Wednesday, November 14, 2007

Taking solace in Spaz's history

As most of you can guess, I am not feeling that great about Saturday. If we cannot stop Maryland's patchwork offense, how are we going to stop Clemson's juggernaut? All I have for reassurance is the man who I've been highly critical of the past two weeks -- Frank Spaziani. We have 8+ seasons of his body of work to examine. He's had plenty of duds over the years, but never two atrocious performances back-to-back*. Does that mean we shut Clemson out this week? No way. But it may mean that we rally the troops enough to make the game interesting. Take a look at Spaz's track record.

-- Has only allowed more than 40 points five times in his 8+ seasons as defensive coordinator
-- 2000 was the only year in which he allowed more than one team to score 40 against BC in one season
-- He has faced Clemson's Offensive Coordinator Rob Spence three times (once as Toledo OC, and twice as Clemson). In those games Spence's offenses scored 25, 13, and 33 points. BC won all three games.
-- He hasn't allowed back-to-back opponents break 30 since 1999
-- Hasn't allowed more than two conference opponents score more than 30 in one season since 2003.

*In 1999, Spaz did allow Colorado to run over us after allowing 38 to VT in the season finale. Those games were six weeks apart and our whole team did not show up for that bowl game.

10 comments:

EagleEye2002 said...

Does anyone know the status of Dunbar or Pruitt for the game this Saturday? Im scared at the thought of playing without them.

Laxman said...

This D is down 6 players;Toal, Raji, Bowman,Davis, Pruitt, Dunbar plus I'm not convinced Larkin is 100%..I think we have to outscore Clemson to win. I'm not crazy about Spaz, but can't blame him for all the missing players.

ATL_eagle said...

Crazer, injuries and suspensions happen. Maryland was down to their 3rd string QB, their back up RB, and had walkons on their offensive line.

LAEagle said...

I think it's absolutely amazing that, as a fan base, we have gone for hoping (maybe even expecting?) a NC berth now don't even believe we can beat Clemson (Mr. ATL, you are included). Enough of this nonsense. Our team this year is better than our team last year, and WE BEAT CLEMSON LAST YEAR. I know we have injuries, but we also have a healthy Matt Ryan, which we didn't last year. Enough of the wallowing. Get excited for this game, and I'll see "y'all" in Jax.

Brian said...

As far back as I can remember (since I was a freshman, anyhow, in 2001), BC hasn't lost 3 straight. We win this game! Go Eagles!

Laxman said...

Atl

I agree, my point was in this game its going to be our O that pulls it out. We can't depend on the D to come through against what I think is the best O we'll see all year.

If we can hold Clemson to under 30 our chances are good, 30-40 its iffy and over 40 becomes very difficult.

ChicagoD said...

Clemson is talented on offense but I'm not ready to call them a juggernaut. This is the same team that put up 3 vs. G-Tech and got smoked by V-Tech. They haven't won any close games and they haven't come back to win. I think the confidence of this team is fragile. Hopefully BC can get ahead early, get a few turnovers, and we can see how well Cullen & Co. play from behind. If that were to happen, my guess is that the dominance they showed vs. Wake would be a distant memory.

CHI_Eagle said...

We have to get off to a good start. We can't let Clemson march right down the field and put up crooked numbers on the first few drives.
I know this seems obvious, but if we can just hang with them through the first half, I feel like our team wil build confidence, Matty will be less prone to force things, and the D can start playing more aggressive.
I'm confident in our squad as long as we don't go down 14-0 in the first 10 minutes. It will be a long long night if they do.

eagleboston said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
eagleboston said...

I learned long ago you cannot predict college football games. One week a team can look terrible and the next, they look dominant against a supposedly better team. Further, you cannot even look at common opponents to predict the outcome of a game.

Thus, I have no idea what is going to happen on Saturday. I am extremely down about BC football, so my expectations are low. Plus, I've been burned year after year with BC one game away from the BCS and never quite getting there. I'm going to cheer for BC and hope for the best. If we lose, we lose. If we win, then my impression of BC football does a complete 180.