Boston College QB Patrick Towles Brought Significant Honor to Harambe's Memory Against Massachsuetts

Boston College quarterback Patrick Towles dedicated this football season to Harambe. His tribute stood out in an already-flooded tribute market to the fallen Cincinnati Zoo gorilla and briefly captured the attention of the internet.

Most people have moved onto other things but we here at The Big Lead believe it’s important to keep tabs on how honored Harambe should feel by Towles’ on-field performance.

After an uneven Week 1 performance, Towles bounced back Saturday with a more inspiring display in a 26-7 win over Massachusetts. The senior quarterback completed 12 of 21 passes for 191 yards and two touchdowns. He also rushed 12 times for 66 yards. Unfortunately for Harambe, there was also an interception mixed in.

Towles’ touchdown passes to Jeff Smith (46 yards and 36 yards) came on back-to-back one-play drives late in the second quarter and erased a 7-0 deficit.

Exciting stuff.

Not everyone, it seems, was thrilled with Towles’ quarterbacking.

"If I had a middle section entitled “meh” this is where I would put Towles’ game. He looked great on his passes to Jeff Smith and some of his throws to Charlie Callinan and Michael Walker, it was just he had two major flaws. One, that interception was real bad. He really tried to wing that in to a window that just wasn’t there, and if he read his progressions more, Jeff Smith was open on the outside. Secondly, and this is my bigger problem, was that his internal clock on when to throw the ball was super short (see the turnover on downs run). It felt like he didn’t even look at his first progression before he decided to tuck it and run. Now some of those may have been designed runs, but it didn’t seem like they all were. He needs to trust his offensive line to hold a little longer and he’ll see some openings in the defense."

Ouch.

Beating Massachusetts isn’t going to send Eagles fans into a frenzy, but a win is a win. We refuse to be too critical of Towles for taking care of business against an inferior opponent. If Harambe’s untimely death taught us anything, it’s to cherish happiness when it presents itself because it can disappear in the blink of an eye.

Considering those factors and not wanting to get too sappy, we’ll give Towles’ Week 2 Harambe tribute …

3.5 out of 5 Harambes