What Can Brown Do For BC? Almost Anything.

When Boston College traveled to Wake Forest last week, quarterback Anthony Brown stood under the microscope of wavering doubts. He had thrown for 279 yards and five touchdowns against UMass, but he had not completed a full game since returning from last year's season-ending knee injury. He only threw two passes against Holy Cross, allowing public opinion to question how he would hold up when the Eagles began punching in a stronger weight class.

That Wake Forest game will likely quiet those doubts. Brown threw for 304 yards and five touchdowns to electrify the Eagles in a 41-34 victory. This week, his performance earned him national recognition as one of the Davey O'Brien Award's "Great 8" and the Manning Award's nominees for "Stars of the Week." In addition, he earned ACC Player of the Week honors at his position.

"Every team's success is going to have a huge impact by the quarterback," head coach Steve Addazio said. "You're not going to win at a high level in a great conference unless you have a real guy at the quarterback position."

Thursday marked the second-best single-game passer rating by a Boston College quarterback since 1996. It statistically fell short of the UMass game earlier this season, but Brown threw for more yards against the Demon Deacons and played all four quarters. All five of his touchdown passes came on explosive plays, including a 71-yard strike to Jeff Smith and a 35-yard touch pass to Kobay White. None of the touchdowns came inside the red zone.

"He's very accurate and very mature," Addazio said. "I think you're seeing him mature right now. You saw that last year. That was just starting to click in last year, and unfortunately he got hurt. I really believe you would've seen more flashes down the homestretch. That's where he was headed."

The early doubt this year stemmed largely because his freshman season ended so abruptly. Brown had been developing from the very start when he became just the second rookie to start a season opener. He threw 42 attempts against Northern Illinois and over 200 yards against Notre Dame but struggled with multiple interceptions against Wake Forest. He explored different elements of his game against Clemson and Virginia Tech, all leading to his breakout performance against Virginia.

That's where Brown threw for 275 yards and three touchdowns in an evisceration of the Cavaliers. The next week, BC blasted Florida State, building all kinds of momentum into the NC State game. But that's where his season ended with a knee injury after five passing attempts and 28 yards rushing.

Brown's offseason recovery plan allowed BC to bring him along slowly in training camp. Addazio left no doubt that he would start the first week, and the QB promptly turned in arguably the best half of football in the last 20 years. But the limited public simple size underlined everything happening behind the scenes until the Wake Forest game.

"He played one season and didn't even finish it," Addazio said. "Essentially he's still finishing his first season right now of play. So his best days are still ahead of him. He is a talented guy. That showed on Thursday night."

"We did a lot of practice on each one of those (explosive) plays throughout camp and all throughout the summer," Brown said. "So my confidence level is really high, and we've done so many reps of those throws. It was actually fun to execute those in a game, and they worked well."

Experts expected AJ Dillon's strong performances, but Brown turned heads largely because of those early-season question. The No. 23 Eagles, though, now enter Saturday ranked No. 1 in the conference in total offense and No. 2 in passing. The Wake Forest game was the fourth time the offense scored 40 points in its last five conference games, though it was only the fifth time since BC joined the ACC.

The unit ranks second in the nation in passing touchdowns behind a Hawaii team with over 70 more passing attempts. It ranks seventh in completion percentage and sixth in scoring offense. Brown ranks first nationally in passing efficiency and is currently better than Alabama's Tua Tagovailoa and Georgia's Jake Fromm - both also sophomores.

The first three games of the season are three of the best offensive performances of the Steve Addazio era. The 524 yards amassed against Wake Forest ranks sixth but is third most against power conference opponents - all of which are ACC teams.

At the end of the day, though, the quarterback didn't notice or, better yet, didn't care to notice.

"I don't really pay attention to that stuff," Brown said. "I couldn't care less what I do as long as we win. If that means we hand off the ball 47 times in one game, I couldn't care less. I just want to win. Awards aren't really on my radar. We have to focus as a team to win."

"I like to have ultimately as much balance as we can," Addazio said. "If they're going to load the box against AJ, our running game, we have fast, talented guys out there. We have a quarterback that has a bona fide, legitimate arm.

"We're going to work like heck to run the ball but not pound the rock in terms of just pounding your head against a wall," Addazio continued. "We'll set it up. Those play-action shots are going to be there. They can't help but be there. You can't have it both ways. This is what we've been working towards. This is where we want to be. This is not a shock to us."

What Can Brown Do For BC? Almost Anything.

Players Mentioned

Anthony Brown

AJ Dillon

Jeff Smith

Kobay White

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