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BC Jumps on Illinois Early; Rides off to Victory
Champaign, Illinois-- The Boston College Eagles were facing the Illinois Fighting Illini for their second straight road game to start the year. In what was dubbed the "Battle for I-45" by Coach Boone due to the coaches being just done the I-45 from each, the undefeated Eagles would try to put together a second solid win. The matchup pitted Illinois and their Big 12 style offense against Boston College and their Big 10 style offense. The key would be which defense could step up and take the other team out of their game. Boston College proved in the first game against UCLA that they could potentially have a great defense and went on to prove it against today, despite facing a spread type of team, opposite of what they faced last week.
The Man, The Myth, The Legend- Luke Kuechly
BC won the toss and elected to kickoff. Both teams would exchange stops before BC would put together the first drive of the game. They marched down the field and were faced with a 4th-and-inches from the Illini 37. Coach Petersen knew they were too close to punt and too far for a field goal so he went for it and it paid off. BC got the first down and eventually found paydirt for the 7-0 lead. After another stop by the Eagles, Montel Harris would try to break the game open. He took a handoff left, made one nice cut and was gone, 70 yards untouched, and just like that BC was up 14-0.
Montel Harris Breaks the Game Open
The Illini needed to put together a drive on their next series and did just that crossing midfield and getting into field goal range. Then the BC defense stepped and made a huge play. Their defensive leader, Luke Kuechly, picked off a poor decision by Illinois QB Nathan Scheelhaase. The INT gave BC even more momentum and they would look to capitalize on that right away.
Kuechly's Picks Ends the Promising Illinois Drive
Knowing the Illini would be aggressive and looking for a stop the Eagles came up with a great playcall. Rettig faked the handoff to Harris and the Illinois safety bit hard. Swigert ran right by the defense and Rettig threw a beautiful pass that Swigert took to the endzone. Just like that it was 21-0 and BC was in good shape.
Rettig Fools the Defense, Finds Swigert for 6
The next drive the BC defense would step up yet again. Scheelhaase who throw the ball to Kuechly again and suddenly BC was in business to go up even more. However, Rettig would give the ball right back to Illinois with an interception of his own. Illinois was now desperate to get something going or this game would be over by halftime. Scheelhaase was erratic all say, going 18-42 with 2 INTs, but he did his job on this drive. Scheelhaase went up top to AJ Jenkins. The BC corner miss played the ball in the air and it came down into Jenkins hands and he ran it in to get the Fighting Illini on the board cutting it to 21-7.
Illinois Gets on the Board in Style
With the ball back the Eagles would put together another solid drive. They quickly drove into Illinois territory with under a minute to play in the half. BC got inside the 10 but two quick stops left them with a big third down. Rettig took the snap, turned and handed the ball to his main man Harris who did the rest getting in the endzone giving the Eagles a 28-7 lead at half and they would receive to start the second half.
Kaleb Ramsey Sacks Scheelhaase, the Eagles D was Fast and Physical All Day
The Eagles got the ball to start the second half and were looking to extend their lead. Boston College drove the ball to the 35 yard line where they were faced with a 3rd-and-1. The call from the coaches was a run, but Rettig recognized that Illinois had a blitz on and audibled to a pass. WR Colin Larmond ran an out route and Rettig didn’t hesitate bulleting the pass to Larmond who ran up the sideline for the score giving BC a seemingly insurmountable lead.
Rettig Beats the Blitz and Larmond Does the Rest
From that point on the Eagles would play it very conservatively, running the ball so that they wouldn’t turn it over and play deep zone so as not to give up the big play, to protect their lead. Illinois would score twice more to cut the lead to 35-21 with two minutes to play but Nate Freese would finish it off when he squeaked a 49 yard field goal over the crossbar with just over a minute left. With the victory Boston College moves to 2-0 as they head into ACC play next week when the host the Duke Blue Devils.Final Score: 38-21
When Rettig Is Accurate and Plays Well Boston College is Tough to Beat
Stats:
Chase Rettig: 12-17 245 yds, 2 TDs
Montel Harris: 29 Car, 153 yds, 3 TDs
Colin Lamond: 3 rec, 57 yds, 1 TD
Luke Kuechly: 12 tack, (9 solo) 2 INTs
Last edited by King_CEPS_11 on Sun Dec 11, 2011 4:47 pm; edited 1 time in total
