Sept. 4 - Weber State
Sept. 11 - Kent State
Sept. 25 - Virginia Tech
Oct. 2 - Notre Dame
Oct. 9 - @ NC State
Oct. 16 - @ Florida State
Oct. 23 - Maryland
Oct. 30 - Clemson
Nov. 6 - @ Wake Forest
Nov. 13 - @ Duke
Nov. 20 - Virginia
Nov. 27 - @ Syracuse
Here are the issues (good and bad) surrounding the schedule and my thoughts.
Herzy comes back against Weber State. Labor Day weekend has always been an awkward Saturday for BC football. Many students are not on campus yet. Many locals use it as a last weekend of the summer getaway and the Boston sports scene is distracted by the Red Sox and a major golf tournament. With Herzy's pending return, we could have used our opener to turn the game into a major event. Instead we have a cupcake in Weber State. The game will probably not be on TV and there will be 20,000 fans in the stands. Another wasted opportunity.
Soft opening. If you look beyond the marketing and momentum, opening with Weber and then Kent State will be a good for the team. Like last year we will still have some questions around our passing game and some key spots to fill on defense. Playing two easy games and having a bye prior to a home game against VT is a nice way to start the season.
October could be scary. It is a brutal five game stretch that includes our two toughest road game. The middle of the schedule also includes four of the five division games. One month will make or break the season.
Syracuse back where it belongs It will be nice to close the season with the Orange. Closing with a Big East team also means we will know our division fate well before the final weekend.
Overall this is a very fair and forgiving schedule. If we go 3-2 in October, we will certainly finish with a winning record. I won't make a final prediction yet, but we should be bowling again.
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22 comments:
Why do we not get Thursday games anymore?
Aside from the early bye week (which could be a blessing should we happen to drop one of our first two games, which is pretty unlikely), I really can't complain about this. VT is always better at the end of the season, getting them early gives us a good shot.
We finish up with an easier slate and our meat is in the middle. Really can't complain too much about this schedule, I think it sets up very nice.
Yes, it's tough playing that many divisional games in a row, but it's a double edged sword. Hopefully by that point in the season our gears are in sync and we're playing our best football with the kinks worked out after the first couple contests.
Depending on the QB position (meaning either Shinskie developing to the next level, or Rettig taking the reigns and beating him out at camp), I continue to believe that 2010 could be a special year.
I'm with BCMike, this could be a very good year, and the start of 3 very good years to come.
While Weber State isn't on my wish list of teams to play, Herzy's comeback will make that game a sellout. don't underestimate the impact his recovery has on Eagle Nation
Bill-
I actually brought up the same point re: weber st to the assistant AD when he came out to Denver for the hockey invitation this past January.
His main defense was that at the time Hofstra went down, 95% of the other teams out in the NCAA already had their schedules set (even though they weren't officially released yet, the layouts were in place). He said its difficult as it is to schedule quality non conference games, but when you scramble at the last minute like we had to when Hofstra shut down their program, it was basically impossible to get anything in a caliber that we were looking for.
Just a little insight from the horse's mouth
Given BC's seeming abundance of LB talent and the dearth of DL talent, I wonder if BC would consider a 3-4 defensive scheme. We would need a horse NT to clog the middle for it to work. Could that be Dillon Quinn?
As it is now, the 4 down lineman in our traditional 4-3 are pretty useless in developing any real pass pressure. A 3-4 with a hard to defense slashing LB could do the trick.
I don't think I recall any NCAA D-1teams regularly using a 3-4, but I see (from a blog) that Georgia and maybe GTech are switching to a 3-4.
Did BC use a 3-4 last year much at all, say on pasisng downs?
The DL situation is the team's biggest problem, and the lack of a pass rush really creates major problems for the entire defense, and offense (field position-wise).
There are various reasons why it won't happen, but we do have the personnel to run a 3-4 (with the exception of NT, where Scafe is probably a bit small).
DE - Ramsey, Newman
NT - Scafe, O'Neal
DE - Quinn, Appiah
OLB - Herzlich, Momah
MLB - Kuechly, Clancy
MLB - Thompson, DiSanzo
OLB - Albright, Holloway
Raj,
You really think Weber St will be a sellout? You OVERESTIMATE Eagle Nation. Consider this: BC couldn't sell out the FSU game in '07. We had just beat VTech in Blacksburg, we were ranked #2 in the country, our quarterback was in the Heisman running and it was a beautiful night game. If BC couldn't sell that thing out, that tells me there is nothing BC can do by itself to sell games, and it completely dependent on the opponent to sell tickets.
I was at the '07 FSU game - it definitely seemed like a sellout. I knew many people that could not get tickets. Plus, let's not go overboard here - were you at the '07 FSU game? Calling that a "beautiful" night game stretches the imagination. It was monsoon weather the 3 days leading up to the game and the night of the game itself because of the outskirts of some storm. It didn't rain much during the game, but it was not a beautiful night game, and even then the stadium was packed and loud (until ryan threw that pick 6 anyway
Anyway, didn't mean that to sound as nit-picky as it did, just pointing it out. I am somewhere between both of you - don't think we will sell out Weber State, but think there will be s stronger showing than many expect due to Herzy's return. Can't wait to see Herzy and Kuechs together!
Frank -
I know one marquee, non-conference opponent that was looking for games the same time BC was - TCU.
They're willing to play anywhere (see games at UVA and Clemson last year) and it would have been far easier to sell that game to both fans and TV than Weber.
TCU and BC are similar in a variety of ways, plus it would have allowed BC to go to Texas for a return (helping recruiting). I wish they had explored this instead.
alex -- what are some of the reasons BC would not try a 3-4, at least for some situations?
Only 1 thing I hate about this schedule. It's nearly impossible to prepare for Va Tech's pressure/speed if you haven't already faced a team with real talent.
The bye week won't help at all with that because you don't beat Va TEch with X's and O's ... the key is not being phased by their pressure. This is especially true for Shinksie or any rookie QB (Rettig).
In any event, Notre Dame will be a cupcake by comparison. Wish they were reversed.
I don't share the optimism that everyone else seems to have. Hopefully I will be proved wrong. Herzy coming back is awesome. Playing SU again is also awesome.
Frank, you already know my thoughts on the Assistant AD's comments. They were full of spin and BS. There was no way he was going to get up there and say GDF dropped the ball.
He also didn't say that GDF pursued an exhaustive list of possibilities (or any possibilities for that matter).
I think his comments on the likelihood of Thursday night games was the most honest and forthright he was all evening. Unfortunately it wasn't the best news.
danny boy -- sorry if I missed something, but what was said about the thursday night games?
In a nutshell, he said that Thursday night games probably wont happen.
Between angry neighbors, city regulations, heat from the cops and BC's priority on education the athletic department is not actively pursuing Thursday night, primetime, nationally televised football games.
I'd still take an away Thursday night game. That still gets us on national TV and we avoid the headache of Chestnut Hill/Newton NIMBY's. Right?
It's kind of sad that the best way to grow your program is by avoiding your own campus.
The VTECH game should always be a Thursday Night Game
I'd love a switch to the 3-4. It's not like we're getting pressure from the DE in a 4-3 and our strength is at LB. Plus, most college QBs never see a 3-4 and would look at the various blitzes like Chris Herren looked at pot. Wide-eyed and excited. Only more of a nervous excitement. But in a bad way.
The best way to get back on Thursdays is to get GTech back on the rotating schedule, since they lead the country in appearances. Tech loves the advantages that the game provides--exposure, etc.--and they're an academic school with a student population designing stuff like...you know...complicated stuff that the Chinese will steal one day and use against us. Anyway, the academic reasons don't fly.
What an easy schedule, though. Weber, Kent, Syracuse, ND, a Skinner-less Wake...just absurd. I'm looking forward to all the "I can't believe BC won 9 games" stories from the media again, though. Granted, we should try for 11 or 12 one of these days, but since that probably won't happen, we should all be happy win whatever we get.
Academic reasons for not playing Thursdays....ha. Now that's funny. Could we sound any more elitist?
Christopher,
Unfortunately I wasn't at the FSU game in '07, so maybe it wasn't a "beautiful night" like I said it was, but it still didn't rain, and even if it had, come on. We were #2, Heisman candidate, playing FSU.
Here's the attendance from that game per BC's website (link below): 40,065
Alumni's capacity is 44,500.
If we couldn't sell THAT game out. I'm not sure what the hell we can do to sell ANY game out unless the opponent is ranked #2. We just don't have enough fans.
http://bceagles.cstv.com/sports/m-footbl/stats/2007-2008/bc09.html
Chicagofire
I do not disagree with you - I never missed a BC game while there, including some ones with appalling weather (Buffalo, Wake Forest, UVA, WVA) so I think the fans should be full not matter what. I still make it to 1-2 games a year anyway and am always disappointed at the fan turn out. My only point with the FSU game was it had been epically bad weather all week including right up to game time - so the game was sold out but people made last second decisions not to go, and I knew a bunch of people dying to go that couldnt get a ticket. I will say though, the atmosphere was crazy in there, I never noticed it wasnt full.
Anyway, like I said I didn't mean for my initial post to sound rude or nit-picky, just when I saw you talk about the beautiful night it gave me a chance to reminisce.
In general, I do agree the V Tech should be a night game - every time we played them when i was there (03-07) and of course the famous Matty Ice game it was a thursday night game - i always really liked it. plus that kind of "tradition" enhanced the rivalry
And by the fans should be full I meant the stands should be full - my typing abilities are hung over
Chris, Agreed. VTech should be a night/Thursday game. What concerns me more than anything though is that FSU game in '07. The attendance just makes me think that we really don't have enough fans. I just can't imagine a better scenario for us to do well off the field. Obviously the result of that game still depresses me, but what our off the field results showed that night depresses me more.
How do we get people to care about BC football, if having all that going for us didn't do it back then? I just don't have an answer. And like you I fly back once a year for a game and am disappointed by the turnout every time.
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