BC Football Preview: Recent History against the Hokies

As the cold-biting portion of the season begins, the Eagles will start off their post-halloween season in a November tilt against the Virginia Tech Hokies. Needless to say, the Hokies are coming into the season as a powerful ACC contender and are certainly on the upswing after finishing last season with a 9-4 record. QB Josh Jackson had a damn good season last year as a freshman throwing for 2,991 passing yards and twenty touchdowns. While on the field those statistics prove impressive, it was off the field that Jackson’s academic demeanor seeped into a slew of off-season issues that coach Justin Fuente had to deal with. With respects to Jackson, the rising Sophomore experienced some academic issues that left Hokie nation questioning if the quarterback would be able to start this season. However, it looks as though Jackson may have gotten the ‘star-treatment’ and has since been cleared to play in the season opener against Florida State on September 3rd. In addition to Jackson, Fuente has also experienced additional off-season headaches in having to deal with other Virginia Tech players being either academically suspended or caught selling marijuana on campus. Clearly not the start to the 2018 season Fuente was hoping for.

Nevertheless, it looks like these off-season debacles are in the rear view mirror and Fuente can finally focus in on working with the team that he has. The Hokies enter this season ranked 20th in the pre-season AP Poll which, in my opinion, seems rather generous. Despite Jackson’s solid numbers in the 2017 season, the last month for him was rather poor where he completed only 55% of his passes and only connected on three touchdowns and threw five picks. Yet, let’s not this one month distract us from that fact that this kid is good and could give the Eagles a tough time. Ever since Matty Ice’s fantastic 2 minute miracle in Blacksburg in 2007, the Hokies have been relentless against the Eagles securing 9 wins in the last 12 contests. Even in the three games that the Eagles have won, they have been no means been dominating performances. This is a team that the Eagles are going to have to grind tooth and nail to win, especially in a hostile environment like Blacksburg.

November 2, 2013: Boston College 34 vs. Virginia Tech 27

• Location: Chestnut Hill, MA
• Andre Williams had a fantastic day on the ground (what else is new?) rushing for 166 yards and two touchdowns including s 62 yard run that ended up being the nail in the coffin late in the match.
• However, the highlights for the Eagles were on the defensive end. Kasim Edabali forced three fumbles throughout out the game.
• Additionally, future Seahawk Kevin Pierre-Louis picked off Logan Thomas for a touchdown that gave the Eagles their first lead of the game deep into the fourth. Manny Asprilla also had a share of the wealth with an interception of his own that he returned for 49 yards.
• It was truly BC’s defense that came up big and got the Eagles the W.

November 1, 2014: Boston College 33 vs. Virginia Tech 31

• Location: Blacksburg, VA
• The Eagles went down to Blacksburg looking to become bowl eligable against a Hokie team that was struggling at home during the season with a record of 1-3.
• Tyler Murphy responded quickly to the Hokie’s opening touchdown with an 8-yard dart into the back of the endzone to Charlie Callinan to give the Eagles their first set of points.
• Myles Willis then had some fun on the ground with a 68 yard touchdown on his first carry of the game that gave the Eagles their first lead. Willis finished with 79 yards on the day with six carries.
• While BC did hold on the lead for a fair portion of the game, some Frank Beamer trickery with a fake punt that ended up leading to a touchdown gave the Hokies the lead back and it started to look like BC was going to collapse.
• But not so fast! Tyler Murphy took a QB keeper on 3rd-and-ten with three minutes left in the game and ran 57 yards for a touchdown that ended up sealing the deal for the Eagles. Murphy finished with 122 rushing yards, 110 passing yards and two passing touchdowns.

October 31, 2015: Boston College 10 vs. Virginia Tech 26

• Location: Chestnut Hill, MA
• On Halloween, the Eagles came into the game with the best pass defense in the country but, as we all know, also with the worst offense in the country.
• The Hokies were able to expose the Eagles’ defense early with a 27 yards pass to Cam Phillips from Michael Brewer to give Tech the first lead of the game.
• The Eagles offense could simply not get things going at all as it seemed like deja vu at this point in the season.
• Down by ten, BC’s Jordan Gowins was stripped off the ball by VT’s Andrew Motuapuaka for a 34 yard touchdown and at that point, BC was in too deep of a hole to climb out of.

September 17, 2016: Boston College 0 vs. Virginia Tech 49

• Location: Blacksburg, VA
• I am going to refrain from summarizing this game as just the thought of it makes me want to vomit...

October 7, 2017: Boston College 10 vs. #16 Virginia Tech 23

• Location: Chestnut Hill, MA
• The ranked Hokies came into Chestnut Hill after having their four game win streak snapped by Clemson a week prior.
• QB Josh Jackson had a fantastic game for Tech throwing for 332 yards and 1 touchdown.
• VT WR Sean Savoy also a great game for the Hokies catching 9 passes for 139 yards and the only passing touchdown (53 yards) from Jackson.
• Boston College’s offense simply could not get their offense clicking as they were only able to put up three points until the final few minutes where Addazio decided to run a trick play having Jeff Smith connect with Anthony Brown for BC’s lone touchdown. It was a neat sight, but it would have been nice to see some of that earlier on when BC was actually considered in the game.