BC's Ball-Hawking Defense Goes to Atlanta Chasing the One Thing It Hasn't Done: Win on the Road

Boston College is 3-1 at home and 0-2 on the road this season, and under Bill O'Brien the Eagles are 2-10 away from Chestnut Hill. That's the number hanging over Saturday's 3:30 p.m. kickoff at Georgia Tech's Bobby Dodd Stadium in Atlanta, on ACC Network. BC is 3-3, 1-2 in the ACC. Georgia Tech is 2-4, 1-2. Somebody's season gets saved here.

How they got here: a 34-15 loss at Cincinnati, home wins over Rutgers (28-21) and Maine (22-16), a 21-14 home loss to Virginia Tech, a 25-16 loss at then-No. 21 SMU, a bye, and then Pitt. Both road trips ended in losses, and the last time these Eagles saw Georgia Tech, it ended in heartbreak.

BC is coming off its best day of the year. The Eagles fell behind Pitt 12-0 last Saturday, came back to win 27-21 for their first ACC win, and sealed it with a fourth-quarter interception. Mason McKenzie threw for a career-high 295 yards and two touchdowns. Landon Wright had 122 receiving yards, including a 69-yard touchdown and a 53-yard catch that set up the final score.

The defense is the reason anybody is talking about this team. Cincinnati put up 34 on it in the opener and everybody wrote it off. Since then, under first-year defensive coordinator Ted Roof, it's become a takeaway machine. BC leads the ACC with 1.33 interceptions per game, is second with six forced fumbles, and has 11 takeaways in six games. It allows 169.3 passing yards per game, second in the ACC and 18th in the country.

KP Price is the headliner. He is the only player in the nation with at least one forced fumble, three interceptions and 46 tackles, and he leads the ACC with 29 solo tackles. His one-handed pick late in the first half against Pitt swung that game. "That brings momentum, playmaking ability, juice to the team, to us and the crowd," Price said. He's also not lacking for confidence: "The sky really isn't even the limit." Linebacker Anthony Palano is fourth in the ACC with 51 tackles and is one of five players nationally with at least 50 tackles, 1.5 sacks and two interceptions. "We have some swagger to us," he said.

O'Brien gave the staff credit, saying there's "no ego" in the group. "Last year, we didn't get any, hardly," he said of takeaways. "This year, it's been back to what we believe we can be."

Now the catch. BC is 13th in the ACC against the run, giving up 159.5 rushing yards per game. And Georgia Tech quarterback Alberto Mendoza, the Indiana transfer, is completing 71 percent of his passes for 1,528 yards, nine touchdowns and four interceptions. He threw for a career-high 335 in last week's 34-24 loss at Virginia Tech. Jordan Allen became the first Yellow Jacket with back-to-back 10-catch games. Georgia Tech also got five sacks at Virginia Tech after managing six in its first five games.

McKenzie is the swing factor on BC's side. He's thrown seven interceptions, but Georgia Tech's secondary has just one pick all year. He also leads the Eagles with 444 rushing yards, already fifth on BC's single-season list for quarterbacks, and Georgia Tech gives up 179 rushing yards per game. BC will be without running back Evan Dickens, the Liberty transfer with 407 total yards and five touchdowns, who was hurt against Pitt. That puts even more of the ground game on McKenzie's legs.

There's history, too. Last November in Chestnut Hill, Georgia Tech, then ranked 16th, won 36-34 on a late field goal on BC's Senior Day, the same game Lewis Bond broke Zay Flowers' career receptions record. Georgia Tech leads the series 8-5.

My take: this is the most winnable road game left on BC's schedule, and it's not close. After Atlanta it's at Duke on Oct. 31, Florida State at home Nov. 7, at Notre Dame Nov. 14, Syracuse at home Nov. 21 and at Miami Nov. 28. BC needs three more wins in those six to reach bowl eligibility. If the defense keeps stealing possessions and McKenzie keeps the ball out of the wrong hands, the Eagles go 4-3. If he throws two picks and Tech runs on them, the 2-10 road record gets a little worse and the bowl math gets ugly. "It's really about sustaining it for the whole game," Price said. "Starting good and finishing great." That's the whole assignment.