Boston College Athletics
Eagles Receive BIG EAST Football Honors
November 18, 2002 | Football
Nov. 18, 2002
Junior running back Derrick Knight has been named BIG EAST Co-Offensive Player of the Week (along with Temple's Denardo Sharps) following his 171-yard performance against Syracuse, while safety Ralph Parent was named Co-Defensive Player of the Week (along with Temple's Terrance Leftwich) after registering five solos, two TFLs, two pass break-ups and an interception in the game.
The honors are the third and fourth conference awards for the Eagles this season. Junior linebacker Josh Ott was named BIG EAST Defensive Player of the Week and Bronko Nagurski National Defensive Player of the Week following his 15-tackle performance against Notre Dame. Fellow junior Brian Flores was named BIG EAST Player of the Week after he registered eight solos, two assists, one TFL and an interception vs. Central Michigan.
With a gritty two-yard run in the second half of the Syracuse game, Knight hit the 1,000-yard mark for the season, keeping BC's streak of consecutive 1,000-yard rushers alive. A BC tailback has rushed for 1,000+ in each of the past five seasons, including all-time leading rusher Mike Cloud (1,726 in 1998); Cedric Washington (1,122 in 1999), William Green (1,164 in 2000 and 1,559 in 2001) and now Knight, who currently sits at 1,089 yards on 198 carries for the season. Knight has rushed for more than 100 yards in seven of ten BC games this year.
"This is a credit to our offensive line here at Boston College," Knight says. "To have someone rush for 1,000 yards five years in a row, you have to have great players clearing the way for you, and we have a tradition of that here at BC."
Boston College travels to Philadelphia this Saturday to take on BIG EAST foe Temple in the final road game of the 2002 season. The game, which will kick off at Noon EST, will mark the second time in three weeks the Eagles have faced an opponent on their senior day. BC has defeated Temple three out of the past four times the teams have met, but the Eagles have not defeated the Owls in Philadelphia since 1995 and BC coach Tom O'Brien is looking for his first win over Temple in Philly. BC will be looking to put together back-to-back victories for the first time since opening the season with wins over Connecticut (24-16) and Stanford (34-27); since then, the Eagles have alternated wins and losses.
BC head coach Tom O'Brien is impressed with the Owls. "Temple has improved every year," he says. "You talk to any coach, and any time you bring up Temple, they say, 'boy, they're tough.' They're good. They just haven't been able to get over the hump. We're going to have to play as well as we can play to win the football game. That's our goal this week, to put two together. We're tired of winning one and then losing one."
The Eagles are coming off a 41-20 home victory over Syracuse made them bowl eligible and in the hunt for a postseason appearance for an unprecedented fourth consecutive season. BC hopes to improve on its 6-4 overall record (and notch its second BIG EAST victory of the season). With two regular-season games remaining, the Eagles hope to finish with the most wins for a BC team since 1993 and become just the ninth team in BC football history to record nine or more victories in a season. BC has had only one other nine-win team in the past 15 seasons - the 1993 Eagles finished 9-3 and defeated Virginia 31-13 in the Carquest Bowl.
