Heartbreak and Redemption in 2007

Rain soaked. Exhausted from yelling. Staring into the dark night in disbelief.

Matt (Bleeping) Ryan...

Moments earlier, we were all celebrating a near-certain victory against a top 5 opponent and a season once again with enormous possibilities. Now all that was left was to sit in our wet clothes, pick up the pieces of a shattered season and figure out what to do next.

This was 2007, the apex of the Virginia Tech-Boston College series, a matchup that began in the Big East days in 1993 and has continued into the ACC. This Saturday’s game in Chestnut Hill will be the 34th in a series that Tech leads 22-11. All 11 hurt.

Coming into this late October matchup at Lane Stadium, BC was 7-0, ranked #2 and coming off a road win at Notre Dame. The Hokies were 6-1, ranked #8 and hadn’t lost an ACC game in over a year, against (you guessed it) Boston College at Chestnut Hill.

The Eagles were led by senior QB Matt Ryan, on his way to a 4,500-yard passing season. They also had standout running back Andre Callender who led BC in both rushing and receiving.

True freshman Tyrod Taylor had taken over as starting quarterback after having his redshirt burned in a week 2 loss at LSU. But Taylor suffered a high ankle sprain in a win at Duke the previous game, giving the reins back to Sean Glennon. And no mention of the Hokies in the 2000s can be complete without calling out the defense. Tech would finish the 2007 third in the nation in scoring defense after leading the nation the previous year.

As for the game, Bud Foster’s defense held BC to just 32 yards rushing and picked off Ryan twice in the game. Glennon found Eddie Royal for an 8-yard TD and moved the team close enough for a Jud Dunlevy field goal. And here we were. Up ten points with the clock winding down.

For nearly 58 minutes, Tech had completely suffocated the nation’s #2 team. BC had been shut out, Ryan had been battered and intercepted twice, and the Eagles’ national title hopes seemed destined to die in the rain on Worsham Field.

The veteran QB Ryan willed his team down the field and hit receiver Rich Gunnell on a 16-yard touchdown with 2:11 left, making the game 10-7 Tech. Recover the onside kick and the game’s over. Tech did not, and it was not. With excitement and fear, we watched Ryan keep the Eagles alive in real time. Scrambling left, Ryan launched the ball across his body. The ball seemed to hang in the air forever until it found Callender deep in the right side of the end zone. Xavier Adibi trailed Callender into the end zone and could only throw his arms up in dismay.

Matt Ryan celebrates an improbable comeback in Blacksburg (credit Kevin C Cox, Getty Images)

BC had won the game Tech had owned all night with just 11 seconds left.

But Coach Beamer always stressed that things were never as good as they seemed, or as bad. The team followed his lead in never letting the highs get too high or the lows get too low and they went to work.

The Hokies went to Atlanta the following Thursday with makeshift jerseys and dismantled the Yellow Jackets behind 296 yards passing by Glennon. Then they returned home and finally  beat Bobby Bowden. Then they dismantled Miami and did the same to Virginia in Charlottesville. The run gave Tech a 7-1 conference record (10-2 overall), earning them a spot in the ACC Championship game in Jacksonville, FL.

And what do you know?

Staring Tech in the face for the conference title was none other than the Boston College Eagles and Matt (Bleeping) Ryan.

The Championship game was similarly low-scoring.

BC led 10-0, then Tech cut it to 10-7. But after a Ryan touchdown run, it was time for Beamerball. Duane Brown blocked the ensuing extra point and Brandon Flowers scooped it up and raced 75 yards the other way for two points. Glennon found Josh Hyman for a TD just before half, making the game 16-16 where it stayed until the fourth quarter.

The Hokies took a seven-point lead when Royal faked a corner route, broke to the post and made a beautiful catch down the middle for Glennon’s third touchdown pass of the day. Now it was the defense’s turn.

The defense, burned by Ryan’s heroics with 11 seconds left just five weeks earlier, had their chance at redemption.

With 2:16 remaining and BC driving, Vince Hall intercepted Ryan inside the Tech 10-yard line to stem the threat. But Ryan had one final chance. It was here that Xavier Adibi, the linebacker who had helplessly chased Callender into the end zone five weeks earlier, picked off a deflected Ryan pass at the Eagles’ 40 and took it in for the game-sealing touchdown.

And with that, number 11 put the ACC Championship away…with 11 seconds left.

Redemption.

Xavier Adibi (#11) is on a mission in the 2007 ACC Championship (credit UserB, Wikimedia Commons)

And Sean Glennon, whose own fans had booed him, who had lost his job earlier in the season and was on the losing end of the first BC game? He was now holding the ACC Championship Game MVP trophy.

Redemption.

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@OX_VT

9 days … #9 Vince Hall seals the ‘07 ACC Championship with a 4th Down Interception and Xavier Adibi adds the 🍒 on top in 30-16 win over Eagles

And, somehow, they did it all over again in 2008. Boston College beat Tech during the regular season, only to watch the Hokies to get their revenge in the ACC Championship game for the second straight year. Four games from October 2007 through December 2008, including consecutive ACC title games. It was an era when Tech-BC mattered nationally.

The 2007 ACC Championship Game marked the last time both teams entered a matchup ranked. Tech entered the October 2008 matchup ranked for the 16th straight time in this series. They’ve been ranked just four times against since; the Eagles only twice. So though we didn’t know it, we were watching the apex of the series.

Nearly two decades later, that rainy Thursday night sticks with many Hokies as one of the most painful losses they’ve ever endured. But maybe that’s why what transpired five weeks later makes it sweeter.

Same opponent. Same quarterback. Same opportunity for Matt Ryan to break the Hokies’ hearts.

Even the same 11 seconds.

This time, though, it was Xavier Adibi with the ball in the end zone.

Redemption.