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BC grinds out win against shorthanded Florida State

Nov 16, 2008 - 6:04 AM TALLAHASSEE, Florida (Ticker) -- Boston College shut down Florida State's vaunted rushing attack and created a logjam atop the Atlantic Division of the ACC.

Montel Harris rushed for 121 yards and a touchdown and Marty Bowman had an interception return for a touchdown as Boston College posted a 27-17 victory over 19th-ranked Florida State on Saturday.

Chris Crane threw for 181 yards with one touchdown and one interception for the Eagles (7-3, 3-3 ACC Atlantic), who held the Seminoles to 73 yards rushing. Florida State came into the contest averaging 205.2 yards per game on the ground.

"(Florida State) made a real big deal about the blackout so we got all of our guys black shirts and said, 'Well if we are not going to get invited then let's go ahead and crash the party.' And that's what we did," Boston College coach Jeff Jagodzinksi said. "I am really proud of them for the way they fought. That's the good part of being a coach to see your kids fight like that."

The loss drops Florida State (7-3, 4-3 Atlantic) into a tie for second in the division with Wake Forest (6-4, 4-3), one-half game behind first-place Maryland (7-3, 4-2). Boston College is one game back.

"Tonight, they whipped us up front," Seminoles coach Bobby Bowden said. "The quarterback didn't have time to set and they had the ball the whole (darn) football game."

The Seminoles were playing without five wide receivers - including leading wideout Taiwan Easterling - after coach Bobby Bowden suspended them for their involvement in a campus fight on Wednesday.

"It had nothing to do with the loss," Florida state quarterback Christian Ponder said. "We missed key guys, but every week we have missed guys. We just didn't do enough."

Boston College jumped on the shorthanded Seminoles early, taking a 14-0 lead after the first quarter highlighted by Bowman's 87-yard interception return.

The Seminoles fought back in the second quarter as Ponder led a 57-yard drive in six plays, capped by a 4-yard scramble for a touchdown to halve the deficit with 13:06 left in the half.

Graham Gano added a 39-yard field goal just before the half as the Seminoles faced a 14-10 deficit at halftime.

Steve Aponavicius booted a 19-yard field goal midway through the third quarter and the Eagles took a 24-10 lead on Harris' 2-yard touchdown with 48 seconds left in the quarter.

"(Harris is) a really good football player," Jagodzinski said. "He was a guy - we mentioned last week - that nobody wanted him. He was right from here (Florida). No one wanted him. He runs hard. He doesn't run like a true freshman."

Florida State answered on the first play of the fourth quarter when Preston Parker took a reverse and tossed a 29-yard touchdown pass to Greg Carr to make it 24-17.

That would be as close as the Seminoles would get, as the Eagles later went 67 yards in 8:55, running the clock down to 20 seconds before Aponavicius kicked a 30-yard field goal to seal the victory.

"It was the first time where the offensive line got a chance to take the game over," Jagodzinski said. "We've been asking them to do that all season and they finally started coming off the ball well."

Ponder finished 15-of-31 for 183 yards and was intercepted three times.