Beating Cougs makes O'Brien B.C.'s best coach

BOSTON — The outcome was in doubt until the end of double overtime, but Boston College coach Tom O'Brien managed to earn his 69th career victory Saturday with the Eagles, making him the winningest coach in school history.

Indeed, B.C.'s 30-23 win over BYU was a memorable one for O'Brien, who eclipsed Joe Yukica (68-37 from 1968-77) as the school's most successful coach. It marked the Eagles' second straight double-overtime triumph. They downed Clemson last week, 34-33.

"Well, just another day in the ballpark," O'Brien said. "Another double-overtime game and we find a way to win it at the end on the kicking game or defense."

As for achieving the milestone, O'Brien was modest.

"Everyone's asking me about it so I had to think about it. I think it's special, but by no stretch of the imagination do I have a lot to do with it," he said. "There have been a lot of coaches that have come through here and there have been a lot of great players.... So there are a lot of great people, especially in this building. I have great coaches. I've said it before: I think I have the best coaches in this conference. They have a lot to do with it."

Said Eagle quarterback Matt Ryan of O'Brien: "Everyone on the team was very honored to be a part of this game for coach. Guys respect him, and it's easy to follow a leader like coach O'Brien. Everyone knows we have a very good coach and we're all happy for him. He deserves it."

A SURPRISE?: BYU linebacker Bryan Kehl said coach Bronco Mendenhall got after the players at halftime when the Cougars led Boston College, 13-12.

"Coach Mendenhall said something that really struck me," Kehl said. "He said, 'Quit acting like you're surprised that you're still in this game right now.' I think that's what we were. A lot of players were surprised that we're at Boston College. They're ranked No. 23 and just came off a big win against Clemson last week and here we were playing real well against them."

"I don't know if guys were surprised we were in the game," said running back Curtis Brown. "We were a little frustrated that we weren't up by more. I was never intimidated by (Boston College). Our offense and our defense weren't intimidated. We lacked the execution that we needed."

DIRTY DOZEN: BYU has now lost 12 straight games to ranked opponents. The Cougars haven't beaten a ranked foe since downing No. 23 Colorado State, 34-13, on Sept. 16, 1999.