Explosive second quarter gets BC past URI

CHESTNUT HILL – Last Saturday, the Boston College offense was asleep at the wheel until coming to life under second-string quarterback Dominique Davis in a 34-7 win over Central Florida.On Saturday at Alumni Stadium, it was much the same story against Rhode Island. Finding itself in a 0-0 tie with the Rams, BC turned to Davis to kick-start the offense.And do that Davis did, leading the Eagles to touchdowns on all four of their possessions to take a 28-0 halftime lead and an eventual 42-0 win over the Rams on a miserable day.After the game, however, coach Jeff Jagodzinski was quick to point out that senior Chris Crane was still the Eagles’ starting quarterback.”Chris is still the starter,” Jagodzinski said. “And we’ll hope to get Dominique some snaps. That’s probably the way it will go the rest of the year.”The Eagles (3-1) used their behemoth offensive line to simply wear down the smaller defense of the Rams, throwing the ball only nine times in the game. On the rain-soaked afternoon, BC rushed for 289 yards on 40 carries while the defense held URI to 53 yards on 29 carries.Freshman Montel Harris filled in for starter Josh Haden for the second game in a row, rushing for 143 yards and three touchdowns on 18 carries. Jeff Smith added 79 yards and a touchdown.The boo birds – or what was left of them, as the heavy rain kept most of the fans home – were out in force after the first quarter, when the Eagles gained only two first downs and did not complete a pass.Like the win over UCF, Jagodzinski went to Davis in the second quarter, and the Eagles took flight. After forcing a URI punt with 12:42 left, BC turned Harris loose on the Rams’ defense.The freshman carried all five times on a 56-yard drive that culminated with Harris’ five-yard run up the middle that made it 7-0. Rhode Island went three-and-out on its next possession, giving the Eagles the ball at midfield.Smith gashed the defense for 26 yards before Davis turned an option keeper into a 24-yard touchdown.Marcellus Bowman picked of a Shawn Cassidy pass on Rhode Island’s next possession, one of four picks for the BC defense, and returned it to the URI 47. Five Smith runs later, the Eagles led 21-0 and had things well under control.Brad Newman sacked Cassidy and recovered the ensuing fumble at the Rams’ 46 on URI’s next possession. An 18-yard Davis to Brandon Robinson completion got BC close before a personal-foul penalty on URI kept the drive going at the 10.Harris scored from the five on the next play for a 28-0 lead.Crane returned in the third quarter to engineer a nine-play drive that ended with Harris’ third touchdown of the game. Linebacker Mark Herzlich capped the scoring with a 60-yard interception return for a touchdown late in the third quarter.