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Nearly 40-point favorite Boston College avoids embarrassing loss; holds off Maine 22-16

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Cite

Powtak, K. (2026, September 19). Nearly 40-point favorite Boston College avoids embarrassing loss; holds off Maine 22-16. Toronto Star. https://www.thestar.com/sports/football/nearly-40-point-favorite-boston-college-avoids-embarrassing-loss-holds-off-maine-22-16/article_2f4593d5-cc44-5d74-a223-ee5518084928.html

Dated when The Aporia collected the article, usually within hours of publication. Check the original for its exact date and byline.

Toronto Star · collected 2026-09-19 · by Ken Powtak

Quick Summary

Boston College narrowly avoided an embarrassing loss to underdog Maine, winning 22-16 despite being a nearly 40-point favorite. Mason McKenzie threw for 173 yards and one touchdown but was intercepted twice, while Eddie Buehler led Maine with 201 passing yards and two touchdowns. The Eagles struggled on fourth down plays inside the red zone and coach Bill O’Brien acknowledged the team’s poor performance, stating they need to improve before their upcoming Atlantic Coast Conference games.
Written by AI on 2026-09-20, from this article's own text only (the story summary below draws on all the coverage).

AI analysis

Story summary

On Saturday, Boston College, despite being a nearly 40-point favorite, managed to narrowly defeat Maine in a non-conference college football game with a score of 22-16. The Eagles' performance was lackluster; they struggled early on and missed opportunities inside Maine’s 20-yard line, including failing twice on fourth down plays. Quarterback Mason McKenzie had an off day, throwing for 173 yards but also being intercepted twice. Despite these setbacks, BC led 19-10 at halftime before securing the win in the second half. The Black Bears' Eddie Buehler threw for 201 yards, two touchdowns, and a pair of interceptions. After the game, BC coach Bill O’Brien acknowledged that his team had many missed opportunities and needed to improve their execution.

Written for “College Football Game Result” on 2026-11-03, grounded in this article and the 0 other(s) covering the same event.

Story

📰 College Football Game Result
Sports · 1 article(s) covering the same event.

Compared with similar articles

Nothing to compare against. No article is close enough to this one for the pipeline to have linked or judged the pair.
How this article was measured signals, leaning charts, publisher record, byline, topics and claims

Signals How these are calculated →

Claims extracted
26
sentences that state something as happening or true
Uncertain
0%
0 of 26 hedged ("reportedly", "may", "according to")
Leaning
not political
takes no side on a contested political question
Publisher signals
64/100
Toronto Star's corrections and hedging, across everything collected from it. Not a measure of accuracy.
Outlets on this story
1
Sports
Same framing elsewhere
1
articles that frame the event the way this one does
Analyzed 2026-09-20 · how these are computed

How this is being covered How these are calculated →

Article leaning vs. publisher reliability
Source leaning vs. consistency

Publisher

Toronto Star · 11229 article(s) · 28 correction(s) detected
Running correction rate · 28 correction(s)
2026-10-26
Correction
2026-10-24
Correction
2026-10-07
Correction
2026-09-24
Correction

Who wrote this

Ken Powtak
4 article(s) here · 1 carrying a prediction
🔮 The Eagles were more impressive after a lackluster win over Maine last week, but it looks like the offense will have to rely heavily on McKenzie’s running.
🔮 Up next Guardians LHP Foster Griffin (15-5, 3.67 ERA) is set to face Red Sox RHP Sonny Gray (17-5, 2.82) on Wednesday in the middle game of the three-game series.
🔮 “I think what would be safe to say is that: ‘I’ve got to do a better job,’’’ BC coach Bill O’Brien said.
Also by Ken Powtak
Nothing else under this byline is closely related to this article, so these are simply their most recent.

Topics

BOSTON Boston College Eagles Maine Saginaw Valley State

Subjects

Maine GPE · 8× Eagles ORG · 3× McKenzie PERSON · 3× BOSTON GPE · 2× Boston College ORG · 2× Buehler PERSON · 2× O’Brien PERSON · 2× Evan Dickens PERSON · 1× Mason McKenzie PERSON · 1× Saginaw Valley State ORG · 1×

Narrative

A nearly 40-point favorite, BC was stopped twice on 4th-and-1 plays inside Maine’s 20-yard line in the opening quarter, and McKenzie was picked off two plays after leaving briefly with an apparent leg injury after a defender rolled on him making a tackle.
framing: assertive · carried by 1 article(s) · first seen 2026-09-20
🔮 “I think what would be safe to say is that: ‘I’ve got to do a better job,’’’ BC coach Bill O’Brien said.

Claims (26 extracted, 0 hedged)

BOSTON (AP) — Evan Dickens ran for a 39-yard touchdown, Mason McKenzie added a 31-yard scoring pass and Boston College slogged its way to a 22-16 non-conference victory over Maine on Saturday. asserted
College → run → Saturday
McKenzie, a redshirt junior that transferred from Saginaw Valley State, completed 14-of-21 passes for 173 yards but was picked off twice. asserted
that → transfer → yards
Eddie Buehler went 22 for 32 with 201 yards, two TDs and a pair of inceptions for the Black Bears (1-3). asserted
Buehler → go → Bears
Coming off an emotional victory over Rutgers in their annual Red Bandanna Game, the Eagles (2-1) led 19-10 at halftime despite their uninspiring performance. asserted
Eagles → come → performance
A nearly 40-point favorite, BC was stopped twice on 4th-and-1 plays inside Maine’s 20-yard line in the opening quarter, and McKenzie was picked off two plays after leaving briefly with an apparent leg injury after a defender rolled on him making a tackle. asserted
defender → stop → tackle
“I think what would be safe to say is that: ‘I’ve got to do a better job,’’’ BC coach Bill O’Brien said. asserted
O’Brien → think → job
“It starts with me. asserted
It → start → me
There’s some things that we just have to do a better job, especially offensively. asserted
we → ’ → job
We had the ball inside the 10-yard line, I don’t know, probably four, five times. asserted
I → have → line
Maine cut it to 22-16 on Buehler’s second TD pass to Rick Laughlin, a 7-yarder with 4 1/2 minutes left in the game, but BC converted two first downs and ran the clock out. asserted
BC → cut → clock
“In the end, it’s a win,” O’Brien said. asserted
O’Brien → ’ → end
“I’ve been doing this a long time and you can never take for granted winning.” asserted
you → do → winning
Dickens burst through the middle for his score, making it 7-0 early in the opening quarter. asserted
it → burst → quarter
It became 9-0 when Maine center Jack Boutaugh was flagged for holding in the end zone. asserted
Boutaugh → become → zone
McKenzie hit Johnathan Montague with his TD pass after BC failed on a fourth down the second time. asserted
BC → hit → down
Buehler’s 5-yarder to Laughlin cut it to 19-10 at the half. asserted
yarder → cut → half
Short on short yardage BC was stopped on a straight-ahead play on fourth-and-1 at Maine’s 15-yard line on their first possession after recovering a fumble on the opening kickoff. asserted
BC → stop → kickoff
Then, on their third time with the ball, the Eagles were stopped on fourth-and-1 at the Black Bears’ 5. asserted
Eagles → stop → 5
Trailing 22-10 early in the fourth, Maine came up short on a 4th-and-goal from BC’s 5. asserted
Maine → trail → 5
“Definitely a lot to clean up,” said BC linebacker KP Price, who had two interceptions. asserted
who → clean → interceptions
“We’re not down on ourselves. asserted
We → ’re → ourselves
We’ve definitely got a lot to tighten up on. asserted
We → get → lot
The takeaway Maine: It’s certainly a positive staying with a Power Four school. asserted
It → ’ → school
With their first Atlantic Coast Conference game coming next week, the Eagles have a lot to fix. asserted
Eagles → come → lot
“Absolutely, these guys will come in here (Sunday) and be ready to go to work,” O’Brien said, when asked if the timing of a lackluster showing can be good before conference play. asserted
timing → come → play
Boston College: Hosts Virginia Tech Saturday in its ACC opener. asserted
College → host → opener
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