The Boston College football team has earned a spot in the The Associated Press Top 25 poll for the first time since 2018 after beating FCS Duqesne 56-0 on Saturday.
BC is now ranked 24th after following up their opening day win over then-No. 10 Florida State with a thrashing of Duquesne. It's just the second time since 2009 that they have been ranked nationally.
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Thomas Castellanos threw for 234 yards and four touchdowns in the first half Saturday before new BC coach Bill O’Brien went to his bench.
“I’ll be honest with you: I don’t know the difference between FBS, FCS, NCIS, CIA. I have no idea,” O’Brien told reporters after improving to 2-0 in Chestnut Hill. “I just know that Duquesne is a tough football team, and we had to be ready to play them.”
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Castellanos completed 9 of 10 passes, including TDs of 72, 49, 30 and 4 yards — all to different receivers. His only incompletion came when he overthrew open receiver Jaedn Skeete for what could have been a touchdown; instead, he hit Lewis Bond for 26 yards on the next play to set up Treshaun Ward’s 3-yard run that made it 7-0.
“I’m really mad. I should have hit Skeete on that one,” Castellanos said. “I got on my knees and I apologized to him.”
Bond caught five passes for 98 yards and a 49-yard TD – all in the first half – and Reed Harris caught a 72-yard score.
After going nowhere on its first drive, BC (2-0) scored touchdowns on its next five possessions – and added Khari Johnson’s pick-6 – to end the first half with a 42-0 lead.
I go against Khari every day,” Bond said. “It was good to see him make a play against somebody else for a change.”
Backup quarterback Jacobe Robinson came on to start the second half for the Eagles and fumbled on his third play before BC took a 49-0 lead on a 47-yard run by Datrell Jones. Robinson ran it in from 9 yards out in the final minutes to make it 56-0.
Ward ran for 55 yards and a touchdown, also all in the first half. Freshman Turbo Richard ran for 74 yards in the second for the Eagles, who opened O’Brien’s tenure with his hometown school by beating the Seminoles 28-13 in Tallahassee last week.
The Eagles are now scheduled to play at No. 6 Missouri, which is 2-0, at 12:45 p.m. on Saturday.
