Boston College is now 1-1 in the 2025 season

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Boston College dropped an overtime thriller to Michigan State, despite the heroic play of quarterback Dylan Lonergan. In a knock-down, drag-out college football game that required double overtime to be decided, the home team Michigan State Spartans managed to escape with a 42-40 triumph.

This win was payback for last year’s loss to the Eagles in Chestnut Hill. Quarterbacks Aidan Chiles and Dylan Lonergan took center stage in this contest with their stellar play. Lonergan was brilliant in defeat. He threw for a career-high 390 yards and four touchdowns. But Chiles grabbed the top headlines, completing 19 of 29 passes for 231 yards while rushing for 39 yards and one touchdown to lead his team to victory.

“We needed to win this game,” said Chiles. “Tonight, we were the tougher team.”

Chiles exhibited tremendous toughness by playing in the overtime sessions after being injured and taken to the medical tent on the last play of regulation.

“I was trying to waste time for my team,” said Chiles, explaining his strategy. “I’m not soft, I’m good. That’s really all I got to say about that. I’m straight. I knew I would be back for overtime.” 

Eagles QB Dylan Lonergan was 34/45, throwing for 390 yards and 4 td’s. PHOTO: JARED SCHUSTER/BOSTON COLLEGE ATHLETICS

Chiles was named Co-Big Ten Offensive Player of the Week. This is the first time that the quarterback has earned this award in his career. It’s also his second year leading the Green & White in Lansing. He hasn’t thrown an interception in his first two games of 2025. He was 15 for 31 with two touchdowns and no picks last week in a 24-17 win against the Purdue Boilermakers.

The game started well for Boston College when their opening drive punt was mishandled and fumbled by Michigan State’s Omari Kelly, which set the Eagles up in enemy territory. However, the Eagles gave the ball back on a forced fumble by MSU’s Jordan Hall. Kelly redeemed himself later in the game, finishing with four catches for 60 yards and a two-point conversion catch.

Lonergan led his BC squad to a game-tying 38-yard field goal by Luca Lombardo with 1:06 left in regulation, setting the stage for overtime fireworks. Michigan State scored on the first possession of overtime on Chile’s five-yard scoring toss to Jay Coyne. BC answered on a Lonergan to Jeremiah Franklin scoring connection.

Running back Turbo Richard ran for an eight-yard touchdown in the second overtime to give BC the lead, but the Eagles failed to convert the two-point conversion. Chiles tied the game on a three-yard touchdown run and threw the winning two-point conversion to Omari Kelly in double overtime for the final margin of 42-40.

“That was a beautiful football game, really, by both teams,” said Michigan State head coach Jonathon Smith. “I thought going back and forth, competing, obviously, in double overtime.”

BC head coach Bill O’Brien took a different view of things. “A lot of positives, but then the negatives are why we lost the game,” he said. “They did a better job of having more positive plays than we did. We had a lot of positive plays, but they had more.  In a game like that, that is why you lose, or you win.”

Another contributing factor to the Boston College defeat was their lack of a running game. After totaling only 97 yards against FCS opponent Fordham in their season-opening win, the Eagles were held to just 67 by the Spartans. 

“We’re not going to be able to throw the football 55 to 60 times a game,” said O’Brien. “I don’t think that’s a recipe for winning, so we have got to address the problems in our running game.”

On another front, Tommy Castellanos, who was the starting quarterback on last year’s BC squad, continues to shine for his Florida State Seminole team. Coming off his starring role in his team’s season-opening upset of 19th-ranked Alabama, Castellanos led Florida State to a 77-3 pounding of the Texas A & M Commerce Lions, pushing the Seminoles to a 2-0 mark on the season. His passing numbers of 389 yards and three touchdowns in two games have helped put his team in the top ten in national rankings.