Zay ought to have had a day value celebrating.
The Boston College break up finish Zay Flowers made inroads on all of the crew’s vital profession receiving information, however the Eagles handed Rutgers a disheartening come-from-behind 22-21 victory within the season opener on Saturday at Alumni Stadium. BC opens ACC play subsequent Saturday night time (8) in opposition to Virginia Tech at Lane Stadium.
“It’s on to the next one and that’s all you can do,” stated BC quarterback Phil Jurkovec, who accomplished 23-of-41 passes for 283 yards, three touchdowns and two interceptions.
“Let it hurt, let it sting because we had them on the ropes and we had the chance to finish them a few times and we didn’t.”
The Scarlet Knights smashed via BC’s protection to take their solely lead on an inexplicable drive that took 5:02 off the clock late within the fourth quarter. Rutgers marched 96 yards on 12 performs — 11 rushes and an incompletion — that culminated in a 22-yard scoring run by Al-Shadee Salaam with 2:43 to play.
“That is probably the most disheartening part, they were able to run the ball 90-something yards and not throw the ball and score,” stated BC head coach Jeff Hafley. “This was a tough one and I believed we had each alternative to take the sport over.
“Every opportunity we had to put them away, we let them back into it and usually when you do that you lose the game.”
Flowers, a 5-10, 172-pound burner from Fort Lauderdale, Fla., was focused 15 occasions and had a career-high 10 receptions for 117 yards and two touchdowns, shifting previous Rich Gunnell right into a second-place tie with Pete Mitchell and Dedrick Dewalt on the BC’s all-time checklist with 20 profession TDs.
Flowers turned the tenth BC receiver to eclipse 2,000 profession yards and presently sits in sixth place with 2,096. Flowers registered his sixth 100-yard receiving sport, shifting right into a fourth-place tie with Mitchell.
“Today didn’t come out the way we wanted,” stated Flowers. “We all played good but we just have to put it all together.”
The different vivid spot within the BC passing sport was tight finish George Takacs, a graduate switch from Notre Dame. The 6-6, 247-pounder from Naples, Fla., caught seven passes for 84 yards.
“George looked great,” stated Jurkovec. “He caught a lot of balls and he’s a vertical threat, which is going to be huge to our offense.”
O-Line blues
Hafley tried to deflect consideration away from his inexperienced offensive line, however the Eagles did endure pricey breakdowns up entrance. Jurkovec was sacked for a 10-yard loss on BC’s opening play and went down three extra occasions. He was additionally on the enterprise finish of a number of arduous hits after he launched the ball.
BC rushed for 29 internet yards on 28 carries and the O-line was flagged twice for an ineligible receiver down area and as soon as for holding. Tailback Pat Garwo, a 1,000-yard rusher final season, completed with 25 internet yards on 14 makes an attempt.
“I thought we should have run better,” stated Hafley. “Is our O-line going to be a work in progress? Yeah, it is. We ran Pat 14 times and is that all on the O-line? No, it’s everybody on the offense, not just the O-line and we have to run the ball better than that.”
QB carousal
The rumor that Rutgers quarterback Noah Vedral had suffered a hand harm in coaching camp was confirmed within the Scarlet Knights’ opening possession. Tight finish Johnny Langan took the primary snap out of the shotgun in a wildcat formation. Gavin Wimsatt took the second snap and handed off to tailback Kyle Monangai. Evan Simon took the third snap and threw an incompletion for a 3 and out. Rutgers coach Greg Schiano platooned Simon and Wimsatt the remainder of the way in which. They mixed for 110 yards passing.
Full scale retreat
On Rutgers third possession, the Scarlet Knights had a primary and purpose from the BC 10. After a run of two yards, Rutgers misplaced 15 for offensive go interference and one other 10 for holding. After an incompletion, Rutgers was flagged for a false begin. On third and purpose from the 38, Wimsatt was sacked for a lack of 5 yards. Rutgers was referred to as for holding on the play however BC declined the penalty. Rutgers punted from the BC 43 with 4:11 to play within the first.
Shotgun blast
BC has the ball third and 19 from its personal 11 when Jurkovec fumbled the snap and turned it over. Rutgers defensive lineman Wesley Bailey recovered the ball on the BC 6. Rutgers scored on a one-yard dive by Monangai, however the two-point conversion go was knocked away by BC cornerback CJ Burton to make it 14-12.
“We sent a roller on the snap and they score two plays later,” stated Hafley.
Source: www.bostonherald.com