a great job. Coaches did a good job of adjusting. That's a kind of an interesting offense to go against. They spread you horizontally from sideline to sideline and it's kind of difficult because you got to honor that. You got to go cover those guys down and it's difficult with certain things that they do. I thought our guys adjusted though.

Q: Coach, first drive is drawn out. You have 13 plays, 70 odd yards. Third drive goes a little bit more quick, goes a little bit quicker. How does each one of those [plays] kind of build the confidence of whether or not you're just trying to move the chains and move the ball and get established and then you have another drive where you're able to look downfield and maybe hit a couple more explosive plays? 

O’BRIEN: Yeah, I think we have to be a team. We did hit some. We hit some chunk plays which I thought was good to see. Dylan hit some. Grayson had a couple. Those were good to see. That has to be a part of our offense. But in order to do that, we got to run the ball better. If we can run the ball better, which we'll work harder on that this week, that will really help our play action offense. And so I think it's good. We definitely don't want to be three yards in a cloud of dust. We don't want to get into 15-play drives. That's really not who we are. We'll do that if we have to, but we really believe in chunk plays. We got to continue to work on it.

Q: Coach, decent crowd today. Can you just talk a little bit about the atmosphere and the fans at Alumni today?

O’BRIEN: Love the crowd. Really just the students especially. Students are awesome. I can't say enough about the students, their support for us right behind our bench. In that end zone in that corner there with the band. That’s just a huge thing and that's going to be a huge thing for us when we come back home. We're not home for a while. We got Michigan State then Stanford on the road. But when we come back home after the bye week, I think it's Cal, we have to have a great crowd. I think that's a huge deal for our football team. It really does help the energy of the team. We have to create our own energy, but if you have a great home field advantage, home field crowd, that's a big deal. So, I appreciate the students standing, staying, and being here and being in there early. And hopefully we can get 50,000 at every game.

Q: Bill, did you like offensively where you guys get into the rhythm right away? Especially Dylan, he had two drives, two scores. 

O’BRIEN: Yeah, I did. I thought there were some really good things. A lot to build on. Very positive, obviously, scoring that many points and the defense had one touchdown with Bam's interception, but I did. I thought we did a good job of getting into a rhythm eventually. But there were three or four series there that we got to look at. We got to fix those because those can't happen in these games coming up. We have to do a good job of overcoming that. We can't have four three-and-outs in a row. So, we got a lot to work on in that regard, but I was happy overall with how they dealt with the adversity and came back.

Q: Coach, just more of a clarification. I know you said that Fordham kind of stretches you horizontally. Is that something that's just unique that you've seen out of them, or is that something that you have seen develop over other types of offenses that maybe you might see over the course of the year?

O’BRIEN: I wouldn't say it's totally unique, but I don't see many teams doing it as much as Fordham does it. I give them credit. It's really difficult to go against. I think when they get back in the Patriot League they'll do a really good job in that league. I think they've got a good football team and so they spread you out and they make you declare so then they can have a good count in the box as to whether they should run it or throw it. And it's hard because you can't leave those guys uncovered. You got to go out there and cover them. And it's a tough deal. So, I thought our guys adjusted well and we got to continue to look at that and how we adjusted. But give Fordham credit in the beginning. They did a good job.

Q: You mentioned the four punts in the first half. Was there a specific message at halftime for your offense not to have those types of stalling drives?

O’BRIEN: It wasn't a specific message. It was just more about ‘hey man,’ because we ended the half well with that two-minute drive and so I thought that was a really good momentum builder into the half. And then we came out, we played good defense and we played really good complimentary football. So we just said at halftime at 0:00, it's a new game. Let's go out there and play it like it's a new game. And I thought the guys did that really well.

Q: Coach, just wondering, it was obviously Dylan's first career collegiate start. Just take me through your communication with him throughout the day. Did he feel any pressure going into this game with this being the first time he's ever starting a collegiate game? 

O’BRIEN: No, he's the same guy. That's what I really admire about him and I'd say the same thing about Grayson and the same thing about Shaker Reisig. We have a great quarterback room. I think it's one of the best quarterback rooms in the country. I really do. We have an excellent quarterback room. Dylan's the same guy every day. He's the same guy. He's a very consistent guy. He doesn't let one bad play affect the next play. He takes hard coaching. He's a very consistent person. He really appreciates his teammates. He loves Boston College. He's in the Carroll School. He's a hell of a student. I would say the same thing about Grayson James, who went in there today and played really well himself. And then Shaker who's right now recovering from an injury, but he'll be back and he'll be in there too. So, I feel really good about the quarterback room.

Q: Just the field goal kicking unit today. Lombardo, 48 yarder up the cross, 9-9 on extra points. Just how happy are you with his performance? 

O’BRIEN: Good. He had a really good training camp. He really went out there and Liam Connor did a good job, too. Luca really won the job in training camp and so I was happy to see him hit that field goal although it's by the skin of his teeth. But it was good to see that. Thought his kickoffs were good. Those guys have to. I thought Shamus [Florio] did a good job punting today when we had to have it. I thought [Charlie] Comella had a nice return, had a punt block, Charlie Comella, a Xaverian guy. That was awesome to see. I thought Isaiah [Farris] made some good decisions back there as a returner. Bo MacCormack, he hit it pretty good on some of those kickoff returns. So, a lot to build on with our coverage units and our return units.