No. 13 Demon Deacons Pull Away From BC in Topsy-Turvy Game
Punter Danny Longman was Boston College's leading rusher at the end of the first half of Saturday evening's game at No. 13 Wake Forest. Right tackle Jack Conley had created the team's only turnover.
Yet, somehow, BC—despite being down, 21-9, at intermission—was outgaining the Demon Deacons in total yards, 202-197, through two quarters.
That's just a snapshot of how bizarre the Atlantic Division bout was.
At times, BC's bottom-ranked offense looked explosive, and the Eagles even had the ball near midfield down two scores late in the third quarter, but that's as close they'd get to matching pace with Wake's high-octane yet slow-mesh offense that netted 428 yards of offense in a 43-15 victory at Truist Field in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.
"We couldn't get it to one possession," BC head coach Jeff Hafley said. "It stayed at two possessions for a while, and then it got away from us."
Once again, BC (2-5, 1-4 ACC) had a new O-Line combination. It was the team's sixth different lineup in the trenches. Center Drew Kendall was out with a broken wrist, so Jackson Ness—who had started the previous two games at left guard—slotted in there. Former preferred walk-on Nick Thomas—who filled in for Ozzy Trapilo at left tackle earlier this season—came in at left guard.
Predictably, it was tough sledding for those two, and really the whole Eagles O-Line. Procedural penalties, some caused by mistime snaps, played a role in BC piling up 11 penalties for 104 penalty yards.
The first of the Eagles' four false start penalties set them back in the red zone on a drive that completely stalled after Jurkovec piloted the offense to the 5-yard line of Wake (6-1, 2-1). BC entered the week 103rd in red zone touchdown percentage (52.94%) and failed to improve on that clip on that series, which did chew 5:30 of clock but also burned two timeouts because of what Hafley called "miscommunication."
Two incompletions, a run for loss and the aforementioned false start forced Hafley to trot out Connor Lytton for a 29-yard field goal.
"We gotta score a touchdown there," Hafley said. "We're playing the No. 13 team in the country that scores 41 points a game. You get down to the 5, and you have to score touchdowns to win the game."
Deacons quarterback Sam Hartman started 1-of-4 for -1 yards. Then he completed 15 of his next 17 passes, taking whatever the Eagles' zone defense gave him. BC's game plan was to make Hartman drive the length of the field, and he accepted that challenge head on. Of Wake's six touchdown drives, four went at least 65 yards.
The first of those saw Hartman pick on BC cornerbacks Amari Jackson and Elijah Jones. Hartman moved the chains on 4th-and-3 with a completion to Donovan Greene. Later, he found Jahmal Banks with a back shoulder throw for a 15-yard score.
In almost no time, the Deacons went up, 14-3, thanks a shanked Longman punt that traveled only 15 yards. The botched special teams play gifted Wake great field position, which Hartman—who threw for 313 yards, five scores and one pick—eventually converted into a 12-yard touchdown strike to Taylor Morin.
BC's lone touchdown of the first half took so many twists and turns it was practically unbelievable. It featured a Longman fake punt. He dashed 24 yards, giving the Eagles a fresh set of downs in the process. Then Hafley decided to roll the dice on 4th-and-11 from the Wake 37, and, even though Jurkovec was strip sacked, Conley jarred the ball loose from Demon Deacons sophomore D-Lineman Jasheen Davis. Ness recovered, rewarding BC with yet another fresh set of downs.
After all that, Flowers reeled in his fourth 50-plus-yard reception of the season, a 61-yard touchdown catch.
"It was just a 1-on-1, and I pride myself on winning 1-on-1 matchups, especially if he's off, and it's a deep ball," Flowers said postgame. "So it's just win my route and get in the end zone to help my team stay in the game."
Fittingly, the abnormal series was capped with a blocked PAT.
While BC has Jurkovec and Flowers, Wake has Hartman and AT Perry. The Deacons' duo hooked up three times on the ensuing drive, tying it off with a 13-yard touchdown that put Wake ahead, 21-9.
BC forced a Deacons punt on their first drive of the second half. But that's the last time their first-team offense had to call on punter Ivan Mora. Three of Wake's next four series ended with touchdowns.
The first was made by possible by a backbreaking, 3rd-and-25 conversion, courtesy of Hartman and Morin. A roughing the passer penalty on BC defensive tackle Cam Horsley vaulted Wake into the red zone. From there, Hartman went back to Morin for a four-yard score.
Similar to its first touchdown drive, BC's second was wonky. It began with a 27-yard Taji Johnson kickoff return. After back-to-back false start penalties, Jurkovec located Flowers for a 23-yard reception on 3rd-and-15. A 16-yard completion to true freshman wideout Joe Griffin and a 14-yard rush by running back Pat Garwo III slingshotted the Eagles into goal-to-go territory.
Then, on 3rd-and-Goal, Jurkovec scrambled for a touchdown, however, BC's two-point conversion was no good, as Jurkovec slipped on a quarterback draw.
Redshirt freshman free safety Cole Batson made the biggest play of his young career on the subsequent Wake drive. He dove to seal a tip-drill interception, giving BC the ball back around midfield.
Scoring points off turnovers has been a crippling issue for the Eagles all season—they came into Saturday with zero points off six takeaways—and that problem persisted when BC needed to capitalize most.
Down, 28-15, with under four minutes left in the third quarter, Jurkovec missed Garwo on a second down wheel route pass. When facing a 4th-and-6 from the Eagles' own 46-yard line, Hafley brought out the punt team.
Wake responded with a 10-play, 88-yard touchdown drive that proved to be the nail in BC's coffin. Hartman tied it off with a two-yard rushing score and then dialed up a two-point conversion for Ke'Shawn Williams.
The Deacons scored once more before Hafley and Wake head coach Dave Clawson started pulling offensive starters. BC's defense was worn down at that point.
Wake running back Quinton Cooley shook out of a leg tackle for a first down, Hartman scrambled for a first down on a 3rd-and-10 and, eventually, Banks—despite defensive pass interference—came down with a 16-yard touchdown catch on a 3rd-and-13.
It was the fifth time this season backup BC quarterback Emmett Morehead has seen action. That's telling, considering that, in four of those games, the Eagles were getting blown out.
Morehead's reps are about building for the future. There are a bunch of BC veterans that still believe they can turn around the current season, though.
Postgame, defensive end Marcus Valdez said do-it-all defensive back Jason Maitre conveyed that very message to the team. Hafley called Maitre's speech "impressive"—so much so Hafley pointed out he almost didn't have to address the team himself.
"We haven't packed it in," Valdez said. "Most teams probably would pack it in. But I mean we're fighting every day. Guys are playing injured and giving their all for this team, even though it's not looking good right now.
"We're gonna keep going."