Football blows out Bowdoin 49–0 in Homecoming game

The Tufts football team won its third game of the season on Saturday as former Jumbos returned to campus for Homecoming on a beautiful, sunny day at Ellis Oval. The 49–0 win over the Bowdoin Polar Bears evens the Jumbos’ season record at 3–3. The Jumbos have now won their past five meetings with the Polar Bears and have won 63 of the 114 games they have played against one another. 

The victory for the Jumbos marks their first defensive shutout of the year. The Jumbo defense held two opponents scoreless last year — one of which was the Polar Bears. The defense was superb all afternoon for the Jumbos, as it allowed only 181 yards of total offense over the course of the four quarters. The Bowdoin offense, which tends to rely heavily on its run game led by Nate Richam-Odoi, was almost entirely ineffective against the Tufts front line. Richam-Odoi ended the game with only 27 yards on the ground. Senior linebacker and co-captain Greg Holt led the Tufts defense once again in tackles, as he was responsible for 11 on the afternoon. Holt’s 10.3 tackles per game put him at second in the NESCAC.

Bowdoin quarterback Matthew Marcantano took almost all of the snaps for the Polar Bears after first appearing in their loss against the Amherst Mammoths just a week ago. Marcantano was also unable to get the offense going as he struggled to find open receivers downfield. His performance was similar to his performance last week against the Mammoths as he completed only 16 of his 36 passes for 143 yards. While six different Bowdoin receivers caught the ball on Saturday, only two of them racked up more than 15 yards receiving. The Polar Bears also struggled mightily on third and fourth downs, as they were only able to convert 21% of the time on third down and were never successful in their three fourth-down attempts.

Tufts coach Jay Civetti spoke about what led the Jumbo team to win its Homecoming bout following a heartbreaking last-second 20–13 loss to Wesleyan the previous week.

"The kids were just incredibly competitive," Civetti said. "They bought into the game plan early in the week and just I think executed really well and put themselves in positions to be successful."

The 49 points the Jumbos put up on Saturday mark the most by any Jumbo team under Civetti.Saturday's game also stands as Civetti’s largest margin of victory during his time as head coach at Tufts. The 662 total yards of offense that the Jumbos piled on came just 9 yards short of the Tufts record for yards in a single game. It was almost impossible to find any flaws in Tufts’ offensive strategy and execution on Saturday as it found the endzone more times than it punted the ball.

Civetti spoke about the preparation for the game following a tough loss to a talented Wesleyan (5–1) team.

"I assumed our senior leaders would be phenomenal and they would bring a lot of energy," Civetti said. "But I underestimated how much energy they were going to bring throughout the course of the week ... I was just really appreciative of the commitment that these guys have for each other."

Senior quarterback Jacob Carroll took advantage of the big pass plays against the Polar Bear defense, as he threw for a career-high 325 yards while only completing 12 passes, the second-fewest in any game for him this season. Carroll’s top target was junior wide receiver OJ Armstrong, who had a career day. No one in the Bowdoin secondary could figure out what to do with Armstrong, as he caught six passes for 142 yards and three touchdowns.

Armstrong’s three receiving touchdowns, including one spectacular catch over a defender’s head and two others, where he beat defenders down the sideline, tied the Tufts record for receiving touchdowns in a game, while also bringing his career total to five.

Armstrong spoke about his new role in the Jumbo offense following the graduation of several key seniors last year.

"I got the chance to wait it out," Armstrong said. "I had a great couple of seniors the past couple of years. It's good to finally get my time."

Armstrong also spoke about the connection with Carroll and how their work in practice has been key to their success.

"We practice deep balls a bunch, and we have other threats, so we're always open pretty much," Armstrong said.

While the Jumbos were able to put together five 60-plus yard scoring drives, the drive that led to Armstrong’s second touchdown of the game late in the second quarter perfectly represents the ease with which the offense was able to carve up the Bowdoin defense. The 83-yard drive took just five plays while removing just over one minute from the clock. The drive opened with a 25-yard completion to senior tight end Jack Donohue, followed by a 23-yard completion to graduate student wide receiver Frank Roche, which accounted for 23 of Roche’s 137 receiving yards on the day. Following Roche’s catch was an 18-yard completion to Donohue again. After one incompletion, Carroll found Armstrong in the end zone from 17 yards out, putting the Jumbos up 21–0. The three receivers mentioned in this drive, along with junior wide receiver Brendan Dolan, all totaled more than 40 yards on the day.

The run game for the Jumbos was just as successful on Saturday. With seven Jumbos totaling 29 or more yards on the ground, Tufts rushers were responsible for four touchdowns and 276 net yards. 

"When we open them up with the pass, it allows for the run to open up, and we get some success there," Armstrong said. "We got a bunch of guys in the game scoring touchdowns."

The Jumbos will stay on campus next weekend for their matchup against the Hamilton Continentals (3–3), as Jumbo parents come to town for Parents and Family weekend. The Continentals are coming off a huge comeback, last-second victory over the Amherst Mammoths (4–2).

"They’re really good," Civetti said about the Continentals. "They're really well-coached, they're a tough group ... We match up very similarly statistically across the board, so we got a lot of work to do this week."