Sunday Film Room: What Went Wrong For Boston College?

If I would have told you on Friday that with three minutes to go in the second quarter Boston College would be leading 17-6 over Stanford, the chances are you would have been a pretty happy camper.

What followed over the next three minutes of play was a complete collapse of an offense that had been humming through the air up to that point in the game. Head coach Bill O'Brien's unit lost steam, and never could quite get it back, even after the halftime break.

But what exactly went wrong? To put it bluntly, the little things. Arm tackling, missed assignments on the offensive line and miscommunications - something O'Brien's teams are known to do well irregardless of the time, place and opponent. The reasons for this unravelling will be debated, but the tape tells us all we need to know about BC's 30-20 loss to Stanford.

The bad snap is on the center, Dwayne Allick, in this instance. On this play, he's snapping the ball and immediately pulling to get to the second level in a sort of power run from the back side of the play. My hypothesis here - he got ahead of himself. Just like coaches tell receivers to worry about catching the ball before they start running, centers have to snap the ball before pulling. It looked like Allick tried to do two things at once, and any coach will tell you that's impossible in this game.

While that wasn't the worst thing that could have happened, as it was only the second fumble of the season for BC, the next offensive miscue turned out to be the play that gave the Cardinals life going into the locker room at half time.

🗣️ GIMMMIIIIIEEEE THAAAAAAAT

First-career pick six for @CollinDWright1 ‼️

📺 @accnetwork | #GoStanford pic.twitter.com/3gBaPg90uh
— Stanford Football (@StanfordFball) September 14, 2025

While the bad snap wasn't on Alabama transfer quarterback Dylan Lonergan, this interception was. This is an action that Boston College saw success with earlier in the night, hitting Turbo Richard on a swing pass for a touchdown. This time, though, Stanford brought an extra defender to the play side of the field, which clogged up the passing lane to tight end Jeremiah Franklin. Make no bones about it, he was double covered, and Lonergan still tried to fit it inside the window.

Richard was open on this play, too, even if it would have been a much shorter gain. That pick six gave Stanford all of the momentum headed into the locker room, and Boston College would never truly regain it.

GOAL LINE STAND 🤯@StanfordFball forces the fumble on the goal line for a touchback!

📺 @accnetwork pic.twitter.com/E3mJ2jqWLJ
— ACC Football (@ACCFootball) September 14, 2025

The goal line stand was a freak play, point blank, but if you're Richard, you cannot let this ball slip out. A score to put BC up in a tie game late in the third quarter could have reinvigorated an offensive line that looked like it didn't want to be all the way out in California during the fourth quarter. This sucked all of the momentum that was left out of BC's hands, and was the play that sealed the game for viewers at home.

If there is a silver lining to last night's game, it's that Reed Harris had a career night, and looked like the type of player who can be a second weapon alongside Lewis Bond. Harris showed great high-point ability and downfield potential, and could prove as a valuable more physical alternative to Bond's crafty route running style and speed.

Either way, there's plenty to clean up for Boston College, who cannot seem to put together a string of good play on the road. The Eagles are now 1-7 in the O'Brien era when playing away from Alumni Stadium. Thankfully, though, BC will play host to Cal after a taking a bye week to reassess and evaluate a game plan going forward. Cal visits Boston College on Sept. 27, with kick off time still yet to be announced.

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