It was a Match-Up of highlight-reel quarterbacks as the Johnny Manziel and the Aggies came to Alumni Stadium to visit Doug Flutie and the Eagles. The story of the game, however, would be an A&M defense which overcome a rough start to shut down Boston College and allow Johnny Football to go to work.
BC's hopes were sky-high after the Eagles took the opening kickoff and marched 75 yards to score a touchdown on Flutie's one-yard shovel pass to backup TE Peter Casparriello. But the Aggies were quick to answer, going 60 yards to paydirt in eight plays before Manziel targeted Ryan Swope for a nine-yard score that put both teams on the board halfway through the opening quarter. Boston College again found the Texas A&M defense easy going when they got the pigskin back, as Flutie completed four passes and his running backs pounded out 35 yards, the last five from Stephen Strachan making it a 14-7 game just before the end of the period. Flutie completed his first eleven passes of the game, and Manziel his first eight, as the crowd settled in for a shootout.
Manziel got the Aggies into the red zone again on their first possession of the second quarter, but Mike Evans coughed up the ball at the BC 15 to end the drive. A quick BC three-and-out gave TA&M another shot and this time Manziel took advantage of starting field position just inside BC's half to lead a seven-play drive which he finished off by hitting Evans from thirteen yards out to tie the game. The Eagles offense was starting to misfire, with penalties a problem all afternoon, and a key pass interference call on BC on a third-and-fifteen allowed the Aggies to score again, and take the lead, just before halftime. Manziel found Evans in the end zone again, from twelve yards away, and the stadium could feel the momentum shifting.
BC got the assemblage on its feet by picking Manziel off on the opening drive of the second half, and then sacking him to stall A&M's next drive, but the Eagle offense could not move the ball - Boston College ran only 13 plays from scrimmage in the third quarter, for 19 yards, and a beautiful coffin corner punt by Ryan Epperson (his only punt of the game) resulted in A&M taking over at the BC 32 on their final possession of the quarter. Three BC penalties kept the chains moving and Manziel flipped a five-yarder to Swope in the corner of the end zone in the final minute to give the visitors a two-score advantage at 27-14.
Flutie fumbled twice in the first five minutes of the fourth, Taylor Bertolet nailed a 50-yard field goal midway through the quarter, and the Aggies were content to hand the ball of and grind down the Eagle defense on an eleven-play drive that ate up the final four minutes of the game. Boston College registered one first down in the entire fourth quarter as the memories of their early success faded into the distance. While A&M were not perfect by any stretch (four turnovers), their defense combined with BC's own mistakes (two turnovers and thirteen penalties for over a hundred yards) to ensure a comfortable win.
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