Dillon basks in BC glory
RB difference in Louisville upset
LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Boston College tailback AJ Dillon was hard to miss and difficult to tackle in the second half of Saturday’s 45-42 upset victory over Louisville.
Earning their first ACC win of the season, the Eagles (3-4, 1-3) will face Virginia next weekend in Charlottesville, Va. The resurgent Cavaliers are 5-1 (2-0 ACC) following Saturday’s 20-14 victory at North Carolina.
Dillon, a Lawrence Academy product, rushed for a BC freshman record 272 yards on 39 carries and four touchdowns. A whopping 239 of those yards came in the second half, including a 75-yard touchdown run through traffic that put BC up 42-28 early in the fourth quarter.
Dillon’s efforts against Louisville attracted national attention yesterday, as he was named the Walter Camp Football Federation offensive player of the week.
“I have been really working on just being a physical runner,” Dillon said. “I had the opportunities that I had because the O-line did their jobs, the receivers did their jobs blocking downfield and our defense for holding them.”
The Eagles were coming off a dispiriting 23-10 home loss to Virginia Tech and were facing a Louisville foe, and its Heisman Trophy quarterback Lamar Jackson, that dismembered BC, 52-7, last season at Alumni Stadium.
BC needed a complete team effort and several individual performances to turn the tables on the imposing Cardinals. The Eagles offensive line dominated Louisville’s front seven in the second half and unleashed Dillon into the Cardinals’ secondary.
Trailing 21-14 at the half, BC coach Steve Addazio abandoned all pretenses of balance and pounded the football down the Cards’ collective throats with runs between the tackles.
BC had a season-high 555 yards of total offense, 364 of which came on the ground, while piling up 27 first downs — thanks to a stellar 9-of-18 third down conversion rate. Comparably, the Eagles were 2-of-15 on third down against Virginia Tech.
“Our physicality on the offensive line was something remarkable,” Addazio said. “AJ Dillon was a beast (and) that was unbelievable.”
There were other individual and unit contributions in the Eagles’ victory. Darius Wade replaced starting quarterback Anthony Brown early in the third quarter and directed the offense on four consecutive touchdowns drives. He employed play-action sets and roll outs to complete 7-of-10 passes for 91 yards.
Tight end Tommy Sweeney had three receptions for 39 yards in the second half. Receiver Michael Walker turned a fumbled punt return into a 32-yard return in the second quarter that set up Dillon’s first touchdown.
Kicker Colton Lichtenberg had missed five of his previous six field goal attempts before booting a 27-yarder on the final play of the game.
The BC defense forced two turnovers that led to scores in the second half. Defensive end Wyatt Ray intercepted Jackson on the Louisville 46 and returned it to the 22. That set up an 11-yard touchdown run by Dillon on the first play of the fourth quarter.