Louisville Runs Wild While BC’s Offensive Combustion Continues
Andy Backstrom (@andybackstrom)Staff Writer
Cardinal Stadium is where Dennis Grosel’s improbable Boston College career began. It could also be where it ends.
The former preferred walk-on quarterback, who has now started 13 career games for the Eagles—the latest bunch after star Phil Jurkovec went down in Week 2—burst onto the scene in Louisville two years ago when he replaced an injured Anthony Brown Jr. and tossed three touchdowns in a valiant loss to the Cardinals. Even in defeat, his performance was glorified.
That wasn’t the case Saturday evening. Far from it. Grosel completed approximately 53% of his pass attempts for the second week in a row. He was consistently missing receivers and couldn’t handle a relentless Cardinals pass rush that piled up a trio of sacks.
BC was a combined 5-of-17 on third and fourth down and mustered just 266 yards against a Louisville team that entered the weekend 116th nationally in total defense. The Eagles went nearly 47 minutes of game time between their two touchdowns in a rainy, 28-14 loss, their third straight to start ACC play and one that jeopardizes Grosel’s future under center.
“We’ll have to talk about it tomorrow,” BC head coach Jeff Hafley said. “Dennis is under pressure. Is it the offense? Is it the scheme? Are we not executing? Are we giving him a chance to actually make plays? We just gotta watch the film to figure that out.”
Breaking down the tape only helped so much in preparing for a Louisville (4-3, 2-2 ACC) rushing offense that added some new looks during its bye week. It was a four-pronged attack that featured two 100-plus-yard ball carriers: quarterback Malik Cunningham and true freshman running back Trevion Cooley.
As much as the Eagles game planned for the dynamism of Cunningham, BC (4-3, 0-3) seemingly had no answer for the dual-threat quarterback, who finished with 133 yards on the ground—as many as he racked up in the teams’ 2020 matchup—and it showed early.
But the Eagles actually got on the board first. Offensive coordinator Frank Cignetti Jr. made a concerted effort to get wide receiver Zay Flowers the ball. Flowers finished the previous week’s blowout loss against North Carolina State with just two catches for a measly seven yards.
He matched that touch total on the Eagles’ first series of the game, thanks to a jet sweep and 14-yard pitch and catch. BC stalled near midfield, but, after a Louisville three-and-out, the Eagles strung together an eight-play, 63-yard scoring drive. A 14-yard Pat Garwo III run and a Louisville holding penalty vaulted the Eagles into Cardinal territory.
It wasn’t long before Alec Sinkfield, who posted a team-high 5.9 yards per carry Saturday, slingshotted through the trenches and into the end zone for a 17-yard touchdown.
Cue Cunningham. The 6-foot-1, 200-pounder ripped off runs of 26, 24 and 10 yards on the ensuing Cardinals drive, the last of which went for six. The Eagles tried to play zone so they could spy on Cunningham and sniff out the scramble, but he just skirted to the outside and soared by two diving BC defenders.
“He's a different type of quarterback, a different type of specimen,” Eagles linebacker Isaiah Graham-Mobley said. “Really good player. We just did our best to try to shut him down because their entire offense runs through him.”
The Eagles didn’t shut Cunningham down. And they bent a lot. But they did start forcing turnovers, something they hadn’t done since Week 4.
First, nickelback Josh DeBerry popped the ball out of the hands of Cardinals running back Hassan Hall. Then, cornerback Brandon Sebastian tracked an underthrown Cunningham pass intended for the blazing-fast Tyler Harrell and picked it off. Later in the second quarter, safety Jaiden Woodbey jumped Louisville tight end Marshon Ford’s route for another interception.
The problem was, however, BC scored zero points off its three first-half takeaways.
“Proud of the defense,” Hafley said. “But when you steal a possession, it’s not just about us stealing a possession. You gotta score points. And it wasn’t just off the takeaways. We were just pretty inefficient at that for most of the night.”
The Eagles lost more than they gained from the forced turnovers, as Sebastian injured his knee on his pick. He didn’t return, and neither did true freshman defensive back Shawn Asbury II who suffered an arm injury. BC had three first-half three-and-outs after its initial touchdown drive.
One of them was followed by a Louisville scoring series that spanned eight plays and 70 yards. It culminated in the second of Cunningham’s three rushing touchdowns. It was really Cooley’s drive, though. The first-year back rattled off consecutive runs of 14, 19 and 14 yards, gassing an Eagles defensive line that needed a hockey line shift mid-series.
And the one takeaway that Louisville created in the first half, the Cardinals converted into points. Trey Franklin intercepted Grosel, and, shortly after, Louisville head coach Scott Satterfield kept his offense on the field for a 4th-and-5. It paid off. Cunningham hooked up with Ford to move the chains, jumpstarting a drive that ended in a Jalen Mitchell touchdown run, which put the Cardinals up, 21-7.
Louisville got the ball to start the second half, and it looked like the Cardinals were just going to put the game out of reach. But BC’s defensive line buckled down when it mattered most, and James Turner missed a 52-yard field goal wide left.
That was the theme of the final two quarters for the Eagles: staying alive. It was almost as repetitive as the Bee Gees’ hit song. Four of BC’s five second-half drives produced no more than 31 yards of offense. They featured predictable play-calling for an increasingly one-dimensional unit that was handcuffed by Grosel, who was missing throws left and right, including another would-be touchdown to Flowers.
The exception was a 13-play, 71-yard series in the fourth quarter. BC enjoyed its most success with an up-tempo run game. Garwo got the Eagles past midfield with a 17-yard carry. Grosel kept the drive going with a six-yard completion to Jaden Williams on 4th-and-5. He followed that up with an even more impressive 3rd-and-14 conversion, courtesy of a 19-yard catch and run from tight end Trae Barry, who left the game in the waning minutes with a right leg injury.
Louisville hiked up its pressure again, and, on 2nd-and-Goal, it was too much for Grosel to handle. He felt contact as he went to throw, and a duck floated out of his hand. No spiral and right into the arms of true freshman Cardinals defensive back Josh Minkins.
But then, on the next play from scrimmage, BC got the ball back. JT Thompson II, filling in for Sebastian at corner, knocked the rock loose from Cooley, and Woodbey recovered it. Then came one of those aforementioned, unconventional run-oriented drives. Only this time, it resulted in the Eagles’ second and final touchdown of the game.
Of the drive's seven plays, five were runs, including three straight in a goal-to-go situation. Yet Grosel was on the money with a six-yard pass to Jaelen Gill to make it a 21-14 game with just over six minutes left.
That’s when the Eagles’ defense finally couldn’t get a stop or a takeaway. A 15-yard face mask penalty on Woodbey put Louisville in field goal range, except it didn’t matter. Cunningham scored his last touchdown on a 14-yard keeper to effectively end the game.
Grosel took responsibility for the offensive blunders, saying that a higher level of execution starts with him, the quarterback. As long as he’s playing, though, he said he’s just going to keep on keeping on, regardless of the three-game losing streak.
“We could pout our heads and cry about it or go out next week and swing again,” Grosel said. “I know these guys, been with a lot of them for a really long time. They’re not quitters, they won’t get down on themselves. I’m confident going forward with the guys we have.”
The question is, does the Eagles coaching staff feel the same way?
