It was another one-sided loss at Boston College on Saturday, but the Maine football team came away feeling good about its ability to compete. The defense, as expected, was the strength, but special teams play was also impressive in the 24-3 setback. The offense was unproductive, but is unlikely to face a better defense this year.

Black Bears Coach Jack Cosgrove told me Tuesday that his first viewing of the film left him unhappy with his team’s performance. He met with his position coaches Sunday, and they offered their evaluations of each of the 49 players who saw action. Armed with that information, Cosgrove watched the tape again and his mood improved.

“I was much more impressed with our toughness as a team,” Cosgrove said. “I thought for a lot of the game, we were as physical and as tough as they were. The game in the third quarter was lost last year down there (a 40-10 final). This year, we toed up against them and it was really an opportunity at the third quarter when we punted it over their head and we had them pinned in. I really thought we had a chance. If we could get a turnover here, we’d swung the field.”

Instead, the Eagles took the ball 90 yards and went ahead 17-3 to essentially seal the victory. There were no turnovers for Maine on this day.

Cosgrove was also second-guessing himself for what happened in the second quarter, when Boston College controlled the ball for 11 minutes and eventually took a 10-3 lead 26 seconds before halftime. The Eagles had one 11-play drive that ended in a missed field goal. The Black Bears got the ball back with 3:03 left, threw three incomplete passes and punted it away after only 23 seconds had elapsed off the clock. That was just enough time for BC to travel 55 yards in 10 plays to break the deadlock.

“That’s where I kick myself in the ass,” Cosgrove said, comparing the situation to what happened at Northwestern two years ago, when an interception return for a touchdown broke open a close game. “We came out and said the thing is we’re here to win, let’s go. So here I am now. My thing is, do you just run the ball, punt it, they get it back with a minute left rather than 2 1/2 left? Because they score with 20 seconds left. They couldn’t have drove the field. We tried to be aggressive; we failed at it. And that’s the kick in the butt right there for us, for me personally.”

Maine, playing without starting tailback Nigel Beckford, who was suspended, couldn’t mount a drive after the opening field goal anyway. That, plus the defense’s inability to turn momentum with a turnover, make it hard to imagine a scenario in which the Black Bears actually could have won Saturday.

But that doesn’t mean junior quarterback Dan Collins didn’t take a step forward. Cosgrove praised him, and senior wide receiver John Hardy also noticed a different player than the one who started at BC a year ago.

“We just couldn’t find things to execute in the way that we wanted to. But we addressed those in meetings and we all know now what we need to do to get better,” Hardy said of the offense. “I definitely noticed his (Collins) poise on the field was a lot better, communication was a lot smoother and stronger. So I think he’ll be just fine.”

Cosgrove, who named Collins the starter over Drew Belcher the day before the game, said his plan is for the job to be Collins’ exclusively. Belcher did not get into the game Saturday.

“Dan stood up in there. As much as I was impressed with the toughness of our team, I thought he was one of the guys that was as tough as anybody,” Cosgrove said. “He stood in there and took a huge hit. He wouldn’t let us take him out. I admire that. That’s how I would have been. I’m pleased. He could have played better, But I think he did a lot of things real well. I thought he cut loose on his throws a bunch and we didn’t help him a couple of times. We could have caught some balls for him.

“(Having one quarterback is) the way I’ve always envisioned it. I don’t play musical chairs. He should have looked better than last year. The best comparison I can make to this whole thing is if you saw Marcus Wasilewski open up there in ’12, too, you would have shook your head. And yet in ’13 he was so much better.”

At tailback, senior Cabrinni Goncalves got his first career start in Beckford’s absence, moving over from his usual outside linebacker spot. Goncalves carried the ball 10 times for 29 yards and also played on special teams, though not on defense. With Beckford’s return for next Saturday’s game at Tulane, that will change, Cosgrove said. He also pointed out that redshirt freshman Darian Davis-Ray, who also was suspended for Saturday’s game for violating the university’s student-athlete code of conduct, may factor into the mix at tailback. Davis-Ray is finally healthy.

“Cabrinni will be a situational back for us now, I think is probably the best way to say it,” Cosgrove said. “Beckford is back, and Davis-Ray adds to it. He could impact Cabrinni’s role. We have this week obviously to see, which is why I think this bye week is very fortunate for us.”

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