After Slow First Quarter, BC Hurdles Colgate in Opener
Andy Backstrom (@andybackstrom)
Staff Writer
Alumni Stadium was waiting to erupt. The students, filling out six sections bleachers with a splotchy gradient of maroon, red, yellow and gold on either side of Boston College’s marching band, were antsy. It was the first game back with fans since 2019, the Eagles were seven-score favorites over FCS Colgate and they were leading by just seven points a quarter into play.
Then BC’s offense exploded.
At midfield, Zay Flowers took off in jet motion, second-year starting quarterback Phil Jurkovec faked a handoff to running back Alec Sinkfield and unloaded a pass to a wide-open Trae Barry. The glove-less grad transfer tight end from Jacksonville State hauled in the reception and turned upfield, making a bee-line for the end zone. He got there but only after he hurdled Raiders defensive back Keshaun Dancy. Barry streaked through the end zone, chest bumped true freshman wide receiver Jaden Williams and celebrated the 51-yard score with his teammates and his new mask-less classmates, who were jumping up and down in jubilation.
“I’ve never seen him do that in practice,” head coach Jeff Hafley said postgame. “I kind of hurdled with him, I was so excited.”
The Eagles were back, and so was football in Chestnut Hill.
After, at one point, missing four consecutive throws, Jurkovec finished the half 8-of-9 with three touchdowns, Flowers eclipsed the 100-yard mark before intermission and the Eagles’ defense didn’t let Colgate sniff past the 50. BC pulled away after the break, entering the win column with a 51-0 victory—its first shutout in a season opener since 2009.
The Eagles won the coin toss, elected to receive and immediately got on the board. Jurkovec and Flowers picked up right where they left off last year. They dialed up a 33-yard bubble screen on the first offensive snap of the game and, two plays later, a pop pass that saw Flowers shake three Colgate defenders amid a gain of 17.
Travis Levy capped the 2:20 drive with a three-yard touchdown—what felt like the first of several in the opening quarter. Except it was the last.
An impressive pass break-up by Raiders cornerback William Gruber near midfield and back-to-back drops from Williams and tight end Joey Luchetti killed two straight BC drives. Luckily for the Eagles, their defense was holding down the fort. Defensive coordinator Tem Lukabu, who starred as a linebacker for Colgate in the early 2000s, kept his alma mater at bay.
BC was mostly playing a 4-2-5 defense, but it was rotating guys at all three levels like it was a spring game. Especially on the defensive line, where the Eagles are really hurting. Defensive ends Marcus Valdez and Jake Byczko were both out with injuries, not to mention the loss of starting defensive tackle Chibueze Onwuka in fall camp. D-Line coach Vince Oghobaase was often using three edge rushers up front to accompany either Cam Horsley or Izaiah Henderson.
“It’s like hockey shifts,” Hafley said. “It scares me sometimes. I think we’re gonna get too many guys on the field.”
But it worked.
And the defensive line, led by Shitta Sillah (seven tackles, one sack), limited Colgate to 105 yards on the ground. Most notably, the unit contained dual-threat quarterback Grant Breneman, who rounded out the day with a measly 25 yards on 11 carries—granted, the sack didn’t help his stat line.
Once the second quarter rolled around, though, the Eagles’ offense, which returned the 11th most production of any FBS team this year, took some pressure off the defense. Barry’s highlight-reel 51-yard touchdown wrapped the first of six straight Eagles scoring drives.
As much as BC was using Flowers in the horizontal game, offensive coordinator Frank Cignetti Jr. didn’t forget about his vertical ability. Flowers’ touchdown came on a 39-yard rope from Jurkovec, who rolled outside the pocket on play-action and uncorked the long ball for his speedy wideout, despite three Raiders defensive backs being in the area. The hookup, one of seven between the tandem, put BC ahead, 20-0.
Some of the Eagles’ series were short, while others were reminiscent of their possession-prioritizing games in 2020, like when they stitched together two drives of seven-and-a-half minutes at Clemson. BC actually had one of those Saturday, as well as two others that lasted more than three minutes and 20 seconds.
The first of those featured back-to-back first down conversions from CJ Lewis, who quietly racked up 67 yards on three catches, and a back shoulder fade to Williams. Jurkovec didn’t hesitate going the true freshman’s way. Not after the kind of fall camp he put together.
“I just trust him because he’s able to go up and get the ball with his athleticism.”
Jurkovec was comfortable, in large part because his vaunted offensive line was giving him days in the pocket. But even when he had a hand in his face, he was on the money. The redshirt junior delivered a beautiful pass to a toe-tapping Flowers early in the third quarter. It was part of BC’s marathon drive, which culminated in a 24-yard Danny Longman field goal.
When Colgate finally crept toward the red zone, courtesy of some dink-and-dunk passes from Breneman, in addition to a few designed quarterback runs, free safety Mike Palmer spoiled the Raiders’ scoring chances with a tip-drill interception.
It was the first of two Colgate turnovers, both of which resulted in seven points for the Eagles. Palmer’s pick led to a touchdown drive orchestrated almost entirely by Jurkovec and Pat Garwo III. Jurkovec used a Williams block to peel off a 41-yard keeper, and Garwo sealed the deal, diving past the goal line to increase BC’s lead to 37-0.
All it took was 17 seconds for the Eagles to get back in the paint. A Breneman pass went off the hand of Raiders running back Max Hurleman and into the arms of strong safety Jahmin Muse. The graduate defensive back took the interception—his fourth in the last two years—to the house.
Backup quarterback Dennis Grosel piloted the Eagles to the 50-point barrier, and running back Peter Stehr officially put them over with his first career touchdown. Along the way, Grosel connected with Kobay White. One year removed from an ACL tear, White’s still getting his game legs under him. Still, the veteran wideout took a screen pass 26 yards.
Flowers said that was probably his happiest moment of the opener, not any of his seven catches or 135 receiving yards. Just seeing White, BC’s No. 1 wide receiver when Flowers was a freshman, getting a touch again.
White had completed his return to Alumni, and so had 28,991 fans.
“I mean it was just great to see everybody back,” Flowers said. “I missed it. Now, I can put on a show in front of a crowd.”
That crowd will get a lot bigger if the Eagles keep piling on touchdowns like they did Saturday.
