Eagles top UMass, Earn First Win

Eagles top UMass, Earn First Win

By Ben Neuwirth

Today we saw the first win of the new Boston College Eagles. A squad more complete, willing to take chances with a passing attack worthy of its defense.

This isn’t your father’s Boston College Eagles. No, the Scot Loeffler led offensive unit is bold. They take chances. They can be exciting. New 5th year transfer quarterback Patrick Towles had 22 pass attempts along with his 12 rushes that came from scrambling out of the pocket.

The days of conservative play-calling are gone, replaced by a multitude of play action sets, sophisticated crossing routes, 4 receiver formations and constant shots down the field. Towles showed real arm talent, connecting with Jeff Smith on a couple of long touchdown passes, going 46 and 36 yards.

The 46 yard strike came on the first play of the drive as Smith had a 1v1 matchup running a skinny post and Towles gave his receiver a chance to make a play. And that he did, rising up over the smaller UMass defender for his first receiving touchdown as an Eagle.

The second bomb came just a minute and a half later as Towles found Smith with a step on the defense and rainbowed a beautiful pass over the outstretched hands of 2 Minutemen defensive backs. It was a big league throw and unveiled a threat that wasn’t there last year.

The Minutemen had received the kickoff to start the game and, after exchanging a pair of punts, struck first.

UMass TE Adam Breneman galloped for a 58 yard touchdown, courtesy of a defensive miscommunication that left him wide open in the middle of the field. QB Ross Comis was able to make the easy toss and Breneman went the distance, untouched. That was a rare miscue for an Eagles defense that dominated all afternoon, holding the host Minutemen to -23 yards on the ground and, excluding the TD, only 87 yards through the air.

BC was able to leverage the excellent play of their corners and linebackers to send a variety of blitzes, never letting Comis get comfortable in the pocket. He was sacked a total of 8 times, including a Connor Strachan strip sack that was recovered by Zach Allen, late in the first half.

The run game was completely stuffed by the Eagles up front as Matt Milano, Strachan, and co were quick in pursuit and throughout the entire day, unblockable. The dominant 4-3 defense from last year looked all but the same. Only this time they had an offense and kicking game to back them up.

Kicker Colton Lichtenberg was out this week, leaving punter Mike Knoll to take on placekicking duties. His afternoon started rocky as he shanked an extra point right following a false start penalty. However he knocked through field goals from 37 and 40 yards with ease and redeemed himself with a couple of extra points later in the game.

The presence of a kicking threat changed the entire dynamic for the Eagles offense, giving them 5 different scoring drives to hang their hat on.

Jon Hilliman, 22 carries for 54 yards, was chugging away trying to find holes that often weren’t there but was able to break through as he scampered 15 yards into the end zone at the 4:14 mark, sealing the game.

The statistics don’t look strong for the Eagles, 3-15 on third down, 2.5 yards per carry from their primary back, only 26 points. But the pieces of a complete team were there. Patrick Towles can throw. Jon Hilliman is a big guy, a pusher, sooner or later the passing attack will open up running lanes. The defense that too often in the past never had any support finally has a partner. All 3 aspects of a football team, contributing to a win.

It’s only one game.

And it’s only UMass.

But this team showed something special. The only question is how often will we see it again.