BC defense celebrates one of many stops against Notre Dame Saturday.

Underdogs to Notre Dame by 28 1/2 points, BC was the biggest longshot on the slate of college football games last Saturday. The #12 Fighting Irish (6-2) were expected to dominate the 1-7 Eagles.

Most bettors and fans must have become very nervous, and some of them very excited, as the game preceded. Both teams were scoreless in the opening quarter. At halftime, Notre Dame held only a five-point lead, 12-7. Three-and-a-half minutes into the second half, BC cut the lead to 12-10. I imagined fans across the country looking at reports of other scores on their scoreboards and saying, “Wow! Look at the Notre Dame score.”

Going into the final period, following a Fighting Irish touchdown and missed extra point (one of two for ND), the Eagles were only one score down, 18-10. But the game-clincher was about to occur.

Just under four minutes into the final quarter, on the 13th play of a drive that had begun in the third quarter and with BC 3rd and seven on the Notre Dame 23-yard line, Eagles QB Grayson James’s pass was intercepted on the four-yard line and returned to the six. 

On the next play, ND’s Jeremiyah Love, arguably the best running back in college football, swept to the left side and outraced all pursuers 94 yards for a touchdown. This time, the Irish kicker made the extra point, and Notre Dame took a 25-10 lead.

BC made one more threat during the game, moving from their 41 to the Notre Dame 21 with 4:48 left in the game. A succession of penalties on BC and a sack followed, however, pushing them back to the ND 46. On fourth-and-32(!), James’s pass was intercepted.

Stopping the Irish’s next drive, BC got the ball back, but on their one-yard line with less than two minutes remaining in the game. James’s pass was intercepted at the 22-yard line. Notre Dame ran two plays, losing four yards, and then took a knee to run out the clock. 

(Here’s video of BC team entering the stadium. Near end of video, you can hear “boo’s” from the crowd. I was sitting on the “visitor side” surrounded by many Notre Dame fans.)

In one respect, BC dominated the game, running 78 plays to Notre Dame’s 55. Once again, however, the opponent was more effective. The Irish gained 458 yards, including 299 passing, while the Eagles gained 281.

BC continued to be ineffective running the ball, gaining only a dozen net yards. Yes, 12 yards total, on 33 attempts. BC’s longest run of the day was six yards. Notre Dame wasn’t great on the ground either. Their total of 159 yards rushing included Love’s 94-yarder. They gained only 65 yards on their other 28 attempts.

BC had 21 first downs, Notre Dame 22.

Dylan Lonergan, who had started the first few games this season, started this one as well, but played only the first three series. He was five-of-eight for 29 yards and was intercepted to end his final drive. James ended the game having gone 25-of-37 for 240 yards, one touchdown and two interceptions. He was sacked six times, accumulating -21 yards rushing in 13 “attempts.”

WR Lewis Bond led the receivers with 92 yards on eight receptions. WR Jaedn Skeet also had eight catches for 73 yards and Jeremiah Franklin had seven catches for 46 yards. The sole touchdown reception was by WR Reed Harris on a 25-yard pass from James.

Highlights (13:25)

BC falls to 1-8. Next game is Saturday, November 8, against SMU. Kickoff is 9 am PT.

Avian cardinals fly, but the football Cardinals ran over the Eagles Saturday, gaining 317 yards on the ground in their 38-24 win Saturday. (Timothy D. Easley/Associated Press)

BC beat the spread. By a good amount actually.

Underdogs to the tune of 25 1/2 points, the Eagles lost to #19 Louisville Saturday 38-24. It was BC’s seventh straight loss this season.

The Eagles even held two early leads, 3-0 and 10-7, but long runs by the Cardinals and six second-half BC turnovers resulted in yet another opponent gaining more than 500 yards total offense.

BC opened the game with a 15-play drive culminating in a 38-yard field goal by Luca Lombardo. (Lombardo has made 11 of 11 field goal attempts this season, one of only two FBS kickers not to have missed in that many attempts.) Louisville then needed only three plays, including a 73-yard run, and less than two minutes to score its first touchdown. 

The Eagles had the ball for almost 24 minutes in the first half and ran 50 offensive plays, compared to 21 for the Cardinals, but Louisville was much more efficient. The Cardinals added two more touchdowns in the half, on “drives” of five plays for 56 yards and one play of a 62-yard run. That’s three drives of only nine plays in total for three touchdowns.

The pattern repeated in the second half. BC was able to score two touchdowns, but allowed 17 points to the Cardinals, who had three more scoring “drives” totaling 11 plays, including a 67-yard touchdown run to close out the scoring.

BC quarterback was again Grayson James, who was 23-of-46 passing for 244 yards, three touchdowns and two interceptions. Eagles catching TD passes were tight ends Kaelan Chudzinski and Jeremiah Franklin and WR Lewis Bond. BC ran for only 116 net yards, including 26 by James.

Louisville rushed for 317 yards on 31 attempts, a double-digit average. They passed for 187 yards for 504 yards in total.

Highlights (11:48)

The Eagles fall to 1-7, 0-5 in the ACC. #12 Notre Dame comes to Alumni Stadium Saturday, November 1. Kickoff is 12:30 pm PT.

WR Reed Harris collects 39-yard pass from Grayson James for BC’s first and only lead in yesterday’s loss to UConn. (Photo of video recording.)

In a report last week on BC football, the Boston Globe used the subhed “UConn or UCan’t?” above a discussion of the importance of yesterday’s game against UConn. Well, the answer was BC couldn’t.

The reception in the photo above resulted in a 20-17 BC lead at the end of the first half. In the second half, the Eagles added just three points on a fourth-quarter field goal by Luca Lombardo and allowed three Huskies touchdowns in a 38-23 loss to UConn.

The Homecoming loss was BC’s second to UConn in their last three meetings. The Huskies won 13-3 in 2022. The 2022 game was BC’s first loss to UConn after wins in their six previous meetings since 2000.

While being the top-ranked college football team in New England is not regarded by most as a heady achievement, it’s been something BC and their fans have assumed is usually the case. Yesterday’s game probably gives the crown to UConn, though fans of undefeated Harvard (5-0) might disagree.

Alabama transfer QB Dylan Lonergan, who had started in BC’s first six games, was replaced by Grayson James against UConn. James had become BC’s starter in the middle of last season and led the Eagles to a 3-2 record.

Yesterday, the Eagles had a somewhat strong opening quarter. They ran 23 offensive plays to only seven for the Huskies and held the ball for 11:18, more than triple the time of possession for UConn. BC had eight first downs, compared to three for UConn. The Huskies had one rush for one yard. The results were much closer, however.

Going three-of-six passing and only two-for-five in third down conversions, the Eagles could produce only six points on two Lombardo field goals. UConn was six-of-six passing for 91 yards, including a 50-yaerd touchdown pass. So the Huskies had a 7-6 lead at the end of the opening quarter.

The Eagles were stronger in the second quarter, outscoring UConn 14-10. They out-gained the Huskies both on the ground and through the air, totaling 166 yards, compared to 113 for UConn. James was seven-of-eight passing in the quarter.

The third quarter, after a halftime that permits adjustments to improve, has been a particular problem for BC. And it was yesterday as well. UConn outscored BC 14 to 0, with 185 yards of offense. The Eagles had two first downs and a total of 27 yards total offense, zero passing on zero-of-two efforts.

Except for the opening game against FCS Fordham, the Eagles have scored three points TOTAL in all subsequent third quarters. Six quarters of football and three points scored. Conversely, opponents scored a total of 45 points in those quarters.

The fourth quarter yesterday was somewhat equal, as the Huskies enjoyed eight- and 15-point leads.

BC finished with 395 yards total offense and 77 offensive plays. UConn had 58 offensive plays, but for a total of 455 yards, 362 of them through the air. Neither team had a fumble or interception.

James was 16-of-28 passing yesterday for 204 yards, two touchdowns, no interceptions. He also had 17 carries for a net 26 yards. He was sacked seven times.

The Eagles resurrected their running game, gaining 191 net yards. The ground game was led by RB Jordan McDonald, who carried 24 times for a net 123 yards. There were no rushing touchdowns.

Highlights (9:39) (You’ll hear references to UConn receivers being “wide open!”)

BC falls to 1-6, 0-4 in ACC play. Next game is at #19 Louisville, victors over then-#2 Miami yesterday. Kickoff is Saturday, October 25, 4:30 pm.