Recap: Boston College scrapes by Maine, 22-16

CHESTNUT HILL, MA - SEPTEMBER 11: Bill O'Brien of the Boston College Eagles speaks after a game against Rutgers University at Alumni Stadium on September 11, 2026 in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts. (Photo by Burt Granofsky/ISI Photos/ISI Photos via Getty Images) | ISI Photos via Getty Images

On Saturday afternoon, the Boston College football team faced off against the Maine Black Bears at Alumni Stadium for Week 3 of the 2026 regular season.

The first possession already showed some fireworks when Boston College recovered a Maine fumble on the opening kickoff. But BC failed on their 4th down conversion in the first set of downs, so the Black Bears took over on offense like nothing happened. But they had to punt anyway, and Boston College followed up their next drive with an Evan Dickens rushing touchdown from 39 yards out. It was 7-0 early.

Maine managed to drive down the field on their next drive towards midfield, but Boston College DB KP Price snagged a tipped pass on 3rd down and put the Eagles right back into threatening territory. BC got all the way to the 5-yard line and opted to go for the 4th down conversion on 4th & 1, but once again were stopped and turned another early possession over to Maine. The Black Bears went 3 & out immediately and committed a holding penalty in the endzone on 3rd down, causing a safety that gave BC a 9-0 lead.

In their following drive, Mason McKenzie quickly found Jonathan Montague Jr. in the endzone as the Maine defender lost him, resulting in an easy bread basket catch to extend the BC lead to 16-0. And Maine couldn't follow up with any offensive juice, eventually recovering their own fumble on 3rd down and punting right back to the Eagles to start the 2nd quarter.

Evan Dickens dropped a third down throw that ended BC's next drive, but they got the ball back rather quickly after the defensive line sacked Maine's quarterback and forced a punt. After a few quarterback runs, Mason McKenzie went down with a leg injury that took him out for a brief period, then was followed by an interception that gave Maine possession in BC territory. The Black Bears nearly made a connection in the end zone for their own touchdown, but eventually settled for just a field goal to make it a 16-3 BC lead.

The Eagles offense found its footing shortly after, making a long connection with Zeke Moore up the seam for a large gain to get BC in the redzone. On 3rd & goal, Montague bobbled a contested pass in the endzone and couldn't convert the TD, so BC was forced to kick a field goal to extend their lead to 19-3 with 2:48 left in the first half.

With very little time left, Maine still managed to drive down the field and convert a 2nd & 22 to eventually score a TD to make it a 19-10 ballgame at halftime. It was a rough look for the Boston College pass defense, who couldn't stop the Black Bears to end the firs half in what should've been a blowout at that point. Instead it was barely as two-possession game.

Boston College's second half wasn't exactly cleaner, but they did what they needed to do. After the first two drives of the second half ended with an INT on either side, BC kicked in a 26-yard field goal to extend their lead to 22-10. Their offense didn't achieve anything after that, while their defense gave up an 80 yard touchdown drive. But it wasn't enough to pull off the upset, and the Eagles managed to drive for long enough to end the game with a 22-16 victory. A lackluster effort against an FCS opponent, but a win nonetheless.