Boston College Athletics
Boston College
Rutgers
Football Runs Over Rutgers, 42-13
October 28, 2000 | Football
Oct. 28, 2000
Listen to postgame comments.
?Tim Hasselbeck
?Hasselbeck II
?Lenny Walls
?William Green
?Cedric Washington
?Tom O'Brien
?Tom O'Brien II
By HOWARD ULMAN
AP Sports Writer
BOSTON -- William Green weaved through a strong wind and a weak Rutgers defense, rushing for 223 yards and two touchdowns as Boston College ran away with a 42-13 win Saturday.
On a day when passes floated in gusts of 35 mph, the Eagles concentrated on their ground game and got 94 yards rushing and three touchdowns from Cedric Washington.
Boston College (5-3, 2-3 Big East) had one glaring lapse, allowing 10 points in the last 40 seconds of the second quarter as Rutgers (3-5, 0-5) closed to 21-13 at halftime. But the Eagles regained control quickly by scoring on their first two series of the second half.
Green, one of the most highly recruited running backs in the East last year, built on his 225-yard rushing performance three weeks earlier against Connecticut. The Atlantic City, N.J., resident had a shot at Phil Bennett's school record of 253 yards rushing but sat out much of the fourth quarter against his home-state team.
Tim Hasselbeck threw three touchdown passes. But Washington did most of the work on two of them as he caught short tosses that he turned into touchdowns of 42 and 15 yards. He also had a 2-yard touchdown run on BC's first possession, carrying on all seven plays for 39 yards.
BC, which can clinch a winning record and become bowl eligible by beating Temple at home next Saturday, is 5-0 with a 44-point average against teams with losing records. It's averaged 24.3 points in three losses to teams with winning records, including a 42-26 setback at Pittsburgh a week earlier.
Rutgers, coming off a 28-21 victory over winless Navy that stopped a four-game losing streak, lost its sixth straight game against BC.
Green carried 22 times and scored on a 4-yard run, his first touchdown of the game, giving the Eagles a 21-3 lead. But the Scarlet Knights rallied, scoring on Mike McMahon's 14-yard pass to Dennis Thomas with 40 seconds left in the half and Steve Barone's second field goal, a 34-yarder with five seconds remaining after a BC fumble.
Then the Eagles had to start the second half going into the wind.
But that made little difference against a team that has allowed 34.3 points per game. BC marched 80 yards to Hasselbeck's 15-yard scoring pass to Washington and 62 yards to Green's 1-yard scoring run on their first two possessions. Green nearly scored two plays earlier, breaking three tackles before being pulled down at the Rutgers 3 after a 64-yard gain.
Hasselbeck added a 12-yard touchdown pass to Rob Ellis in the fourth quarter.
McMahon, second in the Big East in yards passing per game, was victimized by dropped passes as he completed just 13 of 36 for 171 yards and two interceptions. The running game wasn't much better as Thomas led Rutgers with 58 yards on 16 carries.
BC rushed for 325 yards and outgained Rutgers 484 yards to 304 as each had 73 plays.
