Game Summary: Boston College 17 Virginia Tech 3

Virginia Tech started out the game with running the ball on their mind. Their opening drive began with 7 straight running plays and 2 first downs, before eventually a false start pushed them back and forced them to throw for the first time on 3rd and long. The ensuing pass was incomplete and the Eagles offense (with a returning Phil Jurkovec) came out on the field after the punt.

A big 13-yard run by Pat Garwo, 11-yard scramble by Phil Jurkovec, and a 13-yard pass to Jaelen Gill quickly had the Eagles working in Virginia Tech’s territory. Then a crazy play in which Jurkovec threw a bad INT downfield into double-coverage, but the VT defender tried to do a bit too much and fumbled the football. Jurkovec himself recovered it in the redzone and the Eagles were back in business with a big net gain. After a few stuffed runs, BC QB Phil Jurkovec obviously missed playing, so he took the ball in himself from 8 yards out for a TD, giving the Eagles a 7-0 lead.

Virginia Tech started out the next drive on their own 27-yard line. The Hokies were gaining steady ground, but lost their QB Braxton Burmeister and had to replace him with backup Knox Kadum. A few more running plays got the Hokies a first down, but then they were forced to punt on the next series of downs after Kadum didn’t even attempt a pass. The first quarter ended as BC got the ball back.

Garwo got a lot of work on the drive, racking up a few big runs alongside a Zay Flowers sweep to bring BC to midfield. Facing 3rd-and-long, Phil Jurkovec passed the ball into a defender and had his pass betted down, but Spencer Witter happened to be in front of him! A short QB sneak got the Eagles a first down in VT territory. 6 running plays later, mostly by Sinkfield, found the Eagles knocking at the door on the 23-yard line with a first down. But a stuffed run on 3rd-and-short resulted in a field goal for the Eagles, extending their lead to 10-0.

Virginia Tech received yet another kickoff and Knox Kadum was still in at QB, confirming that starter Braxton Burmeister was out with an injury. A false start on 3rd-and-10 pushed the Hokies back on their first set of downs and were forced to punt immediately. BC proceeded to go 3-and-out themselves and give the Hokies back the ball with a punt.

VT ran it with success led by Blackshear, quickly making their way into BC territory. But they quickly stalled out and were forced to punt it back to BC, who started on their own 2. Jurkovec took it himself for a big 24-yard run and got BC to their own 35 with 3 minutes remaining on the clock. But the drive stalled out after BC decided not to go for 4th-and-1 at midfield, resulting in an Eagles punt right back to VT.

Virginia Tech and Boston College played some odd cat-and-mouse with the clock trying to get the ball and score, but eventually the half ran out and they headed into the locker rooms with BC leading 10-0.

Boston College received the kick to begin the second half and were immediately hit with a holding penalty on the return, putting them back all the way at the 7-yard line. A couple of Garwo runs quickly got them back to a good spot and a first down, though. From there Phil Jurkovec hit Zay Flowers deep down field for a 46-yard completion to bring the Eagles into VT territory in short order. Garwo continued to run up the gut and gain consistent yards for BC heading into the redzone and eventually the endzone, giving BC a 17-0 lead.

Virginia Tech got the ball back and drove down the field into BC territory before stalling out around the BC 30-yard line. The Hokies settled for a FG and shortened the BC lead to 17-3 with just over 5 minutes to go in the 3rd quarter. BC got the ball back with great field position thanks to a return by Travis Levy, but they stalled out pretty quickly at midfield and punted back to the Hokies.

VT themselves stalled out, punctuated by a big 3rd down sack from Josh DeBerry that forced a punt. BC began to work a bit as the third quarter ended, but found themselves going 3 and out and punting again. A big pass play from Kadum and some other gains resulted in a drive that quickly found itself deep in BC’s redzone and knocking on the door. But the Hokies fumbled and gave the ball right back to BC, who probably should’ve gotten a huge fumble return TD, but they play was initially blown dead.

BC responded with a dancing Phil Jurkovec run and then a long pass to Jaelen Gill down the sideline, which would’ve set BC up in FG territory if it wasn’t for Gill’s ensuing taunting penalty. From there the Eagles couldn’t get anything going and were forced to punt back to Virginia Tech. The Hokies still could not get their offense down the field, especially after taking a block in the back penalty, and punted back to BC with just under 5 minutes remaining in the contest.

BC’s next drive involved some running and VT stopping the clock with their last remaining timeouts, but the Eagles got a first down and started bleeding clock to wind the game down. Eventually a few kneeldowns iced the 17-3 victory for Boston College.