(I am thinking of ending each week with a little bit of a rant. We'll see how long it lasts.)
The New York Times published an article this week on the challenge of College Football scheduling. BC's Athletic Director Brad Bates is one of the featured quotes. You can go read it yourself, but the general message is the BC party line: "it is so hard to find like-minded opponents...blah, blah, blah...it is so hard to schedule non-conference games..."
Is anyone else tired of this whining? Eight games are scheduled automatically (via the ACC). There is one FBS game annually. We have Notre Dame in a rotation. When all is said and done, BC does not have that many games to fill. It is not that hard. The only challenge comes because BC is overly cautious and in who they schedule for those few open games. They want someone good, but not too good. A winnable game, that generates interest and respectability. That sort of game is hard to find because that is what every program wants! If BC's primary schedulers (Bates and Addazio) were smart they would evaluate the supply and demand issue of those games and say: "screw it, let's go schedule the big boys on our terms."
If BC were willing to play a neutral site game opening weekend every year (like they are this year) we could play a Power 5 team annually. Would you like to see BC at Lambeau Field against Wisconsin? How about playing Georgia in the Georgia Dome? Don't want to be in hostile environments like that? Okay, how about playing Alabama at Fenway or Gillette? Those opportunities are out there every year. Hell, ESPN will help broker them. They are profitable. They are exciting. They are different. The only problem is the potential loss. But padding the win total is not doing BC any favors these days. What is going to juice our fanbase and reputation more: beating UMass or losing to Alabama? Because every once in a while we will beat those tradtional powers and it will feel glorious. The best moment of Addazio's career was beating USC. But neither he nor Bates learned the lesson of that night. Instead they are continuing to try to thread the needle of practical scheduling. But because of their caution, the odds are that neither of them will be around for these games they are scheduling.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
15 comments:
When your school sucks at football(Boston College sucks at football right now) then you go and play anyone anytime anywhere. Meaning you go play Ohio State in Columbus, Oklahoma in Norman, TCU in Fort Worth or LSU in Baton Rouge etc. If you get de-feathered then no problem everyone was expecting it. If you play well or win then gravy on the bird. Either way you are giving exposure to your program.
An AD saying that he cannot find a like minded program is arrogant and stupid(some would say I am being redundant). Other AD's read that and have another reason to say fuck off. We are already on the no-play-list because we typically beat the shit out of our opponents physically and play up to their level. Now we suck and no one wants to play is because we suck and the AD thinks we are hot shit . . . WE AREN'T.
i luv the NYT's "correction"
"Correction: September 1, 2016
An earlier version of this article misstated the nickname of the athletic teams representing Boston College. It is the Eagles, not the Golden Eagles"
Good write up - I agree totally. You play respectable to good to great competition - you learn, you get hungry, you get better. Going to a half ass bowl because we got six wins based on pounding several cream puffs is disrespectful to yourself. Man up BC. If there is anything we should be about - its not being like everybody else.
No guts, no glory. Wimps.
Wow. Glad I haven't been beating the "anyone anywhere" drum for yrs now.
completely agree. if Appalachian State's upset of Michigan at the Big House and near upset of Tennessee in Knoxville yesterday proves anything, its that anything can happen in college football on a week to week basis.
I wouldn't even describe Bates as being "cautious", i think they are trying to deceive Leahy (who admits to not knowing or caring about sports) and the others on the Board with padding the win total.
Addazio loves to talk about smash mouth football and playing tough and being a team nobody wants to face and all this rah rah rah hooplah, but the "walking the walk" version of that would be what Knucklehead said - anytime, anywhere. if you want to schedule an easy win for parents weekend or for week 1 to serve as essentially an exhibition game then i'm fine with that, it serves a purpose, but the other 2 OOC games every year should be on that mandate - we'll play whoever, wherever. that's what a program in BC's position should do. sad!
so excited for Bates's contract to expire and for him to be shown the exit. what exactly does he do to earn the hundreds of thousands he gets paid? he hires a search committee to make the basketball coach hire. he belly aches about how hard it is to schedule when its clear if you're scheduling Wagner and Howard and these other cupcakes that you're padding your schedule. we have seen no facilities upgrades. what does this guy do with his time?
Dazoo excuse train is alert and ready to excuse
From Globe “It’s forced us to really accelerate everything,” Addazio said Monday. “When I mean everything, I mean everything.
“Game 1, you usually have game week to do some of these things, because you’re usually home to do some of that stuff. We’ve been busy with stuff over the last couple of days, realizing tomorrow that we’re leaving. I haven’t even personally packed anything.”
Starting the season with an international excursion against an Atlantic Coast Conference rival presents a unique set of challenges for an Eagles team trying to wash away a winless season in the conference. The normal preparations leading up to the opener had to be compressed to fit a schedule that would only get busier once they arrived in Ireland.
“Our goal was to get as much done as we could before we left, which we’ve done,” Addazio said. “The challenge? The trip, it’s a long trip. We fly through the night, get there and go to practice. The sleep you get is what you get on the plane, all in an effort to get yourself acclimated to the time change.”
The circumstances weren’t ideal.
“It’s not a great recovery,” said Addazio. “It’s not like you’re sleeping in a great bed, waking up fresh the next day.
“So you lose, in my opinion, this time of year, when you’re trying to get your team from training camp to regain its legs, you lose a day in travel of that recuperation.
“We can’t get off the plane and have a hard rock-’em-sock-’em practice. That can’t happen. So Wednesday is more of a walk-through mentality in Dublin and Thursday is much the same. That’s our plan of attack.”
Finally, everyone agrees and is on the same sheet of music. Right now, BCs OOC schedule is a travesty and an embarrassment. Play the big boys any time any place. No matter the score, it's s big overall win for the future. The Bates/Daz régime simply must go.
Daz's team might have it easier than GTech maybe?
The antime anywhere thing is what I've been saying for years. Get an identity. Something. Anything. BC is irrelevant right now. The very definition of insanity. Or job security. Mod could prob pull up all my posts on this.
Daz is a master of pre-emptive excuses and attempting to lower expectations. All talk, no action. Time to put up or shut up.
It's pouring rain in Dublin all morning - maybe just showers during the game.
Hopefully BC brought the right shots.
Bates is saying we'll be good this year, but better next year.
Always looking ahead!
Go BC - beat GT.
I think there are more Yellow Jackets here than Eagles.
Shoes not shots. I hate auto correct. 😊
Good you are in Dublin BJK. Our man on the scene.
Any interesting sights to report?
Weather report says rain until 2:15 local time.
What a bummer. Watching football in rain is not fun.
Also. Not going to be much passing in the rain.
Sounds like rain maybe works to GT's advantage. - harder to defend option without good footing
The issue with the preemptive strike/CYA is that he is coaching a team that can read the news paper. It isn't Florida or Temple. The players read that and they think a)the coach thinks we are going to lose and b) there will be minimal consequences of a loss.
He is a fucking idiot.
I like the motion. Reminds me of Coughlin days.
Post a Comment