Boston College 28, Maryland 17: Post Game Thoughts

Finally the Eagles have a win. No more talk of a 1-11 season. BC is finally out of the basement of the ACC's Atlantic Division after an impressive 28-14 win over Maryland. What we saw yesterday was a Boston College team that many fans, including myself, had hoped to see all year. In front of a rocking crowd of 29,000 -- more like 5,000 at best -- the Eagles shut down Danny O'Brien and move the ball well against a bad Maryland defense. BC came out with a strong game plan. The running game was consistent and good (running for a mind blowing 372 yards), and BC minimized their stupid errors. Plus they got to make Randy Edsall looked completely incompetent in the process. All in all a great game.

First of all, the game ball has to go to Rolandan Finch (Deuce!). A combination of bad conditions and a completely overwhelmed Maryland defense led to Deuce running for 242 yards on 39 attempts in a vintage "Spaz uses his running back until his legs fall off" type of game. Finch was strong, finding holes and blasting off huge runs.

Let's call a spade a spade. Maryland's defense was horrible and there were holes in their defense big enough to drive a Mac truck through. The only complaint was that Finch put the ball on the ground twice, which Captain Negativity Frank Spaziani was quick to point out immediately in the post game interview. Andre Williams looked solid as well, racking up 72 yards to spell the Deuce.

Chase Rettig was completely irrelevant. Which wasn't a bad thing. The conditions were tough, the ball slippery, and the last thing you would want is to rely on is Rettig throwing the ball. He had one interception, but it was on a last second Hail Mary. (Side note: That was one Spaz's biggest head scratching moments, he finally decided to sort of run the two minute drill, but did it really half-assed) Alex Amidon had a solid game, more as a running back on end arounds, than as a wide receiver. Bobby Swiggert, Colin Larmond Jr. and Jonathan Coleman were mostly invisible.

The defense looked great. Luke Kuechly proved that even in the mud he can be at all places at once. He had an interception (almost two), and 12 tackles. Sean Duggan who got his first start in place of the injured Kevin Pierre Louis looked strong as well, recording 8 tackles. Sean Sylvia also had a big game, recording his first interception of the year. My only complaint was about Maryland's second interception, Hampton Hughes was badly out of place and got completely burned when Spaz sent his CB in on the blitz. Other than that BC had O'Brien and C.J Brown completely confused and ineffective the entire game.

All in all a solid win for the Eagles. Maryland was a bad team, and this was a game BC had to win, and for the first time this year they did just that. We can't sit on one win though, as Jimbo Fisher and the FSU Seminoles, who are red hot, are coming to Alumni Stadium on Thursday. Short week to get ready, what BC team will we see after a short week of preparation?