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It was not easy, and it certainly was not pretty but Boston College started the season 1-0 after a close 23-20 win against NIU Friday night. The Huskies came out roaring with an early touchdown on a pass from Ryan Graham to D.J. Brown after an interception, both teams traded field goals to make it 10-3. Redshirt freshman Anthony Brown, who was making his first start turned it on and made a huge pass to Michael Walker to give Boston College it’s first lead going into the half.
It looked like BC had their offense figured out after a touchdown again from Anthony Brown to Ray Marten, but reverted to their old self struggling in the second half. Anthony Brown struggled, the offensive line couldn’t move the smaller NIU defensive line and Jon Hilliman was used completely ineffectively, mostly running into NIU defenders two yards behind the line of scrimmage. NIU stormed back and took the lead after a beautiful misdirection pass from Ryan Graham to Shane Wimann.
BC took the lead in the 4th quarter when Colton Lichtenberg hit his 3rd straight field goal, and NIU again moved down the field. But the game ended when Christian Hagan missed a 40 yard field goal with 40 seconds left.
It wasn’t a pretty game, Boston College certainly has a lot of work to do, but a win is a win. The Eagles are going to need to build off this week if they want to beat Wake Forest in Week 2.