Boston College Athletics
Kiwanuka, Blackmon Receive Big East Honors
November 15, 2004 | Football
Nov. 15, 2004
BC defensive end Mathias Kiwanuka was named Big East Defensive Player of the Week for the first time this season after he made seven tackles, all solo stops, in Boston College's 36-17 win over 10th-ranked West Virginia this past Saturday. Five of Kiwanuka's seven tackles were for losses totaling 16 yards. He also recorded two sacks. Kiwanuka helped the BC defense hold a Mountaineer offense averaging 34.8 points per game to just 17 points.
Cornerback Will Blackmon earned Special Teams Player of the Week honors for the first time this season. The junior returned a punt 71 yards for a touchdown in the fourth quarter and also returned two kickoffs for a combined 61 yards. He finished with 132 total return yards in the contest.
Still flying high after defeating West Virginia in Morgantown for the first time since 1990, the Eagles will head to the City of Brotherly Love for a Saturday showdown with the Temple Owls. The game at Lincoln Financial Field will kick off at noon and will be televised by ESPN Regional.
By defeating the Mountaineers, BC put itself in the driver's seat for its first-ever Big East Conference title and a possible BCS bowl slot. If the Eagles can defeat Temple on the road and Syracuse at home, they will either tie West Virginia for the Big East title or win it outright (if the Mountaineers fall to Pittsburgh on Thanksgiving day). The Big East champion receives an automatic BCS bowl game berth. If BC were to tie West Virginia for the conference championship, the Eagles would receive the BCS berth (due to their victory over WVU) unless West Virginia finishes five spots or more ahead of BC in the BCS standings.
Confusing? Maybe. And Coach Tom O'Brien wants none of the speculation at this point. "Right now, we're concentrating on one game, and that's Temple," he says. "The rankings and speculation mean nothing at this point. We've got to stay focused on the task at hand, and that's going to Philadelphia, where we have had problems in the past, and defeating a Temple team that's coming off a huge win over Syracuse. We've got our work cut out for us."
