Boston College Athletics
Boston College
Syracuse
Football Holds On For Their First BIG EAST Win
October 14, 2000 | Football
Oct. 14, 2000
Postgame Audio Comments:
* Head Coach?O'Brien
* Ralph?Parent,?Lenny?Walls
* Tim?Hasselbeck
* William?Green
* Cedric?Washington
By HOWARD ULMAN
AP Sports Writer
BOSTON (AP) - Lenny Walls scored on one of four interceptions thrown by Syracuse's Troy Nunes, and Boston College's defense stopped a second-half comeback attempt for a 20-13 win Saturday.
It was a critical victory for Boston College (4-2, 1-2 Big East) because it had been winless in the conference. The Eagles also showed they could beat a solid team. Their first three wins came against teams with a combined 2-14 record - Army, Navy and Connecticut.
Syracuse (3-3, 2-1) got its only touchdown on Nunes' 20-yard completion to Aaron Lewis, cutting the lead to 20-13 with 56 seconds left in the third quarter. The Orangemen had four more possessions, but BC held them to two first downs and Mike Shafer's missed 34-yard field-goal attempt.
Syracuse got 155 yards rushing from James Mungro and 105 from Dee Brown, who passed Jim Brown's total of 2,091 yards rushing to move into 11th place in school history with 2,125.
But Nunes, who entered the game third in the nation in passing efficiency, couldn't match his previous two performances in wins over Brigham Young and Pittsburgh when he completed 30 of 40 passes for 507 yards, four touchdowns and no interceptions.
On Saturday, he threw interceptions on three of Syracuse's last four series of the first half and the first series of the second. He completed 9 of 22 passes for 134 yards.
BC beat Syracuse for the second straight year after losing four in a row. Since 1987, the team that won each annual matchup has gone to a bowl game.
The Eagles were leading 6-3 when Walls, playing right cornerback, read Nunes perfectly and stepped in front of a pass for Pat Woodcock. He returned the interception 29 yards for a touchdown 1:22 into the second quarter.
Mike Shafer's 27-yard field goal made it 13-6 at halftime, but BC went ahead 20-6 on a 6-yard run by William Green, who rushed for 104 yards, with 9:37 gone in the third quarter.
Each team had a big run on its first possession but settled for field goals. BC's Mike Sutphin kicked a 19-yarder after a 65-yard run by Green, and Shafer connected from 24 yards after a 70-yard gain by Mungro.
Ralph Parent had two interceptions for BC and Sean Guthrie had one.
