This is the Depth Dossier: the Boston College Eagles, Week 7.

Boston College needed a blocked punt and some late heroics to save this one from itself, pulling out a 27 to 21 win over Pittsburgh after trailing 9 to nothing early.

Here's the quick version. Boston College's offense found its footing, then blew the game open 46 seconds into the third quarter when quarterback Mason McKenzie hit wide receiver Landon Wright for a 69-yard touchdown. McKenzie finished with a career-high 295 yards and two touchdowns. Wright caught just two passes, but they went for 122 yards. The defense forced three turnovers, capped by a Charlie Comella interception with a minute thirty-four left to seal it. Boston College controlled the clock for almost 32 minutes despite averaging only 2.6 yards a carry, which tells you this game was really won on third down, where the Eagles converted 8 of 13, and on Pittsburgh's penalty sheet, which added up to 13 flags for 133 yards. Head coach Bill O'Brien called his team resilient after that ugly start, and that's the story in one word.

Now, that opening sequence deserves a closer look, because it was a disaster waiting to happen. Pittsburgh sacked McKenzie for an 8-yard loss on the very first snap, forced a fourth and fifteen, blocked the punt, and Boston College then gave up a safety on an illegal bat penalty for knocking the ball out of the end zone. O'Brien burned an early timeout just to calm his defense down, and defensive back Carter Davis said he spent that whole sideline conversation repeating, "We're good. We're good."

From there, this turned into a game decided by a handful of huge plays rather than steady drives. Wright's 69-yard score, plus another 53-yard gain, and chunk plays from running back Johnathan Montague Junior and wide receiver Javarius Green did the heavy lifting, while the running game stayed stuck around two and a half yards a carry most of the day.

Turnovers tilted things Boston College's way. Defensive back KP Price had a diving interception off a tipped pass, Davis forced a fumble that linebacker Marcelous Townsend recovered for his first career takeaway, and Comella's pick sealed it. But McKenzie also threw two interceptions inside Pittsburgh's 10-yard line. O'Brien's read on that was blunt: "Sometimes he forces it a little bit."

Special teams and penalties filled in the rest of the story. Pittsburgh's 133 penalty yards included seven accepted flags on a single scoring drive, the kind of self-inflicted damage that bails out a stalled possession. Boston College had its own scare when Comella muffed a punt before recovering it deep in his own territory, and kicker Luca Lombardo missed an extra point that made the final sequence more nervous than it needed to be.

Now let's get into the depth chart, because the injury news is the lead item there. Running back Evan Dickens was helped off in the fourth quarter, not putting weight on his leg, after a 15-carry, 57-yard, one-touchdown day that also included a 53-yard catch. He's questionable and trending toward missing next week against Georgia Tech. Defensive lineman Gavin Neil was shaken up in the third quarter and didn't come back either, also questionable, with his status still unconfirmed. If Dickens can't go, the backfield workload becomes a real question, especially given how little the ground game produced even with him healthy.

On offense, Wright's breakout is the move to watch. Two catches, 122 yards, a career-long touchdown, and by the grading he led the entire offense. That's a role that should keep growing. McKenzie's two red-zone interceptions are also worth tracking after O'Brien's comment about him forcing throws, even with the career-high yardage attached.

On defense, Davis posted a career-high 11 tackles to go with his forced fumble and a pass breakup, and Price added 10 tackles and an interception. Both delivered the kind of games that keep them featured, and O'Brien specifically praised Price for staying available. With Dickens banged up and Neil's status uncertain, keep an eye on who picks up those snaps heading into Georgia Tech.

This was the depth dossier. For everything college football, be it depth charts, data or dossiers, head over to C F B Depth dot com. We will be back next week. This was an AI-generated podcast from content developed by real human beings passionate about college football.