Saturday, March 31, 2012

Spring Game: a day of missed opportunities

We've learned not to read too much into the Spring Game. However, there are themes to the most public football event of the spring. This year I sensed an overriding feeling of missed opportunities. It started with the lousy weather and continued to the QBs making mistakes despite a depleted secondary.


The weather couldn't be helped. Moving the schedule forward necessitated the Spring Game in March. In Boston that's always dicey. Because of the unpredictable weather BC cancelled "Family Fun Day" and had smallish crowds. I hope we return to our normal Spring schedule next year. It might not make an impact on the field, but I think ending the Spring on a nice day creates a sense of optimism among the fans.


For those of us who watched online, the day started ignominiously. The feed was timing out and we couldn't see the first 20 minutes. Later the game came in.


As for seeing Doug Martin's new stlye, it wasn't drastic change. The formations were all pretty standard. The play was inconsistent and all the QB struggled at times. I don't know if that's attributed to the new scheme, the weather or talent issues. Rettig's rough numbers left some people wondering about the QB position battle. Spaz quelled that after the game by reinforcing that Rettig will be the starter next year. I remain in the Rettig fan club. This was just a glorified scrimmage. We've seen Chase execute against ACC defenses. How he does in an empty Alumni in March means very little.


There's nothing to read into the defense. Injuries and roster depth forced Spaz to put all sorts of raw or random guys on the field as the game progressed.


The Heights took lots of pictures. Check out their shots. You'll notice lots of empty seats.


Ultimately the Spring Game is about getting ready for next year. I hope BC's marketing arm use next year's Spring Game to see how they can grow the fanbase. Leaving the game to die in March doesn't do much for anyone.

8 comments:

The Football Blog said...

http://danssportsreport.blogspot.com/2012/03/my-recap-of-bc-spring-game-today.html

Here is my recap. I saw many of the same things you did. I still have hope for the season though

Peanut said...

Ummm, were we watching the same game? The team looked like they were in mid-season form! If anyone is interested, I have some great video.

The best one captures our 2 minute drill before halftime. Finch up the middle for 2. Finch up the middle for negative one. *shrug*. Let the clock run out, trot into the locker room. Cowardly play against your own shitty defense, I love it.

I also have a great clip of one of Chase's throws that sailed into the stands. Can't wait for the season to start!

Knucklehead said...

I was at the game. See my thoughts.

http://eaglesetall.blogspot.com/

Lenny Sienko said...

Thanks for those who posted their descriptions of the game. These were helpful for those of us who were unable to see the first half due to technical difficulties with BC's :No-Access" video.

***

The dearth of comments here has me worried. I'm concerned that the confounded "prove you're not a robot" has made it too difficult for folks to post.

EL MIZ said...

Lenny, i don't think those spammer tests are keeping people away. even with hockey in the frozen 4, this has been the worst football/basketball season in...how long? anyone? definitely over a decade, and really nothing to be excited about on the horizon.

-- the football team lost its best player, let several "commits" slip through their fingers on signing day to programs like penn state (coming off the most embarrassing scandal ever seen in college sports), harvard, and the northeastern track team. to advertise the spring game, the 4th offensive coordinator in 5 years and the "run game" coordinator were promoted instead of actual players. it's looking like it will be another long season, one which yet again features more losses than wins.

-- the basketball team is coming off a season where we did not even hit double digits in the win column. although i was optimistic all season, even the coach is tampering expectations for the season which starts in eight months from now by saying there will be yet another "rebuilding" season. this from a team that is returning everyone except a grad student 6th year senior who should not have even been on the team. we bring everyone back, plus 2 recruits, to a weaker ACC (duke and NC both won't be as good), and we are supposed to put up with another season in the pits.

i think the dearth of comments is attributable to a truly miserable state of affairs on the Heights. (or "the Pits", as they came to be known in the 2010s). maybe if there was something worth talking about, we could talk about it.

Jeff said...

Pretty miserable time of year for the Spring game, and yeah coming off a very disappointing season, with no coaching change...

I'm also still trying to watch the game feed. It keeps telling me that it's "not archived yet". It said that before the game was played, and it still says that now. What gives??

Mr. Tambourine MAn said...

This post sums up ATL's lack of excitement for the program, justifiably so. Bad decisions, poor performance, little evidence of hope. We are stuck with this disaster of a coach and athletic director and can only hope that they are both removed before they cause any more damage to the institution and its long term future.

I don't comment here or at EO anymore because its better to not think about this

Big Jack Krack said...

I think our players need us now more than ever.

It's easy to get discouraged I suppose - I get caught up in it as well.

But I've been watching college football for a long time, and I must say that we have some very good, and dedicated players.

Unfortunately our roster is thin for any number of reasons, and we must hope that the injury bug doesn't overwhelm us during the season.

So let's discuss the positives and the possibilities and enjoy watching these guys grow.

Go BC

Down with "Lack, Loss, Limitation".

Bring on Miami for a rematch, and let's give Coach Golden another pain in his you know what!