Ground and Pound: O'Brien, Boston College Run Game Tramples Duquesne

Another week, another win for Bill O'Brien and the Boston College Eagles. Now at 2-0, the BC run game has emerged as one of the most dangerous in the country.

Dec 28, 2023; Boston, MA, USA; Boston College Eagles running back Kye Robichaux (5) breaks through tackles and runs the ball during the second half against the Southern Methodist Mustangs at Fenway Park. Mandatory Credit: Eric Canha-Imagn Images / Eric Canha-Imagn Images

For the second week in a row, the Boston College Eagles and head coach Bill O'Brien trampled their opponent on the turf en route to a convincing win.

Thomas Castellanos might have tossed four touchdowns in Saturday's win over Duquesne, but much like last week, a different flavor led the way on paper for O'Brien and the Eagles.

This week's flavor, though, was a bit stronger than in the previous win over Florida State. BC's 56-0 trampling of Duquesne was over by half time, but that didn't stop plenty of Eagles from getting their money's worth the old fashioned way.

Four rushers totalled over 50 yards on the day, with freshman Turbo Richard living up to his name and leading the running back stable in yardage with 74 yards. Datrell Jones followed with 65 yards, Kansas State transfer Treshaun Ward finished with 55 and Jordan McDonald finished with 54. The highlight of the run game on the day was a 47 yard scamper to the house from Jones.

These numbers combined with a few other Eagles, including Kyle Robichaux, led BC to finish with 306 total rush yards on the day, which easily bested the number set in the win against FSU. Head coach Bill O'Brien spoke about that kind of improvement in a press conference earlier this week.

"Everybody in this program has to be into improvement," said O'Brien. "The key to any good football team is how do they improve, because at the end of the day it's the team that improves the fastest (that wins.) It doesn't really matter where you are in week one, it's where you are in week 12."

Going into the week three matchup with Mizzou, the Eagles are averaging a blistering 42 points per contest on a staggering 284.5 rushing yards a game. BC and its fans are riding a high that rivals many felt within the program for a long time.

After receiving 49 votes in the last AP poll, and several teams in the lower echelon of the top 25 playing stiff competition this weekend, Boston College could very well be headed towards its first game as a ranked school since 2018. Assuming Missouri bests Buffalo this week, the game would serve as one of the few top 25 matchups on the week three slate.