On Monday night, the Boston College Eagles football team traveled to Tallahassee to face the #10 Florida State Seminoles in the opener of their 2024 season. FSU had already played a game in Ireland the weekend before, losing to Georgia Tech, while BC introduced its new coaching staff under head coach Bill O’Brien. It was a shock from the start, as Boston College built an early lead that it never relinquished, punished the Seminoles at the line of scrimmage all night long and took a 28-13 win in the South.

The first half started about as well as anyone could have imagined. The Eagles, led by Bill O’Brien, controlled the ball for 14 minutes and 9 seconds in their first 15-minute quarter. They dominated in the trenches and punished the FSU defense, especially in 3rd & short situations. Thomas Castellanos, Kye Robichaux and Treshaun Ward took everything the FSU defense gave them and methodically marched down the field, scoring two touchdowns before Florida State even knew what was happening to them. Meanwhile, the FSU offense looked confused and couldn’t even complete some basic plays.

As the second quarter progressed, however, FSU started to improve. Thomas Castellanos and the Eagles offense finally got some resistance at the line of scrimmage and were unable to advance very far in the second quarter. FSU special teams were very solid and got themselves great field position to score a point. However, Donovan Ezeiruaku managed a big sack to stall that attack, leaving only a field goal for FSU, cutting the lead to 14-3. And a few great chunk plays helped FSU get to the goal line again on the next drive, but they couldn’t complete a few easy throw and catch plays, requiring them to kick another field goal before halftime to put Boston College ahead 14-6. Seminoles quarterback DJ Uiagalelei missed a completely free receiver in the end zone and seriously hurt FSU’s chances with some poorly thrown balls and some equally poor drops from his receivers.

But just as FSU was starting to get a better handle on things, they shot themselves in the foot. The second half began with a puzzling decision by the Seminoles to go for it on fourth down in their own territory, followed by an even more puzzling INT that DJU threw into triple coverage. Boston College returned the pick near the goal line and converted it for a score, almost immediately taking a 21-6 lead to start the second half. It was a devastating turn of events for Florida State, which seemed far too desperate to get anything done on its opening drive.

After several drives that were fruitless for both teams, FSU finally got going thanks to a trick play. DJU was able to hit a receiver deep down the field on a turnover and then hit another deep pass down the sideline for a quick touchdown to cut BC’s lead to 21-13. When Amari Jackson was forced out mid-drive with a cramp, the Eagles’ secondary became increasingly exposed. But the BC offense didn’t just drop. The Eagles returned to their ground-and-pound style and brought FSU’s defensive line to its knees. Castellanos, Ward and Robichaux again combined a deadly smashmouth rushing attack and went all down the field, eventually getting a punch-in TD from Kye Robichaux to extend their lead to 28-13.

Trailing by double digits early in the 4th quarter, Florida State had to step up. DJU started throwing more long passes down the sideline and took full advantage of BC’s cramped secondary. But an intentional grounding penalty, an unforced error by DJU, put FSU in an awkward situation and stalled their offense near the midfield without a chance to score on 4th & 16. After a quick BC attack that went nowhere, FSU tried to catch up again. But a sack by Neto Okpala on the offense’s very first play immediately made things more difficult, followed by a George Rooks kick at the line of scrimmage. BC’s defensive line looked incredible compared to their lackluster performance last season, forcing FSU into a quick punt in crunch time.

When BC’s offense stalled again and FSU got another chance to attack the Eagles’ struggling secondary, they failed again, capping their attack with a horrific unsportsmanlike conduct penalty when an offensive player shoved Neto Okpala to the ground after the play. Thomas Castellanos led the Eagles to a first down on the next drive as FSU had used up all its timeouts, and that was all it scored. Boston College ran down the clock and pulled out a convincing 28-13 win over a ranked team.

Findings

• This is the offense we were all hoping for! Thomas Castellanos, Treshaun Ward and Kye Robichaux dominated an FSU defense that was one of the most praised in the country. The offensive line also deserves a lot of credit after losing two key starters last season. BC finished the night with a total of 263 rushing yards, an outstanding performance.
• Bill O’Brien has already got this team in shape. FSU looked like a Hafley coached team with all the bad penalties they took, while BC dominated in the trenches, stuck to the fundamentals and was simply the better prepared team. They took what FSU gave them and capitalized on their opportunities. What an incredible start for BoB’s regime.
• How about the BC defense! DJU isn’t exactly an impressive quarterback these days, but they did a good job of pressuring him at the line and keeping the FSU RBs in check. BC’s defense struggled in the secondary, though, mainly with some players cramping. That will be a bigger problem against better QBs.