Boston College late rally falls short in 26-22 loss to North Carolina

Boston College had its finest effort of the season undone by a missed two-point conversion.

The Eagles went blow for blow against No. 12 North Carolina before falling 26-22 on Saturday at Alumni Stadium. BC fell to 2-1 and 1-1 in the ACC while the Tar Heels improved to 2-0 in the league.

BC quarterback Phil Jurkovec, a transfer from Notre Dame, outdueled Carolina’s more celebrated signal-caller Sam Howell. Jurkovec was 37-of-56 for 313 yards and two touchdowns. Howell completed 14-of-26 for 225 yards, two touchdowns and a pick. UNC had 401 yards of total offense to 353 by the Eagles.

“I thought our secondary played real hard and that is one of the most explosive offenses in the ACC with one of the better quarterbacks in the ACC,” said BC coach Jeff Hafley.

“I wish I could have done more to help win the game and there are things I’ll look back on that I could have done better. They fought hard and they left it all out there.”

Jurkovec managed the two-minute offense after taking possession on the BC 31 down eight points with 5:46 to play. Jurkovec used the short passing game to get the Eagles to the UNC 10.

BC had two touchdowns taken off the board because of penalties before getting one that counted. Wide receiver CJ Lewis has a 10-yard touchdown reception negated by an offensive pass interference flag. Then Jurkovec’s 22-yard touchdown pass to tight end Hunter Long was called back on a holding penalty.

BC finally cut the lead to 24-22 on a 6-yard scoring toss from Jurkovec to Lewis with 45 seconds remaining. Jurkovec’s pass on the 2-point conversion was intercepted by Trey Morrison, who returned it to the BC end zone to put UNC up by four.

“The last possession we just had a lot of confidence because we know from last week, we can make those plays in the two minutes,” said Jurkovec. “The last play, basically we had a play called up with a couple of side looks and they had it zoned off and there wasn’t much there.”

Surgical precision: Howell appeared to have set the tone on the Heels’ opening drive, where he systematically dissected the Eagles’ defense. The drive went 83 yards on 12 plays and ended with a 24-yard touchdown pass to redshirt freshman wide receiver Khafre Brown. Howell was 4-of-6 for 69 yards on the drive.

Gambling man: After kicker Aaron Boumerhi cut the lead to 7-3 with a 35-yard field goal, Hafley called for an onside kick that went the requisite 10 yards but was knocked out of bounds by a BC player. Howell opened the series with a 20-yard pass to Dyami Brown. UNC made it 14-3 on 1-yard run by Javonte Williams with 2:24 to play in the first.

The turnover: UNC was second and seven from its own 7-yard line when BC blitzing safety Jahmin Muse tomahawked Howell’s passing arm midway through his motion. Cornerback Brandon Sebastian intercepted the floundering duck on the Heel’s 5-yard line. BC cut the lead to 14-13 on a pass from Jurkovec to tailback David Bailey with 11:35 to play in the half.

Two-minute drill: UNC went up 21-13 with an 11-play, 81-yard, drive with 1:09 to play in the half. Jurkovec countered with a brilliant two-minute offensive effort by completing 7-of-9 passes to advance the ball to the Heels’ 13. Boumerhi cut the lead to 21-16 with this third field goal of the half.

Penalty drive: UNC picked up three points on a 60-yard drive that was aided by three 15-yard penalties against the Eagles. UNC picked up 15 on a pass interference penalty on linebacker Isaiah McDuffie. That was followed by an unsportsmanlike conduct call against McDuffie and an unnecessary roughness flag on right end Max Roberts against tailback Michael Carter on consecutive plays. BC refused to break and UNC settled for a Grayson Atkins 37-yard field goal. Atkins would miss 47-yard attempt with 5:46 to play.

“Those were unacceptable, you can’t have late hits …” said Hafley. “We have to be smart but we wanted to be aggressive and we have to do it within the rules.”

Extra points: On an afternoon when BC needed bodies in the secondary, the absence of graduate transfer free safety Deon Jones cut deep. Jones, who played three seasons at Maryland, was scratched with an elbow injury. Mike Palmer, who recorded an interception against Texas State, replaced Jones.

BC tight end Hunter Long got pummeled in the ribcage by Heels’ free safety Trey Morrison while running a post route inside the UNC 10-yard line with 3:51 to play in the first. Long was laid out on the turf for several minutes and was assisted off the field. Long was back in on the next possession. Running back Travis Levy left the game with a shoulder injury

from Boston Herald https://ift.tt/34lN12W