Boston College grabs 20-0 lead, then watches it evaporate in crushing loss to Louisville

With demoralizing losses at Virginia and Virginia Tech, Boston College football entered Friday’s showdown with Louisville in desperate need of a bounce-back win.

BC pieced together a strong two-plus quarters, then unraveled and never recovered in a 31-27 loss. The Eagles (4-4, 1-3 Atlantic Coast Conference) have dropped three straight and continue to trend in the wrong direction.

Opponents have now outscored BC, 46-0, in the fourth quarter over the last three games.

“Can’t do it. Can’t play for 60 minutes,” BC coach Bill O’Brien said. “Can’t coach well enough to get them to play for 60 minutes. Got to coach a lot better. Got to watch the tape and figure out how to fix it. Terrible.”

The Cardinals (5-3, 3-2) fell behind early, 20-0, then scored 31 of the final 38, including 21 unanswered, to steal one at Alumni Stadium.

BC had a chance to pull ahead on fourth and 11 from its own 40 with 1:53 remaining, but Thomas Castellanos’ heave to Johnathan Montague Jr. in the end zone fell incomplete. The Eagles got the ball back once more, but Castellanos’ Hail Mary from the 42 never had a chance.

Doug Flutie was in the house, but he couldn’t save them.

“I think the second half, we just didn’t come out with the energy we needed to finish the game,” nickel back Cameron Martinez said. “I think that’s been a problem for us all year so far is really not finishing in second halves.”

Long before the late-game woes, it was all Boston College. After a sluggish start for both teams, redshirt junior Quintayvious Hutchins gave the Eagles a jolt midway through the opening term by intercepting Tyler Shough’s errant pass and running it back 21 yards to the BC 37.

The interception was Boston College’s 10th this season — its first time hitting double digits since 2021.

“He was a difference-maker for us,” Martinez said.

Facing a fourth and 1 from their own 46, the Eagles made the gutsy decision to go for it. Castellanos faked the handoff to Kye Robichaux and floated a pass to a wide-open Kamari Morales down the left sideline for a 54-yard score at the 7:26 mark.

The Eagles took a 7-0 edge into the second quarter despite only registering 7 total yards outside of the touchdown. Defensive backs Omar Thornton and Ashton McShane, both promising freshmen, made their presence felt to spearhead a strong defensive effort alongside Hutchins.

BC extended the margin to 14-0 on a 4-yard TD pass to Treshaun Ward on fourth and goal. Ward accounted for 57 of the 61 yards on the drive and found himself wide open in the end zone.

Moments later, Hutchins continued his standout performance by delivering a big-time hit, knocking the ball free and recovering the fumble, setting up the Eagles at the Cardinals’ 46. Castellanos gained 16 with his legs, then Robichaux plunged in from 4 yards out to push the advantage to 20-0 with 6:30 left in the half.

Isaac Brown put Louisville on the board with a 4-yard, then BC took a conservative approach with 1:17 left on the clock before halftime.

“Hindsight being 20/20, maybe you do something different, obviously,” O’Brien said. “We just felt like, at that time, going into halftime up 20-7, it’s not like we have a juggernaut passing offense. The ball was on our own 25.”

It wasn’t a perfect half, but BC was opportunistic and capitalized in key spots.

Louisville trimmed the deficit to 20-10 on a 23-yard Brock Travelstead field goal with 10:42 left in the third. But BC answered less than three minutes later to make it 27-10.

Castellanos found Ward for a 58-yard completion, and then tight end Jeremiah Franklin hauled in a 6-yard TD to punctuate another efficient drive.

Then came a massive 14-point swing that rocked the Alumni crowd to its core. BC appeared to tack on another score on a fumble recovery and 94-yard return from KP Price, but after review, it was determined the runner was down. Louisville capitalized, as Shough hit Nate Kurisky for a 4-yard strike to slice it to 27-17 with 3:50 left in the third.

A 17-point third-quarter BC lead quickly morphed into a 4-point deficit in a span of 15-plus minutes.

After a poor punt from BC’s Ivan Zivenko, the Cardinals went right back to work and cut the deficit to three. Starting at the Eagles’ 42, it only took four plays, with Brown running it in from 18 yards out to make it 27-24 with 10:57 left.

After another three-and-out and poor punt, the Cardinals needed just four plays to go 63 yards to take the lead. Shough (28 of 33, 333 yards, 2 TDs, 2 INTs) found Ahmari Huggins-Bruce for a 34-year gain to the BC 29. After Isaac Brown‘s 15-yard run, and Shough hitting Ja’Corey Brooks for 8, Slough found Kurisky from 6 yards out to give the Cardinals their first lead, 31-27, with 7:12 left.

“I don’t think it was really what they did,” Castellanos said. “I think it was more us. We started fast, we just couldn’t sustain it.”

The Eagles couldn’t capitalize from there despite multiple chances, once again showing promise in spurts before collapsing when it mattered most.

Now, BC has an opportunity to regroup and start fresh.

“Ready to get to this bye week and start preparing for Syracuse,” Castellanos said. “That’s a big game for us.”