Tech loses 24-10

Tech lost their conference opener to Boston College (BC) at home on Saturday night, 24-10.

The Jackets struggled on defense early on, allowing three third-down conversions on a 94-yard scoring drive by the Eagles. Boston College's quarterback Matt Ryan led the drive, passing for 93 yards. This included a 40-yard bomb that helped keep their drive alive and establish Boston College's momentum early on in the game.

"[Ryan] impressed me. He impressed me on film and he impressed in person. He was as good as advertised," said Head Coach Chan Gailey.

Ryan, a contender for the ACC Player of the Year and widely considered the best quarterback in the ACC, finished the game 30-for-44, with 435 yards and 1 touchdown. His yardage tally was a career-high.

Tech was unable to answer with its offense as the running and passing game struggled to make the plays it had made in the past few games. Tashard Choice rushed for just 31 yards on 15 carries, ending his nine-game consecutive streak of rushing at least 100 yards every game. The senior running back also gave his team and fans a scare when it was revealed that he would miss part of the game due to a hamstring injury.

"I don't know [about Choice]; they just told me that he was out the rest of the game and did not give me any long-term prognosis on that," Gailey said.

Choice is questionable for the game against Virginia on Saturday.

On the next drive, the Eagles drove into the Jackets' red zone and the team looked to score a touchdown on its second consecutive drive. Darrell Robertson helped make a defensive play when he forced a fumble that was recovered by Philip Wheeler. Tech was unable to capitalize and had to punt the ball away.

"I just don't think we played as well as we are capable [of]. If you want to have a chance to play at the end of the year, you've got to go play every week, week in and week out," Gailey said.

The rest of the game played out in a similar way. Tech was unable to perform consistently on defense and allowed BC to control the clock and keep Tech's offense off the field. Even with the offense on the field, the squad was unable to overcome BC's dominating defensive line.

"They were a physical team on defense....We thought they were going to come out and play cover-three and put a safety out there to stop the run, but they didn't and we kind of had to resort to going in the air. The passing game on my part didn't go very well in the first half, but we came out in the second half ...and got a little bit going," said quaterback Taylor Bennett.

Bennett finished the game 20-for-39 for 204 yards. He was pressured in multiple situations, often trying to make a play with his feet rather than his arms.

The one bright spot of the game was the punting game with Durant Brooks, who punted 10 times in the game. In the first quarter, one of his punts was his 30th career punt to land in the 20-yard zone. He was also recently named to the Ray Guy Award watch list. The award is given to the best punter in the nation at the conclusion of the season.

With the win, Boston College improved to 3-0 in the ACC and defeated both participants from the ACC Championship title game from last season.

"They have a good football team. They played well tonight. We didn't... and they deserved to win," Gailey said.

Starting in the second half, the crowd started to react to the officiating by throwing objects on to the field. During one of the plays, a water bottle was thrown at opposing quarterback Ryan and the referee had to ask the crowd to stop throwing the trash.

The Jackets have become unranked after reaching the No. 15 spot in last week's ranking.

Tech travels to Virginia tomorrow for its first ACC road game. Tech lost their ACC road opener at Clemson last season. It was the only ACC game they lost all year, finishing their conference schedule 7-1 before their trip to Jacksonville.