The Boston College Eagles fell on the road, 22-13, to the Northwestern Wildcats on Saturday, and the rushing game will shoulder much of the offensive blame.
Boston College running backs managed just 37 yards on 17 carries, and the team had 25 net yards rushing on 21 carries.
A.J. Black, of SB Nation's BC Interruption, examined some of the Eagles' failures in the ground game:
The problem on offense was the rushing game. First off, it was completely ineffective and completely destroyed any offensive momentum BC started to accumulate. As Rettig moved the ball through the air, the play calling continued to call running plays that went no where, which would back BC up and force Rettig to make tougher passes to keep the chains moving. The struggles was an entire unit issue just look at the yards per carry for each player: Rolandan Finch 2.4, Tahj Kimble 2.2, Andre Williams 1.8. This unit is capable of much more, and should have been able to run the ball, but the run blocking was horrendous, and the run plays called seemed very slow to develop. Couple that with yet another Finch fumble in the red zone, and this entire aspect of the game was a complete disaster.
Finch's fumble came at an important moment in the second half. Boston College was down, 12-10, but driving and had reached 1st and goal on the Northwestern 5 with a chance to take the lead. Finch got the call and put the ball on the ground. He finished as B.C.'s leading rusher, with just 19 yards on eight carries.
The loss moves the Eagles to 1-2 on the season. They will host the Clemson Tigers Sept. 29 after a week off, as Boston College's ACC schedule begins.
