Boston College Preview
November 10, 2004 02:54 PM | General
November 10, 2004
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – No. 21-ranked Boston College brings the Big East’s best defense into No. 10-ranked West Virginia for a Saturday afternoon showdown of nationally ranked teams that could decide the conference championship.
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| Quarterback Rasheed Marshall is one of 22 seniors playing their final home game Saturday against BC.
All-Pro Photography/Dale Sparks |
BC owns a 6-2 record with victories over Ball State, Penn State, Connecticut, UMass, Notre Dame and Rutgers and a pair of losses to Wake Forest and Pitt.
Boston College has held three teams to seven points or less and has not given up more than 23 points in a game this season.
West Virginia coach Rich Rodriguez believes the Eagles have the best front four the Mountaineers will face this year.
“I think their defensive line is the strength of their team,” he said. “As a group they may be the best four we will have played against this year. They’ve really had their way with everybody.”
The Eagles have a legitimate All-American candidate in defensive end Mathias Kiwanuka, a 6-foot-7, 261-pound force that has a team-best 12 tackles for losses and six sacks to go with 41 tackles.
“He’s a powerful guy. You think maybe a tall, lanky guy would be as powerful but when the tackle overset and get on their heels a little bit he’s driven a couple of them right back into the quarterback,” Rodriguez said of Kiwanuka. “He’s been a dominant guy and he’s a guy you have to pay attention to in pass protection. You see a lot of people doing that double-teaming him with a back or putting a tight end on him or something.”
He teams up with right end Phil Mettling (6-3, 270, Sr.) and tackles Alvin Washington (6-1, 280, Jr.) and Tim Bulman (6-4, 287, Sr.) to give the Eagles a defense that is allowing just 96.8 yards per game rushing.
“All of their front four guys cause problems,” Rodriguez said. “Eventually two or three of our guys are going to be one-on-one.”
Linebacker Ricky Brown (6-2, 228, Jr.) has been active with a team-best 49 tackles and pairs up with true freshman Brian Toal (6-1, 223, Fr.), who also has 49 stops to go with 3.5 tackles for losses. Toal was one of the nation’s top recruiting targets a year ago and has fit in nicely in the BC defense.
Junior Ray Henderson (6-3, 227, Jr.) patrols the middle of the BC defense and shows 39 tackles and two interceptions.
“Their linebackers are tough, physical players and they don’t make many mistakes defensively,” Rodriguez said. “They’re in the right spots at the right times.
“We always watch big plays a defense gives up on the run and the pass and that’s the shortest tape we’ve seen this year,” Rodriguez added. “They’re keeping things in front of them and they’re tackling very well: they miss very few tackles.”
The secondary is led by senior free safety T.J. Stancil (6-2, 215, Sr.) who has 46 tackles and an interception. Six-foot junior corner Will Blackmon (6-0, 202, Jr.) has the size to match up with big, physical receivers and shows three interceptions so far this year. Blackmon is listed as a co-starter on BC’s depth chart along with redshirt freshman DeJuan Tribble (5-9, 187, Fr.).
On the other side will either be Jazzmen Williams (5-8, 181, Jr.) or Peter Shean (5-9, 182, Sr.).
“They’ve been good defensively for the last couple of years but this has probably been their best defense since I’ve been at West Virginia and it shows in their stats,” Rodriguez said.
Interestingly, in both Boston College losses this year to Wake Forest and Pitt the opposing team’s quarterback rushed for 46 yards or more; Wake Forest’s Cory Randolph ran for 46 yards in a 17-14 victory and Pitt’s Tyler Palko gained 55 yards in a 20-17 win.
Inexperience at running back and some injuries along the offensive line has forced Boston College to become more of a passing team this year behind the arm of senior Paul Peterson (6-0, 190, Sr.). The 24-year-old signal-caller moved into ninth place on the BC all-time passing list by completing 22 of 38 passes for 296 yards and a touchdown last week against Rutgers.
Peterson had a career-best 383-yard passing effort in a one-point win against Notre Dame and has forged a 9-2 record as a starting quarterback. Peterson came to Boston College from Snow College (Utah) after previously serving a two-year Mormon mission.
“They do a lot of play action and that is a thing that we have to be aware of defensively,” Rodriguez. “A big part of their package on first and second down is the play action pass and the fullback in the flat. They run a little pivot route with the outside receiver and the tight end runs down the field to take away the safety and then they put their fullback in the flat. That’s probably been their No. 1 pass-play of the year.
“They pick the times to do it when you’re playing the run and the linebackers are coming up,” Rodriguez continued. “It’s a good little package they run and Peterson gets rid of the ball very quickly. He doesn’t get sacked very often.”
Peterson’s top target is senior Grant Adams (6-1, 201, Sr.), who shows 36 catches for 563 yards and two touchdowns. Senior Joel Hazard (5-10, 184, Sr.) has 24 catches for 264 yards and a team-best four touchdowns. A total of nine different players have at least 10 catches including 14 from senior tight end David Kasetta (6-4, 251, Sr.).
Eagle coach Tom O’Brien has been forced to use a three-headed backfield trio made up of Andre Callender (5-11, 199, Fr.), L.V. Whitworth (6-0, 215, Fr.) and A.J. Brooks (6-0, 190, Fr.).
BC’s string of six consecutive years with a 1,000-yard rusher appears to have ended with no runner yet reaching the 400-yard mark with three games remaining. Callender is the team’s top ball carrier with 381 yards and a touchdown on 90 carries, followed by 315 yards each from Whitworth and Brooks, who has the team’s highest per-carry average at 5.7.
Boston College has been most effective when it takes early leads, going 20-3 over the last four years when it leads after the first quarter, 24-2 when they lead at halftime and 27-2 after holding a third-quarter lead. The Eagles have also been productive this year in the fourth quarter, outscoring its opponents 47-13.
BC’s No. 21-ranking is its highest since 2001 when it was also ranked 21st. The Eagles are also ranked for consecutive weeks for the first time since the 1999 season.
West Virginia (8-1) will be the Eagles’ second-ranked foe this year; BC upset No. 24 Notre Dame 24-23 in South Bend three weeks ago.
West Virginia, meanwhile, is looking to extend its 10-game Big East conference winning streak Saturday. The Mountaineers have victimized Boston College twice in 2002 at home and last year at Chestnut Hill and are 2-1 under Rodriguez against the Eagles.
Rodriguez’ first-ever game as a West Virginia coach came at Boston College to start the 2001 season when his Mountaineers lost a 34-10 decision.
WVU quarterback Rasheed Marshall is one of 22 seniors playing their final home game Saturday against the Eagles. Marshall is having an outstanding senior campaign, ranking seventh in the nation in passing efficiency (164.89) and 44th in total offense (219.11).
Marshall is completing 62 percent of his pass attempts for 1,386 yards and 17 touchdowns, while ranking third on the team with 586 rushing yards and three scores. Last week Marshall fired three touchdown passes against Temple to equal Ira Errett Rodger’s 85-year school record of 66 touchdowns responsible for.
Senior Kay-Jay Harris continues to lead the team in rushing with 708 yards and nine touchdowns, scoring four last week in the Temple win.
Sophomore Jason Colson shows 641 yards and five scores while true freshman Pernell Williams is coming on strong with 228 yards and three scores on just 46 carries.
Junior Chris Henry is West Virginia’s top receiver with 41 catches for 693 yards and a Big East-leading 11 touchdowns. Eddie Jackson, questionable for Saturday’s game after suffering a sprained knee last week against Temple, shows 14 catches for 200 yards while Miquelle Henderson has 12 catches for 142 yards and a touchdown.
Senior middle linebacker Adam Lehnortt leads West Virginia’s defense with 58 tackles, followed by junior corner Pac-Man Jones with 53 stops. Jones leads the team with three interceptions.
West Virginia is looking to snap a two-game streak of allowing more than 400 yards of total offense against Temple and Rutgers.
“If our defense doesn’t play better than it has in the last two weeks then we have no chance of winning … none,” said Rodriguez. “We can’t score that many points on Boston College because they’ve got one of the best defenses in the country.”
Saturday’s game is a sell out and will kickoff at noon. ABC (Gary Thorne, Ed Cunningham and Dr. Jerry Punch) will televise the game nationally.
