Tony Haynes: Back to B.C.

By Tony Haynes

Raleigh, N.C. Tom O’Brien’s Boston College Eagles had just polished off an impressive 9-3 regular season last November when the 10^th year coach realized that the best may actually be yet to come. His next team in 2007, in fact, was shaping up to be perhaps his best at Chestnut Hill.

But a little more than a few weeks after B.C. ended the 2006 campaign with a disappointing 17-14 loss to Miami, O’Brien was on his way south after accepting the vacant coaching position at NC State.

On Saturday, O’Brien will be back on the familiar field turf of Boston College’s Alumni Stadium. But this time, he’ll be using a different lockerroom, stand on the opposite sideline and wear different colors. Game time is 2:30.

When it knocked off defending league champion Wake Forest 38-28 to open the season last week, Boston College did indeed look like the powerful football team O’Brien figured it would be last November.

“A year ago it was basically a junior and freshman football team,” O’Brien said this week. “There weren’t a lot of seniors and just a spackling of sophomores. Now it’s a senior football team that has great leadership on both sides of the ball. They’re playing with a lot of confidence right now. They’re my pick to win this side of the division if we can’t do it.”

The team that O’Brien thought might be his best now belongs to former Packers offensive coordinator Jeff Jagodzinski, who was O’Brien’s offensive coordinator at B.C. in 1997 and 1998. Last season at this time, Jagodzinski was coaching future Hall of Fame quarterback Brett Favre. Upon his return to the college game, he inherited senior Matt Ryan, who, until someone else proves otherwise, is the best signal caller in the ACC.

Ryan shredded Wake Forest last week, passing for 408 yards and five touchdowns. Originally recruited by current Wolfpack running backs coach Jason Swepson, Ryan has become the best thrower in Beantown this side of Tom Brady.

“I think he’s exceeded everyone’s expectations,” O’Brien said. “We thought he was going to be a very good player, but I didn’t think he was going to be a Heisman Trophy kind of guy. If they can win and get to a BCS bowl game, which is what those kids’ goal is, he’ll certainly have a chance to get to the Heisman. Hopefully, we’ll have something to say about that on Saturday.”

If NC State is going to have any chance of derailing Boston College’s BCS hopes, it will have to do something it didn’t do in last week’s disappointing 25-23 loss to Central Florida: play well for four quarters. After stumbling out the gate to open the season, the Wolfpack nearly overcame a 25-3 halftime deficit before falling short. It wasn’t the way the Pack had intended on opening the Tom O’Brien era.

“I really hate letting people down, especially the coaches,” said linebacker Ernest Jones, who tallied eight tackles to lead NC State last week. “[Coach O’Brien] has inspired me to play a little harder and I hate letting people down. We’re going to try to come back and overcome that.”

Considering that NC State’s defense hung in there through 39 snaps in the first half last week and held UCF to just 38 yards and two first downs after halftime, the Wolfpack defense is the least of O’Brien’s worries.

Offensively, however, the Pack still appears to have a makeshift operation that’s still trying to figure things out. The operation itself was ineffective in the first half last week. With no holes to run through, the Pack’s talent backs were stuffed. And although starting quarterback Daniel Evans was 7-of-10 before being replaced by Harrison Beck, his effectiveness was limited due to poor field position and leaky protection.

After halftime, Beck provided the spark NC State needed, hitting 16-of-25 throws for 195 yards and two touchdowns. As a result, the Nebraska transfer will get his first college start this week at B.C. Proving he could be effective in a relief role, Beck will now face different challenges as a starter.

“Yes, it will be different,” said NC State offensive coordinator Dana Bible. “He knows he’ll be the one out on the field from the start. The opponent has a chance to game plan for him and his style. It’s still about us on offense executing what we do.”

Bible’s offense will be very familiar to his counterpart, B.C. defensive coordinator Frank Spaziani, one of two coaches who remained at Boston College after O’Brien left. For eight years, Bible’s and Spaziani’s units competed against each other anytime the Eagles would scrimmage or go 11-on-11 in practice.

“What this will be is NC State against Boston College,” Bible said. “We’ve taken that approach from the very beginning. It’s not about one coach against another coach. It’s about this offense trying to be effective against a top-level, ACC caliber defense.”

Last week, Spaziani certainly found a way to do something very few teams have been able to do: hold Wake Forest’s running game in check. The Deacons, who have consistently been the best rushing team in the ACC the last three or four years, could manage only two yards last week in the running game. Even more amazing is the fact that the Eagles were missing their best defensive lineman, B.J. Raji, who was declared academically ineligible. Senior cornerback DeJuan Tribble was named National Defensive Player of the week after picking off three Wake Forest passes.

NC State’s running game will be minus starting tailback Toney Baker, who was diagnosed with a season-ending knee injury following the game against Central Florida. The Wolfpack still has capable backs in Andre Brown and Jamelle Eugene, but that won’t really matter unless the offensive line can create some openings against a B.C. front that’s looking quite stout one week into the season.

Beyond the X’s and O’s, O’Brien is concerned about the psyche of his team. Dating back to last October, NC State has lost eight consecutive games. The Wolfpack hasn’t dropped nine in a row since 1959.

“You learn how to win and sometimes it becomes easy to lose,” O’Brien said. “They fought awfully hard in the second half. If we would have gotten that same kind of effort the first part of the game we would have been fine. We have to be more consistent and play 60 minutes of football. We’re guaranteed 60 minutes. You’ve got to show up and play all 60.”

After leaving as Boston College’s winningest coach, O’Brien’s return, naturally, is receiving plenty of coverage in both Raleigh and Boston. Unless the Eagles have a true freshman on the field, all 22 players out there will have been coached by O’Brien when the ball is kicked off at 2:32 p.m.

“I had a great experience at B.C. and those kids are special kids,” O’Brien said. “But come Saturday, my job is to win the football game and do the best job I can for these kids at NC State. With every breath and passion I have, that’s what I’m going to do.”

Injuries: NC State will try to beat B.C. without it's two starting defensive tackles. Senior DeMario Pressley will miss Saturday's contest after injuring a knee in practice on Thursday. Alan Michael Cash is attending the funeral of his father and did not make the trip to Boston.

North Carolina State University Athletics

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