BOSTON (AP) Mason McKenzie threw for two touchdowns and Boston College recovered from a miserable opening two minutes of the game, beating Pittsburgh 27-21 on Saturday.
McKenzie went 17 for 28 with 295 yards and two inceptions for the Eagles (3-3, 1-2 Atlantic Coast Conference).
“I think these guys did a really good job of being resilient. It didn’t start very well at all,” said BC coach Bill O’Brien, who called an early timeout late in the opening quarter to fire up his defense.
Making his first career start after QB Mason Heintschel was lost for the season with a torn ACL in his right knee during a victory at Virginia Tech two weeks ago, true freshman Corey Dailey completed 11 of 25 passes for 193 yards with two interceptions and a TD for Pittsburgh (5-2, 2-2).
“It was pretty much what I thought it would be,” Dailey said of his first start. “It’s faster. People are flying around, trying to confuse you. That’s what college football is.”
McKenzie hit Landon Wright with a 69-yard scoring pass on BC’s first drive of the second half, moving the Eagles ahead 21-12.
Two field goals by Antonio Chadha – 29 and 42 yards – narrowed it to 21-18 before Evan Dickens had a 1-yard TD run a play after McKenzie hit Wright with a 53-yard pass.
Raion Strader had his second pick of the game, giving the Panthers the ball at the BC 8 with just over 2 minutes left, but Charlie Comella had a pick to seal it.
Trailing 12-0 after its awful start, BC scored the next 14 points, jumping in front on McKenzie’s 11-yard score to Javarius Green.
“On the sideline I kept telling everybody: ‘We’re good. We’re good.’ It’s football,” BC safety Carter Davis said. “They jumped out on us. They had the blocked punt; everything that could have gone wrong for us went wrong at that time.”
Eagles linebacker Bodie Kahoun played his first game after being taken off the field by ambulance in a Sept. 11 victory over Rutgers.
The Panthers scored on the game’s first play from scrimmage: a 75-yard toss from Dailey to Cataurus Hicks and, after BC went three-and-out, Kanye Thompson blocked a punt with the ball getting knocked out of the end zone by a BC player for a safety, moving Pittsburgh ahead 9-0.
“They came out in a look that we thought they would and we liked it,” Dailey said about his TD pass on the opening play. “Took a shot and made a play.”
Pittsburgh had five penalties for 63 yards on one BC drive early in the second quarter. The Panthers were flagged 10 times for 103 yards in the first half and 13 for 133 overall.
Pittsburgh: After a brief stay in the AP Top 25 before losing at home against North Carolina last week, the Panthers were unimpressive with numerous breakdowns in the secondary against a team that entered 16th in the league in passing yards per game.
Boston College: It was a strange week for the Eagles’ program with GM Kenyatta Watson abruptly leaving. O’Brien wouldn’t elaborate during his media availability on Thursday.
Pittsburgh: At No. 3 Miami next Saturday at noon.
Boston College: At Georgia Tech next Saturday.
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