Boston College grinds out 16-13 ACC win at Syracuse

It wasn’t pretty, but Boston College won’t complain about the end result.

A balanced offense and an unrelenting defense lifted BC to an unattractive but satisfactory 16-13 victory over Syracuse on Saturday at the Carrier Dome.

The Eagles improved to 5-3 and 4-3 in the ACC with their third straight win in the Dome, a remarkable accomplishment for a team predicted to finish last in the loop.

“Certainly not our cleanest game and probably not our best when we go back and look at it,” said head coach Jeff Hafley. “But at the end of the day we are 5-3 and we were picked to finish 15th in the ACC. We just won our fourth ACC game.

“I told the guys in the locker room I don’t care what the score is, when we win a game, I want the music to be blaring and the guys to be enjoying it because they are hard. That team fought hard and coming up to the Dome wasn’t going to be easy.”

Hafley went into the game looking for greater balance from his offense, and tailbacks David Bailey and Travis Levy delivered. Bailey rushed for 125 yards on 25 carries while Levy netted 75 yards on 17 attempts. Bailey rushed for 172 yards on 16 carries with two touchdowns in last season’s 58-27 victory in the Dome. BC finished with 191 rushing yards and 391 yards of total offense on 72 plays. BC entered the game 14th in the ACC in rushing offense with just 94.5 yards per game average.

“You never know what’s going to happen in a game,” said Bailey. “If we are passing the ball or running, I’m always ready and we have weapons all around and you have to adjust.”

BC quarterback Phil Jurkovec was an efficient 20-of-29 for 208 yards and a touchdown. Syracuse countered with true freshman JaCobian Morgan, who completed 19-of-30 for 188 yards with a touchdown and an interception.

Jurkovec closed the first half with a sensational two-minute drill that began with a 9-yard screen to Levy. On the next snap, Jurkovec rolled right to escape the pressure and delivered a 37-yard pass to CJ Lewis to the Orange 20.

Jurkovec followed with a rainbow arc to Flowers in the right corner of the end zone with 24 seconds remaining to take a 10-3 lead.

“It was open guys and errant throws and it was on me just missing the throws,” said Jurkovec. “I talked with coach (Frank) Cignetti and he said ‘just keep trusting your eyes and progressions.’

“I got rid of those plays and moved on to the next ones.”

Jurkovec is a redshirt sophomore who transferred from Notre Dame last December, a transaction that adds intrigue to next weekend’s renewal of the Holy War. After consecutive road games, BC will host No. 4 Notre Dame next Saturday at Alumni Stadium.

“I’ve got some friends back there, some guys I keep in touch with and it’s going to be weird playing against them,” said Jurkovec. “We are looking forward to it, I’m excited and we are going to have a great week of preparation because they are a really good team.”

Syracuse opened the scoring in the second half on a nine-play, 50-yard, drive that ended on 45-yard field goal by Andre Szmyt to make it 10-6 with 6:31 remaining.

Boston College followed with a sustained drive that sputtered once it got inside the Syracuse red zone. BC ran nine times to reach the Syracuse 15 before the drive lost traction. Place kicker Aaron Boumerhi made it 13-6 with 14:46 to play.

BC had its best defensive series of the game on a series that began with just over 10 minutes to go. Linebacker Max Richardson held tailback Cooper Lutz to a one-yard gain before sacking Morgan for a loss of seven. On the next play, Morgan’s pass into triple coverage was picked off by nickel back Jason Maitre.

Soon after, BC forced its second turnover of the half on the Syracuse 18 when tackle Luc Bequette stripped the ball away from tailback Sean Tucker and fell on it. BC failed to fully capitalize on the miscue because of consecutive penalties, but went up 16-6 on a 22-yard field goal by Boumerhi with 2:05 to play.

Morgan and the Orange executed a brilliant 2-minute drive that went 65 yards, but it was too little too late, as tight end Aaron Hackett’s touchdown catch came with just 21 seconds left on the board.

“It was awesome they way we came out in the second half and I thought the defensive staff did a really good job and we held them to field goals until the last drive of the game,” said Hafley. “There were two takeaways and we talk about attacking the ball and Luc just kind of ripped it out.

“You wish you could capitalize on them. We could have put them away but we finished today.”

BC got its running game grinding sizable chunks on their second drive, that began at the 5-yard line. Bailey and Levy moved the chains at the start, but the big play was a 39-yard catch and run from Jurkovec to Zay Flowers.

The drive sputtered inside the Syracuse red zone, forcing BC to settle for a 33-yard Boumerhi field goal to go ahead 3-0 with 1:09 to play in the first. Syracuse tied the game 3-3 on a 35-yard field goal by Andre Szmyt with 11:59 to play in the second.

from Boston Herald https://ift.tt/3l9whmH