Boston College let a winnable game against a bad team slip away on Thursday night in Pittsburgh.

The Pitt Panthers snapped a five-game losing streak with a 24-16 victory over BC at Acrisure Stadium. The Eagles dropped to 6-5 and 3-4 in the ACC and close out the season on Nov. 23 against Miami at Alumni Stadium.

Pitt quarterback Nate Yarnell efficiently managed the game and made timely passes in his second career start and first of the season. Yarnell completed 11-of-19 throws for 207 yards and a touchdown. Eagles’ QB Thomas Castellanos completed 13-of-25 for 171 yards and a touchdown with two picks.

Both teams produced a 100-yard rusher. Pitt tailback Rodney Hammond rushed for 145 yards on 15 carries and a touchdown. BC’s Kye Robichaux had 118 yards on 24 runs coming off an injury.

“We are very disappointed, this was a missed opportunity,” said BC coach Jeff Hafley. “I don’t think we played well enough to win the game and we had multiple opportunities to do so.

“We didn’t play well enough and coached well enough to win the game. We need to play better than that and that was a missed opportunity.”

BC played smash mouth on its opening drive that went 61 yards on 14 plays and culminated in a 42-yard field goal by sophomore place kicker Liam Connor with 8:45 to play. The chunk play of the drive was a 25-yard screen to wide receiver Lewis Bond.

Pitt coach Pat Narduzzi had made noise during the week that a QB change was in the works. Yarnell began the season third on the depth chant behind BC transfer Phil Jurkovec and Christian Veilleux, who was dreadful in last Saturday’s 28-13 loss at Syracuse.

“We assumed it would be one or the other and they are both very similar quarterbacks,” said Hafley. “He (Yarnell) is a little more accurate and doesn’t turn the ball over and that is probably why they went with him.”

Yarnell completed his first two passes for a combined 45 yards but the drive fizzled out on the BC 25. Pitt tied the game 3-3 on a 42-yard field goal by junior Ben Sauls with 5:07 to play in the first.

Yarnell skillfully managed an 85-yard, 15-play, drive that put Pitt up 10-3 at 9:07 of the second. Yarnell fitted timely short and intermediate passes into the Panthers’ sustained ground attack and scored on a 4-yard keeper for his first rushing touchdown.

Pitt’s third drive opened with 15-yard targeting penalty against BC cornerback Khari Johnson, who was banished to the sideline for a helmet-on-helmet hit on wide receiver Malcolm Epps. The Eagles averted a disaster when middle linebacker Vinny DePalma stoned Pitt fullback Daniel Carter on a fourth and one on the BC 17.

BC converted the turnover on downs into three points and a 10-6 deficit at the break. Castellanos completed two deep balls on third and long but the drive stalled on the Pitt 38. Connor made the initial attempt from 45 yards, but the points came off the board because Hafley called timeout before the kick. Connor composed himself and split the uprights on his second try with 26 seconds remaining.

“He has been really consistent in practice and he felt really good pregame so we backed up his line a little bit and he made them both,” said Hafley.

BC’s defense forced its first three and out on the Panthers’ opening drive of the third quarter. The offense responded with an eight-play, 85-yard, drive that made it 13-10 with 8:50 to play. BC pounded the middle of the Pitt defensive front with sustained gains before Castellanos used play action to complete a 24-yard touchdown pass to Bond. The play went under review and was upheld, giving Bond his sixth of the season.

The Panthers response was fast and furious. Yarnell capped a six-play, 85-yard drive with a 61-yard bomb to senior split end Bub Means with 7:22 to play.

“On the long touchdown catch one of our players dropped his man for a reason I don’t know and that led to a big touchdown,” said Hafley. “That should not have happened.”

BC countered with a nice drive to the Pitt red zone, but trip ended bad when Castellanos was picked off by Phillip O’Brien on the 2. Pitt got out of the hole on a 40-yard run by Rodney Hammond, but the drive ended when Sauls’ bid from 52 yards went wide left.

BC’s defense forced a three and out inside the Pitt five and got the ball back on the 40 with 9:26 to play. A holding penalty nullified an 9-yard touchdown run by Castellanos on first and goal and BC settled for a 33-yard field goal by Connor that made it 17-16 with 5:19 to play.

Pitt went up 24-16 on a 66-yard run by Hammond with 4:29 to play.

“On the run at the end we had a flat wall defense and a player missed a tackle and their guy made a big play,” said Hafley.