USC at Boston College Final Score: Eagles Stun #9 Trojans With 37-31 Win

USC at Boston College Final Score: On Saturday night at Alumni Stadium, the Boston College Eagles shocked the college football world by beating the #9 USC Trojans, 37-31.

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With the win, the Eagles improve to 2-1 (0-1) on the season, but far more milestones were achieved with the victory. The win over USC on Saturday was Boston College’s first over a ranked team since 2008, and their first over a top-ten team since the Eagles came back late at Lane Stadium on a Thursday night in 2007.

USC at Boston College Final Score: Early Signs of Life

Boston College’s defense, which had a great deal of trouble corralling the Pittsburgh run game last weekend, seemed stout early as they held USC on each of their first two possessions. The first was a three-and-out while the second saw USC move into Boston College territory, but not advance beyond the 47.

USC at Boston College Final Score: Trojans Take The Lead

On their third possession, however, the Trojans would go on top following a short punt by Alex Howell from deep within his own territory. USC had a short field and went 38 yards in six plays for the first score of the game, notched by George Farmer. That was the first of Cody Kessler‘s four touchdown passes on the night for the Trojans.

After holding the Eagles to a three-and-out, USC got the ball back and scored a field goal on another short field, this time starting from the Eagles’ 33. With a 10-0 lead, despite some good signs, the Eagles were behind early.

USC at Boston College Final Score: Boston College’s Big Runs

Boston College finally broke a big play late in the first quarter as Myles Willis went 52 yards to take the ball deep into Trojans territory. Keeping it on the ground, the Eagles would eventually hand it to Tyler Rouse, who got Boston College on the board with a four-yard run. Joey Launceford missed the ensuing extra-point attempt.

USC would strike back and take a 17-6 lead following a 51-yard touchdown pass to Javorius Allen, who streaked out of the backfield and blew past the entire defense in a multifold blown coverage scenario. The momentum looked to be gone, but on the following drive, the Eagles went 75 yards in eight plays to respond, capped by a Jon Hilliman touchdown run, making it 17-13.

The defenses reasserted themselves until the end of the first half, when one play by Sherman Alston put the Eagles on top for good. On the first play of the Eagles’ drive, Alston went 54 yards for the touchdown and Boston College took the lead, 20-17.

The next score would not come until about mid-way through the third, when Jon Hilliman scored another touchdown, this one to make it a 27-17 game. When Boston College added a Joey Launceford field goal mid-way through the fourth, the Eagles held a 30-17 advantage.

USC at Boston College Final Score: USC Threatens

The next three drives were all touchdowns: one by USC on a Kessler to Nelson Agholor pass, the next on a 66-yard touchdown run by Tyler Murphy, and the final on a Kessler to Darreus Rogers air strike. The score was 37-31 with 1:18 to go, but Boston College recovered the onside kick and literally ran out the clock.

Jon Hilliman picked up 39 yards on Boston College’s final drive while the Eagles eventually ran out the clock.

USC at Boston College Final Score: Dominant Line Play & Run Game

In last year’s meeting, USC had their way with the Eagles at the line of scrimmage in what was a very poor effort for Boston College. On Saturday night, the tables were turned. USC looked gassed and the Eagles’ run game was allowed to shine.

In fact, Boston College rushed for 452 yards on the Trojans, which is a shocking number even when one considers that they are/were the #9 team in the country. On the flip side, the Trojans rushed for only 20 the whole night. The turn of events was shocking.

USC at Boston College Final Score: Defense Comes Back

To hold the Trojans to 337 yards was nice, but that’s not the only reason why the Eagles defense had a very good game.

Boston College had an astounding sixteen tackles for a loss against USC, and sacked Cody Kessler five times. Those numbers alone are capable of making an Eagles fan go speechless.

USC at Boston College Final Score: Significance

More will be said on this later but this was hands-down Boston College’s biggest win since they beat the Hokies with Matt Ryan in 2007. Taking down a top ten team is always impressive, even if the other team has the excuse of it being a “trap” game.

Meanwhile, the Eagles are back on schedule in terms of bowl math: they have accounted for the loss to Pittsburgh and can get themselves to the Colorado State game at 3-1 if they don’t suffer a trap of their own against Maine. Were it not for the Pitt disaster last week, the Eagles might be ranked by Sunday.