On Monday night, the Boston College Eagles football team traveled to Tallahassee to take on the #10 Florida State Seminoles to open their 2024 season. FSU had already played a game in Ireland the weekend before, falling to Georgia Tech, while BC debuted their new coaching staff under head coach Bill O’Brien. It was a shocker from the start, as Boston College jumped out to an early lead they never relinquished, punished the Seminoles at the line of scrimmage all night long, and claimed a 28-13 victory in the South.

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

As the second quarter wore on, however, FSU began to put some things together. Thomas Castellanos and the Eagles offense finally found some resistance at the line of scrimmage, and were unable to advance very far in the second quarter. FSU’s special teams were very solid, giving themselves great field position to set up a score. However, Donovan Ezeiruaku came up with a big sack to stifle that drive, resulting in just an FSU field goal to cut the lead to 14-3. And a couple of big chunk plays helped FSU get to the line again on their next drive, but they were unable to complete a couple of basic throw-and-catch plays, forcing them to kick another field goal before halftime to make it a 14-6 Boston College lead. Seminoles quarterback DJ Uiagalelei missed a wide open receiver in the end zone and seriously ruined FSU’s chances with some poorly thrown balls, along with some equally poor drops by his receivers.

But just as FSU was starting to get things more manageable, they shot themselves in the foot. The second half began with a baffling decision by the Seminoles to go for it on 4th down in their own territory, followed by an even more baffling INT that DJU threw into triple coverage. Boston College returned the pick to the goal line and slammed it in for the score, almost immediately taking a 21-6 lead to start the second half. It was a devastating turn of events for Florida State, who looked far too desperate to get anything going on their opening drive.

After a few drives that went nowhere 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 ball reversal, then followed up with a deep pass down the sideline for a quick touchdown to cut BC’s lead to 21-13. With Amari Jackson sidelined with cramps midway through the drive, the Eagles’ secondary was starting to look vulnerable. But the BC offense wasn’t about to go away any time soon. The Eagles went right back to their ground-and-pound style, battering FSU’s defensive line into submission. Castellanos, Ward and Robichaux combined once again for a deadly smashmouth rushing attack, running all the way down the field for an eventual Kye Robichaux punch-in TD to extend their lead to 28-13.

Florida State, trailing by a double-digit deficit as the 4th quarter began, needed to get things going. DJU began completing more long passes down the sideline and took serious advantage of a struggling BC secondary. But an intentional grounding penalty, an unforced error by DJU, put FSU in a bad situation and blocked their drive near midfield, preventing them from scoring on 4th & 16. After a quick BC drive that went nowhere, FSU tried to recover again. But a sack by Neto Okpala on the very first play of the drive made things tougher, followed by a George Rooks stuff at the line of scrimmage. The BC defensive line looked incredible compared to their lackluster performance last season, forcing FSU into a quick punt in crunch time.

With BC’s offense stalling again and FSU getting another shot at the struggling Eagles secondary, they failed again, ending their drive with a horrific unsportsmanlike penalty when an offensive lineman shoved Neto Okpala to the ground on the play. Thomas Castellanos led the Eagles to a first down on the next drive while FSU used all of their timeouts, and that was all they wrote. Boston College ran out the clock in a convincing 28-13 victory over a ranked team.

Takeaway meals

• This is the rushing offense we’ve all been hoping for! Thomas Castellanos, Treshaun Ward and Kye Robichaux dominated an FSU defensive line that was one of the most heralded in the country. The offensive line also deserves plenty of praise after losing two key starters from last season. BC finished the night with 263 total rushing yards, a huge performance.
• Bill O’Brien has already molded this team into shape. FSU looked like a Hafley coached team with how many 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 to BoB’s regime.
• How about that BC defense! DJU isn’t exactly a formidable quarterback these days, but they did a great job of pressuring him on the line and keeping the FSU RBs in check. The BC defense did struggle in the secondary, especially with the amount of cramping some players were getting. That’s going to be a bigger problem against better QBs.