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Ryan's Dream Season

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By SCOTT CARTER, The Tampa Tribune

Published: October 29, 2007

TALLAHASSEE - It was late Thursday night, already past Florida State coach Bobby Bowden's bed time, but he wanted to watch as much of the Boston College-Virginia Tech game as he could. Finally, sometime in the third quarter, Bowden drifted off to sleep with the bedroom TV still on.

No. 2-ranked Boston College was getting shut out and quarterback Matt Ryan, considered a Heisman Trophy candidate, wasn't having his best game in the rain at Lane Stadium.

'I said, 'Well, he's losing the Heisman,'' Bowden said. 'If he gets shut out, he ain't gonna win.'

Bowden remembers waking up briefly in the middle of the night and glancing at the TV, but when he awoke Friday morning, he thought he had dreamed Boston College came back to win. Turned out Bowden wasn't dreaming. With 11 seconds remaining, Ryan made perhaps Boston College's biggest play since Doug Flutie's 'Miracle in Miami' to defeat the Hurricanes at the Orange Bowl in 1984.

Avoiding a rush by rolling to his left and buying time, Ryan threw across the field to hit Andre Callender near the back of the end zone for the game-winning touchdown in the Eagles' 14-10 victory.

Boston College's perfect season and national title hopes remained intact. And much like Flutie's famous Hail Mary pass 23 years earlier, lifting the smallish quarterback toward becoming the Eagles' only Heisman winner, Ryan's Heisman hopes soared to new heights after a play called 'The Rattler.'

But before you go comparing Ryan to Flutie, the most popular player in school history, Ryan says to take a deep breath and relax.

'What Doug did for BC and the heroics that he displayed, and the plays he made while he was here, were phenomenal,' Ryan said during a conference call Monday. 'I don't think of myself too much in that light.'

Until recently, Ryan was so overshadowed by the rest of the Boston sporting landscape - the World Series-winning Red Sox, the undefeated Patriots, the reborn Celtics - that few people outside New England knew much about the 6-foot-5, 218-pound senior from near Philadelphia.

But his two late touchdown passes at Virginia Tech has Ryan in the spotlight as FSU prepares to travel to face Boston College on Saturday.

'I had never heard about him while I was in high school,' said highly recruited FSU quarterback Drew Weatherford. 'But he's legit. He's the real deal.'

Ryan leads the Atlantic Coast Conference in passing (304.1 yards per game) and is on pace to eclipse many of the single-season school records Flutie established in 1984. He also is considered one of the nation's most accurate passers, hitting 61 percent of his throws.

'I think he'll win the Heisman,' Bowden said. 'I'd vote for him.'

Ryan has elevated his play to another level this season, and is considered by many pro scouts as the top quarterback available in next year's NFL draft four years after not getting a lot of attention from college recruiters.

'I always measure quarterbacks by when it's not their day,' said FSU offensive coordinator Jimbo Fisher, who coached No. 1 overall pick JaMarcus Russell last season at LSU. 'They all have their time when it's their day. Last Thursday night was not his day - until the last two minutes. That's how you measure, in my opinion, those great ones.

'And he has that quality. He is a guy, if he's got the ball in his hand, they always have a chance to win. He's a great one.'

Pretty soon, Ryan could have a Heisman Trophy to prove it.

HEISMAN HOPEFUL

Thanks to his late-game heroics against Virginia Tech on Thursday, Boston College quarterback Matt Ryan elevated his place in the race for the Heisman Trophy, an award won once before by a scrambling BC quarterback named Doug Flutie. A look at Ryan compared with Flutie, the 1984 Heisman winner:

Note: Ryan's statistics through 8 games; Flutie's numbers cover 12 games.

Scott Carter

Reporter Scott Carter can be reached at (850) 294-3088 or scarter@tampatrib.com.

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