CHESTNUT HILL \u2014 Connection. Love. Execution.<\/p>\n
Those were the locker room\u2019s defining points of the rally Boston College used Saturday afternoon, overcoming a 12-point deficit from the game\u2019s forgettable opening seven minutes and doing enough on both sides of the ball to earn a 27-21 win over ACC foe Pittsburgh at Alumni Stadium.<\/p>\n
The Eagles, now at 3-3 and 1-2 in the ACC, have already eclipsed their 2025 win total this season.<\/p>\n
BC quarterback Mason McKenzie had a career-high 295 passing yards with two touchdowns and two interceptions to lead the way, pairing with a defensive effort that didn\u2019t allow a touchdown to the Panthers (5-2, 2-2 ACC) after they tossed a 75-yard scoring strike on the game\u2019s opening play in the woeful start.<\/p>\n
That turnaround included forcing three turnovers after Pitt took a 12-0 lead with a touchdown, safety and field goal in the first quarter.<\/p>\n
\u201cOn the sideline, I kept telling everyone \u2018We\u2019re good, we\u2019re good,\u2019\u201d said redshirt-junior safety Carter Davis. \u201cIt was like the first 30 seconds of the game. Thirty seconds don\u2019t define who we are. I\u2019m proud of the team for (turning it around) because in the past, that\u2019s a game most likely we get blown out.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Eagles certainly didn\u2019t want to come out of their bye week the way they did in the first quarter.<\/p>\n
Panthers true freshman Corey Dailey got the nod for his first start two games after first-string quarterback Mason Heintschel tore his ACL in a win over Virginia Tech. And Dailey made his mark immediately with the long heave to a wide-open Cataurus Hicks (5 catches, 135 yards) for a 7-0 lead just 18 seconds in.<\/p>\n
BC answered with a three-and-out turned worse when its punt was blocked and an illegal bat through the end zone made it 9-0 on the safety.<\/p>\n
Pitt\u2019s Damon Ferguson (119 rushing yards) sliced through the Eagles defense on the next drive until it got to the red zone and was forced to a field goal for a 12-0 lead only 7:02 into play.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe guys did a really good job of being resilient,\u201d BC head coach Bill O\u2019Brien said. \u201cWe didn\u2019t start well at all. First play was a touchdown, then the blocked punt, safety. But you know, these guys are tough, they\u2019re resilient. They hung in there.\u201d<\/p>\n
Forcing that field goal proved critical as a spark plug for the turnaround, immediately giving the Eagles momentum it used to drive 75 yards on 14 plays and cut the deficit to 12-7 on Bo MacCormack\u2019s 1-yard touchdown run late in the opening quarter.<\/p>\n
Pitt went 0-for-3 converting for touchdowns in the red zone in total, and were forced to another field goal after reaching the Eagles\u2019 21-yard-line on a separate drive. Panthers kicker Antonio Chadha (4-for-4 on field goals) had a busy day despite Pitt\u2019s 392 total yards.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think (red zone defense) was a big part of the game, a huge part of the game,\u201d O\u2019Brien said. \u201cIt was definitely bend but don\u2019t break, which we\u2019re not really like that, (defensive coordinator) Ted (Roof) is a very attacking defensive coordinator. But that was just the way it worked out, and then when they got closer, we were able to hold them to field goals. It was huge.\u201d<\/p>\n
Davis (11 tackles, forced fumble), senior KP Price (10 tackles, interception) and redshirt sophomore linebacker Anthony Palano (eight tackles, split sack) led BC\u2019s defense and forced Pitt to 2-of-10 on third down. Redshirt sophomore Charlie Comella added an interception, and redshirt sophomore Demetrius Ballard had five tackles with 1.5 tackles-for-loss.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was a great team effort,\u201d Davis said. \u201cWe honed in on the details today. Just doing our job, making the plays that we\u2019re all supposed to make.\u201d<\/p>\n
Grit and tenacity shone through whenever BC needed it most, and McKenzie led in that way for the offense despite a couple of mistakes.<\/p>\n
The 14-play drive BC used to get on the board had two third-down conversions he passed for, as well as a fourth-and-8 conversion before MacCormack ran in a third-and-goal touchdown at the goal line. McKenzie followed with a rough interception in the Pitt red zone on the next drive, but later linked with Javarius Green for an 11-yard touchdown in the final minute of the first half to give the Eagles a 14-12 halftime lead.<\/p>\n
His first pass in the third quarter was a 69-yard heave to Landon Wright to make it 21-12. And after Pitt clawed to 21-18 right before the end of the frame, McKenzie took a massive hit as he released the ball for a 53-yard connection to Wright to get the Eagles to the 1-yard- ine.<\/p>\n
Evan Dickens (58 rushing yards, TD) was nearly stuffed at the goal line on the ensuing carry, but McKenzie bulldozed into Dickens\u2019 back to push him across for the 27-18 lead.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s one of the toughest players I\u2019ve coached,\u201d O\u2019Brien said of McKenzie. \u201cThat\u2019s saying a lot because I\u2019ve coached a lot of tough players. He\u2019s competitive, he has a tremendous will to win, he\u2019s the same guy every day. \u2026 He really wants to be a part of a winning culture here and he\u2019s going to do whatever it takes.<\/p>\n
\u201cI wouldn\u2019t want any other quarterback. He does an unbelievable job for us.\u201d<\/p>\n
Connecting on the deep ball was crucial in moving the chains for BC. Johnathan Montague Jr. (three catches, 54 yards) and Green (five catches, 60 yards) were big targets for McKenzie, but Wright broke out with his speed.<\/p>\n
\u201cJust seeing one deep guy, I know I\u2019m faster \u2026 I just have so much confidence in myself that I\u2019ll make the play,\u201d Wright said. \u201cI\u2019m just (using) my God-given ability to run it. \u2026 I\u2019m just (feeling) blessed. I\u2019ve been waiting for this opportunity. I knew when I got this opportunity, I was going to take it.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201c(Wright) is an explosive player,\u201d O\u2019Brien added. \u201cWe\u2019ve been trying to do that with him. \u2026 He\u2019s a great guy to coach. Awesome energy.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dickens left the game late, helped off without being able to put weight on his leg.<\/p>\n
The Eagles were still able to convert on their last drive to kneel out a win, after the defense made one final stand against Pitt with a chance to take the lead in the last two minutes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"CHESTNUT HILL \u2014 Connection. Love. Execution. Those were the locker room\u2019s defining points of the rally Boston College…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":308979,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[126585,126586,28214,126587,73,75,74],"class_list":["post-308978","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-pittsburgh","tag-bc-football","tag-bill-obrien","tag-boston-college","tag-mason-mckenzie","tag-pittsburgh","tag-pittsburgh-headlines","tag-pittsburgh-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/308978","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=308978"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/308978\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/308979"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=308978"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=308978"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=308978"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}