For much of the last few weeks I have not been all that high on Boston College, calling them very overrated and not having beaten anyone. For 54 minutes on Thursday I thought this seemed rather accurate.Then they decided to be awesome for the last 6 minutes or so and come back to beat Virginia Tech 14-10.
Matt Ryan has been shooting up a lot of draft boards this year, but I wasn't convinced yet that he was in the class of Brian Brohm and Andre Woodson as far as the draft was concerned. Well, all the questions were answered on the final 2 drives.
Seriously Matt Ryan was awesome on the final 2 drives. Unbelievable touch, great arm strength, perfect accuracy, good decision making, good mobility in the pocket... it was a thing of beauty. And the 2 TD passes... my goodness. The first one was just an extraordinary pass... he threw it to a spot, and it was perfectly placed just beyond the reach of the defender's hands, just barely giving the receiver enough time to get a foot in. It was beautiful.
Then the game-winner... Matt Ryan scrambled, but he kept his head up and looking downfield. That's more rare than you might think. And then rolling to his left, throwing across the field and across his body... awesome. Really, that's the best word to describe Matt Ryan on the final 2 drives. He was awesome. And this was all against a great defense in Virginia Tech.
Do I think Boston College is one of the 2 best teams in the country? Probably not. But I'm a lot more likely to believe it now. And I am a lot more likely to believe in Matt Ryan's skills, both as a Heisman contender and at the next level.