SMU Aftermath: Boston College Football Enters Bye Week With Questions to Answer, Reasons for Optimism
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The first bye week of 2026 has arrived for the Boston College football program, and it comes, which often turns out to be the case no matter what year it is, at a rather perfect time.
For teams on losing streaks — the Eagles are currently riding one of two games after dropping close losses to Virginia Tech and No. 21 SMU in back-to-back weeks — byes are all about adjustment and getting healthy again, the latter of which is most important for BC right now.
Before falling 25-16 to the Mustangs on Saturday, the Eagles dealt with a flu that impacted a number of players in the week leading up to the game, but that wasn’t all.
They also had players out with injuries such as linebacker Bodie Kahoun, center Michael Crounse, and cornerback Syair Torrence, all of whom are legitimate difference-makers who certainly could have been of use in both losses — particularly Crounse, a captain.
Not having tight end Brady Clough available majorly debilitated the offense as well, as he still leads tight ends in receptions with six this season despite having only played two games.
In a strange way, however, BC might not actually be in a terrible spot right now, and that starts with who its quarterback is.
The way that Mason McKenzie continues to improve his command of the offense, even when he’s getting sacked 2.8 times a game — including five times on Saturday alone — has been one of the few silver linings of this current losing streak, one that has BC’s fanbase fairly optimistic about what the future holds for the Saginaw Valley State transfer who literally hadn’t played a minute of Division-I football, let alone Power-Four ball, before he arrived in Chestnut Hill, Mass., in January.
Even the Dallas, Texas, rain showers didn’t stop McKenzie from having the best performance of his young BC career so far, in which he showed that he is not just a quarterback who can only run, but one that can carry the offense from one end of the field to the other with his arm as well.
Outperforming one of the top passing quarterbacks in the nation, Kevin Jennings, not even on his own turf is a testament to the way McKenzie plays and carries himself on a day-to-day basis — with a fearless attitude and a gamer mentality.
Nevertheless, football is a team sport, and the pieces around McKenzie must do a much better job, because it was frankly miserable watching McKenzie get battered behind the line of scrimmage or have to start drives backed up because of careless false starts on the offensive line.
And don’t even start with the dropped passes.
“We’re not that type of team, you know?” O’Brien said in the aftermath of Saturday’s loss that dropped the Eagles to 0-2 in conference play. “We work very hard to coach a disciplined team. We weren’t a disciplined team today, so we got to try to do better and make them understand.”
“Like, we can’t jump offsides. We got to catch the ball when it’s thrown to you. We have to communicate better on defense at times. Defense did a lot of great things, but missed some — got to tackle well. Didn’t tackle well on the first drive, [they] drove all the way down the field. Got to keep [them] contained, you know, we don’t keep guys contained on the outside. So we have to be a much more disciplined team.”
While there are still parts of the defense that need work, like tackling and staying disciplined for all four quarters, this is an area that BC has arguably improved the most since last year, and that starts with the players up front.
Defensive lineman Demetrius Ballard, who had 1.5 tackles for loss and a sack on Saturday, has the makings of a dominant pass rusher, and freshman Cameron McGee and Gavin Neil are promising in that department, too.
Defensive back Charlie Comella, who led the Eagles with six solo tackles and three tackles for loss, is continuing to improve after switching from safety to corner, while Marcus Upton, following in the footsteps of KP Price, is steadily becoming a stud in the secondary.
The Eagles now get two weeks to prepare for a ranked Pittsburgh squad that just lost its starting quarterback and will be coming off a matchup against UNC, and BC has home-field advantage for the game.
If the program wants this season to not turn out like last year’s, which it doesn’t look like it will, that starts against the Panthers, which is a must-win now.
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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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