Boston College football starting center Michael Crounse, one of five team captains, left the Eagles’ 2026 season opener against Cincinnati with an apparent knee injury in the late stages of the third quarter.Crounse’s left knee was slammed into and bent inward on a Bo MacCormack III run play at the Bearcats’ 10-yard line. He was forced to lay flat on his back until two trainers helped him gingerly walk off the field.Sophomore DJ Williams, who had trouble snapping the ball during fall training camp, entered the game for Crounse and made a near-costly mistake on his second snap, lifting the ball over McKenzie’s head before he was even ready to hike it. The Eagles dodged a bullet as McKenzie hastily picked up the ball and chucked it out of bounds, keeping the offense in close proximity to the endzone.On the next play, running back Evan Dickens notched BC’s first touchdown of the year with a four-yard rushing score, decreasing its deficit to 24-8 with 2:01 left in the third quarter.In the late stages of the fourth quarter, with the Eagles down 27-8, starting left tackle Veguer "Juju" Jean-Jumeau fell on top of a McKenzie fumble and got trampled over. After a lengthy period of time on his back, the redshirt sophomore eventually walked off the field on his own power, but he was taken out of the game for Trevon Humphrey.Both offensive linemen did not return to the game, but BC head coach Bill O'Brien spoke on their injuries after the game and sounded relatively positive."I think Crounse will be okay," O'Brien said. "We'll have to see. That was kind of something that he just couldn't come back from today and give us everything, you know, wasn't going to be 100%. We'll see how that is. I'll have more news for you about that early in the week."On Jean-Jumeau, he said: "And then it looked like Juju, I'm not sure what that was. You know, we'll have to see what that was. I don't think either one of them was major serious, and they're both very tough, tough kids. So I think if they can go, they'll go this week."BC lost the game by a final score of 35-14. Its next matchup will come on Friday night against 0-1 Rutgers at Alumni Stadium in the annual Red Bandanna Game.Follow us on Twitter/X, Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, and Tiktok for the latest Boston College news.Add us as a preferred source on GoogleFollow