"I think it's going to be a heck of a football game," O'Brien said Wednesday. "Obviously, BC is playing great."

The Eagles are 7-0 and ranked second in the Bowl Championship Series standings. Senior quarterback Matt Ryan is a legitimate Heisman Trophy candidate. BC has talent, experience, depth.

Senior safety Jamie Silva calls it a dream season -- so far. O'Brien might call it the dream team.

It's Jeff Jagodzinski's team now, but it's a team O'Brien recruited and developed. It's one he left after last season to take on a new challenge at State.

O'Brien insists he will not second-guess his decision to leave BC after 10 seasons for State, where his first team has won two and lost five.

"I've said it before -- it was not a one-year decision for me, it was a 10-year decision," he said.

Why leave? O'Brien believed it would be easier to recruit at NCSU, a state university, than at BC, a private, Jesuit school with lofty academic standards. He was impressed by the Pack's facilities, and by the passion of State fans.

O'Brien has not hesitated in praising his former team, an Atlantic Division rival that topped the Pack 37-17 early last month in O'Brien's return to Chestnut Hill, Mass.

"Those kids are great. I love every one of them," O'Brien said. "I'm glad they are where they are."

O'Brien and his staff brought in Ryan, Silva and nearly everyone else on the BC roster, redshirting most of them as freshmen, putting together the pieces.

"They have 17 fifth-year seniors and eight fourth-year juniors, all in the two-deep," O'Brien said. "It's a very experienced football team. It's very deep defensively. The quarterback is playing great. They have two senior tailbacks. The receivers have all played a lot of football.

"I said when I left it's the best team I would have ever had."

Most of O'Brien's former BC staff came with him to State. Defensive coordinator Frank Spaziani decided to stay with Jagodzinski, as did linebackers coach Bill McGovern, so there's still a coaching link to O'Brien.

Jagodzinski, once an assistant under O'Brien at BC who was last with the Green Bay Packers, has said he and O'Brien have a cordial relationship and that he respects what O'Brien accomplished.

But he bristled recently when asked if his players believe O'Brien is a part of the Eagles' success this season.

"I don't think so," he said.

Jagodzinski credited the work of his staff and its relationship with the players, saying the team bought into his system, his way of doing things, during the spring.

"And when you start winning, they buy into it more," he said.

O'Brien influence

Silva said O'Brien was the one who enabled him to play football at the major-college level, that BC was the only big school to offer him a scholarship. The fifth-year senior has become one of the ACC's best -- he has five interceptions this season -- and could be headed to the NFL.

"I have a ton of respect for him," Silva said of O'Brien. "His style of coaching has definitely rubbed off on the personality and character of this team."

Under O'Brien and former offensive coordinator Dana Bible, Ryan went from a tall, skinny kid from Exton, Pa., fighting for playing time to a potential NFL first-round choice.

Ryan played hurt in BC's 10-3 season a year ago, something O'Brien pointed out.

"He had a high ankle sprain, then broke his foot," O'Brien said "I called him 'Chester' after the guy on 'Gunsmoke.' I had to explain who he was, but that's how he played, on one leg."

O'Brien said the lack of mobility forced Ryan to stay in the pocket and go through all of his passing progressions, learning to look at his No. 1, No. 2 and No. 3 receivers during a pass play.

"This year, he goes 1-2-3 as well as any college quarterback in the country," O'Brien said.

Jagodzinski said Ryan is allowed more leeway this year under offensive coordinator Steve Logan, the former East Carolina coach. And O'Brien doesn't disagree, saying Logan is "doing a great job" working with Ryan.

Ryan said one trait learned from O'Brien -- and one to be tested tonight at the Hokies' Lane Stadium -- was the ability to stay cool under pressure.

"His best quality is that he's good when things are good and really good when things are bad," Ryan said. "He was the calm in the storm and it rubs off on his players -- that sense of calmness."

Silva said O'Brien still is discussed among the players.

"He's still a part of us," he said.