I gotta admit, I’m a sucker for great sports movies. Of course, that’s not saying much since most sports fans are. I love those debates that you occasionally see where people argue over the greatest sports movies. For me, “Hoosiers” has to be number one. However, one that isn’t too far behind and one that certainly makes the list for every college football fan is “Rudy”.

In this sports classic the hero, Daniel "Rudy" Ruettiger, dreams of playing football for Notre Dame and eventually makes the team as a walk-on and gets to see a couple plays of action in the last seconds of a game that was already decided against Georgia Tech. Rudy goes from being in the stands cheering for the Irish to actually wearing that famous golden helmet and living out his dream.

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By now you’re probably wondering where I’m going with this and how all this “Rudy” talk figures into Thursday night’s game between Virginia Tech and Boston College. It just so happens that a very “Rudy”-like scenario is unfolding at Boston College and in this case the hero could end up playing a major role for the Eagles.

But before we get that far, here is the story. Earlier this week coach Tom O’Brien indefinitely suspended junior kicker Ryan Ohliger for his part in an early morning fight outside a local bar. Subsequently, O’Brien tapped sophomore walk-on Steve Aponavicius as his starting kicker for the foreseeable future, which certainly includes Thursday night’s big game against the #22 ranked Hokies.

Get this, Aponavicius – pronounced “Appa-NA-vicious” – has never kicked in a football game. That’s right – NEVER. Growing up in Easton, Pa. Aponavicius took to soccer rather than football. However, after cheering on the BC football team, and presumably falling in love with the idea of playing for them, during his freshman year in Chestnut Hill, Aponavicius started to work out kicking footballs on a practice field in his spare time.

The story could easily end there – but it doesn’t. The kicker, who is of Lithuanian descent, is noticed booming balls on the field by an assistant coach who encourages him to walk-on. It obviously doesn’t take much encouragement and the next thing you know Aponavicius is wearing the golden helmet of the Eagles and asking teammates how to put on football pads. Seriously, someone in Hollywood has to be paying attention to this story.

And now with the suspension of Ohliger this story is about to get a whole lot more interesting when Aponavicius makes his football debut in a nationally televised game against a pretty respectable program in Virginia Tech.

Of course the kicking game is just part of the story Thursday night – but what an interesting part it is.

The rest of this match-up is pretty intriguing as well as both programs have recently endured tough losses. The Eagles had NC State on the ropes on Sept. 23 but the Wolfpack rallied behind new starting QB Daniel Evans who threw a 34-yard touchdown pass to John Dunlap with 8.5 seconds left for a 17-15 victory. That took the wind out of the sails of a season that had started with a perfect 3-0 record for coach O’Brien and his program.

The Hokies’ loss wasn’t nearly as dramatic but it was plenty stunning as Georgia Tech marched into Lane Stadium on September 30th and dented the vaunted Va Tech defense for 38 points. That total was the most scored against Virginia Tech since the 2003 Insight Bowl when Cal posted 52. The Hokies had allowed more than 24 points only twice -- 27 to Miami and Florida State last year -- in its previous 30 games.

And so now these two teams will square off knowing that neither one can afford to lose if they have serious aspirations of winning their respective ACC divisions.

Both quarterbacks in this game have been pleasant surprises this season. Boston College QB Matt Ryan leads the ACC in total offense and ranks No. 24 nationally (248.8 yards per game). Ryan has thrown for a league-high 1,222 yards but will certainly be tested Thursday night against a Hokies defense that is still seething from the aforementioned blasting by Reggie Ball and Georgia Tech. LB’s Xavier Adibi and Vince Hall along with DE Chris Ellis have certainly been know to make life difficult for opposing signal callers and Ryan will quickly discover this is the best defense he has seen this year.

On the opposite sideline, Sean Glennon is doing a nice job of making Virginia Tech fans forget about that Vick QB – at least the one named Marcus. The sophomore is 78-of-136 passing for 1,116 yards -- No. 2 in the ACC -- and has seven touchdown throws against only three interceptions. Glennon – and his talented stable of WR’s in David Clowney, Eddie Royal, Josh Hyman and Josh Morgan - is no doubt looking forward to facing an Eagles defense that ranks last in the ACC in pass defense, yielding 256.6 yards per-game and five touchdown passes.

The upside for O’Brien is that his secondary will be as healthy as it has been all year with safeties Jamie Silva and Ryan Glasper and corners DeJuan Tribble and Larry Anam – his most experienced group - starting together for the first time this season.

Thursday Night factoid:
Virginia Tech beat Boston College 30-10 in Blacksburg last year and is 8-1 against the Eagles since 1995, including a perfect 4-0 mark at Alumni Stadium.

Weather Update:
As a cold front moves across the northeast the Boston area is expecting rain (80% chance) on Thursday with 5-10 mph winds and temperatures in the 50’s.