Freshman running back Marcus Outlow led the Eagles, tallied 107 yards and recorded his first career reception while option quarterback Tyler Murphy added 99 yards on 13 carries to lead Boston College past Maine, 40-10, on Saturday afternoon at Alumni Stadium.
The Eagles overcame a very sluggish start and scored the final 30 points to put away the Black Bears. BC improved to 3-1 for the first time since 2009, gaining over 500 yards in total offense for the third time in 2014.
“Obviously it’s great to get our third win,” BC coach Steve Addazio said. “We certainly didn’t come out of the blocks very well. We were lethargic. We made a bunch of mistakes which is my responsibility. I’ve got to go back and take a look at our preparation, but we did come out in the second half and I thought we played much more physically. I won’t say it was clean but it was more physical.
“Coach Cosgrove and Maine came out and played hard. They did exactly what you think their program would do. Be physical, be tough and play hard. They absolutely did that. The amount of mistakes we made on both sides of the ball early, that’s on me. I’ve got to get that right. I’m not happy about that. We’ll get that fixed.”
The Eagles had another huge game on the ground, rushing for 413 yards and gaining at least 300 for the third game in 2014. Defensively, the Eagles held their opponent to under 20 rushing yards for the second straight game. The Eagles yielded just 16 rushing yards to Maine. In the last two games (wins over USC and Maine), BC has gained 865 rushing yards while allowing just 36.
Murphy, the graduate quarterback who transferred from Florida, entered the day leading all quarterbacks in the nation with 401 yards rushing. He gained 99 yards before being taken out midway into the final quarter, falling just short of his third 100-yard rushing game this season.
Murphy rushed for two touchdowns and threw for one while throwing for 130 more yards on an 11-for-18 afternoon. He has scored at least one rushing and passing touchdown in three of the four games in 2014 and rushed for at least 90 yards in all four.
Outlow also caught a 28-yard pass from Murphy that set up first-and-goal in the third quarter as Boston College began to pull away in the second half. Maine (1-2) actually led 7-0 when they scored its first touchdown against Boston College since 1915. After the game was tied at 10 early in the second quarter, the Eagles ran off 30 straight points to take the win.
Outlow gained all of his yards on the ground in the fourth quarter. He became the first true freshmen to rush for over 100 yards since 2008 when Montel Harris gained 116 in a win over Maryland. Jon Hilliman upped his career highs, rushing 21 times for 98 yards and running in for two scores for the second straight game.
Maine capitalized on a BC turnover to get on the board first with 9:41 left in the first quarter. On third-and-11, Murphy got rid of the ball as the Maine defender closed in on him. The ball tipped off Hilliman’s hands and Randy Samuels intercepted it at the BC 20-yard line. After a personal foul moved the ball to the 11, quarterback Dan Collins fired to Micah Wright for an 11-yard touchdown pass to give the Black Bears a 7-0 lead.
Collins finished the day with 113 yards on an 8-for-13 night. Drew Belcher was 2-for-5 with 10 passing yards and 10 rushing yards on seven attempts.
The Eagles got on the board on the next drive with a 40-yard Alex Howell field goal. The Eagles ran the ball on all 10 plays of the drive, highlighted by a 19-yard run by freshman Sherman Alston.
It didn’t take long for BC to pull ahead after the Eagles defense forced the Black Bears to go three-and-out. Murphy set a new career-long as he took off on the first play and ran 71 yards to give the Eagles a 10-7 lead with just over three minutes to go in the first quarter.
The Black Bears tied the game early in the second quarter. On a play action, Collins connected on a 67-yard pass to a wide-open Jeremy Salmon to take it to the BC 12-yard line. Senior linebacker Josh Keyes made the tackle before Salmon could reach the end zone. The defense held strong, forcing Sean Decloux to kick a 24-yard field goal to make it 10-all with just under 10 to go in the half.
Murphy connected with senior wide receiver Josh Bordner for a 48-yard TD pass to put the Eagles back up, 16-10, with 6:29 to go in the half. Senior kicker Joey Launceford extra-point attempt was blocked to keep the BC lead at six. It was Bordner’s second score on the season, setting a career-long reception for the wide receiver.
Boston College looks for their third straight win next Saturday when they host Colorado State at 12:30 p.m. at Alumni Stadium. The game will be televised on the ACC Digital Network.
‘You’re 3-1. You got your third win,” Addazio added. “You’ve got a chance to go get your fourth win. This is football. There are ebbs and flows and ups and downs in football. You’re trying to level them out but I learned a long time ago, cherish the wins. When you start not cherishing the wins and you start nitpicking too much on that, then you’re missing the boat there but having said that what needs to be fixed, needs to be fixed. We made too many stumble bumble errors in there.’