RALEIGH, N.C. - It was about five minutes into the third quarter. Boston College, which once held a 21-7 lead over conference rival North Carolina State, saw the margin whittled down to a measly four points. The Wolfpack lured them into penalties, ran over them with their special teams, and was starting to learn how to combat an Eagles offense that was finally clicking.
It was fourth down from the Eagles 41-yard line. BC was about to send the ball back into the hands of Tom O'Brien's squad to give them their first chance to take the lead, Ryan Purvis had just gone down with an injury, and what had once looked like a slaughter was turning into an uphill battle for BC.
The Eagles needed a big play, and they got one.
The punting unit came on the field, but the snap went directly into the hands of fullback James McCluskey, who handed off to Brain Toal - and Toal carried the ball right up the middle of the field, all the way to the NC State 20-yard line, while a befuddled Wolfpack could do little more than watch.
"I've been waiting to call that play for two years," Eagles head coach Jeff Jagodzinski said after the game. "I thought we needed a momentum changer, and if you're going to do it, that's where you have to."
The Eagles (4-1) would eventually seize the momentum for good en route to a 38-31 defeat of NC State, but it wasn't easy. Fortunately for BC, though, quarterback Chris Crane picked the perfect time to show everyone what he's got. The fifth-year senior spent his Saturday afternoon methodically picking apart the NC State secondary, which gave up 428 yards to a quarterback whose previous season-high was 207. Crane finished with five touchdowns - three rushing and two passing - and his first-career ACC win as a starter.
"I knew our offense was capable of scoring a lot of points, and I knew I was capable of getting yards ands winning the game instead of the defense winning the game for us," Crane said after the game. "The receivers and I were all on the same page all day, and the offensive line was phenomenal. When the offense gets confident, that can be dangerous."
Dangerous is right: Three different BC receivers finished the afternoon with over 60 yards, including Justin Jarvis, who has seen minimal action this season, but came up big in the Eagles' second drive of the game. The junior wideout hauled in a 41-yard touchdown pass to put BC on top, 7-0, before six minutes had expired.
The Eagles would stretch the lead to 21-7 in the middle of the second quarter, courtesy of a Rich Gunnell 12-yard touchdown reception and a 5-yard rush by Crane with just eight seconds left in the first quarter. The deficit didn't seem to faze NC State, however, as true freshman specialist T.J. Graham took the ensuing kickoff 100 yards for a touchdown and a mark in the record books - the longest kickoff return in NC State history.
The second quarter was quiet except for a Josh Czajkowski field goal, which narrowed the score to 21-17. BC seized control again in the third quarter, holding the Wolfpack scoreless and mounting a 31-17 lead on Crane's second rushing touchdown and a 17-yard field goal by Steve Aponavicius - but, again, the Pack came back, and it came back big.
With 12 minutes left in the game, NC State quarterback Russell Wilson dropped back for his first throw of the drive and connected with Owen Spencer for a 61-yard touchdown pass. The momentum wavered even further toward the Wolfpack when Clem Johnson picked off a Crane throw on the Eagles' next drive.
Then, there was a calm until the storm hit with four minutes left in the game.
Wilson began the Pack's drive with a 35-yard dart to Spencer, then followed that with a weak throw to tight end George Bryan, who hauled in a one-handed catch for a 20-yard gain. With the Pack going for first-and-goal from the 8-yard line, the Eagles mounted a big defensive stand, punctuated by an Austin Giles sack that resulted in a 7-yard loss for NC State. But on third-and-goal from the 15, a pass interference call on Roderick Rollins killed the Eagles' resolve, and Wilson easily ran for a touchdown to tie the score at 31.
It was then that Crane got his moment to prove that he is ready for the big time world of the ACC: He shook off the pressure, connected with Lars Anderson for a 36-yard admission into Wolfpack territory, and ended the drive with a 13-yard rush for his fifth touchdown. Game over.
"Now we know that we can always respond," Crane said. "We can win on the last drive, and that's huge for our confidence."
Another thing the Eagles figured out they can do is convert on third down, something they struggled to do in the first four games of the season. On Saturday, four of BC's five touchdowns came on third-down plays.
The game wasn't perfect - there were a lot of penalties, a lot of big passing plays by NC State, and a couple of key turnovers - but the Eagles didn't need a perfect game. They needed a tough, grind-it-out challenge that could build up their confidence heading into the heart of their ACC season. They needed to prove to themselves that they could win big, on the road, with Chris Crane taking the reins.
They proved it, and they proved it on a big stage. Maybe this team isn't so different from last year's squad, after all.
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