PLAYERS TO WATCH
–RB AJ Dillon, a preseason All-American, had been named ACC running back of the week for two straight weeks before Purdue put an end to all of that. Dillon, who didn’t have a lot of room at any point, netted 59 yards on 19 carries as the Boilermakers made him the center of attention all day.
–QB Anthony Brown, who became an instant star with five touchdown passes at Wake Forest, had a dreadful day at Purdue, going 13-of-27 for just 98 yards, four interceptions and one touchdown. He was also sacked four times before being relieved by EJ Perry. Brown got his nose bloodied in the game, and coach Steve Addazio, asked Monday about Brown’s response to the bloody nose, said, smiling, “You mean emotionally bloodied? He’s doing great. Anthony is a competitor. Anthony is a leader. Anthony — I don’t mean to speak for Anthony, but Anthony is very motivated right now. I would tell you he would fall in the pissed-off category. That’s not good language. Is that bad? He’s ticked off. He’s ticked off, as any competitor would be. Anthony will be just fine.”
–DE Wyatt Ray, who happens to be Nat King Cole’s grandson and Natalie Cole’s nephew, had a career game at Wake Forest but was quieter at Purdue. His performance the previous week earned him the Walter Camp defensive player of the week and ACC top defensive linemen honors. He came in leading the nation with 1.67 sacks per game but had just a half-sack against Purdue.
–LB Connor Strachan continues to stake his claim at a professional job. In the loss at Purdue, he was in on six tackles, four of them solo, and had a sack.
–DE Zach Allen took the QB pressure lead over with All-American Harold Landry hurt for most of last year and has a chance to be a postseason All-American. He leads the defense up front and took a fumble out of mid- air with a nifty diving play at Purdue.
SERIES HISTORY: Boston College leads Temple 28-7-2 but the programs haven’t met since 2004. They played every year from 1982-2004 and BC has won the last five meetings.
QUOTE TO NOTE: “Early on, we didn’t get any momentum going. We didn’t have execution, period. I put my teammates in horrible positions. We’ve just got to go back and look at film, figure out what happened, and focus on Temple.” — QB Anthony Brown after last week’s loss at Purdue.