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Ryan throws for four touchdowns to lead Boston College

Oct 6, 2007 - 8:58 PM By Mike Petraglia PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

CHESTNUT HILL, Massachusetts (Ticker) - Matt Ryan continued push at a possible Heisman Trophy in impressive fashion.

Ryan threw for four touchdowns and Jamie Silva registered three interceptions as No. 7 Boston College coasted to a 55-24 rout of Bowling Green on Saturday.

Enjoying a monster senior campaign, Ryan completed 24-of-32 passes for 312 yards, connecting on his first seven passes. It was his fourth 300-yard game of the campaign.

"I felt good today and I felt comfortable," Ryan said. "My receivers did a great job and the offensive line did a superb job today because I think I got hit maybe once. Other than that, I don't think I got knocked around at all."

"He was 13-of-14 at one point," Boston College coach Jeff Jagodzinski added. "Matt was on today. He was pretty sharp and he's exciting to watch. He's a lot of fun to be around and to coach."

Silva led a stout defense which recorded six interceptions overall.

"It was going to be something new," Silva said. "We haven't really seen a team that just opens up and passes every down. We just practiced for it and prepared and felt like we were confident going into the game and had a good game plan so we just followed the game plan and executed."

Silva returned the first of his three interceptions 65 yards for a score during a 31-point second quarter as the Eagles built a commanding 38-10 lead at intermission.

"One of the things I threw out to our kids on Wednesday was I said, `We're going to go out there and pick off three passes and return one of them is going to be for a touchdown,'" Jagodzinski said. "I told them that again (Friday) night. And darn if Jamie Silva didn't do that by himself."

Nick Larkin, battling his way back from from arthroscopic knee surgery, also retuned an interception seven yards for a score during the decisive second quarter.

"When you start getting defensive touchdowns, that's when you start getting some lopsided scores," Jagodzinski said.

Running back Andre Callender also rushed for three touchdowns for Boston College, which is 6-0 for the first time since 1942. Last week, the Eagles returned to the top 10 for the first time since 1992.

Callender scored three touchdowns for the first time in his career. Callender's 74 yards Saturday brought his career total to 2,515, ranking him sixth on the school's all-time list, surpassing Keith Barnette (2,500) and Omari Walker (2,471).

With the Eagles holding just a 14-10 lead in the second quarter, they received a big special teams play from Jeff Smith, who returned a kickoff 64 yards.

"It's a good start, that's all it is," Ryan said. "We've got half of the season done and it's amazing that the season has flown by. We've put ourselves in exactly the position we want to be in. We haven't lost yet and we've won the games we've need to win and now we're beginning the third quarter of our season."

Ryan engineered a quick 36-yard drive, capped by Callender's four-yard TD run. That started the onslaught that the Falcons were unable to stop.

Boston College, which became bowl-eligible with the win, closes a run of four straight non-Atlantic Coast Conference games next week at Notre Dame.

Tyler Sheehan had a long day for pass-happy Bowling Green (3-2), finishing 27-of-45 for 275 yards and five interceptions.

"They did a couple of things today that he didn't manage in the past," Bowling Green coach Gregg Brandon said. "He was just trying to make some plays. He was trying to force the ball in there and made some young, inexperienced mistakes today. We will evaluate and he will learn from them."