Boston College Athletics
15 Years Later, A Look Back At When Lane Stadium Went Silent
September 08, 2022 | Football, #ForBoston Files
The last year of the permanent crossover coincides with an anniversary of one of college football's greatest moments.
Boston College's matchup against Virginia Tech during the 2007 season carried an almost mythological headline by the time the two teams set foot on Lane Stadium for a Thursday night matchup. It was the ACC's midweek marquee, a game reserved for the bright lights of primetime on a day set aside for critical conference games, and somehow the meteoric rise of the two programs made for even bigger theater.
This season marks 15 years since the Eagles claimed one of their most marquee wins in program history, and what transpired on that cold, wet Blacksburg night is still etched in the tone of an annual rivalry ending its protected crossover status after this year. The game itself wasn't a masterpiece, but when it ended, BC and Virginia Tech shared top headline space with the World Series.
"I mentioned to the kids at halftime, right before we went out, I said, 'Don't you dare look up," head coach Jeff Jagodzinski was quoted in The Boston Globe the next day. "'It doesn't matter what the score is, you will play till the last play of the game and we'll be successful.' And the kids did it."
The win was improbable by itself, but the context surrounding a Thursday night game at Virginia Tech made the comeback downright miraculous for a BC team cresting its meteoric rise to the No. 2 overall ranking. Virginia Tech was borderline invincible at home, and night games at Lane Stadium took on mythological proportions. Just one year earlier, the Hokies defeated a tenth-ranked Clemson team under the lights on a Thursday night, and BC's first trip to Lane Stadium as an ACC opponent ended in a loss when the No. 13 Eagles dropped a 30-10 decision to the No. 3 Hokies in a midweek marquee.
It formed a cocoon that kept Virginia Tech among the national elite, and the 2007 Hokies fully restored that status by the BC game after earlier dropping nine spots following a 48-7 blowout at the hands of No. 2 LSU. A win at No. 22 Clemson helped move them from No. 15 to No. 12, but a win over Duke solidified their contender status with their third 40-plus point game in four weeks.
The game against BC looked to restore full order because the Eagles were a paper champion, a team ranked second in the nation only because nobody else seemingly wanted the spot. They were an unranked team to start the year and hadn't beaten an opponent worthy of top-flight consideration. Their lone ranked victory came over No. 15 Georgia Tech, who looked flimsy in its subsequent losses to Virginia and Maryland, and wins over Army, Bowling Green, and a really bad, 1-5 Notre Dame team lacked the panache of a top-flight contender.
It fed an undefeated start, and the creep up the polls culminated when second-ranked South Florida lost on the road to Rutgers on a Thursday night during BC's bye week. Only a few undefeated teams remained, and with Ohio State consistently holding the No. 1 spot, the Bulls slid into the second spot when LSU lost to Kentucky on October 13. No other team made sense for the No. 2 spot, but that didn't mean anyone truly believed the Eagles deserved to compete for a national championship, either. So when BC arrived at Lane Stadium, it was a road underdog to a team expected to win.
"I think it's going to be a hell of an atmosphere," Virginia Tech head coach Frank Beamer said during the week. "We have an excellent coming in here on Thursday. We're looking at their quarterback as the guy who will most likely win the Heisman Trophy. They are very tough defensively and strong up front. They're just a real good and tough football team. We understand after playing up there that it will take a great effort on our part to get a win."
That didn't mean an instant classic was guaranteed to occur, and for the first 58 minutes, the game was a sloppy, uneven, broken affair riding shotgun to the Boston Red Sox' win over the Colorado Rockies in the World Series. BC punted on its first five drives, and its sixth ended in a turnover-on-downs after the defense forced a fumble deep in Hokie territory.Â
The second half started equally poorly after Matt Ryan threw an interception on the first drive of the half, but it wasn't like Virginia Tech was doing much better after Branden Ore gained less than three yard per carry on average. Without quarterback Tyrod Taylor, Sean Glennon stepped back into a featured role, but a more judicious approach finished his game with 149 yards on 15-of-25 passing.
Glennon had staked Virginia Tech to a 7-0 lead through a 91-yard touchdown drive in the second quarter, and another 55-yard drive yielded a 44-yard field goal to push a 10-0 lead seemingly out of reach for the Eagles. Ryan threw a second interception with six minutes remaining in the fourth quarter, and after getting buried in their own end, the Eagles had to essentially traverse Lane Stadium twice in four minutes to win the game.
To that degree, what Ryan accomplished cemented his legacy forever. He had thrown for just 128 yards over the first 56 minutes, but after going roughly 90 yards in the first eight plays of the drive, he hit Rich Gunnell with a sideline fade for a 16-yard touchdown. It injected BC with life, and the adrenaline flowed when Virginia Tech failed to recover the ensuing onside kick before a final drive recapped hundreds of times over the past 15 years as Lane Stadium went quiet on Andre Callendar's 24-yard touchdown catch.
"I told the kids that things like that will happen to them in special years - and I think that's one of those types of years here," Jagodzinski said after the game.
That game still resonates for a number of reasons around Chestnut Hill. It wasn't the most glamorous win and isn't the team's greatest performance, yet it holds special loftiness because it proved how Boston College could compete at that level. Prior to 2007, only a couple of highlights replayed over and over. Doug Flutie's Hail Mary pass was one of them, but it had even been 14 years since David Gordon's kick against No. 1 Notre Dame. The BC community, such as it turns over every four years with the entrance of class after class of new students, thirsted for an opportunity in a new age, and this game provided it.
The day after the Virginia Tech game, the Red Sox rightfully held the major headlines. They were halfway to their second World Series in four years, and the franchise held a special apex after breaking the Curse of the Bambino's 86-year drought in 2004…nobody could touch that meaning in Boston. But a flip to the sports section the day after Virginia Tech splashed a giant picture of Matt Ryan on the front page, arms outstretched. On the front page of The Boston Globe, the headline stole space above Jonathan Papelbon's pumped-up picture at Fenway Park.Â
Now 15 years later, it stands a test of time by reminding BC fans of how to look forward. On Saturday night, a trip to Lane Stadium and Virginia Tech offers potential for the next step, and by occasionally glancing backwards, the next generation can look to the future on how it will create - and appreciate - the next reel for the history of Boston College football.
This season marks 15 years since the Eagles claimed one of their most marquee wins in program history, and what transpired on that cold, wet Blacksburg night is still etched in the tone of an annual rivalry ending its protected crossover status after this year. The game itself wasn't a masterpiece, but when it ended, BC and Virginia Tech shared top headline space with the World Series.
"I mentioned to the kids at halftime, right before we went out, I said, 'Don't you dare look up," head coach Jeff Jagodzinski was quoted in The Boston Globe the next day. "'It doesn't matter what the score is, you will play till the last play of the game and we'll be successful.' And the kids did it."
The win was improbable by itself, but the context surrounding a Thursday night game at Virginia Tech made the comeback downright miraculous for a BC team cresting its meteoric rise to the No. 2 overall ranking. Virginia Tech was borderline invincible at home, and night games at Lane Stadium took on mythological proportions. Just one year earlier, the Hokies defeated a tenth-ranked Clemson team under the lights on a Thursday night, and BC's first trip to Lane Stadium as an ACC opponent ended in a loss when the No. 13 Eagles dropped a 30-10 decision to the No. 3 Hokies in a midweek marquee.
It formed a cocoon that kept Virginia Tech among the national elite, and the 2007 Hokies fully restored that status by the BC game after earlier dropping nine spots following a 48-7 blowout at the hands of No. 2 LSU. A win at No. 22 Clemson helped move them from No. 15 to No. 12, but a win over Duke solidified their contender status with their third 40-plus point game in four weeks.
The game against BC looked to restore full order because the Eagles were a paper champion, a team ranked second in the nation only because nobody else seemingly wanted the spot. They were an unranked team to start the year and hadn't beaten an opponent worthy of top-flight consideration. Their lone ranked victory came over No. 15 Georgia Tech, who looked flimsy in its subsequent losses to Virginia and Maryland, and wins over Army, Bowling Green, and a really bad, 1-5 Notre Dame team lacked the panache of a top-flight contender.
It fed an undefeated start, and the creep up the polls culminated when second-ranked South Florida lost on the road to Rutgers on a Thursday night during BC's bye week. Only a few undefeated teams remained, and with Ohio State consistently holding the No. 1 spot, the Bulls slid into the second spot when LSU lost to Kentucky on October 13. No other team made sense for the No. 2 spot, but that didn't mean anyone truly believed the Eagles deserved to compete for a national championship, either. So when BC arrived at Lane Stadium, it was a road underdog to a team expected to win.
"I think it's going to be a hell of an atmosphere," Virginia Tech head coach Frank Beamer said during the week. "We have an excellent coming in here on Thursday. We're looking at their quarterback as the guy who will most likely win the Heisman Trophy. They are very tough defensively and strong up front. They're just a real good and tough football team. We understand after playing up there that it will take a great effort on our part to get a win."
That didn't mean an instant classic was guaranteed to occur, and for the first 58 minutes, the game was a sloppy, uneven, broken affair riding shotgun to the Boston Red Sox' win over the Colorado Rockies in the World Series. BC punted on its first five drives, and its sixth ended in a turnover-on-downs after the defense forced a fumble deep in Hokie territory.Â
The second half started equally poorly after Matt Ryan threw an interception on the first drive of the half, but it wasn't like Virginia Tech was doing much better after Branden Ore gained less than three yard per carry on average. Without quarterback Tyrod Taylor, Sean Glennon stepped back into a featured role, but a more judicious approach finished his game with 149 yards on 15-of-25 passing.
Glennon had staked Virginia Tech to a 7-0 lead through a 91-yard touchdown drive in the second quarter, and another 55-yard drive yielded a 44-yard field goal to push a 10-0 lead seemingly out of reach for the Eagles. Ryan threw a second interception with six minutes remaining in the fourth quarter, and after getting buried in their own end, the Eagles had to essentially traverse Lane Stadium twice in four minutes to win the game.
To that degree, what Ryan accomplished cemented his legacy forever. He had thrown for just 128 yards over the first 56 minutes, but after going roughly 90 yards in the first eight plays of the drive, he hit Rich Gunnell with a sideline fade for a 16-yard touchdown. It injected BC with life, and the adrenaline flowed when Virginia Tech failed to recover the ensuing onside kick before a final drive recapped hundreds of times over the past 15 years as Lane Stadium went quiet on Andre Callendar's 24-yard touchdown catch.
"I told the kids that things like that will happen to them in special years - and I think that's one of those types of years here," Jagodzinski said after the game.
That game still resonates for a number of reasons around Chestnut Hill. It wasn't the most glamorous win and isn't the team's greatest performance, yet it holds special loftiness because it proved how Boston College could compete at that level. Prior to 2007, only a couple of highlights replayed over and over. Doug Flutie's Hail Mary pass was one of them, but it had even been 14 years since David Gordon's kick against No. 1 Notre Dame. The BC community, such as it turns over every four years with the entrance of class after class of new students, thirsted for an opportunity in a new age, and this game provided it.
The day after the Virginia Tech game, the Red Sox rightfully held the major headlines. They were halfway to their second World Series in four years, and the franchise held a special apex after breaking the Curse of the Bambino's 86-year drought in 2004…nobody could touch that meaning in Boston. But a flip to the sports section the day after Virginia Tech splashed a giant picture of Matt Ryan on the front page, arms outstretched. On the front page of The Boston Globe, the headline stole space above Jonathan Papelbon's pumped-up picture at Fenway Park.Â
Now 15 years later, it stands a test of time by reminding BC fans of how to look forward. On Saturday night, a trip to Lane Stadium and Virginia Tech offers potential for the next step, and by occasionally glancing backwards, the next generation can look to the future on how it will create - and appreciate - the next reel for the history of Boston College football.
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