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BOSTON -- Mason McKenzie threw for two touchdowns and Boston College recovered from a miserable opening two minutes of the game, beating Pittsburgh 27-21 on Saturday.
McKenzie went 17 for 28 with 295 yards and two inceptions for the Eagles (3-3, 1-2 Atlantic Coast Conference).
"I think these guys did a really good job of being resilient. It didn't start very well at all," said BC coach Bill O'Brien, who called an early timeout late in the opening quarter to fire up his defense.
Making his first career start after QB Mason Heintschel was lost for the season with a torn ACL in his right knee during a victory at Virginia Tech two weeks ago, true freshman Corey Dailey completed 11 of 25 passes for 193 yards with two interceptions and a TD for Pittsburgh (5-2, 2-2).
"It was pretty much what I thought it would be," Dailey said of his first start. "It's faster. People are flying around, trying to confuse you. That's what college football is."
McKenzie hit Landon Wright with a 69-yard scoring pass on BC's first drive of the second half, moving the Eagles ahead 21-12.
Two field goals by Antonio Chadha -- 29 and 42 yards -- narrowed it to 21-18 before Evan Dickens had a 1-yard TD run a play after McKenzie hit Wright with a 53-yard pass.
Raion Strader had his second pick of the game, giving the Panthers the ball at the BC 8 with just over 2 minutes left, but Charlie Comella had a pick to seal it.
Trailing 12-0 after its awful start, BC scored the next 14 points, jumping in front on McKenzie's 11-yard score to Javarius Green.
"On the sideline I kept telling everybody: 'We're good. We're good.' It's football," BC safety Carter Davis said. "They jumped out on us. They had the blocked punt; everything that could have gone wrong for us went wrong at that time."
Eagles linebacker Bodie Kahoun played his first game after being taken off the field by ambulance in a Sept. 11 victory over Rutgers.
The start
The Panthers scored on the game's first play from scrimmage: a 75-yard toss from Dailey to Cataurus Hicks and, after BC went three-and-out, Kanye Thompson blocked a punt with the ball getting knocked out of the end zone by a BC player for a safety, moving Pittsburgh ahead 9-0.
"They came out in a look that we thought they would and we liked it," Dailey said about his TD pass on the opening play. "Took a shot and made a play."
Flags falling
Pittsburgh had five penalties for 63 yards on one BC drive early in the second quarter. The Panthers were flagged 10 times for 103 yards in the first half and 13 for 133 overall.
Pitt's takeaway
After a brief stay in the AP Top 25 before losing at home against North Carolina last week, the Panthers were unimpressive with numerous breakdowns in the secondary against a team that entered 16th in the league in passing yards per game.
Up next
Pitt is at No. 1 Miami next Saturday at noon.
SCORE BY QUARTERS
Pittsburgh 12 0 6 3 -- 21
Boston College 7 7 7 6 -- 27
First Quarter
PITT--Hicks 75 pass from Dailey (Chadha kick), 14:42.
PITT--safety, 13:06.
PITT--FG Chadha 28, 7:58.
BC--MacCormack 1 run (Lombardo kick), 1:41.
Second Quarter
BC--J.Green 11 pass from McKenzie (Lombardo kick), :51.
Third Quarter
BC--Lan.Wright 69 pass from McKenzie (Lombardo kick), 14:14.
PITT--FG Chadha 29, 10:22.
PITT--FG Chadha 42, :22.
Fourth Quarter
BC--Dickens 1 run (kick failed), 13:02.
PITT--FG Chadha 38, 8:08.
A--32,847.
TEAM STATS PITT BC
First downs 22 24
Total Net Yards 392 398
Rushes-yards 39-199 40-103
Passing 193 295
Punt Returns 2-29 1–22
Kickoff Returns 5-90 2-42
Interceptions Ret. 2-13 2-0
Comp-Att-Int 11-25-2 17-27-2
Sacked-Yards Lost 1-3 2-14
Punts 1-48.0 2-25.0
Fumbles-Lost 1-1 1-0
Penalties-Yards 13-133 7-47
Time of Possession 28:22 31:38
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING--Pittsburgh, D.Ferguson 17-119, Wright 15-52, Kinsler 2-16, Dailey 4-9, Lovelace 1-3. Boston College, Dickens 15-57, MacCormack 11-35, Dodd 3-9, McKenzie 8-7, (Team) 3-(minus 5).
PASSING--Pittsburgh, Dailey 11-25-2-193. Boston College, McKenzie 17-27-2-295.
RECEIVING--Pittsburgh, Hicks 5-135, Knight 3-30, Kent 2-20, C.Lee 1-8. Boston College, J.Green 5-60, Montague 3-54, Wright 2-122, Pough 2-22, Moore 2-12, Edgehille 1-13, Dickens 1-8, MacCormack 1-4.