The Boston College Eagles (4-4, 1-3 ACC) football team is looking to snap its three-game losing streak on Saturday afternoon as it hosts the Syracuse Orange (6-2, 3-2 ACC). 

On Wednesday, Eagles head coach Bill O’Brien spoke about how his team is preparing for the upcoming matchup. 

Below is a transcript of everything O’Brien said. 

Q: We haven’t asked you much about Ashton McShane and Omar Thornton. Just what have you seen out of those two to improve to where they are now? 

O’BRIEN: Yeah, really good, young players. Got a lot of good, young players in the program, guys that are getting better every day. Ashton and Omar are a good example of that. Good students in the classroom, good football players, everything that we’re looking for here at Boston College. 

Q: Coach, I know Fran Brown is a defensive coach by his nature, but offensively, this team’s really been strong passing. Just kind of, what did they show you on film as a passing offense?

O’BRIEN: Yeah, Coach Brown’s done a great job there. To come into these situations where you’re a new head coach like myself, Coach Brown, it’s not easy to come in there and to get his team to 6-2, where they’re at, they’re a very good football team. Offensively, very explosive, very, very difficult to stop. We’re going to have to do a lot of different things, right? We’re going to have to play one snap at a time. They’ve got a great passing game. Got a really good running game with [LeQuint] Allen their running back, obviously McCord the quarterback, the receivers, the tight ends are very good. So they’ve got a good football team. They’re very well coached and we’re going to show up and play as good as we can. And Syracuse’s got a great team. 

Q: There hasn’t been a tight end who’s finished with four touchdowns on the season since 2021 Trae Barry did it, and Kamari’s already at that number. I’m just wondering kind of what you think he has done well to fit into this offense this year. This is obviously his first year here, and will be his last. And you know, also just on the personal side, in the locker room, what he’s done for the team.

O’BRIEN: Yeah, Kamari’s awesome. I’m sad that it’s his last year. He’s just an awesome guy on the team. He’s a very good player. He does everything we ask him to do. He shows up every day of practice, has not missed one practice. If he’s banged up, plays hurt. Just a great guy. BC guy, even though he came here from North Carolina, but he’s a BC guy and everything that we’re looking for in a BC guy. And the same thing I would say about Jeremiah Franklin. Both those guys have done an awesome job of doing what we asked them to do, being great in the locker room like this is what we’re looking for both those guys.

Q: Coach, to go back to Syracuse’s offense, I wanted to ask because they rank very highly in terms of getting the ball out quick and passes that are between one and nine yards downfield. Is that something that, taking that away, is that more on the pass rush or on the defensive backs? 

O’BRIEN: It’s hard. Yeah, it’s very, very difficult because they do have a very, very good, efficient passing game. So look, obviously I don’t want to really get into all that relative to what we’re going to do and what they’re going to do, but that’s what one of the things, one of the many things that makes them very, very hard to defend, is their their passing game because of how efficient it is. You’ve got guys that are good route runners, a quarterback that really understands coverage, tight ends, backs that understand what their role in the passing game is. You got an offensive line that really gets it too. So, we’ll do the best we can. We got to tackle, we got to play sound fundamentally but it’s a very, very tough challenge for us.

Q: Coach, you’ve coached your fair share of dynamic athletes at quarterback with guys like the DeShaun [Watson] in Houston and Bryce [Young] at Alabama. When you first took over BC’s program, what role did having a dual threat like Thomas [Castellanos] play in your decision to come to Chestnut Hill?

O’BRIEN: No, it wasn’t really about the players. I knew that we would have awesome guys here. It was more about the whole picture of Boston College and what I believe in and my wife went to school here. It’s a decision that was made based on knowing that there were awesome guys here on the team, good guys that were going to be fun to coach at this stage of my career, just really all the things that I believe in, right? You can combine great education with good football in a great city on a beautiful campus. That’s what it’s all about. Having Tommy here has been great. Tommy’s a fun guy to coach, shows up every day and has tried to get better each and every day. So Tommy’s been a fun guy to coach.

Q: Hey coach, thanks for taking the time. My question for you would be, when you look at the way your team has played this season, only two games in which you guys have won both halves of a game. How do you guys make sure that you play a full game of football and not just one half and then lose the other?

O’BRIEN: Yeah, that’s the key. I mean, I don’t really know. If I knew the answer, we probably would have more wins. We’ve got to do a better job of coaching 60 minutes, the players have to do a better job of playing 60 minutes, but that’s the key. We have. We’ve been in a lot of close games. We’ve either gotten the lead, given it up, or had to come from behind after we’ve given up a lead. And so we need to play more of a more consistent game for 60 minutes, no doubt about it, which we’re trying to do. We’re working very hard to do that. If I had the answer to that question though, I’d really implement those ideas. I’m just trying to work hard to make sure that these guys get better every single day and we’ll see what happens on Saturday.

Q: More along those lines, what’s the formula for sustaining long drives in the fourth quarter? How do you guys keep drives going in the fourth? 

O’BRIEN: I mean, it’s all about staying on schedule. I wish I knew. I wish I knew. We get first down, we don’t gain yards so now it’s second and long, or it ends up being third and long. Or maybe it’s not, maybe it’s third and manageable, can’t get the third down, whatever it might be. Maybe it’s better plays, maybe it’s better execution. We’re just working hard to get it better.

Q: Coach, I know you didn’t cross with McCord at Ohio State for that little short time, I think he had already entered the portal before you got there. But that type of quarterback, not necessarily how you would stop him individually, that type of quarterback, 6’3”, 220 [pounds]. What kind of makes that unique for quarterbacks versus the emergence of dual threat guys?

O’BRIEN: Well, he can run too. I mean, he makes a lot of plays off schedule plays. I think he averages about 17 yards per completion on off schedule plays. So he can run. He’s a very good athlete. He’s a bigger guy. He’s a very accurate passer, good decision maker. He’s got a lot of good qualities. When you talk about quarterback, he checks a lot of the boxes, and so it’s, like I said, it’s a big challenge, but yeah, don’t think he can’t run. I would not label him a pocket passer at all. He’s a guy that can make, extended plays and make plays outside the pocket.

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