Next Day Analysis From Boston College Football's Loss at Michigan State

Disappointment can mean a lot of things, and in the case of the Boston College Eagles’ football team, it’s not what you’d think. Not fully, at least.

BC did, in fact, lose to Michigan State on the road in double overtime on Saturday by a final score of 42-40, a disappointing outcome after arguably one of the best games by a quarterback from the program in the past decade. But that is not the full story of the Eagles’ first loss of the season to put them at 1-1 ahead of their Week Three contest across the country against Stanford.

For all the miscues and bad football that was displayed on Saturday by BC—chiefly the lack of defensive pursuit in containing MSU quarterback Aidan Chiles and the Spartans’ wide receivers, along with the Eagles’ special teams unit giving up 36 yards per kickoff return—there was also a general sense of upliftment for the BC faithful due to Dylan Lonergan’s passing performance.

Lonergan went 34-for-45 passing for 390 yards and four touchdowns, with only one of those scores happening in the overtime period. Through two games, the redshirt-sophomore signal caller, who transferred from Alabama last December, has a 75.9 percent completion rate with 658 passing yards (8.3 average), eight touchdowns, zero interceptions, and a 179.3 rating.

Lonergan ranks fourth in the nation in completions, ninth in attempts, 12th in completion percentage, 11th in passing yards, and fifth in touchdown passes.

He is giving signs of the type of play that Matt Ryan and Doug Flutie once brought to Chestnut Hill, Mass., which Eagles’ fans have not experienced since 2007, and is making BC’s “Big Three” in the passing realm—Lewis Bond, Jaedn Skeete, and Reed Harris, along with tight end Jeremiah Franklin—look like one of the best air attacks in the nation.

But losing these fifty-fifty battles to other Power-Four teams is what has plagued the Eagles’ football program for more than a decade, and has ultimately led to the perpetual seven-to-six win seasons the Heights has become accustomed to.

Here are takeaways from the game after a night of processing the tape.

- BC’s special teams unit on kickoff was extremely detrimental on multiple occasions and gave up an average of 36.0 yards per return to the Spartans—three returns for 108 total yards. Bill O’Brien said the inability to tackle on kickoffs forced the Eagles to resort to sky kicks to give BC’s kickoff containment more time to make it downfield to the returner.

After BC scored at the start of the second quarter via Lonergan’s eight-yard pass to Turbo Richard, MSU’s Alante Brown took the ensuing kickoff 37 yards to the Spartans’ 40, setting up great field position—however, MSU turned the ball over on downs.

The next kickoff attempt was even worse, with Brown putting BC’s defense in a blender and going for 63 yards before Syair Torrence eventually tackled him at the Eagles’ 33. That time, the Spartans were able to score to make it 14-all on a four-play, 1:50 long drive.

On the other hand, BC’s kickoff returns were not impressive, either. With true freshman Bo MacCormack III as the Eagles’ kickoff returner, the Eagles were only able to pick up 18.0 yards per return—three attempts for a total of 54 yards—which forced Lonergan and the offense into situations which required long drives in order to score.

- Arguably the most embarrassing moment of the night occurred after Richard fumbled on the 1-yard line, turning the ball over after a penalty against the Spartans on BC’s first punt of the game bailed the Eagles out.

That wasn’t the aforementioned embarrassing moment, though.

MSU took the ball all the way into the redzone in the opposite direction, and on 3rd-and-goal from the BC 11, Chiles linked up with sophomore wideout Nick Marsh—who totaled five receptions for 68 yards and two scores—on a quick slant.

Marsh was nowhere near the endzone when he caught the ball, but instead of going down, he dragged BC cornerback Amari Jackson with him and kept his momentum. First, Carter Davis attempted to knee tackle Marsh, which failed, and even a third BC defender, Torrence, could not halt Marsh from rumbling past the goalline to give MSU the first lead of the game.

In fact, Torrence was trucked onto his back by Marsh, who still had Jackson draped on his back like a cape.

That was the theme all night long for BC—missed tackles on initial attempts which led to far too many yards after contact for the Spartans. According to PFF (Pro Football Focus), the Eagles had 15 missed tackles in the game, and Marsh’s touchdown set the tone for the night in that realm.

Chiles’ scrambles killed BC relentlessly, as MSU’s signal caller gained 68 yards on the ground on 12 carries, including a touchdown, and running back Makhi Frazier was also a problem due to poor tackling, adding 81 yards on the ground on 17 carries—a margin of 4.8 yards per attempt.

Quick notes:

BC’s run game made little improvement, rushing the ball a combined 25 times for 67 yards and a touchdown on a 2.7 yards per carry mark. Richard led the backfield once again.

Tight end Jeremiah Franklin is in the best form of his career with a second straight game of five or more receptions and at least 50 yards (8 rec., 84 yards, touchdown), and has a legitimate shot to be a John Mackey Award—which is given to the nation’s most outstanding tight end—semifinalist if he continues this production.

The Eagles “Big Three” wide receivers, Bond, Skeete, and Harris, are proving more and more why they have one of the best position rooms in not just the Atlantic Coast Conference, but in all of the FBS. Bond currently ranks 14th in the nation in receiving yards with 228, tied for first in receptions with 22, and Skeete is tied for second in touchdown receptions with three.