All rise. The Court of Siobhan Dunleavy is now in session, and the Honorable Siobhan Dunleavy presiding. Yes, I'm also the prosecutor, the defense attorney and the jury. I was a debate champion, and I've never once met an argument I couldn't win, mostly because I keep appointing myself the judge.
Today's docket: one wicked good comeback, one trip to Atlanta and one very strong opinion about street names.
Objection: sustained.
Part 1: The People vs. a Terrible First Two Minutes
Boston College beat Pittsburgh 27-21 at Alumni Stadium on Saturday. We're 3-3 and 1-2 in the ACC. But let the record show that the first two minutes of this game were, to use the technical legal term, a disaster.
Exhibit A: Pitt scored on the very first play from scrimmage, a 75-yard touchdown pass. Exhibit B: After we went three-and-out, Pitt blocked our punt, and the ball got knocked out of the end zone for a safety. Exhibit C: a Pitt field goal. Twelve to nothing. I nearly called a mistrial.
But the defense rested, and then it didn't. Bo MacCormack III ran in from 1 yard. Mason McKenzie hit Javarius Green for an 11-yard touchdown with 51 seconds left in the half, and we led 14-12. On our first drive of the second half, McKenzie hit Landon Wright for a 69-yard touchdown. Later, McKenzie found Wright again for 53 yards, and Evan Dickens punched it in from 1 yard on the next play. That made it 27-18.
McKenzie went 17 of 28 for 295 yards and two touchdowns, with two interceptions. Wright caught just two passes, for 122 yards. That's a wicked efficient witness. KP Price had an interception, and when Pitt got the ball at our 8 with just over two minutes left, Charlie Comella intercepted another one to end it. Case closed.
The court also notes, for the record, that Pitt was flagged 13 times for 133 yards, including five penalties for 63 yards on a single drive. I didn't have to make that argument. The officials made it for me.
Part 2: Boston College v. Georgia Tech
Saturday, 3:30 p.m. Eastern on ACC Network. Boston College (3-3) at Georgia Tech (2-4) at Bobby Dodd Stadium.
Opening Statement for the Prosecution
Members of the jury, I'll be fair. Georgia Tech went 9-4 last season. Its quarterback, Alberto Mendoza, completes 71.2% of his passes and just threw for a career-high 335 yards. Jordan Allen has 38 catches. And the Yellow Jackets beat a previously unbeaten Duke team two weeks ago. Noted.
Now, the evidence.
Georgia Tech is 2-4. It opened the season with a 14-13 home loss to Colorado, a team that's currently 2-4 and has lost four straight. Georgia Tech also lost at Stanford, 34-27. Last week at Virginia Tech, it trailed 24-3 at halftime. On its very first possession, a Georgia Tech runner fumbled the ball through the end zone on his way to a touchdown, and it became a touchback. AP says Georgia Tech's two turnovers led to 10 Virginia Tech points.
The defense? Georgia Tech allows 392.2 yards a game, 110th in FBS, and 179 rushing yards a game, also 110th. It allows 27.2 points a game, 102nd. Opponents convert 43.2% on third down, 112th. Georgia Tech is minus-4 in turnover margin, 113th. And it averages 70.5 penalty yards a game, 117th. I rest my case. I rest it very comfortably.
Opening Statement for the Defense (Of My Own Team)
The court is honest. Boston College scores 20.3 points a game, 118th in FBS. We score on just 60% of our red zone trips, 135th. McKenzie has thrown seven interceptions. And let the record reflect that last season, per CollegeFootballData, we went 2-10. Painful testimony. But this team already has three wins.
Our evidence: our pass defense allows 169.3 yards a game, 18th in FBS. We're plus-1 in turnover margin. Demetrius Ballard has 3.5 sacks. Anthony Palano leads us with 52 tackles. McKenzie is also our leading rusher, with 444 yards. And against a Georgia Tech run defense ranked 110th, I'd like to call a few running plays to the stand.
Cross-Examination
The key witness for Georgia Tech is Mendoza. He went 29 of 38 at Virginia Tech, and Allen caught 10 passes for 120 yards. That's the matchup. Our pass defense against their passing game, which ranks 44th. If our secondary keeps everything in front of it, Georgia Tech's offense has to march the length of the field, one completion at a time, against a defense that doesn't give up much through the air. Make them earn it. Make them prove it beyond a reasonable doubt.
Precedent
Georgia Tech leads the series 8-5, according to CollegeFootballData, and it won last season 36-34 in Chestnut Hill. I don't love that precedent. But Boston College won its last two trips to Bobby Dodd Stadium, 41-30 in 2021 and 38-23 in 2023. Precedent, your honor. Precedent.
Change of Venue: Boston vs. Atlanta
Boston. Boston was founded in 1630, and it has a list of firsts that would make any opposing counsel sit down quietly. The nation's first public park, Boston Common, in 1634. The first public school, Boston Latin School, in 1635. The first subway system in America, the Tremont Street subway, in 1897. When the rest of the country needed to learn how to do something, it checked what Boston did first.
Boston College sits in Chestnut Hill, a village six miles west of downtown Boston. It's best known for being home to BC and a section of the Boston Marathon route. Alumni Stadium opened on Sept. 21, 1957. And yes, Chestnut Hill is technically split among Boston, Brookline and Newton. We don't belong to one town. We belong to three. That's called a strong coalition.
Atlanta. Exhibit D: Atlanta has 71 streets with some version of "Peachtree" in their names. Seventy-one! Locals joke that half of Atlanta's streets are named Peachtree and the other half have five names to make up for it. Objection, your honor, the city is leading the witness, and the witness is lost on Peachtree Something.
Exhibit E: Atlanta couldn't settle on a name, either. It was founded as the end point of a railroad, renamed Marthasville in 1842, and then renamed Atlanta. Three names. Boston has had one name since 1630. Consistency, people.
Exhibit F: Georgia Tech's mascot is the Ramblin' Wreck, a 1930 Ford Model A Sport Coupe. It's leading the team out of the tunnel at 96 years old. I respect it deeply. I also have questions about its air bags.
And Bobby Dodd Stadium, I'll concede, is the oldest stadium in FBS, complete since 1913. Charming. Historic. But Boston had a public school for 278 years before Georgia Tech built those stands. Objection: sustained.
Closing Argument
Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, the evidence is clear. Georgia Tech has a talented quarterback, a struggling defense, a turnover problem and a penalty problem. Boston College has a top-20 pass defense, a quarterback who can run it and a team that just proved it can come back from 12 down. If the Eagles win the turnover battle and finish in the red zone, the verdict comes back in our favor.
The court will now adjourn for a lobster roll. Go Eagles.
My call: Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets 28, Boston College Eagles 21.