BC falls short

Sure, Boston College could have taken an alternate route.

The Eagles could have taken an easier path in making their Atlantic Coast Conference debut last night. What message would that have sent?

Intent on proving themselves to their new brethren in the ACC -- and, for that matter, their old Big East brethren, who ridiculed their decision to defect, calling it a mistake -- the Eagles wanted to find out how they measured up against the best of the ACC.

Well, BC found out. The hard way.

Florida State 28, BC 17.

The 17th-ranked Eagles (2-1, 0-1 ACC) weathered a first-quarter flurry by the Seminoles, then scored 17 unanswered points to overcome a 14-0 deficit. But the Eagles became unraveled in the second half when quarterback Quinton Porter (20 of 31, 151 yards, 2 interceptions, 1 touchdown) went down midway through the third with a right ankle injury. It paved the way for the eighth-ranked Seminoles (3-0, 2-0) to rally for a pair of fourth-quarter scores -- the last set up by a blocked punt.

''We gave it a good effort but we made too many mistakes and there were too many things for us to overcome to beat a good football team like Florida State," said BC coach Tom O'Brien, whose team will be introduced to playing in the ACC's toughest venue when it travels to Death Valley Saturday to face Clemson. ''It's a tough loss and we have to regroup now and get ourselves ready to play Clemson."

Drew Weatherford accounted for 243 of the Seminoles' 256 total yards by completing 20 of 38 passes, including a pair of TDs to Greg Carr on passes of 20 and 5 yards.

''We didn't do a good job of executing in the first half and a lot of that was on me," said Weatherford. ''We went out after halftime and made some changes. Our coaches did a good job of putting us in situations where we could execute."

The Seminoles won the toss and decided to see what the Eagle offense was made of by deferring to the second half.

The fans had no sooner settled into their aluminum seats, when the Eagles were staring at a 7-0 deficit, seven seconds into the game.

Florida State linebacker A.J. Nicholson intercepted a Porter pass intended for Larry Lester and raced untouched 19 yards for a score. Porter stumbled as he rolled to his right, regained his balance, and let fly under pressure a floater that Nicholson found.

The fifth-year quarterback then drove the Eagles to the FSU 35 in 12 plays where the march was halted by another interception by Nicholson, who returned this one 40 yards to the BC 33.

''He stumbled coming out on the first one and let it go," O'Brien said of Porter's interceptions. ''The next one, he had [Will] Blackmon wide open. He just made a bad throw. But he didn't seem to be fazed by it at all. The series after that, he was into the game and very engaged. It didn't seem to affect him at all."

Three plays later, Weatherford rolled left, stopped, and fired across the field to 6-foot-6-inch freshman wideout Greg Carr, who used his height advantage over 5-9 cornerback DeJuan Tribble to make a 20-yard TD grab in the corner of the end zone for a 14-0 Seminole lead with 9:16 left in the first quarter.

BC fans were squirming in the seats, possibly murmuring, ''Maybe joining the ACC wasn't such a great idea, after all."

The Eagles, however, overcame their opening-night jitters when they rallied for 17 unanswered points on three consecutive possessions to take a 17-14 lead at intermission.

Utilizing a punishing running attack that was augmented by a short, controlled passing scheme, Porter, who completed 16 of 24 passes in the first quarter for 124 yards, drove the Eagles from their 22 to the FSU 16 in nine plays -- completing passes of 11 yards to Lester and 12 yards to Blackmon. The drive bogged down at the 13, where the Eagles were forced to settle for a 31-yard field goal by Ryan Ohliger with 4:37 left.

BC's defense, which kept Weatherford off-balance with a series of stunts, twists, and blitzes, came up with a huge turnover two plays later when Ray Henderson made a diving interception of a deflected pass intended for De'Cody Fagg at the FSU 47.

The Eagles capitalized on the miscue when L.V. Whitworth, who had 15 carries for 62 yards in the first half, scored a 7-yard TD on a magnificent second-effort reach that broke the plane of the goal. That cut Florida State's lead to 14-10 with 45 seconds left in the period.

BC defensive coordinator Frank Spaziani, whose defense held the Seminoles to 62 yards total offense on 23 plays in the first quarter, turned the screws on Weatherford. Facing a third and 13 from the FSU 12, Weatherford dropped back and the pocket collapsed beneath bull rushes by tackle B.J. Raji and end Mathias Kiwanuka, who combined forces on a 10-yard sack.

FSU's ensuing punt from its 2 gave BC great field position at the Seminoles' 45. The Eagles capitalized when Andre Callender ripped off a pair of 7-yard runs and then hauled in a 9-yard pass from Porter for a first down at FSU 22. Two plays later, Porter converted a third-and-4 pass with a 13-yard strike to Blackmon, who wiggled out of the grasp of free safety Roger Williams and went in for the go-ahead score with 10:36 left before halftime.

The Eagles had their hands full trying to make their halftime lead stand.

Ohliger missed a 39-yard field goal attempt wide right early in the period. On BC's next possession, Porter came up from a pile favoring his right ankle after BC took a 9-yard loss on a botched reverse to Blackmon with 8 1/2 minutes left in the third.

Porter limped off the field and went to the trainer's table on the bench. After BC's defense held and forced Florida State to punt from the Eagles' 37, Porter returned, but was clearly hobbled and was unable to spark the offense. That prompted sophomore backup Matt Ryan to begin warming up.

The defense dodged a bullet on Florida State's ensuing possession when Kiwanuka came steaming from behind on a screen play and stripped Lorenzo Booker as he tried to cross the plane of the goal on a 32-yard pass. The ball popped up and landed in Jazzmen Williams's hands in the end zone. After it was reviewed by instant replay officials in the booth, the play was ruled a touchback. BC ball at its 20.

Ryan took over with 43 seconds left in the third and was unable to generate any offense.

It proved problematic when the Seminoles responded on their next series by going 63 yards in 10 plays to score on Weatherford's 5-yard TD strike to Carr with 10:13 left in the game.

Florida State came up with a huge special teams play when Daris McClure blocked a Johnny Ayers punt and recovered it for the Seminoles at the BC 8. After an offsides penalty put the ball at the 4, Booker crashed in for a 4-yard score that gave the Seminoles a 28-17 lead with 3:53 to go.

Ryan caught fire and rallied the Eagles 79 yards in six plays -- converting completions of 23 and 15 yards to Brandon Robinson and a 26-yarder to Taylor Sele that brought BC to the FSU 2. But the Eagles bogged down and failed to convert on six cracks at the end zone, the last three from the 1, when Ryan was stuffed on a fourth-and-goal plunge.

''We had them on the field for a time, a lot of plays," O'Brien said. ''But we didn't score enough plays to win the game."