Logan Takes BS to BC

Boston College Expects to Score and Soar

By PETE THAMEL
Published: August 18, 2007

Boston College football will forever be defined by the seemingly impossible heave that beat Miami in 1984.

Grainy highlights of that Doug Flutie pass serve as a constant reminder of the moment when Boston College propelled itself to a higher profile both as a football program and a university. Still, the play served as a paradox during the decade-long tenure of Coach Tom O'Brien, when the team trudged through game plans predicated on ball control.

But O'Brien departed for North Carolina State last winter and the new coach, Jeff Jagodzinski, the former offensive coordinator for the Green Bay Packers, is putting a premium on what he calls ''explosion plays'' -- runs of 12 yards or more and passes of 16 yards or more. To accomplish that, he hired an offensive coordinator, Steve Logan, who swears that his gravestone will note that one of his East Carolina teams scored 61 points -- and lost.

That offensive mind-set seems to mesh with the senior quarterback Matt Ryan, who is considered a second-tier Heisman Trophy contender.

''Three and out is not the worst thing with this staff,'' Ryan said. ''Three and out just means we're going to get the ball back and go for another score. It's a little different in that sense.''

The Eagles return 16 starters from a 9-3 team that O'Brien has said would have been his most talented. That means the idea of winning an Atlantic Coast Conference title is not out of the question. Ryan, a 6-foot-5 strong-armed quarterback, is the reason for much of that optimism.

He hobbled his way to an impressive junior year, winning first-team A.C.C. honors despite being injured the entire season. Ryan sprained his ankle in the opener, and he said the injury bothered him until Boston College's victory against Virginia Tech on Oct. 12.

''My ankle had been killing me for six weeks, and we couldn't figure out how to make it better,'' Ryan said. ''I walked in to the trainers and said, 'I found the best way to cure an ankle sprain -- break your foot. I can't feel a thing in my ankle.' ''

The broken foot he sustained against Virginia Tech left Ryan wobbling to class in a boot for the rest of the season but did not keep him off the field. On Tuesdays and Wednesdays, he practiced in 7-on-7 drills with the boot.

On Thursdays, he said, he would take off the boot for a half-hour during practice. On Saturdays, all he could do was hope for as little pain as possible. Ryan, who is 14-4 as the Eagles' starter, threw 15 touchdown passes, completed 61.6 percent of his passes, and, perhaps most important, won the respect of his coaches and teammates for his perseverance.

Jagodzinski said, ''The toughness of coming out and answering the bell every week says a lot about that kid and what's inside of him.''

While Ryan was respectful of his former coaches, he is clearly excited about the prospect of offensive game plans with more downfield plays. He's clicked with Logan, a quirky character who spent parts of the past three seasons as an assistant coach in N.F.L. Europe and as a radio talk show host in North Carolina.

Logan describes himself as an ''ex-garage band hero'' who owns four guitars; a lover of red zinfandel wines (''that's when it gets good for me''); an avid tennis player; and a fan of blues music. (He has 4,932 songs on his iPod, and the ring tone on his cellphone is a vintage Elmore James blues lick from the song, ''Dust My Broom.'')

But Logan is best known for the wide-open passing schemes and trick plays that defined his time as East Carolina's coach from 1992 to 2002. Logan's teams upset Miami twice during that time, and he is the university's career leader in victories. He designed his gravestone for a reporter in a recent interview. It included a picture of a tennis racket, a bottle of wine and a guitar. He then wrote the words, ''He scored 61 and lost.''

The 61 points is a reference to the 2001 GMAC Bowl, when Logan's East Carolina team squandered a 38-8 halftime lead and lost, 64-61, to Marshall in double overtime. Logan insisted he was not joking about his plans for his memorial.

The quarterback on that East Carolina team was David Garrard, who along with Jeff Blake helped Logan develop a reputation as a maestro of molding lightly recruited quarterbacks into players prepared for long N.F.L. careers.

After only eight months around Ryan, Logan was not shy about projecting what kind of season he would have.

''He is one of the top quarterbacks in the country,'' Logan said. ''That's a done deal. I would jump up and pound the table on that.''

Despite not running Logan's offense in a game that counts, Ryan has already earned the right to audible at the line, something he did infrequently when O'Brien was the coach. Logan marveled at the mix of Ryan's talent and leadership, a balance that Logan said he had rarely seen in a quarterback. Ryan also gained nine pounds of muscle in the off-season after Logan looked at him after meeting him and said, ''Dang, you're skinny.''

Boston College has some questions to answer this season. The Eagles have an inexperienced group of receivers and a new zone blocking scheme. The line is learning under a new position coach after Jim Turner resigned during spring practice and was replaced by Jack Bicknell Jr.

The B.C. defense will try to overcome the absence of the star linebacker Brian Toal, who will take a redshirt year to heal his injured right shoulder. Still, the Eagles will return eight starters and will not face significant scheme changes because the coordinator Frank Spaziani was retained from O'Brien's staff. Spaziani is entering his ninth year as B.C.'s coordinator.

The biggest changes will come on the offensive side of the ball; Ryan, Jagodzinski and Logan will try to help the Eagles' offense rediscover its deep-ball roots.

''It's exciting to be in that, to be taking shots and trying to do different stuff,'' Ryan said. ''I think that the team has fed off that through the spring. Hopefully that translates to success this year.''