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Backup QB Flutie leads Boston College to ACC title game

Nov 30, 2008 - 3:24 AM CHESTNUT HILL, Massachusetts (Ticker) -- Flutie magic struck again 24 years later for Boston College.

Billy Flutie, the nephew of legendary quarterback and Heisman Trophy winner Doug Flutie, threw a touchdown pass on a fake field goal as the 22nd-ranked Eagles clinched a berth in the ACC title game with a 28-21 victory over Maryland on Saturday.

Robert Francois returned an interception for a TD for Boston College (9-3, 5-3 ACC Atlantic), which will face Virginia Tech in the ACC championship game next week.

"Flutie, you haven't heard that around here in a while, have you?" Boston College head coach Jeff Jagodzinski asked.

"No one said we would do it," Jagodzinski said of reaching the ACC title game. "That's the best part of it. The guys believed they could. That's the whole thing about coaching. It's getting your guys to believe that they can do it."

Boston College freshman Dominique Davis threw for 134 yards and a pair of scores in his first career start in place of the injured Chris Crane, who broke his collarbone in last week's win over Wake Forest.

However, it was Billy Flutie who provided another memorable moment in Boston College history. On 4th-and-8, Flutie took the snap as the holder, rolled out to his right and hit Jordon McMichael, who tip-toed into the end zone for a 21-7 lead with 8:38 left in the third.

"Jordon McMichael made a nice play on it. That was his role tonight and he did it," Jagodzinski said.

"We had been practicing it all week so I was very comfortable with it and it was successful," Flutie said. "We specifically worked on this play this week because we saw that Maryland didn't do a good job of containing edge and we took advantage of it."

Flutie knows his surname carries a lot of weight in these parts of the country. He helped the Eagles move one step closer to their first-ever trip to a BCS game and their first major bowl appearance since Doug Flutie led them to a Cotton Bowl victory after the 1984 season.

"I don't downgrade my last name," said Flutie, whose uncle helped the Eagles beat heavily favored Miami on a last-second "Hail Mary" the day after Thanksgiving in 1984.

"I am a Flutie and I take all the honor in my last name. Darren and Doug did great things while they were here and I am looking to contribute to that and do the best I can."

After the trick play made it a two-touchdown game, it was an uphill battle for the Terrapins.

"We had a rush on them, and we lost contain on the ball," Maryland head coach Ralph Friedgen said.

"So, when they got it out there, once they broke contain we had one guy out there to defend two guys. It was a gutsy call by them and it worked. We probably could have been in something better, but we were trying to block the kick."

Chris Turner hit Danny Oquendo for a 13-yard score to make it 21-14 six seconds into the fourth. However, Turner threw an ill-advised pass that Francois returned 36 yards for a score with 1:42 remaining, essentially sealing the win.

Turner bounced back by hitting Torrey Smith for an 8-yard TD with 14 seconds left, but the Eagles recovered the ensuing onside kick.

Turner completed 33-of-57 passes for 360 yards with two touchdowns and two interceptions for Maryland (7-5, 4-4). Turner also ran for a touchdown.

The Eagles took a 14-7 lead into the locker room after Mark Herzlich's interception set up a 45-yard TD from Davis to Rich Gunnell with 1:05 to play. Gunnell was wide-open thanks to a busted coverage and had to wait for the throw.

"When I saw him so wide-open, I was just like 'Whoa,' and I had to take a second to see if anyone was around and I just threw it up for the catch," said Davis, who was 10-of-16 for 122 yards in the first half.