Boston College 34 Virginia Tech 27: The Good, The Bad And The Ugly.

What a win yesterday for the Eagles! Against the heavily favored Hokies, Boston College earned their first win against Virginia Tech in five years and set themselves up for not only bowl eligibility but finishing the season strong.

The Good

Andre Williams- At the end of this season we should consider renaming this section the "Andre Williams Section Of Stellar Performances" because a week hasn't gone by that he hasn't headlined this section. Yesterday BC had the daunting task of facing the 5th ranked rushing defense in the country, and what did Williams do? Only ran for 160 yards and two touchdowns including a backbreaker in the fourth quarter. There were times when Williams couldn't move the ball, but much of that had to do that you, me, Bud Foster and everyone else in the stadium knew he was going to get the ball.  As we head into New Mexico State week, remember to keep former offensive coordinator and now Aggie head coach Doug Martin in your prayers. Andre Williams is going to do unspeakable things to his defense next Saturday.

Kevin Pierre Louis: One reader TheRealEagles21 had him down as his defensive MVP, and while I disagree, it's hard to argue that KPL again had a lights out game. KPL had one of the plays of the game when he took a Logan Thomas interception back to the house for a touchdown to give the Eagles the lead. Like nearly everyone else on defense he brought the heat on the blitz, made big plays and ended the day with 8 solo tackles. He's clearly the leader on this defense, and sets the tone game in and game out. Given his speed and toughness, KPL has got to be moving up NFL draft boards at this point.

Chase Rettig: Was he perfect? No. Did he make big plays to change the game? Kind of. But what you have to consider here is that given how he has performed in the previous two games, and given what he was asked to do, Rettig did a fine job, just a week after many wanted him to sit against the Hokies. He made a huge play giving BC a first down on 3rd and long with his feet, only missed on three passes, used the play action and short dump off passes well, and most importantly HE DIDN'T TURNOVER THE BALL. In a game that for the most part was decided on turnovers, Rettig showed that he could do what he needed to do and prevented himself from hurting BC.

Kasim Edebali: The senior defensive lineman was in pure beast mode on Saturday, forcing three fumbles, sacking Logan Thomas twice, and ending the game with a game high eight tackles.  He was a force on almost every play BC blitzed on. Not only has Edebali progressed from an average lineman to a good lineman, he has taken even the next step and has become a dominant defender and someone that has become a lot of fun to watch under Don Brown's defense.

The coaching staff: Again they were not perfect, but were they good? Absolutely. The defense, while getting gashed for almost 400 yards in the air, came in with a plan. Don Brown wanted his defenders getting to Logan Thomas and force turnovers, and they did exactly that. It seemed that the defense was content on allowing VT to get yards, assuming that at some point during the drive Thomas would make a mistake, and he did exactly that, four times. On offense, I heard and read a lot of belly aching about the play calling. But you have to go with what works, and clearly Andre Williams is just that, and I saw a lot less of the spread formation which wasn't working against UNC, and much more play action.

Finally, the coaching staff again has these guys mentally prepared for games like this. BC in years past would have just rolled over when VT came back, but Addazio seems to have instilled a no quit mentality in his players who all just seem jacked to be out there.

Reversal of Pass Interference Call And just adding onto our previous point, this was a bad call all around, I was at the game so I couldn't see if it was tipped, but it was clearly not pass interference. How did this get reversed? Steve Addazio gave the refs an earful, and didn't stop, refs listened, looked it over and voila. Game changer.

The Bad

That pass from Chase Rettig to Alex Amidon: I almost put in "That diving side arm throw from Rettig to Myles Willis" but this one took the cake.  Rettig's feet weren't set, he was off balanced, and when the ball left his hand it looked like a combination of a Tim Wakefield knuckleball and a falling duck from Duck Hunt. Alex Amidon did catch the ball, but the only reason this is put in the bad category was because if Rettig actually made a normal throw Amidon was WIDE OPEN and would have scored most likely untouched.

Two minute drill. AGAIN. After BC failed to put points on the board, Virginia Tech was able to move the ball effectively forty yards which led to a monster 56 yard field goal by Cody Journell. The drive started off innocuous enough, with two holding penalties by Virginia Tech offensive linemen. On the next two plays Logan Thomas hit Demetri Knowles for 18 and 17 yards giving the Hokies a first down. Numerous times during this drive, BC's defense should have had them stopped when Steele Divitto sacked Thomas, but again the Hokies moved the ball close enough for the long field goal. Again, coaching staff has got to figure out a way from crapping all over themselves before halftime.

Missed tackles: This isn't aimed at anyone in particular but there were numerous plays where a Virginia Tech player (seemed to always be a wide receiver) made a play and then a missed tackle later gained an extra ten yards. This elongated drives, and made their 3rd down conversion percentage what it was.

Timing of this game: I know that there is nothing BC could have done about this, but the Red Sox parade lead to numerous things. One, the BC student section was particularly low, and didn't really feel out until about halftime (even then it was never quite filled). Secondly, the rest of the stadium was 80-90% empty at kickoff, which isn't new for lifelong BC fans, but looking ahead if Brad Bates wants to change the culture of the school it's going to have to be something that is addressed.

The injuries : Brian Miller, Jaryd Rudolph and Kaleb Ramsey all went down with injuries during the game. Two starters on the defensive line. BC's depth is shallow to begin with, having half of our starters on the d-line go down is a huge loss. Let's hope they aren't for too long.

The Ugly

Logan Thomas: Going into this year I didn't get all the fuss about his talent. Some blogs and writers had him as a Heisman candidate going into the season. Some had him as a the top quarterback in the draft. The converted tight end has never struck me as particularly talented at QB and yesterday clearly exemplified that. He must be very frustrating for Hokies fans to watch. On one hand he masterfully put together a nice string of passes, made good reads, and ran the ball effectively. But on the other hand whenever BC threw pressure at him he folded like an accordion. Gaining huge chunks of yards is meaningless when you turnover the ball a lot.  He made four turnovers, and cost the Hokies the game.

BC's Secondary: They got shredded yesterday, against a passing attack that before the game wasn't all that great. Logan Thomas looked like Dan Marino on some of his passes, and Joshua Stanford was wide open far too often. I think at this point BC fans have to accept these types of games moving forward. BC is going to send blitzes, often, and this is going to leave the secondary in less than favorable matchups. If BC can recruit some talent in the secondary, the results might change in the future, but for now guys like Bryce Jones and Sean Sylvia are going to get beat.