The Matt Ryan Heisman Bandwagon Is Officially Closed to New Passengers
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by MegECass110
It's over, I thought. The perfect season. The perfect ACC record. I thought Boston College would lose this game when I did my preseason prediction for the Eagles. I got back to my room, and the 4th quarter was about to start. I almost accepted the upcoming loss, and found solace in a possible rematch in the ACC Championship Game in Jacksonville on December 1st.
But then, the Iceman Cometh.
Matthew Thomas Ryan, known to his teammates as Matty Ice, took over. After throwing his 2nd interception of the night with a little over five minutes to play deep in Hokie territory, I nearly gave up. But I couldn't help flipping back and forth between a riveting Game 2 of the World Series. It's a good thing I flipped. Because Ryan engineered an 81-yard masterpiece capped off with a picture-perfect touchdown pass to Rich Gunnell. And then Coach Jags has the onions to go for the onside kick, and BC recovers when the Tech guy can't handle it (it didn't go 10 yards anyway) with 2:07 to play. Ryan marches down the field again, and throws a 14-yard touchdown to a wide open Kevin Challenger. But there's a reason he was wide open.
Holding. On the offense. 10 yard penalty. 2nd down.
Whatever. They'll get about 10 more yards and go for the tie, right?
Wrong.
Two plays later, Ryan scrambles all the way to his right and launches the football across his body to Andre Callendar.
Touchdown. 14-10 BC. 11 seconds to play.
I am screaming at this point. Clutching my lucky teddy bear. Looking at the SI picture I have of Ryan on my wall. Laughing inexplicably as Ryan tackles Coach Jags and proceeds to dry heave violently on the sidelines.
The final numbers: 25 of 52, 285 yards, 2 scores and 2 picks. You wouldn't be terribly impressed if you didn't watch the game. But this is Ryan's thing: he leads, he astounds you with the throws he makes, he makes the guys around him better, and best of all, he wins. That's how he rolls. Sure, he'll throw for 5 scores now and then. But the bottom line is he's 22-4 as a starter at the Heights, and he's catapulted the Eagles into the national spotlight and established them as one of the nation's top programs for student athletes.
Tim Tebow goes to the sexy school and is a scoring machine. Dennis Dixon plays in a better conference. But if I have one game to win, give me Matty. So for all of you who have been singing the praises (deservedly) of Tebow and Dixon and Mike Hart, just keep on singing. Because the Matt Ryan Heisman Express left a while ago, and the Road to 13-0 for the Eagles has yet to hit a dead end.
And while I'm at it, big ups to the BC defense. Normally, if they give up 10 points, the offense takes care of business. That didn't happen tonight. But they still held steady. Defense has always been a big part of the Eagles, and the same held true tonight. That's one hell of a win.
And in case you're wondering, here's the rest of the road for BC...
at Maryland
at Clemson
