Boston College Athletics
Photo by: John Quackenbos
Four Downs: Virginia Tech
August 31, 2019 | Football, #ForBoston Files
An instant classic lived up to its hype at Alumni Stadium on Saturday.
The Boston College offense broke its huddle for its second drive against the Virginia Tech defense after less than two minutes expired off the first quarter game clock. Anthony Brown took his spot with AJ Dillon standing in the backfield as his running back. Two tight ends stood in formation, and wide receiver Kobay White drew attention out wide by the sideline.
It was typical, standard Boston College football at first glance, but it changed in an instant. The no-huddle offense, already one drive deep into the game, went warp speed, preventing any substitution and unleashing a completely different look on an opposing defense. It began with a designed run to wide receiver Zay Flowers for a gain of 16. Two plays later, Brown rolled out a pass to tight end Korab Idrizi for 13 yards. It gave BC advantageous field position on the Virginia Tech 33-yard line, a gain of 30 yards in barely over a minute.
The combination reeled the Virginia Tech defense, and it took one more shot for Boston College to deliver a knockdown blow. Brown hit Flowers for a 33-yard touchdown pass that could have kept the true freshman running to Newton Campus.Â
Boston College 7. Virginia Tech 0.
"It's always nice adding new cars to the garage," Brown said of Flowers. "It's really a blessing. The kid is very, very talented."
It teed up a four-quarter battle fueled by intense energy. The Eagles and Hokies pounded each other for 60 minutes. They knocked each other down like two heavyweights but could not earn a definitive TKO. Both teams kept pressing more octane, knowing how victory came from earning inches. In the end, though, BC held more inches, winning 35-28 to open the 2019 regular season.
"(It is) a great statement win for the program," head coach Steve Addazio said. "We played a heck of a football team in Virginia Tech. Justin Fuente is a heck of a coach, and Bud Foster may be the very best defensive coordinator in football, year in and year out."
It lived up to every ounce of hype preceding kickoff. 164 plays yielded 874 combined total yards, and over 600 came through the air. The teams had nearly 50 first downs, scoring nine touchdowns, and the defenses still made plays despite the numbers. The teams had four interceptions, including three backed up against the end zone. A fourth came from a defensive tackle in one of the game's most athletic plays. Receivers fought defensive backs, and the trenches smacked of physicality. It left the fans breathless as the sun faded behind the Chestnut Hill and Boston skyline.
Predictions said it would be everything great about college football. It was, and somehow it was so much more.
Here's more of what happened at Alumni Stadium on Saturday afternoon:
*****
First Down: Anthony Brown
Brown's throw to Flowers scratched the surface of his first half performance. He hit big plays on three consecutive drives when Kobay White hauled in a 56 yarder before going back to Flowers for 58 yards. He finished the first quarter with 186 yards on 7-of-11 passing and a touchdown, and he put BC in a position to blow out the Hokies before miscues kept the score close.
"We've worked a long time with the development of the quarterback and the skill tight end/receiver positions, and AJ catching out of the backfield as well in critical moments," Steve Addazio said. "It's a big part of the game for us."
Brown's first quarter yards outpaced his entire game total from seven different weeks last year, and he used it as further foundation for the second. He connected with Hunter Long on back-to-back passes and later hit White again on a fade route for a touchdown. He topped the first half with a designed run play for a 28-yard run, culminating the execution of plays designed and developed during preseason scrimmage experimentation.
"I thought the coordinators did a fantastic job," Addazio said. "I thought Mike Bajakian was fantastic, just did a great job calling the game and navigating through the pressure packages we were seeing."
Virginia Tech adjusted at halftime and started experiencing success against Brown as the second half progressed. His third quarter numbers dipped, forcing the quarterback to adjust his own game on the fly. He became a conductor, setting the offense in time to hand off to David Bailey and AJ Dillon. He became a vocal leader instead of a gunslinger, adapting himself to the BC unit.
"In the huddle, on the sidelines, he's driving the football team," Addazio said. "That's what we've been dying to see come out of him. Just really making corrections, driving the team, total command, unfazed, not riding the roller coaster of the ups and downs of the game. It's what a veteran quarterback should bring to the table, and he brought it."
"It's time for me to step up," Brown said. "Time for me to be a leader in all areas, aspects of the game, whatever. We need somebody to step up, and it has to be me. We were missing that for the past two years (from me), and right now I'm just ready to step into that role."
*****
Second Down: Ryan Willis
Virginia Tech's spread offense returned a pass-capable quarterback and the majority of his receivers. The Boston College defensive backfield graduated virtually everybody except for one full-time corner. It created a storyline easy to follow because of its straightforward strategy.
Ryan Willis went 3-of-7 for 65 yards in the first quarter but managed a deep ball touchdown when Hezekiah Grimsley got behind both Tate Haynes and Nolan Borgersen for a 55-yard score. By halftime, though, the Virginia Tech quarterback had 186 yards and two scores after going 11-of-15 in the second quarter.
He kept that momentum going in the third quarter, going 9-of-11 for 99 yards. Virginia Tech shifted to a five-wide formation, and Willis grew more comfortable in the shotgun. He went 4-of-4 for 57 yards on a touchdown drive in the third quarter by spreading the ball to four different receivers, and a fourth quarter, 83-yard scoring drive felt particularly surgical over two minutes of clock time.
"We've got to get a little better pass rush and four-man rush," Steve Addazio said. "(Willis) had a little too much time. There's too much stress on the coverage. We blitzed a fair amount, but we've got to be able to get home with that four-man rush, and we have the ability to do that. We've got to go back and just make sure that we're working hard to improve."
It became the realization of an expected performance. Virginia Tech hit for numbers, but BC punched back with big plays. Haynes atoned for his miss by causing Willis to fumble on a delayed blitz, and the ensuing recovery led to BC's go-ahead touchdown. Later, Grimsley fumbled a punt to Borgersen and the Eagles created three interceptions, two of which happened in the defensive backfield.
*****
Halftime Quick Hits
-The win marked the third time in BC program history that the Eagles won two straight in the series, but it's the second consecutive two-game winning streak with 30-plus points scored by BC. The team scored 34 and 33 points in back-to-back wins in 2013 and 2014.
-Saturday ranks fourth for combined points scored in the BC-VT rivalry. The teams scored 82 points twice, trading 48-34 results in 1993 and 2000, and the Eagles won, 33-31, in 2014.
-BC's 356 yards of offense in the first half was the most against an FBS opponent since the 453 yards against UMass last year and most in an ACC game since the 361 against Louisville in 2017.
-The officially attendance of 35,213 marks the fourth time in the past five years that the first ACC home game drew more than 35,000 fans.
-I am officially lodging a request to borrow the T-shirt cannon for leaf-blowing season in late September.
*****
Third Down: No Fly Zone
Two returning names stuck out as preseason impact players for the BC defense: Tanner Karafa and Brandon Sebastian. On Saturday, each created explosive plays as part of the aforementioned interception onslaught.
Those interceptions were something beautiful to behold. Sebastian's came in the third quarter when Willis rolled left and fired across the field to the right sideline. He got way too much air under it, and Sebastian hauled in a mid-air floater. He sold out the body in the process, getting absolute drilled in a prone position before landing. He somehow secured the ball and landed for a touchback.
Karafa's was a different brand. The defensive tackle started the fourth quarter by pulling a Willis bullet straight out of the air after it traveled three yards. It was a laser beam pass, but Karafa held onto it as he tumbled to the ground.
"That's actually a play that I've been working on," Karafa said. "I've made it a few times in practice. So I was kind of hoping that it would happen. I was actually on an edge rush on that play, which is unusual for me. So it's part of our preparation, I guess."
Both of those interceptions came after Joe Sparacio picked Willis off in the end zone as the first half wound to a close.
"When we get in the red zone, we have to stop (offenses)," Sebastian said. "When we get stops in the red zone, we're high fiving each other. The more red zone stops, we take it as a win for the defense."
The defense is still growing, and players will probably make mistakes as the year progresses; it's part of the development process. But as long as this defense can make plays, the team can pick up wins.
"Coming (into the season), we didn't really pay attention to the media," Sebastian said. "But I'm sure they were talking about the defensive line and the DBs, especially with a bunch of guys leaving. We've showcased our talent today, and if we just keep doing our job at a high level, we'll be fine throughout the season."
*****
Fourth Down: Thunder and Thunder
The running game's lack of mentions to this point is kind of ironic because it's always a big part of the Boston College mindset. It's Steve Addazio's bread and butter, and it's probably the biggest core pillar in the offensive room. It's one of the most skilled positions on the team, and the depth only highlights and underscores the star power atop the chart.
AJ Dillon led the team with 88 yards on 23 carries and a touchdown, while David Bailey added 41 yards on 12 carries with a score. Zay Flowers executed the jet sweep and became an option attack, gaining 25 yards on three carries, while Anthony Brown ran a 28-yard keeper for a touchdown. It wasn't necessarily eye-popping, but it chewed Virginia Tech, eventually wearing down the defense late in the game.
"We have a stable of backs," Steve Addazio said. "Travis (Levy) wasn't engaged really in the backfield (on Saturday). He cramped up a little bit. But Travis, Ben Glines, we're just kind of loaded back there. So David came in, and he's a load, man. He's a very physical, punishing runner with great hands."
Bailey and Dillon kept each other fresh by subbing in and out during long drives. It managed the other's workload while the no-huddle offense prevented substitutions. This eventually wore down the Virginia Tech defense over a four-quarter game, and the Hokies' front four eventually mushed during BC's last scoring drive.
BC threw exactly one pass - to Dillon, no less - on a 10-play, 56-yard touchdown drive over 3:31 of clock time. The Eagles just committed a turnover when their signature wide receiver option play went horribly awry (Kobay White threw an interception), but a Virginia Tech three-and-out put the defense immediately on the field. Everything subsequently went for five or six yards, with Dillon and Bailey subbing each other in and out.
"I want to stay fresh," Addazio said. "We're kind of bound and determined to do that and utilize David. The strategy worked. Sometimes it does, and sometimes it doesn't. But what worked was at the end, you saw AJ stronger than he was in the beginning. That's really what we're trying to do to make sure that we don't just grind him in the beginning (of games)."
That's not to say Dillon didn't get his fill. He scored his 17-yard touchdown in the second quarter thanks to a video game move. BC ran a move to the right, but Dillon smashed into a wall of blockers. He hit the B button, turned left, hit a turbo trigger and sprinted off tackle into the end zone. Later in the game, he almost replicated it with another B-button spin move.
*****
Point After: The ACC & Richmond
Week One in the ACC officially wraps up on Monday when Louisville hosts No. 9 Notre Dame at 8 p.m. It's the last non-conference game and is the potential clincher for an over-.500 start to the 2019 season. It's been a particularly wild start after Wake Forest won a nail-biter against Utah State, and Syracuse struggled early against Liberty before winning, 24-0. NC State rolled over East Carolina, 34-6, and North Carolina's 24-20 win over South Carolina earned bragging rights over part of the SEC.
The league still needs this game to finish over .500, though, after Boise State rallied past Florida State and Miami lost to Florida in Week Zero. Duke ran into the brick wall known as Alabama in its game, and the remaining conference games laid a roadmap for a potentially-stormy 2019 season on the whole. While Clemson expectedly won, Virginia went to Pittsburgh and walked out with a 30-14 result.
BC's next opponent, Richmond, won its game over Jacksonville, 38-19. The Spiders held a 31-6 lead at halftime in that game and ran away from the Dolphins behind the dual threat of quarterback Joe Mancuso. He finished 14-19 for 131 yards passing and added 11 carries for 77 yards and two touchdowns on the ground.
The Eagles and Spiders kick off at 3:30 p.m. next week in a game televised on the ACC Network Extra.Â
Â
Â
It was typical, standard Boston College football at first glance, but it changed in an instant. The no-huddle offense, already one drive deep into the game, went warp speed, preventing any substitution and unleashing a completely different look on an opposing defense. It began with a designed run to wide receiver Zay Flowers for a gain of 16. Two plays later, Brown rolled out a pass to tight end Korab Idrizi for 13 yards. It gave BC advantageous field position on the Virginia Tech 33-yard line, a gain of 30 yards in barely over a minute.
The combination reeled the Virginia Tech defense, and it took one more shot for Boston College to deliver a knockdown blow. Brown hit Flowers for a 33-yard touchdown pass that could have kept the true freshman running to Newton Campus.Â
Boston College 7. Virginia Tech 0.
"It's always nice adding new cars to the garage," Brown said of Flowers. "It's really a blessing. The kid is very, very talented."
It teed up a four-quarter battle fueled by intense energy. The Eagles and Hokies pounded each other for 60 minutes. They knocked each other down like two heavyweights but could not earn a definitive TKO. Both teams kept pressing more octane, knowing how victory came from earning inches. In the end, though, BC held more inches, winning 35-28 to open the 2019 regular season.
"(It is) a great statement win for the program," head coach Steve Addazio said. "We played a heck of a football team in Virginia Tech. Justin Fuente is a heck of a coach, and Bud Foster may be the very best defensive coordinator in football, year in and year out."
It lived up to every ounce of hype preceding kickoff. 164 plays yielded 874 combined total yards, and over 600 came through the air. The teams had nearly 50 first downs, scoring nine touchdowns, and the defenses still made plays despite the numbers. The teams had four interceptions, including three backed up against the end zone. A fourth came from a defensive tackle in one of the game's most athletic plays. Receivers fought defensive backs, and the trenches smacked of physicality. It left the fans breathless as the sun faded behind the Chestnut Hill and Boston skyline.
Predictions said it would be everything great about college football. It was, and somehow it was so much more.
Here's more of what happened at Alumni Stadium on Saturday afternoon:
*****
First Down: Anthony Brown
Brown's throw to Flowers scratched the surface of his first half performance. He hit big plays on three consecutive drives when Kobay White hauled in a 56 yarder before going back to Flowers for 58 yards. He finished the first quarter with 186 yards on 7-of-11 passing and a touchdown, and he put BC in a position to blow out the Hokies before miscues kept the score close.
"We've worked a long time with the development of the quarterback and the skill tight end/receiver positions, and AJ catching out of the backfield as well in critical moments," Steve Addazio said. "It's a big part of the game for us."
Brown's first quarter yards outpaced his entire game total from seven different weeks last year, and he used it as further foundation for the second. He connected with Hunter Long on back-to-back passes and later hit White again on a fade route for a touchdown. He topped the first half with a designed run play for a 28-yard run, culminating the execution of plays designed and developed during preseason scrimmage experimentation.
"I thought the coordinators did a fantastic job," Addazio said. "I thought Mike Bajakian was fantastic, just did a great job calling the game and navigating through the pressure packages we were seeing."
Virginia Tech adjusted at halftime and started experiencing success against Brown as the second half progressed. His third quarter numbers dipped, forcing the quarterback to adjust his own game on the fly. He became a conductor, setting the offense in time to hand off to David Bailey and AJ Dillon. He became a vocal leader instead of a gunslinger, adapting himself to the BC unit.
"In the huddle, on the sidelines, he's driving the football team," Addazio said. "That's what we've been dying to see come out of him. Just really making corrections, driving the team, total command, unfazed, not riding the roller coaster of the ups and downs of the game. It's what a veteran quarterback should bring to the table, and he brought it."
"It's time for me to step up," Brown said. "Time for me to be a leader in all areas, aspects of the game, whatever. We need somebody to step up, and it has to be me. We were missing that for the past two years (from me), and right now I'm just ready to step into that role."
*****
Second Down: Ryan Willis
Virginia Tech's spread offense returned a pass-capable quarterback and the majority of his receivers. The Boston College defensive backfield graduated virtually everybody except for one full-time corner. It created a storyline easy to follow because of its straightforward strategy.
Ryan Willis went 3-of-7 for 65 yards in the first quarter but managed a deep ball touchdown when Hezekiah Grimsley got behind both Tate Haynes and Nolan Borgersen for a 55-yard score. By halftime, though, the Virginia Tech quarterback had 186 yards and two scores after going 11-of-15 in the second quarter.
He kept that momentum going in the third quarter, going 9-of-11 for 99 yards. Virginia Tech shifted to a five-wide formation, and Willis grew more comfortable in the shotgun. He went 4-of-4 for 57 yards on a touchdown drive in the third quarter by spreading the ball to four different receivers, and a fourth quarter, 83-yard scoring drive felt particularly surgical over two minutes of clock time.
"We've got to get a little better pass rush and four-man rush," Steve Addazio said. "(Willis) had a little too much time. There's too much stress on the coverage. We blitzed a fair amount, but we've got to be able to get home with that four-man rush, and we have the ability to do that. We've got to go back and just make sure that we're working hard to improve."
It became the realization of an expected performance. Virginia Tech hit for numbers, but BC punched back with big plays. Haynes atoned for his miss by causing Willis to fumble on a delayed blitz, and the ensuing recovery led to BC's go-ahead touchdown. Later, Grimsley fumbled a punt to Borgersen and the Eagles created three interceptions, two of which happened in the defensive backfield.
*****
Halftime Quick Hits
-The win marked the third time in BC program history that the Eagles won two straight in the series, but it's the second consecutive two-game winning streak with 30-plus points scored by BC. The team scored 34 and 33 points in back-to-back wins in 2013 and 2014.
-Saturday ranks fourth for combined points scored in the BC-VT rivalry. The teams scored 82 points twice, trading 48-34 results in 1993 and 2000, and the Eagles won, 33-31, in 2014.
-BC's 356 yards of offense in the first half was the most against an FBS opponent since the 453 yards against UMass last year and most in an ACC game since the 361 against Louisville in 2017.
-The officially attendance of 35,213 marks the fourth time in the past five years that the first ACC home game drew more than 35,000 fans.
-I am officially lodging a request to borrow the T-shirt cannon for leaf-blowing season in late September.
*****
Third Down: No Fly Zone
Two returning names stuck out as preseason impact players for the BC defense: Tanner Karafa and Brandon Sebastian. On Saturday, each created explosive plays as part of the aforementioned interception onslaught.
Those interceptions were something beautiful to behold. Sebastian's came in the third quarter when Willis rolled left and fired across the field to the right sideline. He got way too much air under it, and Sebastian hauled in a mid-air floater. He sold out the body in the process, getting absolute drilled in a prone position before landing. He somehow secured the ball and landed for a touchback.
Karafa's was a different brand. The defensive tackle started the fourth quarter by pulling a Willis bullet straight out of the air after it traveled three yards. It was a laser beam pass, but Karafa held onto it as he tumbled to the ground.
"That's actually a play that I've been working on," Karafa said. "I've made it a few times in practice. So I was kind of hoping that it would happen. I was actually on an edge rush on that play, which is unusual for me. So it's part of our preparation, I guess."
Both of those interceptions came after Joe Sparacio picked Willis off in the end zone as the first half wound to a close.
"When we get in the red zone, we have to stop (offenses)," Sebastian said. "When we get stops in the red zone, we're high fiving each other. The more red zone stops, we take it as a win for the defense."
The defense is still growing, and players will probably make mistakes as the year progresses; it's part of the development process. But as long as this defense can make plays, the team can pick up wins.
"Coming (into the season), we didn't really pay attention to the media," Sebastian said. "But I'm sure they were talking about the defensive line and the DBs, especially with a bunch of guys leaving. We've showcased our talent today, and if we just keep doing our job at a high level, we'll be fine throughout the season."
*****
Fourth Down: Thunder and Thunder
The running game's lack of mentions to this point is kind of ironic because it's always a big part of the Boston College mindset. It's Steve Addazio's bread and butter, and it's probably the biggest core pillar in the offensive room. It's one of the most skilled positions on the team, and the depth only highlights and underscores the star power atop the chart.
AJ Dillon led the team with 88 yards on 23 carries and a touchdown, while David Bailey added 41 yards on 12 carries with a score. Zay Flowers executed the jet sweep and became an option attack, gaining 25 yards on three carries, while Anthony Brown ran a 28-yard keeper for a touchdown. It wasn't necessarily eye-popping, but it chewed Virginia Tech, eventually wearing down the defense late in the game.
"We have a stable of backs," Steve Addazio said. "Travis (Levy) wasn't engaged really in the backfield (on Saturday). He cramped up a little bit. But Travis, Ben Glines, we're just kind of loaded back there. So David came in, and he's a load, man. He's a very physical, punishing runner with great hands."
Bailey and Dillon kept each other fresh by subbing in and out during long drives. It managed the other's workload while the no-huddle offense prevented substitutions. This eventually wore down the Virginia Tech defense over a four-quarter game, and the Hokies' front four eventually mushed during BC's last scoring drive.
BC threw exactly one pass - to Dillon, no less - on a 10-play, 56-yard touchdown drive over 3:31 of clock time. The Eagles just committed a turnover when their signature wide receiver option play went horribly awry (Kobay White threw an interception), but a Virginia Tech three-and-out put the defense immediately on the field. Everything subsequently went for five or six yards, with Dillon and Bailey subbing each other in and out.
"I want to stay fresh," Addazio said. "We're kind of bound and determined to do that and utilize David. The strategy worked. Sometimes it does, and sometimes it doesn't. But what worked was at the end, you saw AJ stronger than he was in the beginning. That's really what we're trying to do to make sure that we don't just grind him in the beginning (of games)."
That's not to say Dillon didn't get his fill. He scored his 17-yard touchdown in the second quarter thanks to a video game move. BC ran a move to the right, but Dillon smashed into a wall of blockers. He hit the B button, turned left, hit a turbo trigger and sprinted off tackle into the end zone. Later in the game, he almost replicated it with another B-button spin move.
*****
Point After: The ACC & Richmond
Week One in the ACC officially wraps up on Monday when Louisville hosts No. 9 Notre Dame at 8 p.m. It's the last non-conference game and is the potential clincher for an over-.500 start to the 2019 season. It's been a particularly wild start after Wake Forest won a nail-biter against Utah State, and Syracuse struggled early against Liberty before winning, 24-0. NC State rolled over East Carolina, 34-6, and North Carolina's 24-20 win over South Carolina earned bragging rights over part of the SEC.
The league still needs this game to finish over .500, though, after Boise State rallied past Florida State and Miami lost to Florida in Week Zero. Duke ran into the brick wall known as Alabama in its game, and the remaining conference games laid a roadmap for a potentially-stormy 2019 season on the whole. While Clemson expectedly won, Virginia went to Pittsburgh and walked out with a 30-14 result.
BC's next opponent, Richmond, won its game over Jacksonville, 38-19. The Spiders held a 31-6 lead at halftime in that game and ran away from the Dolphins behind the dual threat of quarterback Joe Mancuso. He finished 14-19 for 131 yards passing and added 11 carries for 77 yards and two touchdowns on the ground.
The Eagles and Spiders kick off at 3:30 p.m. next week in a game televised on the ACC Network Extra.Â
Â
Â
Players Mentioned
RB
/ Football
DB
/ Football
QB
/ Football
WR
/ Football
WR/RB
/ Football
DB
/ Football
TE
/ Football
DL
/ Football
TE
/ Football
DB
/ Football
WR
/ Football#24 Baseball Defeats UConn (April 15, 2026)
Wednesday, April 15
#24 Baseball Defeats Northeastern in Beanpot Championship (April 14, 2026)
Wednesday, April 15
#23 Baseball Defeats Virginia Tech (April 12, 2026)
Tuesday, April 14
#23 Baseball Defeats Virginia Tech (April 11,2026
Saturday, April 11
