Boston College Football Can't Hold Onto Eight-Point Lead in Fourth, Falls to Virginia Tech
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CHESTNUT HILL, Mass. — While Boston College football possessed an eight-point lead with 11 minutes remaining in Saturday’s league matchup against Virginia Tech, the Eagles were unable to finish the job, falling to the Hokies (4-0, 1-0 ACC) 21-14.
BC (2-2, 0-1 ACC) looked in control of the game until Virginia Tech tied the contest at 14 apiece with quarterback Ethan Grunkemeyer’s 14-yard passing touchdown, followed by a successful two-point conversion via running back Jeffrey Overturn Jr., who finished the game with 190 rushing yards and a score on 24 attempts.
After coughing up the ball on the following drive, which lasted just five plays before the Eagles were forced to punt, BC surrendered a 76-yard rushing touchdown to Overturn on the first play of Virginia Tech’s drive, putting the nail in its coffin.
On the first drive of the game, the Eagles forced a Hokies’ three and out and drove the ball all the way from their 43-yard line to Virginia Tech’s 28 before coming to a halt on 4th-and-9.
Instead of attempting a field goal, BC went for it, but quarterback Mason McKenzie’s scramble went only seven yards, resulting in a turnover on downs.
That theme carried on throughout the rest of the quarter and for most of the second, too, as neither team scored a single point until there were 16 seconds left in the half, when Virginia Tech kicker John Love nailed a 45-yard field goal for the game’s first points.
While the Eagles trailed 3-0 going into halftime, the total yards were tied at 117 apiece, and they led in time of possession 16:32 to 13:28.
However, BC was penalized twice more than the Hokies for more than twice the amount of yards lost and went 0-for-7 on third downs and 1-for-2 on fourth downs.
The Eagles had a chance to come out in the second half and make a statement with the opening possession, as they received the opening kickoff of the second half.
But they were held to a three and out and let the Hokies right back into the red zone on the ensuing punt.
After McKenzie was sacked on third down for a loss of 10 yards, Bryce LaFollette sent a punt 45 yards down the field to returner Que’Sean Brown, who scurried right through the Eagles’ containment for a 50-yard return to set up Virginia Tech’s offense on the Eagles’ 10-yard line.
BC’s defense would not give away more points easily, however, as it prevented the Hokies from scoring a touchdown and held them to a second field goal instead, which made it 6-0 in Virginia Tech’s favor with 11:58 left in the third quarter.
Less than two minutes later, the Eagles found themselves in the lead.
After just his seventh completion of the game for a pickup of 19 yards via Javarius Green’s catch and run and back-to-back runs totaling 10 yards, McKenzie blasted off on a scramble for a gain of 45 on 3rd-and-4, handing BC field position on the Hokies’ five-yard line.
With the near-50-yard gain, McKenzie eclipsed 2,000 rushing yards for his collegiate career, and he easily carried the ball into the endzone on the next play for his second rushing score of the season.
McKenzie gets it done with his legs! 🦅
— ACC Football (@ACCFootball) September 26, 2026
📺 @accnetwork x @BCFootball pic.twitter.com/qP5UDlYAa7
McKenzie’s rushing total for the game increased to 111 yards and a touchdown on 15 attempts, and the score established a 7-6 BC lead after Luca Lombardo’s successful extra-point attempt with 9:52 left in the quarter, which the Eagles brought into the final 15 minutes of action thanks to a pair of impressive defensive efforts.
The first came just two minutes after the touchdown, as defensive back Max Tucker forced Virginia Tech running back Marcellous Hawkins Jr. to fumble on a long third down, which Tucker recovered at the Hokies’ 22-yard line after it bounced around.
While the Eagles ultimately were forced to punt after going three and out, Tucker came up clutch once again on a 4th-and-4 at the BC 34-yard line, tackling Brown just one yard past the line of scrimmage to force a turnover on downs.
It took just nine plays for the Eagles to extend their lead to 14-6 on McKenzie’s second rushing touchdown, this one of two yards, immediately following a 20-yard completion to Dawson Pough.
Mason takes it himself once again
— Boston College Football (@BCFootball) September 26, 2026
📺 ACC Network pic.twitter.com/CH5GbmpGHy
But Virginia Tech would not let its guard down just yet.
Largely on the back of Grunkemeyer and Overturn, the Hokies orchestrated an 11-play, 80-yard scoring drive that nearly had a very different outcome if it were not for Marcus Upton’s defensive-holding penalty on 4th-and-2 at BC’s 40-yard line, which handed Virginia Tech a fresh set of downs at the Eagles’ 30.
Just three plays later, Grunkemeyer fired a gem to Jackson in the back of the endzone over defensive back Charlie Comella, and Overturn added the two-point conversion on a run up the middle to knot the score up at 14 apiece with 8:05 left in regulation.
Just minutes later, Overturn put the game to bed with his 76-yarder, sealing the ACC win for the visitors.
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Graham Dietz is a 2025 graduate of Boston College and subsequently joined Boston College On SI. He previously served as an editor for The Heights, the independent student newspaper, from fall 2021, including as Sports Editor from 2022-23. Graham works for The Boston Globe as a sports correspondent, covering high school football, girls' basketball, and baseball. He was also a beat writer for the Chatham Anglers of the Cape Cod Baseball League in the summer of 2023.
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