Pitt and Boston College share Big East history

The last — and only — time Paul Chryst and Steve Addazio matched up against each other as head coaches, Chryst led his Pitt team to a 47-17 win in 2012.

Addazio was with Temple at the time. He’s now in his second season leading the Boston College football team, and can’t wait to get another crack at Chryst’s Panthers Friday night.

This time, it’ll be just like an old-fashioned Big East showdown.

“They’ve been great, great games,” said Addazio, who spent the first four years of his coaching career as a Syracuse assistant, during a teleconference. “They were such kind of black and blue games and just physical, so I’m really looking forward to it.”

Friday night, Pitt (1-0) will travel to Chestnut Hill to play Boston College (1-0) for the first time since 2004, when BC abandoned the Big East for the ACC. Pitt has won three straight against the Eagles. Of those three, two were overtime thrillers, and one became an instant classic.

Stormy conditions hung over Heinz Field for the 2002 game as Pitt’s quarterback at the time, Rod Rutherford, marched the Panthers’ offense 64 yards in the final minute, allowing time for freshman kicker David Abdul to nail a game-tying and season-saving field goal with five seconds left, pushing the game into overtime. In the overtime, Pitt defensive end Claude Harriott, in his junior coming out party, sacked BC quarterback and former Steelers backup Brian St. Pierre. The play forced a missed field goal by BC kicker Sandro Sciortino, who told reporters after the game that the chewed-up field was like a “sandbox.”

When the Panthers took over, they couldn’t gain ground, but Abdul hit a 45-yard field goal, and Pitt players rushed the field to celebrate.

“I don’t know if there’s anything half-hearted about any game they played,” Chris LaSala, director of football operations at Pitt, said of the yearly matchup.

LaSala was hired by BC in 1994 to serve the same role, but he left two years later during the height of a scandal that left the Chestnut Hill community in a state of turmoil.

On Halloween of 1996, a 2-6 Pitt team beat Boston College 20-13 at Pitt Stadium, despite being an 11-point underdog.

The loss, and Syracuse’s 45-17 pounding of Boston College the previous week, spurred many whispers in the Eagles’ locker room: Some players were betting against their own team.

Former Boston College head coach Dan Henning was reportedly informed of this, and he relayed the message to university officials. In the coming days, 13 of his players were sentenced to season-long suspensions, and another six were permanently banned from the team.

LaSala debunked any conspiracy suggesting that the players’ gambling affected the game’s outcome.

“I think that Rasshad Whitmill had two interceptions for Pitt that game,” LaSala said. 

Matt Hasselbeck, who started 10 seasons in the NFL for the Seattle Seahawks, was quarterback for BC that season. His name was never mentioned as one who bet against his team.

Scott Dragos, BC’s junior tight end, was the only Eagle included in the postgame stat sheet who was also suspended, according to a New York Times report. He caught three passes for 31 yards.

“[I think] that Pitt that night was the better team,” LaSala added.

The Panthers will hope to garner many similar comments following Friday night’s outcome.

The Eagles are led by their dual-threat quarterback, Tyler Murphy, but, Chryst said, their main focus is in the backfield.

“Steve has done a great job with adjusting and kind of growing with the times but still believes in running the football and the physical nature of the game,” Chryst said.

BC rushed for 338 combined yards against its week-one opponent Massachusetts — 118 of those yards belonged to Murphy.

“He’s one of those [quarterbacks] that can make a play when something breaks down and is dangerous in the pocket,” Chryst said.

Taking the test will be a youthful defense for Pitt. Chryst sent 64 Panthers to the field in last week’s win over Delaware, and 23 of them were on the field for the first time in their Pitt careers.

Among those receiving first reps were four freshmen — defensive end Rori Blair, cornerback Avonte Maddox, running linebacker Quintin Wirginis and safety Pat Amara — while redshirt freshman defensive end Luke Maclean and redshirt sophomore Reggie Mitchell, a starter, also got time.

These young guns will have a golden opportunity to become authors of the next chapter in Pitt-BC history on Friday night.