Northeast Bout Ends with Orange Loss

Rivalry Week came to Central New York on a cold day in late Fall when the Boston College Eagles came from a few hours away in Massachusetts to face the Syracuse Orange for the 59th time that these two northeast institutions have met on the football field, dating back to October 18, 1924.

Despite coming in with a 34-24 all-time record against the Eagles, the Orange were on the wrong side of a wo-game losing streak against their former Big East Conference and now Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) foe.

The true freshman Syracuse lacrosse player, Joe Filardi, who is a walk-on on the Orange football team, began the game under center for the Orange.

He would lead Syracuse's first drive after the Orange won the toss and deferred to the second half, and Boston College punted away the game-opening possession.

On third down, Syracuse would be flagged for a delay of game.

A play later, they would punt the ball back to the Eagles.

On the second drive by Boston College, Syracuse stopped a run play behind the line of scrimmage, but a facemask penalty on the Orange on the play would instead move the Eagles ahead 11 yards to the Orange 10-yard line.

A pass to the left side of the end zone would fall incomplete and redshirt-junior kicker Luca Lombardo would get Boston College on the scoreboard first on a 30-yard field goal with 4:04 remaining in the first quarter that gave the Eagles a 3-0 lead.

Syracuse would carry the ball seven-straight times on their second drive of the day, choosing not to attempt a single pass.

They would gain two first downs on this drive, the latter by tight end Dan Villari who began his collegiate career on the roster of the Michigan Wolverines as a quarterback. He would transfer to Syracuse as a quarterback and then was moved to tight end, back to quarterback, and back to tight end. Villari had been utilized under center previously by former Orange Head Coach Dino Babers back in the 2023 season where Villari got Syracuse a win over their rival Pittsburgh Panthers 28-13 on a neutral field at Yankee Stadium in Bronx, New York.

This drive would conclude with a 49-yard field goal by redshirt-freshman kicker Tripp Woody that tied the teams together at 3-3 at the 14:15 mark of the second quarter.

The Orange defense would force the Eagles to punt for the second time on three drives and the Orange offense would return to the field, using both Filardi and Villari under center.

With Filardi and Villari sharing the role of leading the offense, Syracuse gained four first downs and gained 65 yards, going from their own 24 to Boston College's 11-yard line, and, most importantly, coming away with points thanks to a 29-yard field goal by Woody that gave the Orange their first lead of the game, 6-3, at the 3:15 mark; ironically, that score by Woody came at the time that matches the Syracuse, New York, arear code of 315.

The Eagles would tie the game before halftime on a 31-yard field goal by Lombardo with 28 seconds remaining, evening the first half of this rivalry game at 6-6.

After Syracuse punted away their first possession of the second half, it took Boston College just three plays to score the first touchdown of the game. Redshirt-senior quarterback Grayson James found redshirt-senior wide receiver Lewis Bond for a 54-yard pass-play, followed by a keeper by James that went for nine yards and a 16-yard score where sophomore running back Turbo Richard took a carry through the middle and then went to the left in a diagonal carry to the end zone for a 16-yard score at the 11:54 mark that made it 13-6 Eagles.

Boston College would have another opportunity to score on their second drive of the third quarter, but a 40-yard attempt by Lombardo at the 7:09 mark would land outside the uprights.

The Eagles' third drive of the second half leaned heavily on the run, with six rush attempts to three in the passing game. James would go 2-for-3 on his pass attempts, with a 23-yard pass-play to Bond to start this drive and a 17-yard pass-play to senior tight end Jeremiah Franklin later on in this drive. Richard would amount 12 yards on his four attempts and senior running back Jordan McDonald would get the final seven yards needed to score, with a five-yard run followed by a two-yard touchdown to extend the Eagles' wingspan lead out to 14, ahead 20-6, with 59 seconds remaining in the third quarter.

Early in the fourth quarter, on 3rd-&-14, Filardi would be sacked by sophomore safety Omar Thornton for a loss of three yards and the Orange would punt the ball away.

James would connect with Franklin for 25 yards through the air to move Boston College from their own 29 to the Syracuse 46-yard line and Richard would take off for a 46-yard touchdown run on just the second play of this drive to advance the Eagles out to a 27-6 advantage with 13:35 left to play.

Boston College's four rushing touchdown of the day would come on their very next drive when McDonald went in from 14 yards away to bring the score to 34-6 Eagles with 9:24 remaining. This score kept the pattern going of Richard rushing touchdown, then McDonald rushing touchdown, then Richard, then McDonald again.

On the next Orange drive, Villari would carry the ball over the Eagles' threshold for a one-yard score to make it 34-12 Eagles with 3:21 to go.

Boston College would go for it on 4th-&-2 and Syracuse redshirt-junior linebacker Anwar Sparrow would tackle true freshman running back Mekhi Dodd for a loss of four yards and resulted in a turnover-on-downs at the Syracuse 39-yard line.

Filardi and his receivers were just a little off on two pass attempts and he was sacked on 4th-&-4 which resulted in the Eagles gaining the ball and kneeling once to end the game.

Despite coming into this game without a single win in the ACC (0-7), and only one win overall (1-10), the Eagles would rise above the Orange in the ACC standings as the Orange end the 2025 season as the worst team in the ACC with a record of 1-7 and the Eagles owning the head-to-head tiebreaker over them.

This is the third-straight loss for the Orange against the Eagles (17-10 at home in 2023 and 37-31 on the road in 2024).

Syracuse never won a game after redshirt-junior quarterback Steve Angeli tore his Achilles in a road match-up with the Clemson Tigers, going 0-8 after the 3-1 start that featured Angeli under center.

The Orange end the 2025 campaign with an overall record of 3-9, exactly opposite of how they ended last regular season, Fran Brown's first leading the Orange, which was a 9-3 finish.