FOXBOROUGH – After a quarter, the UMass football team looked poised to go toe to toe with Boston College. But for the remaining three the Eagles systematically beat the Minutemen back and took over the game.
BC scored the final 26 points of the game en route to a 26-7 win over UMass on Saturday at Gillette Stadium.
The Eagles’ defense changed coordinators and personnel from the unit that led the nation in total yards allowed last year, but the updated edition was still sharp enough to dominate the Minutemen.
UMass couldn’t move the ball in the air or on the ground. The Minutemen had 33 rushes for -23 yards. Quarterback Ross Comis lost 59 yards on eight sacks. Though Comis was 4-for-7 in the first quarter, he was 7-for-21 the rest of the way. He finished with 145 yards, one touchdown and one interception and lost two fumbles.
UMass punted 12 times and had just eight first downs in the game.
The Minutemen were called for a false start penalty on the first play of the game and never really got in sync. His team’s lack of poise surprised UMass coach Mark Whipple; his athletes played with more composure last week at Florida.
“Our guys were nervous coming out. They jumped offside and they didn’t do that at Florida, which is where you’d expect that,” Whipple said. “We had to settle down. We never got the run game going. Our defense played hard. When they got the lead we didn’t do anything. They were just better today.”
Senior quarterback Patrick Towles led BC in the air and on the ground. He rushed for 66 yards on 12 carries, mostly on drive-extending scrambles. He completed 12 of 22 throws for 191 yards and two touchdowns.
Neither offense was sharp early as the game’s first four drives ended on three punts and a turnover on downs.
UMass broke through first. A defensive breakdown by BC led to Adam Breneman being wide open in the middle of the field. Comis hit him at the BC 40 and the big tight end covered the rest of the ground himself on the 58-yard touchdown that put UMass up 7-0 with 2 minutes, 23 seconds left in the first quarter.
James Allen nearly picked off BC’s first touchdown, but Towles’ pass slipped through his fingers and Jeff Smith pulled it down for a 36-yard TD. BC missed the extra point initially, but it was negated by a penalty. So the Eagles lined up, kicked again and missed again, leaving UMass ahead 7-6 with 4:32 left in the half.
But two second quarter fumbles by Comis proved costly for UMass and gave Boston College momentum and the lead. The first one came on a scramble and the sophomore quarterback had the ball dislodged while pushing for extra yards. After recovering it on the UMass 36, BC attacked.
Towles lofted the ball just out of the reach of UMass defenders for a 36-yard touchdown pass to Smith with 3:08 left in the half. The PAT was good this time and the Eagles took a 13-7 lead.
After Comis lost 11 yards on a third-down sack on the ensuing drive, deep in UMass territory, Logan Laurent punted the ball 55 yards out of trouble.
Shane Huber appeared to grab momentum back when he intercepted Towles and returned the ball to the Eagle 20. But an incomplete pass followed by a 1-yard run set up third-and-9. Comis held the ball too long and Connor Strachan ripped it loose stunting the drive and allowing BC to head to halftime up 13-7.
“If we lose the turnover game by two we don’t have a chance to win against these people, against a Power 5,” Whipple said. “That’s not going to happen.”
The Eagles had two third quarter field goals to make it 19-7 before a 15- yard touchdown run by Jon Hilliman with 4:15 left put the game out of reach.
UMass (0-2) returns to Amherst next week and will host Florida International at 3:30 p.m. at McGuirk Stadium.
Matt Vautour can be reached at mvautour@gazettenet.com. Get UMass coverage delivered in your Facebook news feed at www.facebook.com/GazetteUMassCoverage