One of six sacks suffered by BC quarterback Thomas Castellanos by the Pitt Panthers yesterday. Photo by Matt Freed, Associated Press.

The Eagles had 17 more plays than Pitt did and possession of the ball over nine minutes longer than Pitt did. Missing scoring opportunities due to errors and penalties and allowing big chunks of yardage to the Panthers, however, BC let Pitt score more points than they did, 24-16, yesterday.

Pitt gained only its third win of the year with the victory. Only the Saturday before, the Panthers had lost to Syracuse, a team BC had beaten the week before that.

With Pitt in the lead, 10-6, at halftime yesterday, BC actually took the lead, 13-10, in the third quarter on a 24-yard pass from QB Thomas Castellanos to Lewis Bond. Less than two minutes later, however, Pitt scored on a 61-yard touchdown pass to lead 17-13.

Five minutes into the final period, Liam Connor’s 33-yard field goal brought the Eagles to within one point, 17-16. Less than one minutes later, Pitt broke through the BC line and ran 66 yards for a touchdown and 24-16 lead.

With 4:29 remaining in the game, the Eagles were able to have two possessions. They failed to gain a first down in either possession and ended their chances when a heave by Castellanos on 4th-and-20 was intercepted.

In the fourth quarter overall, BC had the ball for more than 10 minutes. In 21 plays, 10 more than Pitt, the Eagles failed to convert a single third down, completed two of seven passes for two yards, with one intercepted, and were penalized five times.

BC gained 325 yards in total offense, 171 passing and 154 rushing, in 69 plays. Pitt had 404 yards total offense, 207 passing and 197 on the ground, in 52 plays. Pitt averaged 7.8 yards per play, BC 4.7.

BC running back Kye Robichaux gained 118 yards on 24 carries. Castellanos, who often has led the team in rushing and was the country’s leading quarterback rushing, gained a net of only 21 yards on 17 carries. He was sacked six times, losing 40 yards. Castellanos was 13 of 25 passing for 171 yards and a touchdown, with two passes intercepted.

BC wide receiver Dino Tomlin had two receptions for 36 yards. His father, Mike Tomlin, coach of the NFL Pittsburgh Steelers, was shown on television in a stadium suite, attired in BC gear.

Pittsburgh Steelers Coach Mike Tomlin watches replay of catch by son, Dino, wide receiver for Eagles.

Highlights (8:30)

Following a five-game winning streak, BC has now lost two games in succession to fall to 6-5 overall, 3-4 in the ACC. The lone remaining regular season game is on the day after Thanksgiving, next Friday, against Miami in Alumni Stadium.

Thirty-nine years ago, BC played Miami on the Friday after Thanksgiving. That date in 1984 was November 23. Because you can’t see it enough and some of you younger alumni may not have seen it enough, here’s a video of the final drive in the 1984 game and some post-game interviews from the original telecast. Also a couple of retro commercials.

Virginia Tech players interact with BC fans following one of their six touchdowns. Photo by Barry Chin, Boston Globe.

Most of you can, though you wouldn’t want to, think back to when BC football was 1-3 starting this season: ineffective on defense, inconsistent on offense, desultory overall. Yeah, well that was the team that showed up yesterday and basically allowed Virginia Tech to move up and down the Alumni Stadium field and win 48-22.

The Hokies gained 600 yards total offense, 363 yards rushing. It was almost a complete turnaround from what the Eagles had done in Syracuse the week before, when they had dominated the Orange. VaTech, however, came into the game not as a dominating team, but with a 4-5 record and losses to Rutgers and Marshall.

BC’s first play, a pass after receiving the opening kickoff, was intercepted and led to a 27-yard field goal and a 3-0 VaTech lead. The Eagles’ long bright spot of the game followed. An eight-play drive, featuring a 36-yard run by Alex Broome, ended with a four-yard touchdown run by Broome and BC’s only lead of the game.

From close to the end of the first quarter to nearly halfway into the third quarter, the Hokies scored 35 straight points to move ahead 38-7. Game over. The Eagles scored two more inconsequential touchdowns: an eight-yard pass from QB Thomas Castellanos to Jaedn Skeete and a one-yard rush by Xavier Coleman with 3:13 remaining.

“We got humbled today,” said Castellanos. “We were too worried about what the future may look like. We got too complacent.”

VaTech quarterback Kyrone Drones was the much better dual-threat quarterback on the field. He ran for 135 yards net on 20 carries, including a 59-yard run. He was 12 of 17 passing for 219 yards and two touchdowns.

The Hokies overall averaged 8.3 yards per play. In the first half alone, they outgained the Eagles 340-138 yards and led 31-7 at the half.

“Gosh, we missed a lot of tackles, which is not how we played these last five weeks,” Coach Jeff Hafley said. “We’ve got to take a look at why.”

BC had entered the game ninth in the country in team rushing yards, averaging 211.2 yards a game. They gained only 124 yards on the ground yesterday. Castellanos, who had led all quarterbacks in rushing, gained 46 net yards on 11 carries.

Highlights (9:40)

With their five-game winning streak over, the Eagles fell to 6-4, 3-3 in conference. This was their last regular season game on a Saturday. They next play Pitt at 4 pm this Thursday and meet Miami the morning after Thanksgiving.