Friday, October 26, 2007

Congratulations to #2 Boston College

Three consecutive weeks the Number 2 college football team lost. For 59 minutes and 49 seconds last night in a steady downpour in Blacksburg, Virginia, it looked like it might be four weeks. That is until Matt Ryan was able to scramble away from the rushing Hokie defense and through a 24-yard TD pass to Andre Callender with just 11 seconds left to complete an improbably comeback and give the #2 Eagles a 14-10 victory over #8/9 Virginia Tech.

BC trailed VT 10-0 with just 4:17 remaining in the fourth quarter when they took over on their own 9-yard line. Finally getting into a rhythm, Ryan was able to march the BC offense 92 yards in just 2:06 in a drive that ended with a 16-yard pass to Rich Gunnell.

After the extra point made it 10-7 Hokies, BC recovered an on-sides kick at their own 34. Boston College had just 2:11 on the clock and 66 yards to go to pull out a victory. Could Ryan and crew do it? The answer was yes. Completing passes to Ryan Purvis, Brandon Robinson, Rich Gunnell, Kevin Challenger, Robinson again and finally Andre Callender, Ryan again marched the offense down the field scoring the winning TD with just 11 seconds.

It had to kill Doug Flutie to miss this game. He was up in Canada for induction ceremonies to the Canadian Football League Hall of Fame. It would have been fun seeing his reaction to Ryan’s comeback drives.

Prior to the final four minutes, it was a sloppy game with neither teams offense doing much in the slop. Both teams punted 9 times. Together they put the ball on the turf 8 times with VT losing two of their five fumbles. Virginia Tech had total net offense of just 265 yards while BC managed a meager 317, most of which they had in those final two drives.

Virginia Tech is now 6-2, 3-1 and finds itself in second place in the ACC’s Coastal Division behind Virginia (7-1, 4-0). They play again next Thursday night at Georgia Tech.

Boston College improves to 8-0, 4-0 and stands atop the ACC’s Atlantic Division. They face Florida State up in Boston on November 3.

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