Boston College (5-4 straight up, 5-4 against the spread) head coach Bill O’Brien benched junior quarterback Thomas Castellanos earlier this week after backup QB Grayson James played most of the second half in last week’s 37-31 win over Syracuse as a three-point home favorite.
Castellanos left the game limping off the field early in the third quarter after completing only 2-of-7 passes for 14 yards with one touchdown and one interception. He had -10 rushing yards on five attempts.
When James entered the game, O’Brien stuck with a heavy running attack that produced 321 rushing yards and three TDs on 48 attempts for a 6.7 yards-per-carry average. But on the 10th play of a long drive with the Eagles leading the Orange 30-28 with 6:51 remaining, James threw an 18-yard TD pass to Jeremiah Franklin on a fourth-and-one play.
James connected on 5-of-6 throws for 51 yards and one TD without an interception. The win got BC one win away from becoming bowl eligible and ended a three-game losing streak.
Castellanos started eight of BC’s first nine games. He’s completed 99-of-161 passes (61.5%) for 1,366 yards with an impressive 18/5 touchdown-to-interception ratio.
Castellanos hasn’t been as effective with his legs this year. He had 1,113 rushing yards, 13 TDs and a 5.2 YPC average in 2023. However, Castellanos has been limited to 194 rushing yards, one TD and a 2.1 YPC average this season.
O’Brien announced that James will start in Saturday’s game at SMU on Tuesday, saying the decision is “what’s best for the team right now.” He added that Castellanos “wasn’t real thrilled with that. He’s taken a couple days.”
Then on Wednesday, O’Brien told the media that he didn’t expect Castellanos to travel with the team to Dallas.
In a post to his Twitter account early Thursday night, Castellanos announced his decision to leave BC and presumably enter the transfer portal. He’ll have one year of eligibility remaining.
For his career, Castellanos has connected on 58.6 percent of his passes for 3,689 yards with a 33/19 TD-INT ratio. He has 1,427 career rushing yards, 15 TDs and a 4.4 YPC average.
When Castellanos was hurt in Week 5, James got the starting nod and completed 19-of-32 passes for 168 yards with one TD and one interception in a 21-20 comeback win over Western Kentucky at home.
James played his first three seasons at FIU. For his career, he has connected on 58.8 percent of his passes for 2,566 yards with a 15/13 TD-INT ratio. He has 267 rushing yards, five TDs and a 2.4 YPC average.
As of Friday afternoon, most books had SMU listed as an 18 or 18.5-point home favorite with a total of 54. The Eagles were +650 on the money line.