ACC Championship Game Preview -
Virginia Tech vs. Boston College
Courtesy of The ACC
November 28, 2007
Saturday, December 1
Virginia Tech (10-2, 7-1 ACC Coastal)
vs Boston College (10-2, 6-2 ACC Atlantic)
ABC TV/ISP Radio; 1:10 p.m.
Municipal Stadium, Jacksonville, Fla.
The Series: Virginia Tech leads 9-5-0;
This is the first meeting at a neutral site
The Coaches:
Virginia Tech - Frank Beamer: 166-84-2 (21st season) at VT; 208-107-4 (27th) overall
Boston College - Jeff Jagodzinski: 10-2 (1st season) at BC; 10-2 (1st season) overall
Last Time Out: Thanks to Heisman hopeful Matt Ryan’s 24-yard TD pass to senior
WR Andre Callendar with 11 seconds remaining, Boston College
defeated Virginia Tech 14-10 over No. 8 Virginia Tech in
Blackburg, Va. earlier this season ... The Eagles picked up their
second consecutive win over the Hokies and third of the past four
meetings ... Much of the first half was played in a heavy, soaking
rain and neither team could get much going ... Trailing 10-0 late
in the fourth quarter, Ryan, who finished 25-of-52 for 285 yards,
nailed two scoring drives with 2:11 left to play ... Tech QB Sean
Glennon went 15-for-25 for 149 yards, including an 8-yard TD
pass to Eddie Royal ... TB Brandon Ore rushed for 97 yards on 20
carries for the Hokies, while BC managed on 32 rushing yards.
Coastal Division Champions - Virginia Tech is 10-2 overall and finished
atop the Coastal Division with a league
mark of 7-1, following a win over Virginia
to claim the division title and earn a spot
in the ACC’s title game in Jacksonville on
Dec. 1 ... The Hokies closed out the regular
season with a 4-0 mark in the month of
Nov., making Frank Beamer’s squads 11-
1 in Nov. since joining the conference in
2005 ... Beamer has guided the Hokies to
a 142-44 record over the past 14 years
and appeared in bowl games each of
those years ... Virginia Tech is only one of
three schools in the FBS to win 10 games
in each of the last three years (Southern
Cal - 9 wins this season could also make
that claim soon) ... The Hokies currently
have the longest active scoring streak in
the ACC, having scored in 160 straight
games ... ... Virginia Tech won eight of the
first 10 contests between BC and Tech, including
seven straight from 1996 to
2002 ... Redshirt junior Sean Glennon has
started 20 games in his career, including
the last five consecutive contests and has
completed 183-of-321 passes for 2,451
yards and 12 touchdowns ... Glennon, who
did not throw an interception in ACC action,
shares QB time with freshman Tyrod
Taylor has amassed 888 passing yards on
a 68-of-125 effort, recording five touchdown
tosses in his freshman
campaign ... Glennon’s 142.89 passing efficiency
rating ranks him second in the
ACC and 21st in the country ... TB Brandon
Ore leads the Hokies with 821 rushing
yards on the year with nine total touchdowns
(eight rushing) and looks to surpass
the 1,000-plus rushing plateau for
the second consecutive season ... PR Eddie
Royal is currently averaging an ACC-best
15.1 yards per punt return, a mark good
for ninth nationally ... A kickoff return for a
TD would make Royal the second Tech
player (DeAngelo Hall, 2002) to account
for a TD in five different ways ... Lou Groza
semifinalist Jud Dunlevy has successfully
kicked 21-of-24 field goals this season, a
third-place ACC standing and ties the senior
for 12th in the nation ... Including his
38-of-40 PATs, Dunlevy has tallied 101 of
the Hokies’ 351 point this season
(28%) ... Redshirt senior LB Zavier Adibi
leads all Hokies on the defensive side of
the ball with 99 tackles, including 43 solo,
while junior CB Brandon Flowers has collected
72 and 45 solos on the season ... DE
Chris Ellis ranks fourth in the league in
sacks (8.5) and has recovered three
fumbles this season ... With a win, Virginia
Tech would claim its first league title since
entering the ACC in 2005.
Atlantic Division Champions -
Boston College is 10-2 overall and finished
first in the Atlantic Division with a 6-2
league mark ... The Eagles are making their
first appearance in the ACC title game following
two near-misses ... Boston College
opened the 2007 season 8-0 and ranked
No. 2 in the country, the best start in school
history since 1942 ... Jeff Jagodzinski broke
the ACC record for consecutive wins to
open a season and tied the overall record
by a first-year head coach to conclude the
regular season, joining the ranks of
Maryland’s Ralph Friedgen, who was the
first and only league coach to win the conference
title in his first year, and Clemson’s
Ken Hatfield ... The Eagles became bowl
eligible on Oct. 6 at 3:20 p.m., extending
BC’s bowl-eligible streak to a schoolrecord
nine years and became the first
team in America to grab six wins in
2007 ... The Eagles have also won seven
bowl games in a row, the longest active
streak in the nation ... BC and Penn State
hold the best winning percentage of alltime
in bowl games (.667) ... Over the past
five years (2003-07), Boston College has
compiled the seventh-best away-fromhome
(away or neutral) record in college
football (21-8, .724) ... Those wins include
two victories over a ranked Hokies squad
(No. 8 in 2004 & No. 12 in 2003) ... The
Eagles are 4-1 on the road in 2007 and
enter the ACC Championship in Jacksonville
ranked in the AP Top 25 poll for the
11th consecutive week ... Heisman Trophy
candidate Matt Ryan leads the Eagles as
the QB has completed 333-of-555 for a
total of 3,953 passing yards and 28
touchdowns ... Ryan trails only Doug Flutie
and Glenn Foley on BC’s all-time passing
yardage with 8,759 in his career ... Ryan’s
328.7 yards per game this season leads
all ACC players and is eighth in the nation
for total offense ... In the 55-year history
of ACC Football only three players have
thrown for 400 or more yards in a singlegame
five times in their careers and Ryan
accomplished that this season with four
400-yard efforts (he had one 400-yard
day against Wake Forest in 2006) ... In
addition, his current pace would allow
him to challenge the all-time ACC marks
of NC State’s Philip Rivers, who threw
4,491 yards in 2003 and accumulated
4,600 yards of total offense ... Senior Andre
Callendar has emerged as BC’s leading
receiver with 59 catches for 613 yards and
four touchdowns this season ... These numbers
are compiled with Callendar’s impressive
rushing game, totaling 184 carries
for 885 yards and eight touchdowns
on the ground ... Sophomore DE Alex
Albright is third in the ACC for sacks on
the season (8.5), while senior FS Jamie
Silva averages an ACC sixth-leading 9.2
tackles per game, totaling 110 on the
season ... Boston College’s roster features
the most college graduates than any other
school in the country as the Eagles boast
17 players who have already completed
their undergraduate degrees ... With a win,
Boston College would claim its first league
title since entering the ACC in 2005. |