5 Questions for a Boston College Beat Writer

We talked with this week with Graham Dietz of Boston College Eagles on SI to get a report on Cal's opponent in Saturday's ACC opener.

The Bears (3-1, 0-0) and Eagles (1-2, 0-1) kick off at 12:30 p.m. PT at Chestnut Hill, MA. The game will be televised on the ACC Network.

We provided highlights of Dietz's responses for our 5 Questions, but for his full remarks you might click on each video:

1. Just as Cal is coming off an inexplicable 34-0 defeat at San Diego State, no one expected Boston College’s 30-20 loss at Stanford two weeks ago. How surprised were you by that outcome and what were the primary reasons for it?

Coach Bill O’Brien talked earlier in the week about how this was a longer road trip than many of BC’s players had ever experienced, Dietz said. “Not just that, they were playing at 10:30 p.m. the East Coast. That’s kind of a brutal thing for BC’s players, just from a mental standpoint.”

Dietz noted the team began the game with 11 players shelved by injury, including both starting cornerbacks. Combined with the time-zone difference, he said, “That’s a little bit of a recipe for disaster in my opinion.”

“As far as how the game went, it really came down to awfully timed turnovers and sequences of bad football. The Eagles didn’t score in the first quarter, the third quarter or the fourth quarter. All 20 of their points came in the second quarter.”

2. Boston College leads the nation in passing. Give us a scouting report on quarterback Dylan Lonergan and wide receiver Lewis Bond.

"(Lonergan) has kind of done just about everything you could want from him in his first three collegiate starts,” Dietz said,, alluding to Lonergan’s 991 passing yards, 73-percent completion mark and nine touchdowns with just one interception.

“He’s kind of the quintessential quarterback that Bill O’Brien wants in his offense. He’s a player who delivers the ball on time, makes very few mistakes with the ball. He can really sling it to all levels of the field."

Dietz noted the Eagles’ full receiving corps, also including wide receivers Reed Harris and Jaedn Skeete and tight end Jeremiah Franklin, who have combined for six touchdown catches.

The key player is Lewis, who has 29 catches — an NCAA-leading 9.67 per game — for 275 yards. He has career totals of 154 catches, 1,667 yards and 10 TDs.

“Lewis returned for this season after leading BC in receiving yards and receptions the past two years," Dietz says. “I really feel like he has a real shot as being drafted in the 2026 NFL draft with the type of play that he’s showing and the versatility he’s displaying. Very elusive route running, he rarely drops the ball, creates separation on those mid-tier combinations — that’s kind of where his bread and butter is at.”

3. By my count, the Eagles played without 11 injured players at Stanford, including starting cornerbacks Amari Jackson and Syair Torrence, and starting defensive tackle Owen Stoudmire. Then two more starters, offensive tackle Jude Bowry and linebacker Daveon "Bam” Crouch may have been injured during the game. How badly did that handicap the Eagles at Stanford and do you have any idea how many of them might return this week?

“The players I really thought handicapped the defense were Torrence and Jackson. BC’s secondary is really a deep group . . . but it’s tough when you have five total defensive backs out for that game.”

Stoudmire suffered a fall camp victory and didn’t play in the season opener. He was back for the Michigan State game, when he was injured again.

4. Tell us about a couple of BC’s top defensive players.

“Quintayvious Hutchins, a defensive end, is arguably BC’s top defensive player. It’s hard to pick up where Donovan Ezeiruaku, the reigning ACC Defensive Player of the Year, left off . . . he had 16.5 sacks last year, the second-round pick of the Dallas Cowboys.

“But Hutchins, a very athletic guy, 6-foot-3, 240 pounds on the edge . . . he has kind of made up for some of that loss that BC has had on the defensive line. He’s a great tackler . . . he’s really that devastator in the trenches that you kind of need, especially on the edge to great pressure."

Dietz also talks about safety KP Price and linebacker Deveon Crouch as perhaps the Eagles’ next two best defensive players.

5. How much do you expect receiver Reed Harris calling out his teammates after the loss to Stanford might motivate the Eagles? Do you expect a different BC team on Saturday?

“I was looking at the schedule from last year and every time they returned home after a road loss, except for a four-point loss to Louisville, they’ve won the game. They know how to bounce back. They know how to come back home and really lock into gear.

“I wouldn’t be surprised if Bill O’Brien really stuck the message into them that they need to work on a lot of things. They need to work on their poise in being able to stay in closely contested contests.”

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