Temple Game: Quotables and Notables
Andy Backstrom (@andybackstrom)
Staff Writer
Series note: After every game this season, Eagle Action will compile notable stats, milestones and moments from that matchup as well as the best postgame quotes.
Without starting quarterback Phil Jurkovec, Boston College rose to the occasion with a dominant defensive performance Saturday at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia. The Eagles suffocated Temple’s offense, especially when it mattered most: on third and fourth down and deep in BC territory.
It was a bounce-back outing for defensive coordinator Tem Lukabu’s unit, which allowed 28 points to UMass the week prior. BC’s offense was non-existent at times, but, given the way the Eagles were playing on the other side of the ball, it didn’t make a difference.
BC’s 28-3 victory over the Owls was the program’s seventh straight in the teams’ all-time series.
QUOTABLES
Linebacker Isaiah Graham-Mobley shows out for Temple-BC. When the teams met in 2018, he piled up a team-high 11 tackles and even returned an Eagles special teams fumble to the house. He grew up in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania, and played the first five years of his college career at Temple before transferring to BC. This time around, he was facing his old team in his old city, and he made that known.Graham-Mobley stared down the Owls as they came out of the tunnel in pregame and chirped at the Temple student section on his way to the locker room at intermission. He logged five solo tackles in the first half alone, one of which came on a 4th-and-3 where he stood up Temple quarterback Justin Lynch on a draw play. Graham-Mobley was proud of BC’s defense Saturday.
“It’s a huge statement for us,” Graham-Mobley said. “This is our standard.”
Defensive tackle Khris Banks followed Graham-Mobley to BC this offseason. Banks originally committed to BC while he was at DePaul Catholic but then pulled out and decided to go to Temple, where he spent three years. As was the case for Graham-Mobley, Saturday’s game had extra meaning. The former and now current teammates fed off each other. When Banks, who finished with five total tackles and 1.5 sacks, saw Graham-Mobley make the aforementioned fourth-down stop, he lit up.
“I was so hype for him,” Banks said with a smile on his face. “He’s a big motivator for me. He always picks up the energy when he sees me down. When I see him hype, I’m getting hype, too. I’m jumping up and down.”
Graham-Mobley was moving fast at the Linc, and so was his mouth. The sixth-year linebacker was trying to get in the heads of his old teammates. Although he has a lot of respect for Temple, he came into last week saying that it was ultimately a business trip. And that’s the way he approached the homecoming game.
“When you get another team to start talking, that means that they’re not focused on their game plan,” Graham-Mobley said. “You saw I was getting a little chirpy, a little chippy out there. But at the end of the day, it was all love.”
Quarterback Dennis Grosel didn’t get a lot of help when he replaced Anthony Brown Jr. as BC’s starter in 2019. That season, the Eagles floundered on defense. In fact, they reset the single-game program record for yards allowed twice and ranked 125th nationally in total defense. Since Jeff Hafley became BC’s head coach, things have been different. But even in Grosel’s one start last season, the Eagles gave up 43 points and more than 500 yards of offense. So Saturday’s near-shutout was a significant boost for Grosel.
“That was the best I’ve seen them play in a really long time, like the past couple years,” he said of the Eagles' defense.
BC’s biggest play through the air Saturday was technically a run because Grosel’s pass traveled behind the line of scrimmage. It went down as a 47-yard lateral to wide receiver Zay Flowers, who used a CJ Lewis block to sprint down the sideline. Rather than making a bee-line for the end zone, Flowers slowed and tried to cut back before being tackled. Hafley actually thought the Biletnikoff Watch List honoree could have reached the paint on that play.
“I asked him if he was being a good teammate so someone else could score a touchdown,” Hafley said jokingly.
Grosel’s accuracy was off all day, a bit of a surprise considering that he had hit on 71.6% (53-of-74) of his passes and averaged 11.0 yards per attempt in offensive coordinator Frank Cignetti Jr.’s pro-style system. Sometimes it was a matter of him making the right read but missing the throw. That was the case when he misfired on a deep ball intended for true freshman wide receiver Jaden Williams in the first quarter. Williams was open in 1-on-1 coverage, but Grosel didn’t get enough juice on the ball.
“We knew they were going to come down on the run fake, and you forget how fast [Williams] is sometimes, and I just underthrew him. I’d love to have that one back. Felt like that was an easy six points.”
Hafley said that Saturday was one of the best defensive performances he’s been around in recent memory. It was much needed after the Eagles unraveled in the second half against UMass, giving up 214 passing yards and three touchdowns to a true freshman quarterback.
“Just going back to fundamentals and technique,” Hafley said. “We believe in our scheme, we believe in our staff and we believe in the players. And that’s truthfully what we got back to. Just being ourselves, not worrying about who we’re playing, but fundamentals and technique, playing our scheme, playing for each other. And that’s all we talked about.”
NOTABLES
— Graham-Mobley rounded out the day with a team-high eight total tackles. Fellow linebacker Vinny DePalma had himself another strong performance with seven total tackles, six of which were solos.— Grosel was just 5-of-13 passing for 34 yards, a touchdown and a pick. That was partly a byproduct of the Eagles’ game plan, however. BC wanted to pound the rock against a Temple defense that came in ranked 106th nationally in run defense.
— Pat Garwo III was BC’s bell cow in the first half, but he ran out of gas after intermission. Garwo, who had more than 100 friends and family in attendance (his brother, Andrew, is a freshman cornerback for Temple), carried the ball 16 times for 49 yards and a score.
— West Virginia transfer running back Alec Sinkfield offered some fresh legs at the end of the game, helping the Eagles seal the deal in the fourth quarter. He logged six rushing attempts and 35 yards on the ground.
— Williams caught the game-opening touchdown, a 19-yard pass from Grosel. Williams now has two touchdowns this season after a superb fall camp.
— Nickelback Josh DeBerry registered an 81.8 Pro Football Focus tackling grade. He made six total tackles, most notably four solos and one TFL.
— Defensive end Brandon Barlow was BC’s highest-rated defensive player this week, according to PFF. He earned a grade of 87.4, forcing a fumble and notching half a sack.
— Running back Travis Levy built off his kickoff return touchdown at UMass with a game-opening 67-yard return against Temple. The reigning ACC Specialist of the Week was practically untouched, too.
— True freshman place kicker Connor Lytton was 4-of-4 on PATs. He’s a perfect 6-of-6 on extra points this season.
