FOXBOROUGH — The football gods were practically daring Boston College coach Steve Addazio to kick a field goal.

The Eagles were facing a fourth-and-5 from the 27-yard line early in the first quarter against UMass, but the mere sight of the uprights was enough to rattle the nerves of an Eagles team that had struggled to find ways to consistently kick footballs through them.

BC’s starting kicker, Colton Lichtenberg, was on the sideline nursing a strained quad, punter Mike Knoll was thrown into the job, and asking him to kick a 44-yarder when the longest field goal he had made in two seasons was from 40 yards seemed like asking too much.

“I didn’t want to put him in that position at that distance,’’ Addazio said. “I wanted to put him in a situation where he could make it and get some confidence.’’

So, Addazio rolled the dice and went for it. It backfired immediately. The Eagles couldn’t convert, and three plays later, UMass was in the end zone after quarterback Ross Comis found tight end Adam Breneman all by himself over the middle for a 58-yard touchdown.

The Eagles offense climbed out of the early hole, the defense wreaked havoc and forced turnovers, but Addazio still had to prove that he could trust his kicking game.

So he called on Knoll twice.

When Knoll knocked down a pair of field goals that gave the Eagles breathing room, Addazio could exhale. The Eagles snapped a streak of nine losses going back to last season with a 26-7 win over the Minutemen at Gillette Stadium.

The failures of the kicking game have been glaring for the past two seasons, but its success on Saturday was quietly pivotal. In a matter of about three minutes, Knoll made two field goals, matching the total he finished with last season in on-and-off kicking duties.

“I’m always ready whenever the team needs me,’’ Knoll said. “It’s unfortunate that Colton went down, but he’ll be back and he’ll be kicking lights-out and it’s going to be good.

“Whoever’s out there, we’ve got to get our job done and that’s what we plan to do. We’ve made thousands of kicks in practice and it’s good to get your confidence up and happy with what we did.’’

Going down early to a UMass team they had beaten eight straight times was a shellshock for the Eagles.

“Being down, that was a real surprise,’’ said BC wideout Jeff Smith.

The momentum started to turn when quarterback Patrick Towles hooked up with Smith on back-to-back deep balls for 46- and 36-yard touchdowns that put the Eagles up, 13-7, going into the half. When the offense came out flat to start the third quarter, Knoll made sure none of that momentum was lost.

On the Eagles’ third drive of the quarter, he split the uprights from 40 yards. The next drive, he nailed one from 37 yards.

“Being able to do that, it kept momentum alive and we were able to build up points,’’ Addazio said. “That has to happen in the style of game we play . . . Those 3 points, they matter. They matter all the time.’’

They were points that BC had become accustomed to leaving on the field, especially a week ago in an opening 17-14 loss to Georgia Tech in which Lichtenberg missed two field goal attempts.

“Listen, would’ve, should’ve, could’ve,’’ Addazio said. “If we could’ve kicked the two field goals last week, we would’ve had a different outcome, right? We all know it’s critical. When you get in the red zone, it’s deflating if you come away with no points. You’re not going to score all touchdowns. In a perfect world, you’d like to score all touchdowns, but you certainly have to score your field goals.’’

Generating offense was a struggle for UMass all day. The Minutemen mustered 29 yards of total offense after the first quarter. The Eagles defense terrorized Comis, sacking him eight times, looting him for an interception and a fumble. Linebacker Connor Strachan led the way with 2.5 sacks to go with six tackles, a forced fumble, and a recovery.

The Eagles got a 12-for-22, 191-yard, two-touchdown performance from Towles, but struggled at times to move the ball, particularly on the ground with Jon Hilliman picking up just 63 yards and a touchdown on 22 carries.

The value in being able to get points even when they didn’t get in the end zone couldn’t be overstated.

“Sometimes it’s the difference between wins and losses,’’ Towles said.

Julian Benbow can be reached at jbenbow@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @julianbenbow.