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No. 7 Boston College Rolls 55-24

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The Associated Press

Published: October 7, 2007

Updated: 10/07/2007 12:44 am

BOSTON - Matt Ryan threw four touchdown passes and Boston College pulled away with four interceptions late in the first half to overwhelm Bowling Green 55-24 Saturday and get off to its best start in 65 years.

The No. 7 Eagles entered the game with their highest ranking in 23 years after two unimpressive wins against Army and Massachusetts.

There was nothing questionable about Saturday's rout as Boston College (6-0) scored 38 straight points after Tyler Sheehan's 6-yard pass to Freddie Barnes with 8:55 left in the half cut BC's lead to 14-10.

Less than seven minutes later, it was 38-10 as the Falcons (3-2) pass-happy offense backfired when BC picked off four passes in the last six minutes of the half. Two were returned for touchdowns - 65 yards by Jamie Silva and 7 yards by Nick Larkin - and another led to a career-long 45-yard field goal by Steve Aponavicius.

The Eagles were well on the way to their 16th straight home victory.

VIRGINIA TECH 41, CLEMSON 23: No. 15 Virginia Tech had a record-tying 100-yard kickoff return TD by Victor Harris and an 82-yard punt return score from Eddie Royal in topping No. 22 Clemson.

In 21 seasons under Coach Frank Beamer, the Hokies (5-1, 2-0) have become college football's gold standard for special teams play. But Virginia Tech had never had both a kickoff and punt returned for scores in the same game before.

Virginia Tech's defense was strong, too. D.J. Parker had a 32-yard interception return TD on Clemson's first series and the Hokies held host Clemson (4-2, 2-2) without a first down for nearly 21 minutes.

MARYLAND 28, GEORGIA TECH 26: In his first career start, Chris Turner threw for 255 yards, and Lance Ball ran for three touchdowns as host Maryland (4-2, 1-1) barely held on against Georgia Tech (3-3, 1-3).
Travis Bell sent a 52-yard field-goal attempt wide right with 54 seconds remaining. Andrew Gardner was whistled for holding on the previous play, knocking the Yellow Jackets back 10 yards and preventing them from lining up for what would have been a 40-yard try.

Turner had three passes of longer than 40 yards in the first half, including the first touchdown pass of his career, a 78-yard strike to Jason Goode.

WAKE FOREST 41, DUKE 36: Receiver Kenneth Moore rushed for two touchdowns and Wake Forest withstood Thaddeus Lewis' four-TD performance and beat host Duke.

Moore caught 11 passes for 100 yards and rushed four times for 84 yards, with scoring runs covering 21 and 53 yards for the Deacons (3-2, 2-1).

Wake led by 25 and seemed in control after Alphonso Smith returned a third-quarter interception 30 yards for a TD, but the Blue Devils rallied. Justin Boyle ran 3 yards for a TD and Lewis had TD passes of 2 yards to Eron Riley and 31 yards to Jomar Wright to pull Duke (1-5, 0-3) within 34-29 with about 12 minutes left.

VIRGINIA 23, MIDDLE TENNESSEE 21: Chris Gould kicked a 34-yard field goal with 8 seconds left, redeeming himself for an earlier extra-point miss, and visiting Virginia beat pesky Middle Tennessee for its fifth consecutive victory.

The Cavaliers (5-1) had 151 yards rushing and matched their longest winning streak since 2004, spoiling the Blue Raiders' (1-5) hopes of becoming the third Sun Belt team to knock off a school from a Bowl Championship Series conference this year.

Bradley Robinson intercepted Jameel Sewell late in the fourth quarter to set up a short touchdown rush by DeMarco McNair to give Middle Tennessee a 21-20 lead.

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