The parallels are uncanny.

Boston College found itself in overtime Saturday night against Pittsburgh for the first time since 2014, when the Eagles lost a heartbreaker to Penn State in the Pinstripe Bowl at Yankee Stadium. Once again, BC was going down to the wire versus a Pennsylvania opponent.

Like the 2014 bowl game, the Eagles squandered a two-score lead in the second half. In both scenarios, BC’s defense couldn’t stop its respective opponent from notching a game-tying field goal on their final drives of the fourth quarter.

It was even the same score going into overtime: 24-24.

But this is the Jeff Hafley era—things are different.

Phil Jurkovec stepped up in the pocket on 3rd-and-10 and delivered a 25-yard strike to Zay Flowers for the sophomore wideout’s third touchdown of the game. Minutes later, a “super shocked” Jurkovec watched Pittsburgh placekicker Alex Kessman, who drilled a school record 58-yard field goal to force overtime, shank the game-tying extra point wide right.

The Panthers came up one point short, just like the Eagles six years ago. Another 31-30 nail biter. And this time, BC was celebrating.

Each of the first three weeks of the season, the Eagles (3-1, 2-1 Atlantic Coast) primarily operated out of the huddle. That wasn’t the case on BC’s opening drive Saturday.

“We wanted to start fast,” Hafley said. “That was the whole theme of today. We wanted to start fast.”

Offensive coordinator Frank Cignetti Jr. had Jurkovec pushing the tempo, and it was working to near perfection. Emphasis on near—after completing his first four passes for 74 yards, the Notre Dame transfer scrambled right before trying to force a pass to Flowers in the middle of the end zone. Pitt (3-2, 2-2) safety Paris Ford almost came down with the interception, and BC settled for a 25-yard Aaron Boumerhi field goal.

The Eagles entered this week tied with three other teams for the 19th-most penalties in the country. They shot themselves in the foot again on Saturday. It started on the Panthers’ subsequent drive. A neutral zone infraction on a 4th-and-7 punt play allowed Pitt head coach Pat Narduzzi to bring his offense back onto the field.

Kenny Pickett, who completed seven of his first nine passes, hooked up with true freshman wide receiver Jordan Addison to move the chains. The pair connected twice more on that series before running back Vincent Davis knocked on BC’s doorstep with a 14-yard draw play. From there, Pickett finished the job with a quarterback sneak, capping the 14-play drive.

Luckily for BC, Pitt had a lot of laundry, too. The Panthers were called for six penalties over the course of the game, including both an illegal procedure infraction and a holding call on their final drive of the first quarter.

There was a brief pause in penalty flags at the beginning of the second frame when Jurkovec uncorked a 44-yard pass to Flowers. The throw dropped over the top of the single-high safety, Jason Pinnock, and into the arms of Flowers, who pitter-pattered his feet into the end zone.

The barrage of penalties resumed on the ensuing Pitt series. Back-to-back defensive pass interference calls against BC helped the Panthers quickly move downfield. Pickett made the most of the extra yardage and tied off the drive with a 15-yard pitch-and-catch touchdown pass out to the flat to true freshman running back Israel Abanikanda.

With BC trailing, 14-10, Cignetti turned to the run. It was something that the Eagles, who came in with the fifth-worst rushing attack in the country, also toyed with on their opening drive. David Bailey got the ball five times on that series. Here, Patrick Garwo’s name was called. But, just like that first drive, the Eagles’ ball carrier, in this case Garwo, nearly lost the rock in the red zone. Both plays were reviewed and went BC’s way.

Soon after, Jurkovec, who ended the night with four total touchdowns, punched the ball in on a quarterback sneak. The redshirt sophomore all but crowd surfed the offensive line on his way from the 2-yard line to the plane. Jurkovec admitted that, at first, he thought the 4th-and-Goal play was going to be marked at the 1-yard line.

“It was a little sketchy,” he said. “I glanced back to the sideline for a second to see if we really wanted to do it, but with our offensive line and the push that we get, a sneak, we could probably run that every play.”

The physicality was rampant between the former Big East rivals. Several players were shaken up throughout the game, including BC fifth-year safety Mike Palmer, tight end Hunter Long, and cornerback Jason Maitre. Flags were flying, and, at the end of the first half, Pitt’s ferocious D-Line was starting to get the best of Jurkovec.

Kessman missed a 55-yarder before the half, giving BC a three-point cushion. The Eagles added to that in no time once the teams retook the field.

Two plays into the second half, Jurkovec launched another high-arcing pass over Pinnock. The ball traveled 40-some yards downfield. Flowers brought it in and turned on the jets, racing to the paint for six.

“Zay did a great job getting open, the O-Line protected, and Phil threw those balls right on the money,” Hafley said. “It’s what they were giving. We had to take it. And we did.”

After that, however, BC’s offense came to a grinding halt. The Eagles recorded just 59 yards the rest of regulation. Pitt, which totaled five sacks and three quarterback hits, beat up on Jurkovec, forcing him to run for his life outside the pocket. The Panthers, who came in as the highest-graded team against the run, according to Pro Football Focus, routinely stuffed BC’s backs behind the line of scrimmaging, dragging BC below the 1-yard per carry mark.

What kept BC in the game was the play of its defense, specifically the Eagles’ secondary. Led by cornerbacks Josh DeBerry and Brandon Sebastian, BC came up with timely stops. Pickett completed only 18 of his final 39 passes. Some of those incompletions were on his receivers, but BC’s defensive backs were playing as tight as it gets. A 44-yard miss from Kessman early in the third quarter helped the Eagles’ cause as well.

Despite the 24-14 deficit, though, Pickett wasn’t going down easy—not even after his ankle got rolled over by a sandwich of three BC defensive linemen. Arizona State transfer Joey Yellen filled in for Pickett while he got checked out in the tent. In the meantime, Davis used two consecutive shifty runs to get into the end zone, making it a 24-21 game.

When Pickett got back in the game, the senior threw an errant pass from his own end zone that was picked off by DeBerry. Yet Jurkovec gave the ball right back to Pitt, as defensive end Rashad Weaver came off the edge and pried the rock away from the 6-foot-5 Jurkovec.

The teams traded possessions up until the final minute when Pitt, facing a 4th-and-20, trotted out Kessman to kick a 58-yard field goal. He swung it right through the uprights, logging his ninth career 50+ yard attempt. Boumerhi had the chance to match it with a 52-yarder, what would have been his second game-winner of the season. It had the distance, but he pulled it.

Following Jurkovec’s overtime touchdown pass to Flowers, Pickett—bum ankle and all—gutted his Panthers to the goal line with two 4th Down conversions. He hit Taysir Mack on a screen pass for a potential game-tying score. It didn’t matter, though.

Kessman’s point after attempt sailed wide right, and the normally stoic but focused Hafley jolted before screaming while pointing his finger to the Boston skyline and sprinting onto the field along with the rest of his players.

“I think I was a little excited on this one,” Hafley said. “The first three or four games? Yeah, it’s been exciting.”

Eagles fans would agree.