Thank you, Chris Crane.

With that blow in the second quarter of yesterday's game against Wake Forest, it appears that Chris Crane's BC career is over.

There has not been a single BC athlete during my three years here that's received more flack from fans - some of it deserved, some of it undeserved - than Chris Crane. The only other two I can think of who got audibly booed were Ryan Ohliger and Jon Oates. 

But with Oates, there was sort of a protective fondness from the crowd; there was none of that with Crane, just lots of vitriol and chants for Davis. A satire newspaper at BC even had the headline "Students agree: Crane must go," ostensibly about the crane in front of Gasson Hall. I can't imagine having to deal with that ignominy, having to deal with being reviled and booed by your own fans.

Because he didn't play for very long, we didn't really get to learn much about Chris Crane. But here's what I do know:

He inherited the position from the 2nd-best quarterback in BC history - a guy who was good for two miracles per year and a guy who took BC into the national Top 10. Filling Matt Ryan's shoes is almost impossible no matter who you are, and Crane was thrust into that position. And with Crane at the helm, BC has 8 wins and is one win away from getting to the same place they got to with Matt Ryan, the ACC title game.

Crane won the confidence of his teammates during the offseason, beating out message board heroes Boek and Davis ane earning both the starting QB job and the title of offensive captain. 

And although he had several awful games, he clearly learned from his mistakes week to week and was starting to really get into a groove. He has become outstanding at fake handoffs and misdirection, and his ability to tuck it and run added another element to BC's offense this year that none of the other QBs on the roster could have provided. He also learned how to become a game-manager, limiting turnovers and doing what he had to do to put a W on the board. He finally put together back-to-back solid games against Notre Dame and FSU and was doing a good job against Wake before the injury.

From time to time, he also uncorked some great throws. His toss to Robinson in the corner of the end zone to give BC a fleeting lead over Clemson was brilliant, and he had some excellent passes in the Virginia Tech game even with a hostile crowd hurling down boos and insults upon him.

Additionally, from all I know about Crane, he's known as a great guy in the locker room, and a guy who has the respect of his teammates. He also reportedly has a 4.0 GPA.

Chris Crane will probably not go down in history as a player BC fans remember 20 or 30 years down the road, but his short career as BC's starting QB, for all its tumult, has the Eagles two wins away from the Orange Bowl.

Thank you, and good luck.