 "Photo: Lindsay Morton")
CHESTNUT HILL - The Jekyll-and-Hyde season continued for Boston College on Saturday. After arguably the highest of highs - a come-from-behind, last-minute victory over Notre Dame - the Eagles failed to make themselves eligible for a fifth straight bowl in a 24-13 loss to Pitt. After what many felt was a turning-point game in the season against ND, BC was again victim to the erratic play that has haunted the them all season.
Time of possession was the most telling statistic of this game. In the second half, Pitt held the ball for an amazing 20:57, including a whopping 11:07 of the third quarter. BC's offense could not mount any drives, and the defense tired as it could not get the Pitt offense to punt the ball.
"We were unable to get off the field on defense and couldn't mount anything on offense," said head coach Tom O'Brien afterward. "And I think that's the difference in this football game." A three-point halftime lead was not enough to overcome the shortcomings of the second half as BC fell to 5-4 (1-3 in Big East).
Pitt took the lead for good early in the fourth quarter. Pitt had abused the BC flats all day when senior quarterback Rod Rutherford (24/37, 329 yards) found sophomore running back Jawan Walker on a screen pass. Walker followed his blockers 47 yards for the go-ahead score as no one was within 10 yards of him when he caught the ball.
BC answered this touchdown pass quickly on its next drive. The team started with good field position after a Hasselbeck kickoff return. Senior running back Derrick Knight (19 carries, 119 yards) followed with a 22-yard carry with a 41-yard sprint to the end zone, the nightmares of a penalty plagued season came back to haunt the Eagles. Junior wide receiver Grant Adams was called for holding downfield, thus negating the touchdown.
"That was one of the worst moments of my BC career," said Adams. "It was the turning point of the game, we came back and answered, and to be called back for holding was devastating."
The Big East officiating crew left a lot to be desired. They kept the flags in their pockets for much of the day (four penalties on BC and only one on Pitt), but as players felt afterwards, made a game-changing call against BC while letting many Pitt infractions go.
"I was extremely surprised [about the penalty call] because when I was watching our defense out there, they let a lot go. And it seems like at crunch-time they just got that call," said Adams.
"I did feel that they were holding us in a lot of situations and that the refs failed to make the call, but a good team finds a way to win whether the refs are on their side or not," said senior linebacker Josh Ott, who was on the field for 81 of the 83 defensive plays. "I'm just making excuses right now."
After the negated touchdown, the play-calling was questionable at best. Knight had just run for 63 yards on two plays (although 19 of those yards were called back). Pitt's defense proved it could not stop Knight, and the passing game struggling for most of the second half. BC still called a passing play and junior quarterback Quinton Porter was sacked for a six-yard loss. On second-and-16 BC went with an option run and Porter was taken down for another loss. Knight did not touch the ball again on the series.
Pitt sophomore wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald entered the game needing a touchdown catch to break the NCAA record he shared with former Michigan State star Charles Rodgers for consecutive games with a touchdown catch. On its next possession, Pitt gave Fitzgerald the record and ensured the victory on a 35-yard halfback pass by Walker to Fitzgerald (seven catches, 156 yards), the leading receiver in the nation.
BC sophomore cornerback Will Blackmon did a good job guarding Fitzgerald when he was matched up on him. Fitzgerald's other long catch came with Blackmon on the sidelines.
"It seemed like they were setting us up all day. They kept running the sweep to Murphy the whole game," said Blackmon. "It was the exact same thing [Fitzgerald] did all game, and then he just took off."
BC was the better team in the first half, but left the field at halftime with only a three-point lead. The Eagles dominated on the ground as Knight rushed for 45 yards on the opening drive. BC reached the Panther's 17-yard line, but the offense stalled and had to settle for a 34-yard field goal by senior Sandro Sciortino.
His first carry of the game went for 20 yards and gave Knight two important milestones. Knight became only the third back in BC history to rush for over 3,000 yards in his career and became the school's sixth straight 1,000-yard back.
"To get it on a day like today, a day that didn't go our way, is tough," Knight said when asked about achieving these milestones in a bitter loss.
Pitt tied the game later in the first quarter on a 32-yard field goal, and took the lead early in the second on a three-yard run by Walker. BC answered with a drive that culminated with a one-yard run by Horace Dodd, and later took the lead on a 23-yard Sciortino field goal. On that drive, BC failed to put the ball in the end zone when they had the ball at the Pitt five-yard line.
Settling for two field goals instead of scoring two possible touchdowns proved to be costly as the slim lead would not last in the second half.
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