BC's magic ride comes to an end

RALEIGH, N.C. -- The year of living dangerously finally caught up to Boston College.

After going down to the wire to pull out wins in their first three games, the last two in double-overtime thrillers against Clemson and Brigham Young, the 20th-ranked Eagles went to the wire again but absorbed their first loss of the season, a 17-15 setback to North Carolina State last night at Carter-Finley Stadium.

``It was a tough way to lose," said BC coach Tom O'Brien. ``Give N.C. State credit. They made a play at the end of the game to win and when we had an opportunity to make a play to win the game, we couldn't do it, whether it be on offense or defense.

``It ended up being the story of the game."

The whole sad story.

The Eagles, who had not opened 4-0 since 1999, seemed to wrap up their fourth win of the season when DeJuan Tribble intercepted N.C. State quarterback Daniel Evans at the Wolfpack 30 with three minutes left. BC's offense, however, was unable to put it away when quarterback Matt Ryan (13 of 25, 149 yards, 1 touchdown, 1 interception) fumbled the snap from Josh Beekman, a right guard who was making his first career start at center, on third and 1 from the 26.

``It was a must first down and I didn't execute my job and I bobbled the snap, and I didn't put my teammates in a position to win," said Beekman, a senior tricaptain. ``It was a run. For me, I knew I wanted to get Matt the ball and get some movement and come off the ball.

``I put the blame solely on me. Instead of getting the first down and running out the clock, the door swung the other way and it opened for N.C. State to get the win."

Forsaking what would've been a 44-yard field goal attempt by Ryan Ohliger, who atoned for a missed extra point on BC's game-opening touchdown drive with a 29-yard field goal in the second quarter, BC attempted to win it on a fourth-and-2 rushing attempt by Brian Toal. BC's short-yardage specialist, however, was stopped for a 1-yard loss by LeRue Rumph and Patrick Lowery, stopping the crowd of 57,583 that started to file out of the stadium in their tracks.

Evans, a 6-foot-2-inch, 191-pound sophomore who was making his debut after junior Marcus Stone was ineffective in the Wolfpack's first three games, led N.C. State (2-2, 1-0 ACC) on a miraculous five-play, 72-yard drive with 46 seconds left and no timeouts. He connected with a leaping John Dunlap on a 34-yard touchdown strike with 8.5 seconds left. It handed BC (3-1, 1-1) its first loss of the season and left Wake Forest and Virginia Tech as the Atlantic Coast Conference's only unbeaten teams.

``The game was storybook," said N.C. State coach Chuck Amato, who had come under fire after the Wolfpack had back-to-back losses to Akron and Southern Miss. ``Stop them on fourth down, no timeouts left, eight seconds left on the clock. I'm happy for the fans. We beat the No. 20 team in front of them. It was a great win."

The Eagles wasted little time in putting the pressure on the Wolfpack, marching 83 yards in 11 plays on their opening possession. The biggest play of the drive was a 15-yard penalty on Littleton Wright for roughing punter Johnny Ayers, which gave BC renewed life at the N.C. State 45.

Ryan gave the Eagles the lead when he found Tony Gonzalez with a 22-yard TD strike with 9:39 left in the first quarter.

Ohliger, who missed a pair of first-half extra-point attempts against BYU, missed this one wide left, leaving BC in possession of a 6-0 lead.

BC's defense recorded a tidy three-and-out on its first series, but was gashed on its next series by outside runs of 49 and 22 yards by Andre Brown and Toney Baker, respectively. Those runs had the Wolfpack knocking on the door at the BC 7. The Eagles stiffened and forced N.C. State to settle for a 29-yard field goal by John Deraney with 4:26 to go in the first quarter.

Ohliger atoned for his miss when he converted the 29-yarder, making it 9-3 with 9:18 left before intermission. Ohliger came up limping after he was hit on his right (kicking) leg by an NC State defender, but was able to walk it off.

The kick capped a 14-play, 69-yard march that was extended by a pair of Ryan third-down completions of 16 and 15 yards to Kevin Challenger, the latter leaving BC at the N.C. State 15.

The Eagles tried to pad their lead before halftime, driving 31 yards to the N.C. State 46, but three penalties forced BC to settle for a 60-yard punt by Ayers that was downed at the 1.

As they trudged into the visitor's locker room, it was apparent the Eagles had more work to do if they were going to finish off N.C. State. But, with three minutes left, BC failed to get it done.

``Obviously, they're disappointed with the way the game turned out now," said O'Brien. ``We've been living close to the edge for three weeks and it caught up to us today."