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SYRACUSE, New York (Ticker) -- In a game to decide who was second-best, James Mungro was first-rate. Mungro ran for 184 yards and two touchdowns as 21st-ranked Syracuse assured itself of second place in the Big East Conference with a 39-28 victory over Boston College. The Orangemen (9-3, 6-1 Big East) bounced back from a 59-0 loss to unbeaten Miami, which is in contention for the national title. As the only Big East team with one loss, Syracuse hopes to be selected for the Gator Bowl on New Year's Day, but could also end up in the Insight.com or Music City Bowls. "I would say we would love to play in the Gator Bowl," Syracuse coach Paul Pasqualoni said. "We did everything tonight that we can do. I don't know if we could do more than we did tonight. If the Gator Bowl people take us, we'll be very elated. But that's not going to be our decision. That will be their decision." Mungro, who carried 32 times, scored on a pair of one-yard runs. Kyle Johnson also scored two touchdowns for the Orangemen on a six-yard run and a 40-yard reception from R.J. Anderson. William Green carried 16 times for 182 yards and two scores for Boston College (7-4, 4-3), which likely will earn an invitation to one of the conference's lesser bowls such as the Music City or Tangerine Bowls. "We didn't tackle well, and they could pretty much run over us, so that's the first thing," Boston College coach Tom O'Brien said. "When they could run like that, they could pretty much do anything they wanted to do." Syracuse built a 33-14 lead midway through the third quarter before the Eagles made it close on a pair of touchdown passes from Brian St. Pierre to Dedrick Dewalt. Mungro was the workhorse, carrying on the first six plays from scrimmage and nine times for 53 yards on an opening drive that ended with the TD run by Johnson. Three minutes later, Green answered with a 40-yard TD run to tie it at 7-7. Following a short punt by Boston College, the Orangemen took the lead for good on a one-yard TD run by Anderson on the first play of the second quarter. Anderson completed 15-of-20 passes for 247 yards and one score. "We just took what the defense gave us," Anderson said. "They allowed us to go deep so we went deep. They allowed us to go short, so we threw short." Syracuse padded the lead when Anderson completed a 47-yard passs to Johnnie Morant, leading to a one-yard TD run by Mungro. Green responded again with a 62-yard TD run to cut the lead to 21-14. Syracuse then capitalized on a fumble by St. Pierre after he was sacked by Dwight Freeney. Anderson threw a 40-yard TD pass to Johnson on the next play to make it 28-14 at intermission. "It was a big play," Pasqualoni said of the sack by Freeney, who was shut down by Miami last week. "It changed the momentum of the game." Syracuse increased its lead to 33-14 on a safety and a 22-yard field goal by Collin Barber. St. Pierre threw a 68-yard touchdown pass to Dewalt before Mungro scored for the second time to give Syracuse a 39-20 lead after three quarters. Dewalt caught five passes for 122 yards. But Boston College was not done as St. Pierre threw a 15-yard TD pass to Dewalt with 4:20 left.
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