Boston College Eagles vs Northwestern Wildcats Match Player Stats On Sep 15, 2012

SportsDirect Inc. staff
Sep 15, 2012

Northwestern 22, Boston College 13: Jeff Budzien made a school record-tying five field goals in as many attempts and the host Wildcats stymied the Eagles' ground game to improve to 3-0 for the third time in five years.

The quarterback tandem of Kain Colter and Trevor Siemian combined to complete 30 passes for 267 yards for Northwestern, the only team in the nation with three wins against BCS-conference teams. Mike Trumpy, who took over when starting running back Venric Mark suffered a lower-body injury in the second half, ran for 106 yards on 16 carries, including a 27-yard touchdown with 97 seconds left that sealed the contest.

Chase Rettig threw for 291 yards and a score for Boston College (1-2), which gained just 25 yards on the ground. Team rushing leader Rolandan Finch had only 19 yards and fumbled on the Northwestern 5-yard line early in the third quarter, a miscue that led to Budzien's final field goal and a 15-10 Wildcats lead with 2:50 left in the third quarter.

Budzien's third field goal, a 29-yarder less than two minutes into the second, gave Northwestern a 9-3 lead. The hosts were threatening to add to their advantage moments later, but a fumble deep in Boston College territory gave the Eagles the ball with 4:13 left in the first half. Rettig responded by engineering a 95-yard drive, capped by a 31-yard scoring strike to Johnathan Coleman that put Boston College ahead for the first and only time at 10-9.

Budzien booted a 41-yarder with two seconds left to give the Wildcats the lead at the half and the Eagles reached Northwestern territory just three times after the break. The first resulted in Finch's fumble, the second in a Nate Freese 34-yard field goal that cut their deficit to 15-13 and the third on the last possession of the game.

GAME NOTEBOOK: Budzien went all of last year without having a single game with multiple field goals. He was 3-for-3 last Saturday against Vanderbilt before his record-tying performance against Boston College. ... Rettig has made 114 pass attempts without throwing an interception. ... Northwestern leads the all-time series 4-1.