Boston College puts it all together in 41-21 victory over North Carolina, winning a place in a bowl game

In an unpredictable season filled with surges and setbacks, consistency has eluded the Boston College football team.

The Eagles, who have been on the hunt for a complete game ever since a drubbing of Duquesne in Week 2, finally found one Saturday against North Carolina.

BC dominated on both sides of the ball, running away with a resounding 41-21 triumph at Alumni Stadium. The Eagles (6-5, 3-4 Atlantic Coast Conference) intercepted three passes, stopped the Tar Heels (6-5, 3-4) on their first 10 third-down attempts, and commanded possession.

Boston College is bowl eligible for the eighth time in nine seasons and has won five games at home for the first time since 2018.

“It hasn’t been perfect, don’t get me wrong, but these kids have really worked hard for us,” first-year coach Bill O’Brien said. “I’m very happy for them. It’s very well earned.”

On the 40-year anniversary of the Miracle in Miami, and with members of that team in attendance, BC put forth a throwback performance. O’Brien said he showed the final drive to his team Friday to hammer home what playing until the very end looks like.

“There’s a lot of tradition here at Boston College,” O’Brien said. “For those guys to be here meant a lot to our program.”

The Eagles played inspired, together football from the start. They orchestrated two methodical 13-play scoring drives to open the game, overpowering the Tar Heels at the line of scrimmage. The first drive ended with a 49-yard Liam Connor field goal that crept over the crossbar, and the second yielded a 3-yard touchdown run by quarterback Grayson James.

Boston College did its damage primarily in the air in the first half. UNC prioritized stopping the run, and Lewis Bond (9 catches, 81 yards) and the Eagles took advantage.

“We got things going early,” James said. “We played our brand of football.”

A 24-yard touchdown run from Johnathan Montague Jr., on a well-disguised end-around, pushed the margin to 17-0 at 9:05 of the second quarter.

North Carolina got on the board when Chris Culliver returned the ensuing kickoff 95 yards to make it 17-7.

BC ensured UNC didn’t keep momentum for long. After closing out the half poorly in a loss to Southern Methodist the week prior, the Eagles finished it with conviction Saturday.

“We’ve had these leads throughout the season,” BC linebacker Joe Marinaro said. “We need to keep building those leads, make them insurmountable leads, and keep the foot on the gas. That’s something we know we’ve needed to improve on this year, and I think we did a really good job of that today.”

Marinaro intercepted a Jacolby Criswell pass and returned it 18 yards to the UNC 32, eliciting the one of the most enthusiastic celebrations of the season from the BC sideline. Marinaro, a former walk-on who became a captain this season, continues to fill in admirably with BC short at linebacker.

The pick paved the way for an 18-yard TD pass from James (18 for 27, 192 yards) to Reed Harris with 40 seconds left in the half. James aired the ball out past two defenders to where only the 6-foot-5-inch Harris could corral it.

“I don’t think anything can replace experience,” James said. “I feel like I’ve gotten better every game that I played in, and every practice as well. Game reps are paramount. I’m comfortable with the guys out there, and they’re comfortable with me.”

Donovan Ezeiruaku sacked Criswell on UNC’s next possession, and Carter Davis picked off a pass in the end zone to cement the Eagles’ 24-7 halftime advantage.

BC neutralized star running back Omarion Hampton — who entered the day second in the nation in rushing yards — by holding him to 23 yards on six carries in the first half and 53 yards total on 11 attempts. The Eagles limited the ACC’s top running attack to -3 rushing yards in the half and held a 240-77 edge in net total yards, while dominating possession 20:33 to 9:27.

Boston College kept it rolling early in the third quarter, as an Isaiah Farris 52-yard punt return set up a 27-yard Connor field goal to make it 27-7 heading to the fourth.

The Eagles extended the margin to 34-7 with 12:38 left, when pressure from Neto Okpala led to a 78-yard pick-6 from Ryan Turner.

“Ryan Turner has gone from the bottom of the depth chart to the top of the depth chart,” O’Brien said. “He’s earned it. He’s stuck with it. It hasn’t been easy for him.”

Kye Robichaux (23 carries, 93 yards) added an 8-yard TD rush in the final minutes.

UNC scored twice in the game’s last 2:09, on two rushes from Davion Gause, but the outcome had been decided long before that.

The defensive line dictated the action, as the Eagles finished with seven sacks and kept Criswell out of rhythm. BC racked up 420 net total yards, to just 212 for UNC, as the Tar Heels averaged 1.4 yards per rush and had 13 total first downs.

“The D-line played really well,” O’Brien said. “They probably played their best game.”

It was just one game, but it showed how dangerous this Eagles team can be when everything is clicking.

Boston College welcomes Pittsburgh (7-3, 3-3) to town next Saturday at 3 p.m. to close out the regular season. The Eagles have bigger goals, but this one served as a milestone as they know they’ll be playing into December.

“We feel like we’ve left a couple weeks out there on the table,” center Drew Kendall said. “We just had to go out there and execute for a full 60 minutes, and that’s what we did today.”