Flashback Friday: Diamond Ferri Torches Boston College

Diamond Ferri has one of the most iconic performances in Syracuse history against the Eagles.

Mike McAllister | Nov 20, 2020

Flashback Friday: Diamond Ferri Torches Boston College /

Syracuse needed a win to become bowl eligible. Boston College was ranked 17th in the country, and a win would give them the Big East title. With that came a BCS bowl bid. The Eagles were big favorites heading into the game, with superstar quarterback Matt Ryan leading the way. Syracuse was fresh off of an embarrassing loss to Temple and few believed they could upset a really good Boston College team on the road.

Star running back Walter Reyes was out for Syracuse due to injury. His replacement, Damien Rhodes, ran for a 69 yard touchdown on the game's first play from scrimmage. He would leave later in the first quarter with an injury of his own.

Down two running backs, the Orange turned to starting safety Diamond Ferri to fill the void. Ferri spent his first two years at Syracuse playing running back and was an accomplished back in high school. All Ferri did was torch Boston College on both sides of the ball scoring three total touchdowns.

Ferri ran 28 times for 141 yards and two touchdowns offensively. His insertion into the offensive game plan did not take him out off of the field on the defensive side of the ball. Ferri played nearly every snap at safety, and even intercepted Matt Ryan in the fourth quarter. He returned that interception 44 yards for a score. In addition to scoring on offense and defense, Ferri also returned two punts for eight yards.

"That's probably one of the biggest performances I've ever seen in my entire life, in any sport, to be able to come in and play big-time college football like that," Rhodes said of Ferri's performance via the Associated Press.

Syracuse dominated the game 43-17 and clinched a share of the Big East Championship. It was the final Big East game for Boston College, who left for the ACC the following season. The game also marked the final win at Syracuse for head coach Paul Pasqualoni, who was fired in the offseason.

"We heard it all week," Diamond Ferri said. "If they want to leave the conference, we wanted to send them out with a loss."

Published Nov 20, 2020

MIKE MCALLISTER

Title: Publisher All Syracuse Education: Roberts Wesleyan College Location: Syracuse, New York Expertise: Syracuse basketball, football and recruiting. EXPERIENCE Mike McAllister has been covering Syracuse basketball, football and recruiting for more than a decade. Mike's career started with his own free blog as a way to vent following sporting events. Shortly thereafter, a network of basketball sites called Coast 2 Coast Hoops asked him to run their Syracuse site. That site was called Nation of Orange, and Mike quickly established it as a go-to for Syracuse fans. After running Nation of Orange for several months, a position with the Syracuse site on the Scout network became available. After one year as the recruiting expert with Cuse Nation, he was named the publisher. Mike oversaw the transition from Scout to 247Sports, and ran the site on that network for years. Presented with the opportunity to join one of the biggest names in the sports journalism industry, Sports Illustrated, Mike jumped at the chance. All Syracuse was started from scratch by Mike and the Fan Nation team. It has now become a staple for Orange fans of various sports. Mike has broken news on recruiting, Syracuse basketball and football team information and has established himself as the top recruiting inside in the market. He has appeared on local radio shows, television broadcasts, national radio shows and much more. Mr. McAllister has a Bachelor of Science Degree in Accounting and Information Management from Roberts Wesleyan College.