Andy Katz gets us ready for hoops and other links

Andy Katz is back with a profile of the basketball team. As usual Katz gets candid quotes from the staff and takes a very positive outlook on the team. Clearly no one around BC is concerned about the depth or lack of new recruits. Katz sees BC as a tournament team but doubts we will challenge for a title. I don't think we win a National Championship this season, but I do think we can make a run in the ACC Tourney.

Slam is not nearly as optimistic about our upcoming season.

The men's soccer team is one of the hottest in the country.

The ACC named Victoria DiMartino Freshman of the Year award in soccer.

ESPNBoston profiled Luke Kuechly.

Guest Blogger: Observer College

With no opponent this week, I thought is was time to evaluate BC sports. Yet most of you know how I feel. What we needed to read is an informed expert opinion on who we are and where we belong. For that I invited Observer College to guest blog this week. You may know OC from his enlightened responses on this blog and other message boards. He truly has his finger on BC sports and the world at large and I thank him for taking the time out of his hectic schedule to educate us all on BC. Consider it noblesse oblige. Below is his state of the union on BC sports.


OC: Your school's fanbase suffers from a dearth of expertise as far as understanding the world of intercollegiate athletics. This saddens me, particularly as many of you don't seem to recognize your ceiling. Your Eagle in Atlanta must feel the same way, as he asked me to share my views on BC as you prepare for the stretch run in football and the start of the basketball & hockey seasons. Although I am very busy right now in the midst of the academic year, I have graciously taken time from my work so that you people may learn about your rightful place in the world of NCAA sports.

Hockey

First, I'll note that I really don't pay much attention to hockey. Go to the most basic issue: Where on Earth do you get your recruiting ratings? You're stuck piecing together high school stats, equalizing them with Tier II juniors, ignoring Major Junior hockey because they're ineligible, yet they compete with NCAA teams for players, blah blah blah. It's all just too confusing for me. You don't have summertime tournaments in Las Vegas or combines in Piscataway where you can just see everyone at once (or read Farrell or Lemming to get the same info for a very reasonable price--email me for subscription details). Plus, if something called "Bemidji State" has the nerve to make it to hockey's Final Four, then there's something deeply wrong with the sport. No thanks, I'll pass.

Basketball (for the NOW types amongst you, yes, obviously I mean "men's" B-ball)

Have to say that I was pleased for you to see that the ACC Media ranked your men's basketball team #9 in the preseason ACC poll. That's quite a step up for your players, most of whom competed in the outdoor parking lots on the AAU circuit and never caught a whiff of the royalty of college basketball (Boeheim, Calhoun, Fraschilla, Lavin, Phelps). I will say, however, that you have cost a lot of people a lot of money over the years, going off and "beating" North Carolina and Duke and silly things like that. I have no idea if Tim Donaghy's allegations about Dick Bavetta and Tommy Nunez are true, but any MBA can tell you that you can glean great business lessons from nonfiction or fiction.

The smartest thing the ACC could do would be to install an officiating scheme applying the lessons taught in the Donaghy allegations. Is the ACC not the most powerful when Duke and North Carolina are dominant at the top of the league? Does not the ACC benefit most when a team with hot underclassmen like a Georgia Tech lurks right behind, with kids we've been reading about since 6th grade? So why wouldn't the ACC apply the lessons Donaghy describes above and laugh all the way to the bank? Remember the ACC has revenue sharing. It would seem like the universities that comprise the ACC have a fiduciary duty to do so, on behalf of those who pay tuition to these institutions.

One of the things I don't like about Skinner is that he doesn't seem to have much for the things you need to do if you're going to be touted as a great basketball coach. Perhaps it's not innate to him, but I don't see him jumping up and down on the sidelines, carrying on about what his boys need to do on the floor so that commentators can discuss what a great job he does. I don't hear him appearing on sports talk radio shows the way you need to if you're going to build up your reputation as a phenomenal coach. Finally, I don't see the passion you get from a Calipari or a Pitino or a Krzyzewski. Coach K in particular instills in his team a quest for success, a collective drive to utilize their skills to the fullest, to trust themselves and their teammates to leave not one dollar from a shoe contract or an endorsement deal on the floor at the end of the day, season or tournament. All for one, etc etc.

With Skinner, I see someone who trusts his players too much, who lets them compete and then reap the glory when they win. Without seeking out credit for himself, without even appearing on the ESPN Monday Night March Madness preview show with John Saunders in Chicago! I mean, can you imagine!??? He worked in the same building as Tom O'Brien for ten years, and he never learned how to work with the media??? Couldn't he at least have placed a daughter or niece or someone in Bristol to start her career, to hang out with Steve Phillips or someone? Egads.

People talk about Smith, Dudley, Bell, et. al. as great players. I have to say, that leaves me cold. These were non-entities on the AAU circuit, so they didn't have a preexisting following when entering college. Furthermore, players leave but coaches stay. Skinner doesn't have much business sense, as in not promoting himself very much he really withholds promotion from CBS and ESPN. That's rather selfish, and obviously disappointing for someone who as an employee at a Jesuit university should actually try promoting "Jesuit values" like giving of oneself to a higher cause.

Football

Now this has been a very interesting autumn. Over the past two years you have cost the ACC by showing up twice in the ACC Championship Game. You have had no respect for preseason expectations, harming the reputation of those like Andre Ware who generate jobs in Bristol. Indeed, as one prominent expert noted, in 2007 you "held hostage" the #2 ranking in the polls. You have had an awful nerve to act as if your record should determine your place in the ACCCG or in a Chick-fil-a Bowl, causing heartburn, consternation and speechlessness in Waffle House locations from Spartanburg to Atlanta to Jacksonville.
• You were rated poorly in the preseason.
• You had a terrible recruiting class.
• You lost your Head Coach, The Successor.
• You lost Herzlich, of course.

Yet you're 6-3, which on the surface of things should be upsetting. Yet I actually have a warm place in my heart when it comes to what has happened this football season. After much reflection, I think I can place my finger on it:

You finally seem to "know your place".


Don't get me wrong, it's a process. Coach Spaziani does the best he can in talking down expectations, and he has worked really hard to rebuild relationships with the people who matter: Dienhart, Blaudschun, Dinich, etc. And Spaz has made progress too, as Lou Holtz called for Spaziani to be considered for Coach of the Year. Nevertheless, it's a work in progress. To paraphrase Coach Spaziani's esteemed mentor Tom O'Brien: "You know, sometimes it's not the coach, sometimes it's the arrows in his quiver that need to improve."

As you all know, Coach O'Brien first said this after the embarrassment of the Boston College player desecrating the hallowed turf that Rockne the Great traversed. We saw the same viewpoint when his quarterback, Matt Ryan, failed completely in the Syracuse game, ruining Spaziani's brilliant 15-yard umbrella cushion and desecrating Coach Bible's bubble screen offense. Luckily, O' Brien had a future starting CFL quarterback coming off redshirt, so he didn't have to go down that road again. And you know, when you have people like 2-star receiver Rich Gunnell acting as if he has some sort of right to even step on the same FIELD as Recruit of the Year Jimmy Clausen, never mind mouthing off to him(!), you're so embarrassed that your program is set back another two steps in public perception.

Yet you really seem to have learned your place in college football. I like what your Coach Spaziani did at Clemson, conceding that Death Valley is really intimidating and that you would be fortunate to avoid a blowout. Plus, he said that on television in the halftime interview, declaring to the powers that be in Bristol, New York, and Charlotte that there is a new sheriff in town, one who gets it.

Later, you played Lane Stadium. Now, you caused a lot of heartburn a couple of years ago when you won down there, as that probably clinched your place in a bowl outside of Boise. I was glad to see, though, that the lessons regarding your place appeared to begin sinking in. Note your quarterback Dave Shinskie's statement after the VT loss:

“They’re Virginia Tech, they’re the No. 5 team in the nation. They’re quick, they’re agile and they’re going to get to you."

Finally, you told us loud and clear at Notre Dame that you finally recognize your ceiling. I have to admit, I was getting a little nervous after your goal line stand to preserve your 3-point lead. I thought: What's with Bowman, Kuechly et. al., going rogue (credit Palin, Sarah) with this "never surrender" nonsense. But then Coach Tranquill reasserted control masterfully:
• First Down: QB Sneak.
• Second Down: Dive play.
• Third Down: Off-tackle run.
• Fourth Down: Punt.
Punted from your own six, ND takes over at midfield, swoops down the field, and there you go.

What I liked about this is that you didn't pull this "You know who else we're tough for, the people we play" silliness. No Brent Musberger exclaiming: "You don't do this to Penn State in Happy Valley" after Coughlin threw the ball down the field to score before halftime in the 1992 BC-PSU game. No sense that, you know what, we can throw the ball, take a safety if we have to, and free-kick from the 20 still up one.

Instead, you said: 'You're Notre Dame. We respect you. We honor your pedigree, your success at the Signing Table, and all that you do for college football by giving us a platform on NBC. We're thankful for Coach Weis's graciousness to us, and certainly nobody wants to see him fired." And understand, in these difficult times for the NBC-Universal (see Show, the Jay Leno), that your gesture was most appreciated.

Going Forward

At this point, you are tied for first in the Atlantic Division, but Clemson holds the tiebreaker. If you win out, I suppose you'd belong in the DC Bank Bowl given your likely record. Faculty at your school insert their business into your program far too much, so the least you could do would be to tell them you're going someplace where you can do some learning: Congress, World Bank, ESPN Zone, etc.

However, you never know with Clemson. They do all the right things, particularly the way they promise their top running back recruit the first carry of the coming season (you know, the guy who started ahead of Montel Harris, Jamie Harper). But then the kid fumbles and they lose to Alabama, they lose their confidence, drop a game to someone like Duke, and you people wind up ruining urban economies all over the South.

So, the best thing going forward would be for you to drop one of the coming games. There's an argument for you to lose to any combo of UVa, UNC and/or Maryland. But to just lose games won't get your Coach Spaziani the Coach of the Year trophy.

The lesson, of course, is in what happened with 4-star recruits Haden and now Okoroha. Quite simply, you just don't know how to treat esteemed college football players with an extensive high school pedigree. PC-types get all hyped up with the University's reputation, that they put the cart before the horse. They forget Coach Barry Switzer's famous paean to integrity:

"I want a university that our football team can be proud of."

So here you are, with one 4-star recruit transferring and another suspended. When these guys should have been playing the vast majority of the time based on their work in high school. As College Football Expert Brad Zak so eloquently implied: How are 4-stars supposed to respond when you can't figure out how to treat them?

The best thing to do would have been to give out starting positions based on recruiting status and seniority. No more starting a 2-star like Castonzo as a true freshman and such nonsense. You win the UVa and UNC games, building your case as the surprise in college football.

Then you suspend Haden, since he's transferring anyway. Plus you suspend Okoroha. Couple these moves with the Prevent Offense/Defense, and you get a narrow loss on the road to a desperate Maryland team. Have Blaudschun throw out some rumors of food poisoning to imply you lacked, that's right, the arrows in your quiver (you're learning, little Eaglets--good for you!). As Chris Fowler would say, "Frank Spaziani fought so hard to overcome his players' lack of talent and the inherent obstacles at Boston College which is why you should attend Florida if you want to work on Wall Street. Despite all this, nobody could have expected they'd have a chance to win a title going into their last game of the season!"

What's the response to all this?
1. John Swofford invites you down for an all-you-can-eat buffet at the Sonic Drive-In in appreciation for all your hard work.
2. Lou Holtz introduces you to the crowd as you receive your Coach of the Year title in Orlando—a détente moment if there ever were one, and
3. Leeman Bennett generously picks up your tab at the Ghiradelli Chocolate Chip Cookie outlet in San Francisco.

Really, that is what would make us all smile. You stay away from games that matter, you preserve the hierarchy of college football, and your head coach who gets it winds up #1 in Dienhart's book.

And I have warm memories to carry me through the dark days between Signing Day and the release of Phil Steele's football yearbook in the summertime.

Cheers and best to all of you!

OC

Blogpoll ballot

This is the point of the season where my ballot is a total, hot mess. I like rewarding based on record, but should I punish teams like USC or Oklahoma who lost to other good teams? I considered Clemson in my Top 25 but have they really done anything yet. Am I unfairly snubbing Notre Dame? I don't know. My only consistency is keeping BC out due to superstition. Ultimately I think my Top 10 is solid and based on record and resume. Everything else...eh.

Games I watched
BC-Central Michigan 100% (twice)
NC State-Florida State 50%
Wake Forest-Miami 10%
West Virginia-South Florida 50%
South Carolina-Tennessee 25%

Rank	Team	Delta
1	Florida
2	Alabama
3	Texas
4	Cincinnati
5	Georgia Tech
6	TCU
7	LSU	1
8	Iowa	1
9	Boise State	1
10	Oregon	1
11	Penn State	1
12	Pittsburgh	1
13	Houston	2
14	Oklahoma State	2
15	Utah	2
16	Miami (Florida)	4
17	Arizona	6
18	Troy	6
19	Ohio State	6
20	Oklahoma
21	Southern Cal	14
22	Virginia Tech	4
23	Brigham Young
24	Temple
25	Idaho
Last week's ballot

Dropped Out: Central Michigan (#14), South Carolina (#19), West Virginia (#21), Mississippi (#22).

Where to begin with attendance?

photos courtesy of Andrew K


Editor's Preface: First let me state that I am not a season ticket holder. I haven’t been one since I was a student. If you transported my current life and situation to Boston, I would probably be a season ticket holder but wouldn’t attend all the games because of the kids.


BC has a real attendance problem and I am not sure if there is a simple explanation or a simple solution. First let’s recognize that the economy is a major issue everywhere. College teams all across the country are falling well short of sellouts. Just look at TCU. They are a Top 10 private school with a nice history in a major metropolitan area and cannot fill their small stadium. I also think the growing and improving TV options dampens ticket demand? 10 years ago, the BC-CMU game wouldn’t have been on TV. If you wanted to see it, you would have to go to Alumni. Now there is ESPN U to cover the game. But even with the economy, the lackluster schedule, the weather issues, Halloween, a better TV experience, and all the other excuses that contribute to the attendance issues, there are two major factors that BC must address this offseason. Those issues are:

1. The fans that no longer attend games due to donor-based seating
2. The fans that no longer attend due to the diminished tailgating experience


Donor-based seating. BC hasn’t released stats around donor-based seating and its impact on sales. I’ve heard varied reports on the effect from as few as 500 tickets that were not renewed in some capacity to as many as 3,000 tickets that were not transferred in some capacity. Regardless of the true total, BC needs to spend some time this offseason and reach out to the people who gave up their tickets. Even if it is only 10 people, those are 10 people that BC could still use. At one point the previous ticket holders cared enough about BC football to have season tickets. We can get them back. We are still producing good football and have likable guys. It is an easier sell to say sorry and we want you back to a previous ticket holder than getting Boston-area fans to experience BC sports for the first time. You need as many season ticket holders as possible so that there is consistent demand regardless of the opponent. The shrunken season ticket holder base leaves more to the general public and allows more fans to pick and choose which games they will buy and attend.

Game day experience. BC has done a lot in things to make Saturdays more fun. There is the Eagle Walk. There are things for kids. There is are new bookstore and places to eat and shop. But the recurring comment I hear is that the tailgating policies are so restrictive and enforced with such cold and uncompromising zeal that it is a turn off to new and old fans. I am sure BC has good reasons for what they are doing and how they enforce policies, but they need to work on execution. And they need to spend offseason time reaching out to tailgaters. Listen to their complaints and explain why things are the way they are. Emails and letters are great communication tools to the masses but tone and touch can get lost in the delivery. Getting all the tailgaters on campus during the offseason in a "thank you" environment will help. It may also lead to some new ideas and solutions to tailgating policies.

I am disappointed that BC doesn't fill Alumni for any and all opponents. I don't think it makes a difference in the results on the field, but I do think the kids deserve a full stadium and I do think getting more people passionate about BC football is a good thing for the university. When there are so many factors, you need to start with one and work on it and for the Athletic Department it is not about commercials or promotions or any other gimmick. This offseason should be about thanking their current and former loyal customers and asking "how can we do it better."

More good Herzy news and other links

In news that tops all others, Herzy finished his chemo and remains cancer free. Let's hope the surgery to strengthen his leg goes well. Mark will also receive an honorary Lott Trophy for his work raising funds for the fight against cancer. Pat Tillman is the only other athlete to win the honorary award.

It will be back to the internet for the UVA game. The ACC announced the game will be a 3:30 start on ESPN 360. So Central Michigan gets on TV, but conference games don't? There is little sense to it all.

Kuechly won his first, of what I assume will be many, ACC player of the week honors.

Incoming QB Chase Rettig had another good outing last week.

Dominique Davis will continue his college career at East Carolina. In his comments to ESPN he still has good things to say about BC.

There are some good Ryan Day quotes in this article on Chip Kelly. Now that Kelly is the toast of the town and BC is playing well, look for more "Day is a the hot assistant" blurbs in the coming weeks.

BC women's soccer earned a 2 seed in the ACC Tournament.

The economy is keeping the band homebound for now. Le's hope a late season rally gets them to Tampa again.

Second viewing thougths and grade report: Central Michigan

I missed watching the 4th quarter live while trick-or-treating. I watched the whole second half back after the kids went to sleep and then the whole game back after the wife went to bed. Through all the viewings I couldn’t put my finger on why the second half was so much better than the first. It was a series of little things that clicked, that didn’t click in the first. You can chalk it up to being “flat”, but that's sort of subjective. Ultimately I think we stopped trying to force things and took what they gave us. Hopefully any "flatness" doesn't come out in the final three games.

Offense: B

Shinskie had trouble with the long ball yesterday. Maybe it was the wind but for whatever reason, his deep passes, which have been pretty good, were missing their targets. What I liked about Shinskie’s day though was his improving feel for the pocket. One time he stood through the rush and then took off on a short run. Other times including the bootlegs, he got rid of the ball at just the right time. He seems comfortable on the crossing and slant patterns. And he made the most of a few broken plays – like the pass to Anderson. We hoped for a bounce back performance after last week and we got one.

Harris didn’t bust a series of big plays, but put together a solid, even day. He also got in the passing game for the first time in a while. McCluskey relieved him on our thin depth chart and looked fine. We should really make an effort to get him into the passing game since he looked good as a pass catcher last year.

Gunnell out of the slot might be the biggest no brainer in football. The past two weeks he has shown the ability to burn the safeties or LBs covering him and he is finding the spots in the zone on crossing routes. Larmond stretched the field, Shinskie just didn’t connect with him enough. Jarvis made a big play. Nice to see Flutie get the ball, but he’s got to get to the first down marker on those third and shorts.

With things shuffled a bit, the offensive line did not miss a beat. There was trouble running the ball early, but that was more due to CMU crowding the line. Claiborne got a lot of attention for his pulling but Cleary had his best game of the year. Richman was fine. Tennant was solid. Castanzo looked good.

Pantale looks good in the passing game but yesterday he impressed me with his blocking. He did a good job getting to the second level and helping Harris extend some of his runs. Anderson had a big play for the first time in a while.

I can’t confirm that we do, but I assume that we are scripting our first few series (everyone does). What bothers me is that our scripted plays seemed to struggle so much. For example, yesterday, CMU seemed ready for our running and crowded the line. Our counter were some deep balls, but the wind probably made connecting on those more difficult. Later, when we were probably off the script, we started killing them with short passes. I was glad we made the adjustment. I just wish we showed a little more flexibility early. But I do want to give the offensive staff for getting more guys involved and for not limiting anything based our limited running back group.

Defense: B

It was nice to have Scafe back. He’s not 100% but looked very good. Although the Dline didn’t get to LeFevour all that much they were able to flush him out. Much of that pressure came up the middle from Scafe. Giles and Rossi were fine. O’Neal looked okay. Newman had a solid game. Ramella was good.

At times this year, Kuechly has probably been a bit overpraised. Not yesterday. He was everywhere and made some big plays, including the INT. Morrissey was a bit more helter skelter. He had some great plays and then some that weren’t so great. And it wasn’t a case of him looking good in the pass game but not in the run or vice versa. He just was a bit inconsistent, but overall he was solid. LeGrande was good. DiSanzo was ok. Thompson and Clancy got on the field late and were okay.

Although Central Michigan completed 24 passes, it wasn’t because the DBs had a bad day. Much of the Chipps success was due to dump offs and check downs. Bowman looked good. Davis was active. Rollins played well as did Fletcher. Gause was fine.

Special Teams: B

Quigley is doing a great job of pinning back the other team on punts. He's really developing well.

The kick offs were good too.

I am frustrated by the continued fair catches on punts. Hopefully we get aggressive soon.

Not much to go on via the kick returns. They were fine but we only had two.

Overall: B

I had a bit of concern when we did not look sharp early and let CMU hang around most of the first half. Then to the staff’s credit, we made adjustments and pulled away. There were no distractions. There was no sense of malaise. We put Notre Dame and the transfers behind us and won. We have now achieved our first benchmark for success. There is still so much to play for. Let's hope Spaz gets the guys peaking at the right time.

Nothing scary

As people know, I am not for lowering the bar when it comes to BC sports. But I do want to congratulate Spaz for getting this team to a bowl. Few outside the program thought we would be in this position come November and even in the watered down postseason, going to a bowl is still an accomplishment. Now let's finish strong.

As for the actual game...those who went trick-or-treating didn't miss much. After a slow start, BC put in a solid effort.

I'll have my second viewing thoughts and grades up late Sunday.

In-game comments post: Central Michigan

This is all the BC football you'll get for two weeks, so enjoy it. Can Spaz rally the troops again? Will CMU give us another scare? We will soon find out.

I will not be online during the game. Leave your thoughts and comments below.

R.I.P. Baldwin

I have some sad news to report...according to the picture above from ESPN.com, Baldwin is dead and more troubling, he appears to now be a ghost. I leave it to BC Theologian Peter Kreeft, who has written about ghosts and Catholicism in the past, to explain why Baldwin did not ascend into Heaven. As for why he is choosing to haunt Purdue, Vanderbilt and Iowa...I have no idea. Maybe hard feelings about Dorien Bryant and the Music City Bowl?

ESPN raises the wrong questions

This article on ESPNBoston is generating a bit of buzz for all the wrong reason. BC guy Brad Zak used the Haden situation to ask "is BC not the place to develop top talent?" I hate to be so blunt -- especially towards a BC guy -- but this is beyond stupid. If you want to measure BC's ability to develop top talent, you should probably use Wins and NFL Draft picks as a measurement, not how some teenage recruit panned out. In fact, Haden's situation should be more of an indictment against the flawed and foolish recruiting rating system so many fans are slaves to. It has been a while since I stated my case about recruiting, so let's use this article and Haden's issues to take another look.

First let me say that recruiting is important. You need good players to win and you need to sell potential recruits on your school. But overlooked in recruiting is eyeing talent. We give too much credit to the evaluators at Rivals, Scout and ESPN. They don't know anything. Sure they have some measurables and if all the big powers are going after a kid, it is probably safe to say he is good. But there are so many other factors in play, that using the recruiting systems as anything definitive is dumb. I always fall back to the NFL. Look how many top picks become total busts even though the NFL teams are able to make more informed decisions when they select their players. You also need to look no further than your real life experiences. If you've ever hired someone or worked in recruiting, you know how challenging it can be. Someone who looks great on paper or was great in job A doesn't always fit with job B. It happens.


Then there is just the unplanned. Who knows what would have become of Toal or Haden if not for injuries? You can't plan on a guy like Montel Harris stepping up and exceeding his recruiting rankings. That is not BC's fault. If Haden transfers and becomes a star at his next stop, I won't use that as an indictment against the staff either. Sometime players develop at different rates. Take Andre Callendar. After his second season, few would have predicted the dominant performance of his senior season.

But don't use my theories or anecdotes to judge the process. Use the recruiting services themselves. Below are the four and five star recruits from Rivals' database going back to 2002.

2002 -- Josh Beekman, Will Blackmon, Shadu Moore, Jeremy Simpson, Jim Unis
2003 -- Dorien Bryant, Andre Callender, Ryan Poles
2004 -- Brandon Robinson, Brian Toal (five star)
2005 -- Andre Jones, Pat Sheil
2006 -- Richard Lapham, Jordon McMichael
2007 -- Corey Eason, John Elliott
2008 -- Mike Goodman, Josh Haden, Okechuckwu Okoroha
2009 -- Dillon Quinn

If you look at this group and their careers, how can you put much weight into the star system producing stars? Some never stepped on campus or left shortly thereafter. Some had unfortunate injury situations and others just weren't that good. What's more interesting are the names that aren't on the list. Where's Matt Ryan, Herzlich, Silva, Tennant, Castanzo, Kuechly, etc?

I am glad ESPNBoston is covering BC but this effort missed the boat. Maybe as a follow up, Zak should ask who is evaluating the evaluators?

Game Watches: Central Michigan

We are back on ESPN U so some of you need to head to a game watch. I know there are Halloween conflicts for us parents, but you kidless fans out there need to head to your local game watch. Extra points for those who dress like Baldwin for Halloween.



Atlanta Game Watch
STATS
300 Marietta Street NW
Atlanta, GA

Chicago Game Watch
Trinity Bar
2721 N. Halsted (Diversey & Halsted)
on the border of Lincoln Park and Lakeview

Dallas Game Watch
Christie’s Sports Bar
2811 McKinney Avenue
Suite 22
Dallas, TX

Denver Game Watch
The Tavern Uptown
538 E 17th Ave.
Denver, CO 80203

Los Angeles Game Watch
Sonny McLean's
2615 Wilshire Blvd.
Santa Monica


New York City Game Watches

Still
192 3rd Ave @ 17th
Manhattan


Pat Obrien's
88st and 2ave


Phoenix Game Watch
Gallagher's Sports Grill
7575 N. 16th Street, Phoenix


San Diego Game Watch
RT's Longboard Grill
1466 Garnet Avenue
Pacific Beach, CA

San Francisco Game Watch
Shanghai Kellys
2064 Polk St
San Francisco


Sarasota Game Watch
Gecko's Grill & Pub
5585 Palmer Crossing Cir.(Clark Road & Honore Ave.)
Sarasota, FL


Washington, D.C. Game Watch
Porter's Dining Saloon
1207 19th Street, NW
Washington, DC 20036

BC-Central Michigan preview

Like last week this game doesn’t mean much in the big picture, but has huge implications in our little world. First, we need to rebound from last week’s loss. Second, we must prove we can win despite the distractions of the transfers. Third, we need to avoid any sort of “trap” game. CMU is very good, but we still should win this game at home for a variety of reasons.

Narrative talking point that you’ll tire of by the end of the game.
“Dan LeFevour made his college debut against BC four years ago.” We may get tired of it especially if he is playing well but it is a legitimate storyline. LeFevour is an interesting case. He was lightly recruited, went to a MAC school, was forced onto the field against a BCS team and then nearly led a comeback. Sometimes we see a glimpse in a freshmen, predict stardom only to find out that game was an outlier. Other times, like in LeFevour’s debut, that first game really is an indicator of things to come. It’s BC’s misfortune to have to face the best CMU QB twice in four years.

Three simple keys

1.Establish the run. This is troublesome when we are thin in the backfield, but I do think we should be conservative in this game, limit LeFevour’s possessions and control the ball.
2.Get pressure on LeFevour. Arizona is one of the few teams that sacked the CMU superstar. We need to bring pressure. The kid showed he could pick apart our zones four years ago. He has only gotten better since.
3. Aggressive special teams. We’ve fair caught many punts over the past few weeks. It is time to help out the offense and return a few. Central Michigan has good, but not great punting. Gunnell needs to make something happen.

Gambling notes
-- BC has covered the spread in the four of their last six against the MAC.
-- Butch Jones is 2-7 against BCS teams.
-- Since the DIA split, Central Michigan has never beaten two BCS teams in one season.
The current line is BC-5.5

Factoid
Because of the way the calendar fell and a few Thursday night games, we played on Halloween three times in the ‘90s. This is our first Halloween game of the '00s.

Scoreboard Watching
Clemson has a non-conference game, so they are of no concern this week. Instead I'll be paying attention to how Virginia plays against Duke. UVA is favored at home against a Blue Devil team that has many similarities to ours.

I hope to see…
The defensive line dominate. I know these guys are all dinged up, but no one has really stepped up of late. If we are to make a run, this group has got to make some big plays.

BC is in trouble if...
Shinskie doesn't improve his decision making. Last week was bad obviously. In other games some of his more blatant missteps weren't costly. This week, he should play smart football and not force things and check down when needed.

Bottom Line
Central Michigan is a good team but I think there are too many factors pointed towards a BC win this week. This is their third straight road game. We are their third BCS team on their schedule, yet they haven't played a team as talented or fast as BC in six weeks. Our guys have shown the ability to bounce back from tough losses. I think they do it again this week, contain LeFevour and pull away in the second half.
Final Score: BC 35, CMU 17

Chick-Fil-A and other links

A lot of BC fans have cynically scoffed at the ACC's announcement that they've signed an extension with the Chick-Fil-A Bowl. Can you blame them? The Bowl isn't even visiting BC this weekend and passed on a chance to take Matt Ryan and crew a few years ago. I think BC will play in the ACC's No. 2 bowl eventually. It will just take a few things to fall in place. We need the BC rule to keep out the good traveling teams and we need South Carolina or UGA to be the SEC options. The Chick-fil-A is a regular sellout, but those two schools would really drive demand and ease the pressure on BC to sell tickets. Who knows, this year might even be the year if VT and Georgia Tech both get into BCS games.

I thought it was interesting to read how the team reacted to Haden and Tuggle's departures. It seems like most guys are taking it in stride.

Smart football has a good take on coaching. His theory is that midweek coaching is more important than in game coaching.

Departures, a day later

The article in the Herald sort of confirmed what has been floating out there: Tuggle's decision was completely amicable and Haden's was less so. Tuggle came to play for a different staff with a different depth chart. He got a chance but future opportunities at QB were unlikely.

Haden's situation is a little more complicated for a variety of reasons. First he is much more high profile recruit. Second, regardless of his health or his stats, there was still hope among those around the program that he would contribute and blossom. But ultimately he was unhappy. When a player is unhappy you can go a few different directions. You can appease him with more playing time. Try to give him extra attention. Talk to his parents. Or let him decide if he wants to be part of the team. The risk in the tough love approach though is that it sends a message to the whole team. It says that you are all in or all out. Spaz even referenced the all in or all out mentality in one of his answers to the Herald -- "If they don’t want to be here, they don’t want to be here."

Spaz isn't the first coach to do this. The difference though in sending tough love to a Billy Bennett type vs a Josh Haden, is that Haden was not as expendable and was popular. Forcing his hand gets rid of a grumpy and potentially negative influence, but it can also snowball if the team doesn't rally behind Spaz.

But how the transfers were handled has more importance in the long term because players will always be our biggest recruiting tool. The staff and the sales pitch gets the guys on campus for a visit, but how a recruit feels among his new potential teammates often makes or breaks the recruiting. There is a lot of self selection involved in the process. The guys think "would I fit in? Do the players seem happy? Do I like the vibe?" After something like this the players left behind will definitely give off a new vibe. They will either buy into Spaz and give that endorsement to recruits or they will send off a message that don't know what to make of their coach.

Transfers happen after coaching changes. More will probably come. Let's hope though that Spaz and Co use this to rally the team and find more guys who want to play at BC.

Respect for BC basketball and other links

The ACC writers didn't think much of our chances in basketball. However, Fox Sports Jeff Goodman thinks we will surprise again. In the article Sanders talks about how the team will be more defensive minded. I would love to see it, but don't know how we will pull it off. This team has smarts and depth, but few defensive stoppers.

Trapani also answered some questions regarding the team and how we will be different without Rice.

The Gunnell-Clausen story is still getting press.

Virginia is the latest school to get behind Herzy's cause.

The BC Bookstore is having a BC Snuggie giveaway on facebook. Become a fan of the bookstore and you'll be entered to win.

Haden (and his tattoo) and Tuggle gone

This has been floating out there for a few days, but ESPN's Joe Schad finally went public with the news that Justin Tuggle and Josh Haden are both leaving BC. This is not really a surprise since both probably saw the writing on the wall. As much as we hope and encourage guys to pick BC based on the experience and education, the reality is that depth charts and coaching have a huge impact on their decisions. Both came to play for Jags and work in Logan's offense. Now things are different and my guess is that they will look to find better situations for themselves. I wish them the best of luck.

As for Haden's tattoo...ugh. As the past guest blogger Reverend Mike asked "does anyone know of a good tattooo removal place in Chestnut Hill" or maybe Gainesville, Florida?

Blogpoll Ballot

The biggest question for me was should I rank Clemson. They had a big win, but how could I justify ranking them ahead of many two loss teams? The top is the same as last week, but I don't really have confidence in any of them. This year is a crap shoot and I expect the picture to get very messy in November.



Games I watched
BC-Notre Dame 100% (twice)
Georgia Tech-Virginia 50%
Rutgers-Army 25%
UNC-Florida State 25%
Florida-Miss State

Rank	Team	Delta
1	Florida
2	Alabama
3	Texas
4	Cincinnati
5	Georgia Tech	1
6	TCU	1
7	Southern Cal	2
8	LSU
9	Iowa	2
10	Boise State
11	Oregon	1
12	Penn State	1
13	Pittsburgh	9
14	Central Michigan	1
15	Houston	1
16	Oklahoma State	1
17	Utah	2
18	Virginia Tech	2
19	South Carolina	4
20	Miami (Florida)	15
21	West Virginia	4
22	Mississippi
23	Arizona
24	Troy
25	Ohio State
Last week's ballot

Dropped Out: Brigham Young (#14), Tulsa (#18), Texas Tech (#21), Kansas (#24).

No respect for basketball and other links

The big news from the ACC Basketball media day was our preseason ranking. The assembled media picked BC 9th. It never gets old, does it? BC has a veteran team and only loses Rice yet no love. I am very high on our prospects. I think we are definite tournament team and can challenge for a top 4 spot in the conference. Speaking of the ACC Tournament, the conference announced that the 2012 event will move from the Georgia Dome to the neighboring Philips Arena. This makes sense to me as Philips is better for basketball and the smaller space will drive up ticket demand and prices.

The women's team got a little more respect. They are expected to finish 6th.

I haven't focused on it much, but Ron Brace continues to be a healthy scratch for the Patriots. Let's hope he turns the corner soon.

HD posted her power rankings. I can't really complain when I wouldn't rank BC highly these days. What is interesting is that she and many of her fellow media are predicting Clemson will waltz into the ACC Championship Game. I actually think NC State and Florida State will give the Tigers tough games.

The sailing team won the 2009 ICSA Sloop National Championship.

Second viewing thougths and grade report: Notre Dame

This was not a fun game to watch back but I have to thank NBC Sports for a huge advantage. Like ESPN 360, they have the Irish games available on demand online. The difference though is that NBC Sports edits the game by quarters and cuts out filler and dead time between plays. It makes watching the game back an easy task.
As for what I learned the second time around, it confirmed many of my first reactions. We didn’t play particularly well, but could have won. That’s a frustrating combination.

Offense: C+

Shinskie has upside. I think he can be a very good QB at this level, but he needs to start making better decisions. His touch and his throws, in general, are good. But too often he forces things. All three INTs were bad decisions. He was also off on some early throws and his deep balls towards the sidelines weren’t that crisp. As I’ve mentioned ad nauseum at this point balls are not even being thrown to the backs or the fourth option. That’s on Shinskie since there should be plays there. Shinskie showed again that he’s got surprising speed and athleticism. I think he should run more when things breakdown. On the last play he would have been better served to toss it out of bounds or try to run for two or three yards.

Harris’s struggles were partly his and also a net result of what Notre Dame schemed. They obviously did not want Harris to beat them, so they kept the box crowded for the most part. But still he missed a few holes and the goal line fumble was a killer. He blocked well though. McCluskey showed he can be a nice weapon in certain situations. Now let’s start throwing it to him out of the backfield.

Pantale and Anderson played well. They found spots in the ND defense and also did a good job blocking. However, one of the reasons I think our rushing attack suffered was due to the second level blocking. We need our TEs to get to the LBs and open things up.

Rich Gunnell obviously had a great game. He found soft spots in the zone. He made some tough catches. He was great and carried the team. Larmond was effective. Jarvis mad e a big catch. The others weren’t factors

As a group the offensive line played well. The pass blocking was good. The run blocking was not as effective but that was mostly because of ND crowding the line. Individually Castonzo and Tennant played well. Cleary was ok but made some mental errors. As the announcers noted Claiborne made some errors and wasn’t as dominant as last week. Lapham was good early. When he went down, Goodman struggled with the pass rush a bit.

I thought Tranq put together a good game. He stayed with the run a little more than I would have preferred, but it kept Notre Dame honest. Sticking with the run forced Notre Dame to respect the play action. My main complaint was on the play sequence after the goal line stance (but I will get into that in the overall section). My complaints are about how we adjust. I know the limited personnel kept us out of the wildcat/bazooka. So if that is not an option and the run is not working, why not try a stretch play or two? He also needs to work with Shinskie on his decision making.

Defense: B-

Rossi played well early on. He was disruptive and made some plays in the backfield. Not sure why he wasn’t as much of a factor or on the field later in the game. Ramella had one of his better games in a while. Albright was okay. Ramsey was okay. Newman was fine. The biggest problem with the line was that while they were okay, they didn’t make many plays and couldn’t stop ND’s rushing game.

Mike Morrissey deserves credit for taking his game to the next level. He showed good speed, was able to get to Clausen and played well in pass coverage. Kuechly was good although he had trouble shedding some blocks when Notre Dame ran right at him. McLaughlin did not have one of his better games. He couldn’t shed blocks, had a stupid penalty and didn’t make any big plays. I think the second teamers should be getting more snaps. LeGrande and DiSanzo specifically should be getting more playing time.

The defensive backs played very well. Much was made of the cushion, but that is not their fault. They are being asked to play that way. Their supposed to close quickly and tackle well and for the most part they did. Gause made some nice open field tacklers. Rollins was a beast. Fletcher was exploited a bit more than the others, but still had some good plays. Bowman had his best game in a while including the big hit at the goal line. Davis also played well (although he couldn’t tackle Tate on Tate’s big TD run).

The NBC team spent a considerable amount of time on our cushion. It has long been a topic among Spaz critics. Let me talk about it in this game and save our use of the cushion for another post. I felt depending so much on the cushion against a scheme like Notre Dame’s and against a QB like Clausen is asking for trouble. He will take all the easy passes and eventually he or one of his WRs will burn you. Sure, we nearly picked him off twice, but this year we haven’t been forcing many turnovers. I would have preferred more variety this past weekend. When we did flush Clausen he got dinged and also grounded the ball on a safety. I was also frustrated that we got gashed with their running game.

Special Teams: B

Good punting throughout. Good coverage too.

Decent kickoffs.

Gause looked good returning kicks.

Overall: C+

We lost this as a team, so I will not point fingers at any one group. Yet the conservative nature of our approach continues to frustrate me. Jimmy Clausen may be a jerk and he may be overrated but he has proven that if given time and enough possessions he will move the ball. Although the punts from Notre Dame territory worked, I didn’t love the mindset. I really didn’t like the three runs following the goal line stand. It was conceding the possession in what was still a close game. We made mistakes and that is what ultimately cost us the game. But I still feel like those mistakes are magnified because we are so cautious in other aspects of the game.

Notre Dame is behind us for another year. Now Spaz has to avoid the trap against CMU and get the guys ready for the stretch run.

Freshman mistakes

First let me say that Dave Shinskie has been a great addition to this team. I don't know if we'd be 5-3 without him. However, he still has a long way to go to be a great QB. I think his biggest problem is patience. It doesn't seem like he is working his progressions. The reason I say that is that the ball is not getting distributed. Obviously we want Gunnell to get the ball but I think it would serve him and the offense to spread the ball around a bit. Right now, even many of Shinskie's misses are headed towards Larmond and Gunnell. Take a look at Shinskie's first INT in the fourth quarter.


Situation: 2nd and 8. BC is down 4. Ball on the Notre Dame 42.

The running game has been stopped most of the day, so it makes sense to throw. Notre Dame is in base defense. Gunnell is in the slot. He's killed ND from there all day, so Shinskie's first inclination is to go to him. But ND is adjusting at this point too.


ND is sending pressure. They move one safety up. BC picks up the blitz. Pantale stays to block but Harris is able to release after chipping.

Jarvis is sitting in a short outlet. Gunnell is cutting towards the sideline and is bracketed.



Shinskie's better plays are to the right side of the field but he never looks off the left where Jarvis and Gunnell are well covered. If he wants to force something he could have gone to Larmond over the safety for a deep aggressive pass. If he wanted to be safe (it was second down), he could have dumped it off to Harris (who is next to the ref).

But before anyone can do anything Shinskie has already sent it towards Gunnell.


Shinskie forces it to Gunnell into double coverage. Easy INT for the Irish.




Shinskie has great potential and is learning more everyday. But now that BC has something to play for, we need him to make better decisions, look for his check downs and get others involved. The INT in this play wasn't the end but it was an example of what Shinskie needs to work on. Now just keep your fingers crossed for progress in his progressions.