Ok, so it wasn't exactly Flutie to Phelan.

 

  

However, for Boston College QB Matt Ryan, his team's final furious drive against Virginia Tech Thursday night may have, indeed, been the best of times.

 

On a miserable, rainy night in Blacksburg, Ryan and the BC Eagles had been absolutely stifled by the fast and relentless Hokies' defense all game long.  Boston College's undefeated season, the team's #2 BCS ranking, and Ryan's Heisman Trophy hopes all seemed to be washing away in the southwestern Virginia downpour. 

Late in the fourth quarter, the Hokies led 10-0 and were driving for what would have been a game-sealing score.  If the Eagles couldn't keep Virginia Tech out of the end zone, their shot at a national championship would be over.  However, the BC defense had nearly matched the Hokies' sterling defensive effort stop-for-stop, and when they needed to give Ryan and the struggling offense a sliver of a chance, they did.  The Eagles' D held and the Hokies were forced into a 46-yard field goal try with just over four minutes to go.

 

Instead, Virginia Tech chose to direct snap to the kicker who pooched a punt inside the BC 10.  So, Ryan and his offensive teammates were looking at going 90-plus yards with the rain, the crowd, and am inspired defense all howling in their faces.  Worse still, they knew that even if they finally reached the scoreboard on the drive, they'd need to do it again to tie or win the game.  Given the fact that they hadn't scored a single point in the first 56 minutes of the game, the prospects for scoring at least 10 in the final four minutes didn't look all that promising.

 

Matt Ryan, apparently, wasn't paying attention to the odds.

 

Throwing a wet football on a rain-soaked field to receivers who had been dropping passes all night long against a stingy defense that knew he had to throw the ball on every down, Ryan simply defied probability.  Working the clock and trusting his teammates, who were now suddenly making plays all over the field for him, Ryan led the Eagles methodically down the field.  

 

  

Comfortably inside Virginia Tech territory, Ryan, who had 5 net rushing yards for the season at that point, suddenly broke out the pocket and scrambled for 11 yards to the Hokies' 16-yard line.  Arm, feet - it didn't seem to matter.  Ryan could smell points now, and the clock was moving.

 

Two plays later, he threw a beautiful lob pass over Rich Gunnell's back shoulder.  Gunnell, falling out of the end zone, made a terrific catch and got a single foot just inside the sideline.  The Eagles had finally broken the seal on their side of the scoreboard, but there was just 2:11 left to play and BC still trailed by 3.

 

A lot of things can happen on an onside kick attempt.  When it's raining and the football gets slippery, a lot more things can happen, and most of them are bad for the receiving team.  So when BC's onside kick attempt skipped toward the Hokies' first wave of players, a Virginia Tech player lunged forward to grab the football.  He didn't get it.  Instead, the ball skipped away from him and when he tried to corral it in it squirted further away and straight into the path of a BC player.

 

Suddenly, Ryan and the Eagle offense were back in business, and the stout but tired Virginia Tech defense was rushed back on the field.  BC's all-everything QB knew the Hokies' defense was vulnerable now.  Still, everyone in the stadium knew where Ryan was going to be (the pocket) and what he was going to do (pass) on every play left in the game.  So, Virginia Tech turned up whatever heat it could find in its pass rush.

 

However, Ryan's seemingly washed away Heisman Trophy hopes were now being washed back on shore in these final furious minutes, and he was on fire.  The reads were coming back.  He could see the spaces and made the throws.  Everything that had made him the fire-breathing leader of an undefeated team was coming back.  Four throws to four different receivers brought the Eagles roaring down the field.

 

Although BC kicker Steve Aponavicius was waiting on the sideline with a tie game and a 78% chance of making that happen (7-of-9 in FG attempts for the season), Ryan wasn't playing like a QB hoping for a chance at overtime.  With less than a minute to go and 14 yards from the lead, Ryan charged ahead.  With the Virginia Tech pass rush bearing down on him, he made a wild scramble out of the pocket and fired a dart to Kevin Challenger in the end zone.  Touchdown.

 

Except, it wasn't.

 

The Hokies' pass rush had proven a little too strong, and a holding penalty was called.  Not only did those six potentially game-deciding points evaporate, but the Eagles were moved back 10 yards to the Virginia Tech 24.  Even a game-tying field attempt went from a comfortable 31 yards to an unnervingly uncertain 41-yard coin toss.  And after an incomplete pass, there were less than 20 seconds left.

 

However, the Eagles had a pair of trump cards.  One was a final timeout they still had in their pocket that could be used on any play stopped in bounds short of a first down or the end zone.  The second was the fearlessness of their senior QB.

 

The Virginia Tech defense turned up the heat again and sent Ryan scampering from the pocket.  With time dwindling and the pass rush closing in, Ryan made football's most dangerous throw. 

 

And got away with it.

 

Scrambling to his left, he spun slightly and threw the ball across the field and away from his momentum.  It was a high, looping pass headed for the back of the end zone.  A pair of Virginia Tech defenders turned just in time to see BC running back Andre Callender slip behind the defense and lunge for the ball, cradling it before it hit the ground.  

 

  

Again, it wasn't Flutie to Phelan.  But it was close.

 

And just like that, Matt Ryan reclaimed his Heisman candidacy, kept his team squarely in the center of the National Championship chase, and spared the Eagles the ignominy of yet another team at the top of the college world falling down in the national spotlight.

 

Sure, there are those who will question legitimacy of Boston College in the National Championship picture and opine for other more "deserving" alternatives.  However, in a game they had to win against both a fired-up Virginia Tech team and Mother Nature, the Eagles did.  So, those waiting for the worst of times or some other sort of Dickens-like fall from grace by the team from Chestnut Hill will just have to keep waiting.

 

For it is a far, far better thing that they do, than they have ever done.  Or something like that.

 

Stats:

http://msn.foxsports.com/cfb/gameTrax?gameId=200710250016

http://msn.foxsports.com/cfb/teamStats?categoryId=86049

http://scores.espn.go.com/ncf/player/profile?playerId=185063

 

Other:

http://scores.espn.go.com/ncf/playbyplay?gameId=272980259&period=0