The defense gave Boston College a chance Saturday in Dallas, but the offense couldn’t capitalize in a 25-16 loss to No. 21 Southern Methodist University.
After another inconsistent performance, the Eagles (2-3, 0-2 Atlantic Coast Conference) have now dropped two consecutive winnable games to conference foes.
The Mustangs (4-1, 2-1), who entered with the nation’s top passing attack statistically, struggled to crack a sturdy Boston College secondary. Those efforts weren’t enough, as the Eagles — who had 35 to 45 players battling the flu leading up to the game — committed 11 penalties for 95 yards at Gerald J. Ford Stadium.
Southern Methodist struck first on a 2-yard touchdown run from Kendrick Raphael with 11:33 left in the first quarter. Boston College answered with a 52-yard field goal from Luca Lombardo, then took a 10-6 advantage through one quarter on a 43-yard TD pass from Mason McKenzie to Evan Dickens.
The Mustangs responded with a 4-yard rush from quarterback Kevin Jennings five minutes into the second quarter and took a 13-10 lead into halftime. The Eagles, who entered as 21-point underdogs, remained well within striking distance after holding the Mustangs to 68 passing yards.
A strip-sack from SMU’s Marques White and return from Aakil Washington led to a 14-yard touchdown toss by Jennings to Randy Pittman Jr. The BC defense responded, forcing the hosts into a ridiculous fourth and 51 to keep the score at 19-10 through three quarters.
On fourth and 1 from the SMU 8-yard line, McKenzie floated a ball to Cameron Kossmann, who dropped it to give the Mustangs back the ball with 12:09 remaining.
Jennings then found Derrick McFall for a 20-yard scoring strike at the 4:37 mark. McKenzie hit Danny Edgehille for a 6-yard score with 2:07 remainning, but the 2-point pass was no good and SMU ran out the clock from there.
Trevor Hass can be reached at trevor.hass@globe.com. Follow him on X @TrevorHass.