Brown lights it up
Throws 5 TDs to ignite BC
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. — AJ Dillon gets most of the attention on the Boston College offense and for good reason. The sophomore running back was the preseason pick as the ACC’s Player of the Year.
But he’s far from the only weapon the Eagles possess this year.
Quarterback An- thony Brown showed off his passing skills last night by throwing for 304 yards and five touchdowns to lead the Eagles to a 41-34 victory over Wake Forest.
Dillon also had a big game, rushing for 185 yards on 33 carries, while defensive end Wyatt Ray recorded four sacks as BC passed its early test and positioned itself as a serious contender in the ACC’s Atlantic Division.
“We knew we wanted to throw the ball tonight,” Eagles coach Steve Addazio said. “We knew there would be opportunities in the play-action game because the safeties were going to be violently coming into the box. We knew that would happen and we went to it. I thought we mixed it pretty good. The way this played out for us is a great way to get into the Power 5 schedule.”
Dillon got the Eagles (3-0) started with a 45yard touchdown run on the opening possession. Brown took over with first-half scoring throws of 27 yards to Jeff Smith and 35 yards to Kobay White.
Brown picked right up in the second half by connecting with tight end Tom Sweeney for a 29-yard score midway through the third quarter to put BC ahead 28-21. Then, after the defense held on fourth down inside the 10 at the end of a 15-play Wake drive, Brown hit Smith again, this time in stride down the far sideline for a 71-yard strike that gave the Eagles some separation.
Smith finished with six catches for 145 yards. He also rushed three times for 42 yards.
“I feel like the first two weeks were definitely confidence boosters,” Dillon said. “That first UMass game showed that Anthony can make those throws and our offensive line played spectacular. Same thing going into Holy Cross. It’s not just a fluke, the first two games. We went out there and had (524) yards today. Everybody was making big plays.”
The biggest came after a field goal that got the Demon Deacons back to 3427 when Brown provided the coup de grace with his career-high fifth touchdown pass, a 41-yarder to Ben Glines that put Wake away. The Demon Deacons scored a late TD that might have made the final 93 seconds interesting had BC not recovered the ensuing onside kick.
Dillon rushed for 119 yards in the first half and Brown hit on a pair of long scoring passes, but because of pair of mistakes and a mistimed jump, the game was tied at 21 after two quarters.
The first turnover was a muffed punt by Michael Walker that helped Wake tie the game at 7. The second came after a bad snap led to a blocked punt, recovered in the end zone by Wake’s Malik Grate. It was the third punt the Eagles have had blocked this season and it helped the hosts pull even at 14-14.
The Demon Deacons took their first lead late in the half on a short touchdown pass from Sam Hartman to Sage Surratt. The score was set up two plays earlier by a 32-yard gain on a fourth-and-4 pass that saw Surratt outjump cornerback Hamp Cheevers for the ball along the near sideline.
It didn’t take BC long to answer. A 13-yard run by Dillon, a 30-yard reverse by Smith and a 35-yard strike from Brown to White got the Eagles into the end zone for the tying touchdown just before the teams headed into halftime.
“We talked in the locker room that there were certain plays in the first half that if we could just clean them up, we’d execute them,” Brown said. “We came out in the second half and did exactly that.
“When we’re clean, it’s hard to stop us.”
Despite Hurricane Florence bearing down on the North Carolina coastline, causing kickoff to be moved up two hours to 5:30 p.m., the game was played under perfect, though breezy, conditions. Winston-Salem is 200-plus miles to the west of the storm’s expected landfall.