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Jeff Jagodzinski promised that Boston College's offense would be "a lot of fun to watch" shortly after he took the head coaching position in Chestnut Hill last December.
Thirty-eight points and 408 passing yards later against the defending ACC champions, it's safe to say the new coach delivered on his promise.
"I'm real proud of these kids," Jagodzinski said. "I think the coaches did an outstanding job with the game plan. I couldn't be happier."
Led by a career-high five touchdown passes from quarterback Matt Ryan, the league's preseason player of the year, and three interceptions by cornerback DeJuan Tribble, the Eagles defeated Wake Forest 38-28 on a beautiful Saturday afternoon at Alumni Stadium.
"I'm at Boston College at this particular time with these particular kids for a reason," said Jagodzinski.
The Eagles seized the momentum of the game early in the third quarter with the game tied 21-21 and Wake Forest on the verge of taking the lead.
On third-and-goal from the 3-yard line, Wake Forest quarterback Riley Skinner had tight end Chip Brinkman seemingly open on the left side of the end zone, but Tribble jumped inside the route to make his second interception of the day.
The BC aerial attack took over from there. Ryan engineered a nine-play, 71-yard drive capped off by a tough 10-yard touchdown pass to Brandon Robinson in between two defenders to give BC its first lead of the day, 28-21, at 7:01 of the third quarter.
With Wake in BC territory on their next possession, Skinner was forced out of bounds on a third-and-three, short of the first down on the BC 46-yard line. Skinner suffered a separated right shoulder on the play but came back on the field after the Demon Deacons were flagged for holding.
His throw on third-and-13, intended for Demir Boldin, was slow enough for Tribble to make a quick break inside the route for his third interception.
"I hugged [Skinner] and I said, 'When you get hurt that bad, you have to let us know,'" said Wake Forest coach Jim Grobe. "You can't go back in. You can't throw the interception, come off and then say, 'My shoulder is separated.'"
The Eagles used 1:47 to cover 45 yards and Ryan found sophomore wide receiver Rich Gunnell for the second time in the end zone to make it 35-21 at 2:39 of the fourth quarter.
Skinner had thrown his last pass of the day, but Wake's offense kept it close behind sophomore quarterback Brett Hodges, who commanded the offense well in the first significant action of his career.
Hodges hit Kevin Harris on a swing pass for a 12-yard touchdown to cut BC's lead to 35-28 at 14:24 of the fourth quarter.
But the Eagles defense came up with the big stop when they needed it, stuffing Wake fullback Rich Belton on a fourth-and-one with 5:55 left and adding a field goal from Steve Aponavicius late in the game to seal the victory.
"You know, we've got a lot of veteran guys on this team, and we wanted to go out and win Jags' first game for him," Ryan said. "We all think he's a great fit for this program and we're very happy to have him here."
The game started with the BC student section on its feet and the excitement palpable throughout Alumni Stadium, but the Jagodzinski era began on a sour note. A muffed opening kickoff by running back Andre Callender placed the Eagles on their own 14-yard line. On the first play from the line of scrimmage, Ryan's slant intended for Robinson was intercepted by Wake cornerback Alphonso Smith, who returned the ball 21 yards for a touchdown to put Wake Forest up 7-0 just 14 seconds into the game.
After the Eagles went three-and-out on their next possession, Skinner led the Demon Deacons as they picked apart a highly touted BC defense with an 11-play, 67-yard drive, capped off by a 5-yard TD pass to Kenneth Moore.
The home crowd groaned at the scoreboard, but Jagodzinski was not worried.
"I said to [offensive coordinator] Steve Logan, 'Logs, it's 14 -0.' He goes, 'I know. Don't worry about it. It's no big deal,'" Jagodzinski said. "To go down 14-0, I'll tell you one thing, it shows these kids have a lot of character."
Ryan got things going on completing five straight passes, three to his favorite target on the day, Robinson (126 yards), to set up a 19-yard strike to wide receiver Kevin Challenger at 4:37 of the first quarter.
The Eagles would add 363 more yards of offense from there, which was enough to absorb a 40-yard Chip Vaughn fumble return for a touchdown in the second quarter and one more Ryan interception in the fourth quarter.
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