Boston College Football Runs All Over Georgia Tech En Route to Blowout Road Victory

Just a few days after starting running back Evan Dickens was ruled out for the year with a season-ending knee injury, Boston College football ran all over Georgia Tech en route to its second conference victory in a row.

The Eagles (4-3, 2-2 ACC) tantalized the Yellow Jackets (2-5, 1-3 ACC) on the ground in the 49-27 blowout — just the third ACC road triumph BC has captured during head coach Bill O'Brien's tenure — totaling 399 yards and five touchdowns on 43 carries, good for an average of 9.0 yards per carry.

While it turned into a massacre by the final quarter, the game started out very differently.

After receiving the opening kickoff, Georgia Tech converted on 3rd-and-10 from the Yellow Jackets’ 21-yard line, as quarterback Alberto Mendoza tossed a 43-yard gem to Jordan Allen on the run.

Mendoza then picked up a gain of 27 yards with his legs after throwing an incompletion to move Georgia Tech into the red zone, and it scored on third-and-goal via Kevin Roche Jr.’s leaping, toe-tap grab over Anthony Palano in the back of the end zone.

Aiden Birr then drilled the PAT to cement a 7-0 lead for the hosts.

After BC failed to score on its first drive despite entering the red zone and getting Luca Lombardo a field-goal attempt from 48 yards, which he shanked left, the Yellow Jackets extended their lead to 10-0 on a 32-yard field goal from Birr.

The Eagles were penalized four times for 41 total yards, including an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty against safety Marcus Upton after he made a tackle for loss and pounded his chest in celebration, which rightfully enraged the Eagles’ sideline.

Just seconds into the second quarter, however, BC got on the board with Mason McKenzie’s 25-yard touchdown pass to Nedrick Boldin Jr., which he caught over his back shoulder where the defender could not reach.

But the Eagles’ kicking woes continued, as freshman Jonathan Hewitt shanked the extra-point attempt, leaving the score at 10-6 in Georgia Tech’s favor.

After the defense forced a three-and-out, it took BC just two minutes to score with a four-play drive, stamped by Bo MacCormack III's seven-yard rushing touchdown, his first of the game.

Yet in excruciating fashion, Lombardo’s extra-point attempt was also shanked, keeping the score at 12-10, and Birr knocked in his second field goal of the game, this time from 20 yards, to reclaim the lead for Georgia Tech at 13-12 before the half ended.

Undisciplined football kept the Eagles back from powering ahead despite their many chances in the first half, as they committed nine penalties for 91 yards in the first two quarters alone.

On the third play of the third quarter, McKenzie trudged BC into red-zone territory with a 40-yard scamper, leading to MacCormack's second rushing score of the game just three plays later.

The two-yard scoring run made it 18-13 for the Eagles, who kept it there after a failed two-point pass attempt.

Less than two minutes later, BC got its first takeaway of the game, as sophomore Charlie Comella intercepted Mendoza off a tipped ball and returned it the way other for 23 yards to set up the Eagles on the Yellow Jackets’ 39-yard line.

After driving the ball to the five-yard line with four straight runs, McKenzie danced into the end zone with a six-yard rushing score to add to BC's lead, which increased to 25-13.

On the following drive, after Georgia Tech went three-and-out, Lombardo converted a 23-yard field goal, but the Yellow Jackets responded immediately on Justice Haynes’ 15-yard rushing touchdown to finish a three-play, 70-yard scoring drive, cutting the Yellow Jackets' deficit to 28-20.

But that morsel of hope for the home team was short-lived, as the Eagles made it a two-score game once again with McKenzie’s second rushing touchdown, this one of 15 yards.

Minutes later, Comella picked off Mendoza for a second time, which he took the other way for a 55-yard pick six, the first of his career.

The Yellow Jackets scored once more on backup quarterback Grady Adamson’s 30-yard passing touchdown to Dalen Penson, but MacCormack ripped off his third rushing score on the following drive to finish the game with 155 yards and three touchdowns on 20 carries.

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