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| Photo courtesy of Boston College Boston College quarterback Chris Crane took over as QB after Matt Ryan was drafted by the Atlanta Falcons. |
CHESTNUT HILL, Mass. — Let’s be clear: Chris Crane has not been benched.
Local kid can still make good and be big man on campus at Boston College. The former Trinity High School star might’ve been booed in the first half of Saturday’s game against Central Florida, but the Mechanicsburg native responded in the second half by leading BC’s offense to 31-unanswered points on the way to a 34-7 victory at Alumni Stadium.
With that said, redshirt freshman and fan-favorite Dominique Davis will also have ample opportunity to make the folks down in Lakeland, Fla. proud of their own native son as well. It is, in fact, official: The Eagles (2-1) will quarterback by committee the rest of the way this season.
“At that position, you get more credit than you should, and you get more blame than you should. That just goes along with that position,” BC coach Jeff Jagodzinski said Sunday during his weekly teleconference. “Yes. We’re going to get [Davis] some more playing time. He had about 20 snaps Saturday, and he made some good decisions. I thought he managed the clock well. It’s all a learning process, and we’re going to continue to get him some snaps. As I mentioned before, I’m not going to be in a position next year where the starting quarterback hasn’t had any snaps at all in a game situation.”
The fact is that neither Crane nor Davis is former BC quarterback and current Atlanta Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan. And Crane is content with that. Crane, who is 46-of-87 passing through three games with two TD passes and five interceptions, is being incredibly mature about the new game plan.
“Coach wanted Dominique to take some of the pressure off so I could step back and see things, not from the first person perspective, just to get an overview,” Crane said Wednesday. “And the coaches have done that all throughout their past and said it usually helps and it did. So it was the game plan going in and it ended up working out by the end of the game. You kind of get to take a look at the defense, you get to see what they’re doing exactly. You can only see so much when you’re in the quarterback position, but when you’re on the sideline you get to see everything that’s happening. It helps in that sense and it just slows the game down. You’re not actually under duress so you get to see how much time you have to throw the ball.
“It helped. We opened it up a little bit more (in the second half). I got, almost, into a groove and a rhythm. It felt good to air it out a lot in the second half and not just short passes, but throw down the field.”
After collecting two touchdowns on short runs in the second half, Crane ripped off a 27-yard third-down scramble. Then he connected with senior Brandon Robinson on a 48-yard score — also on third down for the longest touchdown pass of Crane’s young career to give the Eagles a 24-7 edge.
“I really needed that just to build my confidence,” said Robinson, who also praised Davis’s debut drives in which he managed the game well and was 4-for-7 passing with 30 yards.
Crane finished the game 16-of-34 for 207 yards and three interceptions.
“I told him before the game, ‘Go play this game like you’re playing in your back yard. Just go out and throw the thing around. Just have fun with it,’ “ Jagodzinski said. “I think sometimes he wants to be perfect and there’s no quarterback that’s perfect. You’re going to make mistakes.” All Crane has to do to figure that one out is look down the road at Foxboro, Mass. to Matt Cassel, who was thrust into the New England Patriots’ starting lineup when Tom Brady went down with a knee injury.
“When the year started we had Tom Brady as the other quarterback in New England,” Crane said, referring to himself as the second quarterback in town. “That’s a tough act to be right next to. Matt Ryan did alright with it but I’m a new quarterback. When he went down we had two fresh quarterbacks and our offensive coordinators wanted to go out and just manage the game. And it’s tough. The Patriots have seen how tough it can be. But everyone has to rebound and pick each other up.
“It was a tough game for him last week and I liken that to our Georgia Tech game,” Crane continued, speaking of the Patriots 38-7 loss to Miami and BC’s 19-16 loss to GT. “Even though we only lost by three and we were in the game the whole time, it was heart breaking. It’s the adversity that you experience in the season and it’s the way you bounce back and I’m sure the Patriots will bounce back next week. I’m sure Matt Cassel will do great too. You can’t have too bad weeks in a row. You consciously and subconsciously practice and play so that you don’t have two bad performances in a row.”
And while Crane didn’t necessarily have a bad or a great week against Central Florida, he said most of his family and friends from back home are still holding out for the Virginia Tech (Oct. 18), Clemson (Nov. 1) and Notre Dame (Nov. 8) to ask him for tickets.
“It’s been mostly family that has been up so far but you can bet for the Notre Dame game, Virginia Tech and Clemson I’ve gotten quite a few requests,” Crane said. “Which will be tough but I’ll do my best to help.”
After all, fulfilling a few ticket requests is the least he can do to repay everyone who has supported him throughout his five seasons in Chestnut Hill.
“They realize the situation I’ve been put in being behind Matt for four years,” Crane said. “Now that I’ve gotten my opportunity, my friends, family, supporters, they’ve been there for me and I can’t thank them enough.”
Local kid can still make good and be big man on campus at Boston College. The former Trinity High School star might’ve been booed in the first half of Saturday’s game against Central Florida, but the Mechanicsburg native responded in the second half by leading BC’s offense to 31-unanswered points on the way to a 34-7 victory at Alumni Stadium.
With that said, redshirt freshman and fan-favorite Dominique Davis will also have ample opportunity to make the folks down in Lakeland, Fla. proud of their own native son as well. It is, in fact, official: The Eagles (2-1) will quarterback by committee the rest of the way this season.
“At that position, you get more credit than you should, and you get more blame than you should. That just goes along with that position,” BC coach Jeff Jagodzinski said Sunday during his weekly teleconference. “Yes. We’re going to get [Davis] some more playing time. He had about 20 snaps Saturday, and he made some good decisions. I thought he managed the clock well. It’s all a learning process, and we’re going to continue to get him some snaps. As I mentioned before, I’m not going to be in a position next year where the starting quarterback hasn’t had any snaps at all in a game situation.”
The fact is that neither Crane nor Davis is former BC quarterback and current Atlanta Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan. And Crane is content with that. Crane, who is 46-of-87 passing through three games with two TD passes and five interceptions, is being incredibly mature about the new game plan.
“Coach wanted Dominique to take some of the pressure off so I could step back and see things, not from the first person perspective, just to get an overview,” Crane said Wednesday. “And the coaches have done that all throughout their past and said it usually helps and it did. So it was the game plan going in and it ended up working out by the end of the game. You kind of get to take a look at the defense, you get to see what they’re doing exactly. You can only see so much when you’re in the quarterback position, but when you’re on the sideline you get to see everything that’s happening. It helps in that sense and it just slows the game down. You’re not actually under duress so you get to see how much time you have to throw the ball.
“It helped. We opened it up a little bit more (in the second half). I got, almost, into a groove and a rhythm. It felt good to air it out a lot in the second half and not just short passes, but throw down the field.”
After collecting two touchdowns on short runs in the second half, Crane ripped off a 27-yard third-down scramble. Then he connected with senior Brandon Robinson on a 48-yard score — also on third down for the longest touchdown pass of Crane’s young career to give the Eagles a 24-7 edge.
“I really needed that just to build my confidence,” said Robinson, who also praised Davis’s debut drives in which he managed the game well and was 4-for-7 passing with 30 yards.
Crane finished the game 16-of-34 for 207 yards and three interceptions.
“I told him before the game, ‘Go play this game like you’re playing in your back yard. Just go out and throw the thing around. Just have fun with it,’ “ Jagodzinski said. “I think sometimes he wants to be perfect and there’s no quarterback that’s perfect. You’re going to make mistakes.” All Crane has to do to figure that one out is look down the road at Foxboro, Mass. to Matt Cassel, who was thrust into the New England Patriots’ starting lineup when Tom Brady went down with a knee injury.
“When the year started we had Tom Brady as the other quarterback in New England,” Crane said, referring to himself as the second quarterback in town. “That’s a tough act to be right next to. Matt Ryan did alright with it but I’m a new quarterback. When he went down we had two fresh quarterbacks and our offensive coordinators wanted to go out and just manage the game. And it’s tough. The Patriots have seen how tough it can be. But everyone has to rebound and pick each other up.
“It was a tough game for him last week and I liken that to our Georgia Tech game,” Crane continued, speaking of the Patriots 38-7 loss to Miami and BC’s 19-16 loss to GT. “Even though we only lost by three and we were in the game the whole time, it was heart breaking. It’s the adversity that you experience in the season and it’s the way you bounce back and I’m sure the Patriots will bounce back next week. I’m sure Matt Cassel will do great too. You can’t have too bad weeks in a row. You consciously and subconsciously practice and play so that you don’t have two bad performances in a row.”
And while Crane didn’t necessarily have a bad or a great week against Central Florida, he said most of his family and friends from back home are still holding out for the Virginia Tech (Oct. 18), Clemson (Nov. 1) and Notre Dame (Nov. 8) to ask him for tickets.
“It’s been mostly family that has been up so far but you can bet for the Notre Dame game, Virginia Tech and Clemson I’ve gotten quite a few requests,” Crane said. “Which will be tough but I’ll do my best to help.”
After all, fulfilling a few ticket requests is the least he can do to repay everyone who has supported him throughout his five seasons in Chestnut Hill.
“They realize the situation I’ve been put in being behind Matt for four years,” Crane said. “Now that I’ve gotten my opportunity, my friends, family, supporters, they’ve been there for me and I can’t thank them enough.”
