BC pulled that one out of their…
Somewhere back in the preseason, I predicted that BC fans would be upset that their previous coach left. While that may still prove to be the case, the odds aren’t working in favor of that prediction. Especially after tonight. BC broke the #2 ranking curse and pulled out an amazing victory at Virginia Tech.
For 56 minutes, there were shades of the Clemson-VT game of last year; a highly touted team visits Blacksburg, goes nowhere on offense, and leaves with only the the faintest memory of pride. But those last 4 minutes mattered a lot. From the 10-0 deficit, VT accumulated, per the ESPN stats, 168 yards and 14 pts on the back of Matt Ryan on two drives, the latter drive coming after recovering an onside kick. Prior to those drives, the Eagles had only amassed 149 yards of total offense (Clemson managed just 172 total yards last year)
In other words, life sucks for Hokies right now.
There are two other things I saw during the game that are worth noting:
1 – After leading the two successful drives, Matt Ryan threw up all over the BC sidelines.
2 – The demeanor of head coaches means jack. Two weeks ago USF got beat on Thursday night and I literally feared their head coach’s head was going to pop like “a zit. Get it?” Tonight Jags seemed very calm even when things weren’t going well. Actually, when things were going well he was all smiles. And after BC scored the winning touchdown he was practically prancing around on the sideline.
ADDENDUM
3 – I forgot to add this last night, but one of the things that BC did really well last night was falling on loose footballs. There were a number of times when the ball was squirming around and up for grabs and BC did a really excellent job of gaining or regaining possession.
I watched as much as I could and then fell asleep. Then I woke with a start for no reason. I watched the last 2.5 minutes. Awesome. Matt Ryan broke out a can of whoopass in the last couple minutes.
As for throwing up . . . that’s how you leave it all on the field. I think we were supposed to want VT to win, but that just an awesome ending to watch. It was like Ryan said, “Oh, yeah, we want a National Title. I think I’ll win now.”
It’s all shaping up perfectly… BC holds on to the #2 all season, and then on November 17…
HELLLOO! WE WANT BC TO LOOSE! If they come to Death Valley undeafeted and we haven’t lost another game until then, a 82-3 victory against them dosen’t mean shit! I promise you all I will be the biggest FSU and Wake fan in the world if we keep winnging games. Every other Clemson fan should be too!
Correction, I will be the biggest Maryland fan (not Wake) after this weekend.
OK, so let me see if I understand – if we beat a division opponent and are tied for the division lead, it means squat if we have more conference losses than the other team? In that case does anyone know anyone willing to go up to Boston and do a Nancy Kerrigan on Matt Ryan?
Broken I bet would go up there with a tire iron.. Its’ overall divisional record which would lead us to this crazy document found here:
http://www.theacc.com/sports/m-footbl/spec-rel/082105aad.html
Maybe you all missed the idea that Ryan did what great QBs (and teams) do when the game is on the line and it all could blow up in your face. I wish Clemson had a great QB … the last three (including Harper) aren’t.
Do you mean that Ryan is a great QB because he went for it all at the end of the game? Or because he succeeded.
If it’s the former, then that isn’t at all impressive. If it’s the latter, then I have to wonder whether Ryan was a great QB last year when BC lost by 2 at NC State? Or lost by 7 at Wake Forest? Or lost by 3 at Miami?