Early battle again squandered by Eagles

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 dropped consecutive winnable games to conference foes. This one followed a somewhat similar script to last week, as Boston College stayed within striking distance yet wasn’t able to break through.

“We’re here to win,” said quarterback Mason McKenzie. “There’s not really any positives you can get out of that. Obviously, we played against two good football teams, but it’s tough when we feel like we can win these games.”

The Mustangs (4-1, 2-1), who entered with the nation’s top passing attack, 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.

BC outgained SMU, 322-218, and limited the Mustangs to 1.8 yards per rush, yet ultimately didn’t have much to show for it. Coach Bill O’Brien said the Eagles beat themselves.

“We work very hard to coach a disciplined team,” O’Brien said. “We weren’t a disciplined team today. We’ve got to try to do better and make them understand you can’t jump offsides, you’ve got to catch the ball when it’s thrown to you.”

Boston College’s offensive line struggled mightily against a formidable SMU defensive line. A combination of false starts and a lack of protection proved insurmountable.

“It’s hard when you start out the drive like that,” McKenzie said. “It was a lot of first plays of drives. But we also have to be able to overcome it, too. Things happen. It’s not going to be perfect.”

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 McKenzie (20 for 31, 208 yards, 2 TDs; 21 carries, 74 yards) to Evan Dickens.

The throw, perhaps McKenzie’s best in a BC uniform, found Dickens between a pair of Mustangs.

“That was a hell of a catch,” McKenzie said.

SMU 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, gave themselves a shot 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 Jennings touchdown toss to Randy Pittman Jr. SMU registered five sacks (White had three), forced three fumbles, and accrued 13 tackles for loss.

After BC failed on a fourth-down conversion near midfield, its defense responded, pushing SMU back (with help from Mustangs’ penalties) to the tune of a fourth and 50 to help keep the score at 19-10 through three quarters.

BC then took over near midfield and pushed into the red zone, but came up empty. On fourth and 1 from the SMU 8-yard line, McKenzie floated a pass to Cameron Kossmann, who dropped it to give the Mustangs back the ball with 12:09 remaining.

“I think the defense did a lot of great things,” O’Brien said. “We’ve got to score more points.”

Jennings (20 for 30, 160 yards, 2 TDs) then found Derrick McFall for a 20-yard scoring strike at the 4:37 mark. McKenzie hit Danny Edgehille for a 6-yard TD with 2:07 remaining, but the 2-point pass was no good and SMU ran out the clock from there.

Boston College is outscoring opponents, 40-9, in the first quarter, but the opposition has a 108-55 edge the rest of the game. The Eagles have made a habit of growing weaker as the game progresses and giving up pivotal plays.

BC, now 2-10 in road games under O’Brien, enters the bye week before welcoming currently unbeaten Pittsburgh to town Oct. 17.

“I think this program has made progress, but it’s very incremental,” O’Brien said. “We battled a really good Virginia Tech team. We battled an SMU team. But we lost. We’re not in the business of losing.”

Trevor Hass is a sports producer who covers Boston’s professional teams. He also writes about Boston College football and high school sports for The Boston Globe.