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A Boston College sports blog capturing the highs and lows of being a BC fan living 1,000 miles from Chestnut Hill.
Feel free to join in the conversation on the Eagle Insider Message Boards.
You can also follow me on twitter.
(P.S. I will have a quick post on the basketball opener later Saturday night.)
94 comments:
There's absolutely no excitement on the field.
For those of us who can't access ESPN 3, any descriptions of the game would be greatly appreciated. The radio broadcast is okay; but any description is limited.
Just went through a 3 and out. Harris rush up the middle for 2 yds., incomplete attempt downfield to momah, and a botched route by harris, incomplete. There entire team just looks flat.
Lenny, so far nothing exciting at all. Each team punted. Also, looks like there is nobody at this game. Makes Alumni look like rabid fans
Also sounds like Tim Meadows' character the Ladies Man is doing the announcing for espn3. I hate Duke.
1/8 full stadium, but a sunny day.
And shockingly, Warrick Dunn is the better of the two announcers. Play by Play guy is terrible.
hahaha that's Warrick Dunn?
ESPN3 - where's the yellow line?
I like that Rettig is going mobile
Montel is the man
To be honest, Warrick Dunn is pretty insightful.
it would be nice to pick up more than 1 yard on our first down attempt.
beautiful throw to swigert! chase took the hit, right on the money. and bobby is a quick little sucker
Even Pete Cronan says: "...Just come out here and knock the snot out of these guys!"
...
"You gotta find a way to knock these guys off the ball."
44-yard completion-Rettig to Swiggert!!
(The radio via computer is slower than ESPN3 via computer--about 15-20 seconds)
Fumble!! Oh no!!
Its going to be a long afternoon.
Sounds like Michael Jackson is doing play-by-play.
BC punter may end up as MVP...another blown opportunity after a long pass completion.
Well, so far, so uninspiring
I like both Amidon and Swigert. Hopefully with Larmond next year (and maybe Shakim Phillips), we will have a good little receiving corp. I'm excited about the prospect of seeing these young guys progress together with Chase
'bout time they got that PI call. There's been contact on every one of those routes by Momah. Bullshit, Warrick, that's PI
Warrick just called Claiborne obese. Nice.
Pure genius to bring in McCluskey! That Tranq is a jedi master.
Hey, let's all start using the word "swiggle" to describe how Harris runs.... ugh. Great TD run.
McCluskey took out two on that TD run, but neither announcer even noticed. These guys are awful.
Well don't get used to it. You've had your turn McCluskey. Now back to straight up the middle.
Now that's better. Montel ran well on that drive.
It's great that we can watch these games on espn3, because otherwise there'd be no video at all and I'd have to listen to Meter screaming in my ear. That said, I can't believe they can't find better announcers. The pair of dopes who do local high school games on local radio are no worse than these two (who are no worse than any other espn3 tandem).
There's really nothing I care more about at this moment than Boise St. and ... what? what was I talking about?
Sweet Jesus! Third and two and you don't bring in McC! Fire that idiot!
I agree mod10a
enough with swiggle already!!
The defense is keeping us in this thing, but I don't understand the blitzing up the middle when the Duke passing game has been quick outs and dumps in the flat. Bring up the corners, check receivers on the line of scrimmage, take that dink and dunk crap away.
It will be interesting to see what adjustments are made by each team. Should say a lot about out coaching staff. Leaves are calling (actually, that's my wife).
Playing offense for Nyquil is like trying to fight with one hand tied behind your back.
Maybe 10,000 fans on an abundantly sunny day - 65 to 70 degrees.
They threw Temple out of the Big East for that kind of crap.
Phenomenal job by Rettig stepping up and making that play happen.
Temple didn't win NC, in any sport. Duke does.
Great TD pass. Rettig has some poise in the pocket.
Wow!
I loved everything about that TD pass.
Pump fake
Check down
Downfield vision
Keuchly and Shinskie running over to rettig when he came back over
Rettig coaching Marsco and Bordner on what he just did
Wow, how was Swigert that wide open on the TD?
And not to toot my own horn but did I or did I not say a week or two ago Rettig needed to incorporate a pump fake into his play?
Great to see the recognition that the running game is way more effective with McCluskey lead blocking.
Tank Tranq!
That's the kind of half-time adjustment that's made Tranq so indisposable.
God, the BC offense is awful. Didn't Virginia put up 50 on Duke?
On the other hand, the BC defense is phenomenal. Very few defenses have held Duke to 6 points this season.
Did you see that official dive into that pig pile? Crazy!
Does it make any difference that the guy talking to the offense on the field (Spaz) is not the OC?
Luke is absolutely amazing! He came all the way from the other side of the field to get that fumble recovery. Why does no one in the nation know about this kid?
Rettig is getting better with each series. Too bad this coaching staff did not start him from Day 1.
Prior to the jump ball to Momah (who'd a thunk?), the red zone play calling was heinous. Two solos by Montel, then you bring in your fullback on third and goal and throw? And not even play-action?
Tank the Tranq.
Wow, Rettig is laying it on Duke.
They're gonna have to compensate soon which is gonna open it up for Montel.
Wasn't Montel originally a Duke commit? Imagine this game if he was on their side.
Got to love when BC scores and people still complain.
Renfree is forcing it. INT coming up
Are you Serious?: perhaps it's a matter of expectations. I expect BC to pummel Duke in football. I expect the program to have a high caliber OC. You're entitled to your own expectations, obviously.
montel harris are you kidding me? Is he only capable of fumbling in pairs?@!?!?!?!?!?!??!?!
ah shit
well damn.
Are you serious? We're complaining because the BC offense is blowing opportunity after opprotunity to score and allowing fricken Duke to stay in this game. This is not basketball. We should be up by 40 points, not 6. I'm pissed. We cannot lose this game.
95-yard fumble return for Duke...ouch!
Fumbles cost us 21 points-14 our offense should have had and 7 their offense picked up.
We are in trouble.
The good news is that there's only, what 13 minutes left, so we can just put the game on our defense's shoulders and hope for the best. Right Spaz? Right Tranq? Tranq? Somebody wake him up.
I did not like that offensive series. 3 sraight runs. Duke just loaded up the box. I would have liked to have seen a play action pass to the tight end on the 3rd and 2. Or just have Momah run a quick route to the inside and let him use his body to shield the defender.
This offense was doing so well when we opened it up. I think now Spaz is playing just to get out alive.
3 plays up the middle with a freshman running back and no fullback.
Tranquil should be fired tonight - especially if we lose.
Duke now believes they can win this game - and guess what - they can with Nyquil. It's a disgrace that we have this guy.
You're down 23-21 with less than five minutes to play? What's your offensive plan? Isn't that what Tranq is working on right now?
"He coulda went outside." Thank you Warrick.
"They just need to possess." Thank you, other guy.
My ESPN3 must be way behind. What do you mean we are down 23-21?
Ooh. Gutsy first down call, Tranq. Maybe keeping your fingers crossed makes it harder to flip the pages in your playbook.
beyond agonizing. BEYOND AGONIZING.
eb: I was just trying to step into Tranq's head for a second, anticipating what the BC offense might have to do. Not surprisingly, I went completely blank.
Could be my timing was just off -- at this stage, we could have that predicament with less than three minutes to play. There is currently 4:52, with Duke just taking possesion.
Be afraid...be very afraid...BC is in its "Prevent Offense".
Oh, Mod10, you scared the crap out of me.
I really hate these Duke receivers. Especially that punk Vernon
Do we have a pass rush? Prevent Defense + Prevent Offense = Prevent BC from winning
Yeah, Vernon is clearly a punk. See that little move he made to land on/hit Okaroha (sp?) after he shoved him down?
As if the prevent offense wasn't bad enough, our bend, bend, bend prevent defense is going to allow Duke to dink and dunk their way to the end zone and eat up a lot of clock in the meantime.
Yea that was a dick move. God it is so painful watching BC games - this is familiar
The "prevent offense" makes us look like total pussies, no matter what the D does or even what the outcome is. I effin hate that.
one play. C'mon Eagles!!!
There will not be enough time for BC to come back. We must hold--but it doesn't look good....
Down to one play...OMG
BC avoids the WTF of the century!!!!
MAX HOLLAWAY GOD BLESS YOU.
take that bc pessimists
So damn lucky! I'm still so angry! Can't even enjoy the victory
oh thank god. Vernon is clearly the Johnny Lawrence of the ACC
I hate Spaz with a passion. What a disaster. He once again shows that he's absolutely genital-less. Who the hell goes into prevent everything with over 10 minutes left in the game? Jesus. He can thank his lucky stars Halloway was a stud today. And now that BC won, Spaz will once again avoid being held accountable for his stupidity. His seat is getting colder by the minute now unfrotunately
Way to go Max!!!
Celebrate now; but we should never have been in this position.
"Take that, BC pessimists." Really? You're happy with that performance, overall? That's good enough for you? That's "ever to excel", is it? My ass.
I'm happy BC won -- honestly, it makes my week, but I'm not happy that I'm supposed to happy with this level of performance against this level of opponent.
Did I say I was happy?
I was just annoyed with the people giving up on our game after the second harris fumble.
Man, how far have we fallen that Duke is competitive with us...in football!
If BC does not get better fast, we will lose to both UVA and Syracuse. I feel better about UVA since it as at home. Even if we win next week, we may need that 7th win to make a bowl game.
That game was inexcusably infuriating. But we won and we're 5-5. That's the only thing that matters right now. Get off your high horse.
Even if you go into a prevent offense - you don't run it up the middle 3 times without the fullback - punt; get the ball back and run it up the middle 2 more times without the fullback - 5 yard delay of game and an unsuccessful, shitty pass play.
Tranquill needs to be relieved of his duties and let go at the end of the season. He should be fired tonight, but that won't happen. Boston College cannot hve Tranquill as its OC.
Spaz is not the man, IMO - he is a caretaker.
We won this game with one hand tied behind our backs - Tranquill, Spaziani, DeFillippo.
I'm certainly not comparing BC to Alabama in football, but I thought it was interesting that Alabama, now a 2-loss team in the SEC, won at Duke 62-13.
All that matters is winning. At this point, true. Kind of.
Didn't get to see the game, but from the comments...
...is this team getting better?
Maybe Rettig is? Maybe it was just Duke? Lots of maybes? There's still an outside shot at the Fight Hunger Bowl...keep hope alive.
I watched the game and we were capable of scoring 40 points on Duke but our coaches continually hold us back.
It is an embarrassment and Spaziani is lucky he has Max Holloway today. He managed this game right into Duke's hands. Unbelievable.
I'm happy we won, because Montel Harris would have taken some major heat - which reminds me. Duke knew exactly what was coming - that Tranquill would run it straight ahead, playing for the field goal instead of trying for the touchdown.
Usually it would work, but not this time - they got the touchdown on the fumble and Spaziani/Tranquill then managed the game right into their hands.
I'd love to know what our players really think of these coaches.
The defensive formula usually works... it's frustrating to watch, especially when the offense is giving up points and possession, but as the field shortens in the red zone, the soft seven drop is very effective. Good QBs can beat it, but the strength of the run defense makes it very tough to get red zone TDs against BC. I am not thrilled to watch it, and seeing crappy Duke marching up and down the field is frightening with Fox giving 13 yards of cushion on 3rd and 8, but I am used to seeing it now and at peace that Spaz's scheme will get it done as well as any guy BC is going to bring in.
The problem continues to be on the offensive side of the ball. Duke is terrible defensively. UVA nearly hung 50 on them last week. The coaching staff identified several weaknesses that they were able to exploit. Momah's size and Swigert's quickness down the field allowed Rettig to nearly average 10 yards an attempt with no turnovers. That's awesome. Mixing in some pistol and end around misdirection created a few creases in the zone blocking and the running game was effective at times. However, they never read the flow of the game and make adjustments. The fourth quarter play calling is brutally predictable. You can't go power I and expect it to work when you haven't used it all game and the opponent knows you are running it.
At this point, to have a legitimate shot at 7-5 when the pessimists were driving down the possibility of 2-10 is exciting, but at the same time somewhat depressing, knowing that these are the same types of TOB era games BC will be accustomed to playing.
Actually CT, BC had the game under control most of the game. It was 2 Montel Harris fumbles deep in the redzone that kept it close. BC defense played decent, not great, but they kept Duke out of the endzone. Rettig was very inaccurate early but had some nice passes in the 2nd half. They went deep more than at any other time this season. Rettig is improving.
This is a young team. Meter just said there are 29 freshman and sophomores in the 2-deep. Just goes to show you how horrific the Jags' staff was as recruiters. ATL will argue that many of the same coaches on staff recruited under Jags too. Still, recruiting starts at the top and those same coaches have brought in better players under Spaz. Remember, the O-line coach Bell that quit early in the Jags tenure? He could not stand that Jags would not go out and recruit. We are paying for that this season (along with Tranq's horrible play-calling).
Is the team getting better?. CT, need you even ask.
I believe the team is getting better. The players are executing better than they were earlier in the season. There's still a long way to go, but they're improving. Rettig's passing is still a bit eratic, but he's making some plays and making fewer mistakes. The O-line is still underachieving, but not as badly as earlier in the year. The D=line is overachieving; they've been a pleasant surprise, and the DBs are up to about a B-, I think.
Where we've seen zero improvement at all is up in the booth where the OC is still calling a dull, predictable game. This game, like every one before it, featured probably a dozen plays where you just can't justify the play call. I've said enough about going into the prevent offense with 10+ minutes to play.
At this point, it's the OC that's keeping this team from improving.
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