Thursday, September 30, 2010

BC-Notre Dame preview

I would like to thank Frank Spaziani for giving us the Chase Rettig storyline this week. Instead of the usual BC-ND narrative or the Brian Kelly returning home stuff, we get a potentially big BC moment as the focus on Saturday night. I've heard people lament that if Chase struggles, this is the type of game that could ruin his confidence and in turn ruin his BC career. Nonsense. The good ones always bounce back. Matt Ryan lost the 2004 Syracuse game in his first start. He seemed to put it behind him. I've also heard people say we might be wasting the season by playing Rettig. I also say "nonsense" to that. I was very high on the potential of this team. But after three games it was clear Dave Shinskie was not going to lead us on a 10-2 season. So if we are not winning the division with Shinskie we may as well try to win it with someone else. We still have the defense good enough to win it. If anything Spaz gets his bar somewhat lowered by rolling with a Freshman. We should be able to go at least 3-1 against Duke, UVA, Syracuse and Maryland. Then we would only need to go 1-4 against NC State, Wake, FSU, Notre Dame and Clemson. That is all we need to be bowl eligible. If Rettig can't do that and Spaz can't do that, then we have bigger problems than who redshirted and who did not.


Overlooked storyline for the game: the battle for Cincinnati recruits
Cincinnati was once a Notre Dame feeder area and the Irish still get key players from southwest Ohio (like Kyle Rudolph). It became a huge recruiting territory for us once TOB and a few other Ohio born staffers came to BC. Spaz has kept up good connections there and we've brought in some great players from Cincy (like Kuechly) but Kelly has stated he plans to hit the area hard. I imagine the winner of this game will use it as a selling point when battling the other school for a kid from Cincinnati.


Three Simple Keys

1. BC's second-level blocking.
Notre Dame's defensive line is not very good. Their LBs are pretty good. To successfully run the ball on them we are obviously going to need good blocking up front but also need our guys to reach the second level of defenders. If Montel is not getting touched by Teo, BC will have a big day on the ground.
2. Stop the big pass play.
The biggest problem the BC defense had against VT was a few broken plays that led to big passes. Notre Dame is dangerous in that respect because Crist has a big arm and a few deep threats. To stop this, the safeties need to be smart and disciplined and the front four need to get to Crist.
3. Do not dumb down the playcalling. My fear is that Spaz/Tranq will only give Rettig a handful of plays so he doesn't make mistakes. That's not going to do him nor the team any good. I think they need to run the offense with balance and not be afraid to pass the ball. If BC is going to win, Rettig needs to pass at least 20 times.


Gambling Notes

-- Kelly is 4-12 against non-conference BCS teams.
-- BC has not lost two consecutive home games since 1998.
-- BC has not lost two in a row to Notre Dame since 1998.
The current line is BC+3



Factoid

We've had fun against the Irish, but none of the games have been masterpieces. Did you know neither team has scored more than 30 points in a BC-ND game since 1999?


Scoreboard Watching
I am not going to use this area just to follow TOB all year, but most BC fans should pay attention to the NC State-Virginia Tech game. The Pack are for real and are our next opponent. If they win in Blacksburg, BC will be a big underdog going into next week.


I hope to see...

BC run the ball effectively. Harris has been doing most of the running on his own. I think for BC to win we need the Oline to have a big day and open up holes for Montel and the back ups. I would also like to see McCluskey get a carry or two as a change of pace. And we need to let Rettig run a bit too.


BC is in trouble if...

Mike Marscovetra sees the field. This is nothing against Marsco, but if the players split snaps or if Spaz gives Rettig a short hook, I think this game will be lost and this season could go down the tubes.


Bottom Line
I don't feel great about this game. I liked the Rettig move and I like how we match up with Notre Dame on paper. What concerns me is all effort going into hiding who our QB will be. You are coming off a shutout. Your team is lacking confidence. What is the big secret? I want our coach to have confidence and conviction is his decisions. Right or wrong but never in doubt. But my homerism and love for BC still has me thinking that Rettig looks great and we win.
Final Score: BC 31, Notre Dame 20

27 comments:

Erik said...

BC 31, Virginia Tech 20
There's no way that happens!

kevw said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Emil said...

In order to keep Rettig in for the entire game, we HAVE to score at least a field goal before half. Ideally in the 1st quarter. Spaz will bench Rettig if we dont score before half.

Also, I'm in Santiago, and going to be at a bar with a bunch of Notre Lame kids on sat. Any ideas on how to punk them?

BCDoubleEagle said...

Kevin-
Kent St. is FBS.

Bravesbill said...

Kent State is an FBS team. They are in the MAC. And did you cut and paste the final score prediction from last week ATL?

Erik said...

ATL - I don't see Dillon Quinn on the 2-deep. Any idea if he's gonna get snaps. I know we've been waiting for this week, where is he?

BCDoubleEagle said...

Erik-
This was Spaziani's quote from the press conference this week:

"Dillon Quinn has also served his time in purgatory and is back in practice. We will use him as we see fit."

ATL_eagle said...

Fixed the score to Notre Dame. Thanks for the catch.

Scott said...

So we need 4 more 1-A wins to be bowl-eligible, and 5 to lock-down a spot (recall, 6-6 teams only go to a bowl after all 7 win teams in the conference).

Four Should wins: UVA, Syracuse, Wake, Duke, Maryland

Toss up games: ND & an injured Clemson

Dog: UNC, FSU, NC State, healthy Clemson

Normally I'm factor in a WTF loss, particularly with a rookie QB, but not when we have such a steady, experienced, and improving defense.

So I think we have our 5 wins, and the ND game is the chance to put a huge cherry on top.
This ND game is

CT said...

There are no "gimme" games with a QB issue.

Unless Herzy can play two ways.

Scott said...

On second thought, I have to agree with you CT.

If our o-line (and running game) were up to the same level as our defense, then I'd say we have 5 gimmies, regardless of QB play. But the running game has yet to assert itself against a BCS opponent.

A33Jim said...

Man, 1998 was a bad year eh?

"-- BC has not lost two consecutive home games since 1998.
-- BC has not lost two in a row to Notre Dame since 1998"

And the stat we all know thanks to last week's game:

BC has not been shut out since 1998.

mod10aeagle said...

CT -- a buddy of mine attended a Make a Wish Foundation event on Monday. Herzy was the featured speaker. My buddy asked him if he could throw and he just said, "Man, you don't want me back there throwing the ball ...". So, I guess that's a no. Dang.

Dan said...

Somebody mentioned yesterday the lame supefan shirt slogans. I'm of the opinion that with the new Under Armor deal the slogans should go away and be replaced with "Protect This House" and the home schedule for that year. The slogans are a neat idea but there haven't been any good ones since "Eagles on the Warpath".

Anybody know Challenger's redshirt status? If Rettig flops, I'd like to see him take the ball out of the Bazooka.

Emil said...

Dan, I think they should just do "Eagles on the Warpath" every year, and maybe the graduating year '2012' afterwards.

My class slogan "On the Hunt for Excellence" is just downright lame. Can you imagine doing the 'Eagles on the Warpath' dance/chant except using "On the Hunt for Excellence"?

BCDoubleEagle said...

I never liked "On the hunt for excellence" because it implies BC has not already found / achieved excellence.

They could select lines from the alma mater and fight songs for future slogans:
"Through thee we shall prevail!"
"'Til the echoes ring again!"
etc.

Dan said...

How about: "First Down, B!%@h!!"

JK!!!

chUck said...

I think using the Under Armour slogan on a SuperFan shirt would look less cool and way more corporate than people think...

Using lines from the Alma Mater, though, would be kinda sick. Or maybe even leaving them blank, at least the ones that people buy from the bookstore (advertisments for the BC bookstore are not exactly intimidating).

Groundhog said...

The "Soaring to Glory" shirt seems especially appropriate considering the live eagle. But "Castonzo For Rhodes" beckons. It'll be a game day decision.

evr2xl said...

Speaking of lame slogans/chants, does anyone know how effective the band not playing was at quelling the "First down, b*!" chant?

Maybe helped out by the fact that doing that chant during that last game would have taken a stupid chant and made it over the top addle-brained..?

Walter said...

Under Armor has already done enough to corporate stamp the superfan shirts. Their logos are so garish on the yellow; i'm really glad my superfan shirt predates it.

The slogans do seem to be getting worse and worse; it's ridiculous that they don't just let students pick it, at least in some capacity.

Eagle 1 said...

For a shirt slogan, how about "Jesus Frigging Christ!!!", which is what I've been screaming for most of this year.

Ry said...

i didn't hear any of the "first down b!@#$" chant at the last game...but it may have also been due to the fact that we didn't exactly move the chains all that much.

i like the "For Here All Are One" slogan although I am sure purists still sing "For Here Men are Men" and may not agree.

Lastly, we lost back to back games to ND in 1998, 1999, and 2000 - not beating them until 2001. I think the stat quoted above refers to wins against the spread since ATL put it in the gambling section.

BCDoubleEagle said...

Ry-
We beat ND in 1999 at South Bend.

BCDoubleEagle said...

Friday's pep rally at 5:00 will be in Conte

https://sites.google.com/site/ugbcwebsite/

Big Jack Krack said...

Sweep down the field for Boston,

Marching on to glory.

Forward fighting Eagles,

Carry home the spoils of victory.

Oh! We'll crash the foe before us,

As the Boston men of old,

So Fight! Fight! Fight! Fight! Fight! Fight! Fight!

For the old Maroon and Gold.

Cheered to victory our team sweeps on,

The foe is vanquished and their spirit gone.

B-O-S-T-O-N Boston! Boston! Boston!

Let's go Eagles - beat the Fighting Irish!

Doornekamp! said...

Why do the Superfan shirts even need a slogan? Aren't they already enough of a rip-off of ND's shirts? I mean, I like that our students all wear the same color and show unity, but the logos and picture of the eagle are kind of lame. The picture of the eagle in the boxing stance is clearly mimicking the irish mascot with his fists up. I think the students can do better than that.