Thursday, November 26, 2009

BC-Maryland preview

In my opinion this is the least intriguing game we've played in years. Not much is at stake. I don't think we play a particularly exciting brand of football. Maryland doesn't have much to play for. It defines anticlimactic. That said, I will be there in person and always enjoy the game day experience.



Narrative talking point that you’ll tire of by the end of the game.
"Is this Friedgen's last game..." There are plenty of conflicting stories on whether or not Maryland is ready to make a move with their head coach. My fear is that Maryland will come out motivated and playing well and we will be forced to listen to various iterations of "they are trying to win this one for their embattled coach." Friedgen always moves the ball against Spaz. If he does again Saturday it won't be because his team has extra motivation.


Three Simple Keys
1. Stop the run.
Maryland ran for 196 yards last week and nearly upset Florida State. If they do that to us, we could be in trouble.
2. Limit turnovers. Shinskie has been reckless lately and now he enters the gaming trying to win the job for next year. Let's hope the pressure to perform makes him more conservative and not more of a gambler.
3. Contain Torrey Smith on kick returns. He's talented and gives them a boost via field position. We need to kick it away from him or keep him from breaking anything big.


Gambling Notes

-- Spaz is 1-3 against the spread on the road
-- Friedgen is 5-3 in his final game of the regular season
-- BC is 2-1 all time in College Park
The current line is BC-6

Factoid

BC's new apparel provider will be Under Armour. UA was founded by two Maryland students and the Terps were the first team to wear Under Armour gear.


Scoreboard Watching

Watch whatever you want at this point. We are not in the mix for Tampa. We are 99% certain for the Emerald Bowl in San Francisco. If anything root for the ACC teams in out of conference matchups like Georgia Tech and Florida State.



I hope to see…
BC with a positive turnover margin. (I still can't believe how many plays the defense made last week that were given back by Shinskie.)



BC is in trouble if...
BC is down at halftime. I think last week was a lesson in how we are not the best team to try to come back throwing the ball.


Bottom Line

I think BC will win this game. I do fear the Turtle in that Fridge can always move the ball on Spaz. We've won these games in the past with turnovers. I think that will be the model this weekend too. Although there is nothing on the line, a win is important. We need to end the season on a high note.

Final Score:
BC 28, Maryland 17

14 comments:

BCDisco said...

"Not much is at stake… We are not in the mix for Tampa. We are 99% certain for the Emerald Bowl in San Francisco."

"Friedgen always moves the ball against Spaz."

"I don't think we play a particularly exciting brand of football."


Spaz: the gift that keeps on giving.

bcphilly said...

atl ... you're the best ... a day doesn't go by that i don't log on and read what you have to say ... i agree with your assesment of this game ... however , just once i'd like you to call it like you feel ... you don't always have to pick us on top , you're a smart guy and you should call it like you see it ... e.g. you and i knew
we were going to lose the NC game ... call it , i/we won't be mad ...that being said , love this blog , it gives an old eagle like me something to look forward to ... and i'm going to start a new tradition ... everyone that comments has to sign off by saying ... hello burnsie ... i'll explain later ... hello burnsie ...

Dan said...

This is completely unrelated to this post, but any word on if there are any leftovers from Northeastern that look interesting for BC? And on a related note, if/when Weis gets canned and Clausen/Tate subsequently bolt, we should really take a shot at some of there commits. Particularly, this Blake Leuders DE looks good. If you watch his free Rivals video it seems that he strongly considered BC and that he is a prototypical BC defender, big, strong, angry and smart. It's time for us to get started on having a positive offseason for a change.

P.S. This Texas game is just silly.

eagleboston said...

BC Philly,

You are not allowed to "call it like you feel" on this blog. I was ripped apart for picking UNC last week (I was not exactly going out on a limb...they beat Va Tech in Blacksburg!). If you want to keep the peace, you have to pick BC each and every week, otherwise you risk being deemed a "gloom and doomer."

Nonetheless, even though this is a road game, I agree with ATL that BC wins handily this week.

CT said...

You're allowed to "call it like you feel." I do. You're also allowed to break your spine congratulating yourself for doing so. You do.

The small picture was the UNC game or the Clemson game. Prognosticate away. The big picture is where this program will be this time next year. I find it hard to criticize the staff after this off-season. Give them a full cycle of recruiting classes, then slap yourself silly with self-congratulatory judgments.

Winning a road game against Little Sisters of the Poor would be an improvement at this point.

I would so take an 8-win "off" year, it's not even funny.

But still, Shinskie better get his act together or else I'll pay the Red Sox to draft him again. One full bag of baseballs.

Danny Boy said...

I'm interested to see how the switch to Under Armor will affect recruiting. I know when the hockey team was still a Nike team the football and basketball players would do all sorts of favors in order to get their hands on Nikes.

Personally, I'm not a fan of Under Armor at all, and I feel its a little cheap, but it could have positive results for recruiting (just look at the debacle down at UCF and Jordan's son).

I agree that our team isn't great at coming from behind. I'm not sure if its that Shinksie gets nervous, Tranquil starts get pass happy, or Spaz gets a defeatist attitude.

matthew2 said...

Bball tickets discounted for a couple of days for anyone interested....

http://ev9.evenue.net/cgi-bin/ncommerce3/SEGetEventList?groupCode=MB&linkID=bostoncoll&shopperContext=&caller=&appCode=

BCDisco said...

Nice drunken post there, philly.

Erik said...

ATL - you're right, this game is not intriguing, because the UnderArmour thing is the most interesting this mentioned.

Does anyone knoe if this is a full operation: unifrorms, warmups, sweats, and most importantly shoes?

Anything is an upgrade over Reebok, even if it doesn't improve recruiting it won't hurt recruiting -- the guys we want aren't guys who choose a school based on Nike.

In related news, New Balance bid for this deal, and through the grapevine I managed to get my hands on some BC Logo'd New Balance cleats, which will never be used by anyone, but look pretty sweet and will make a nice addition to a Mantown display if I ever buy a nice house.

Ryan said...

Great comment from the boston.com article discussing NU's football team getting cut. If only every Boston fan could jump on board with this:

"While it's too bad for the guys on the team, let's be realistic. If you want to watch college football, the BC Eagles offer the only source of major college football in Mass. (Even if they tailgate on game day like a weak, high school bunch.) Sorry to say, but people around here just don't get the great fun that is college football - all because they think, "I went to BU/Suffolk/Northeastern/UMass/Tufts/Harvard, what do I care about BC?" I'm originally from a part of the country with deep college football traditions and I can assure you that 85% of the folks in the stands there never set foot on campus other than to attend the games. People without degrees get buried in college logo caskets for goodness' sake! Get over it, enjoy the atmosphere, and root for the Eagles! (And this, coming from a non-BC alum!)"

eagleboston said...

Does the Under Armour deal mean BC will have new uniforms next season?

After watching the Flutie re-plays this week, I would like to see BC go back to the sparkling gold helmets of the 80's.

BCguy said...

ATL- does this mean we get whole new uni's or the same ones just made by UA?

Danny Boy said...

A new equipment supplier will definitely result in a change in equipment. I would be absolutely floored if our uniforms were kept the same. However, I fear they will continue down this bad path. Most teams I've seen who are UA, have "edgier" designs. Lots of piping, accent color swatches, etc.

I think BC needs to return to a more traditional classic look. More than likely, we'll have to wait till the spring to see how this plays out.

John said...

There's nothing better than a football player - especially a hog - with his shirt hanging out (part of the style), wearing ballet-type, nylon see-through pants with dental floss up his giggy.

And how about those sorry excuses wearing short pants - SHORT PANTS!

These equipment suppliers are ruining college (and pro) football. Come on leagues - come on coaches and AD's - step up to the plate and enforce some standards. Either that or we're going to the lowest point we can get away with - really pathetic.