Walking wounded

Every year I predict one or two of our opponents will be checked out by November. Coaches lose the team. Coaches are lame ducks. Or the team faces so much adversity and losing, the whole squad throws in the towel by the last game. I fear that might happen to BC this year. Even if Addazio doesn't lose the locker room, the injuries are piling up to the point where we are really limited in what we can do.

Addazio was clear on some injuries Monday and more vague on others. Kam Moore is done for the season with a broken leg. This is a true loss because he was playing so well. McClary was decent last week, but had issues earlier in the season. He won't be as good as Moore, but hopefully he can make a few big plays.

Jeff Smith is a huge question mark. Even if he passes all concussion protocols by Saturday, we know he is not taking snaps in practice. Can Flutie be effective enough to score against VT? And worse, what happens if Flutie goes down? Walk-on John Fadule. That doesn't inspire much confidence. I would suggest running the ball a lot but none of the tailbacks are healthy. Richard Wilson will probably get carries because he's the only one fresh.

Throwing the ball 30+ times with Flutie seems like a disaster, but WR is one of the only areas where we are healthy. And this Offensive Line isn't going to open up big holes for Wilson and whoever else might get carries.

Fortunately the Defense is great and the Special Teams are improved.

This season exposed many of Addazio's issues and challenges. But maybe it can also expose some of his redeeming qualities. Maybe he can rally the team down the stretch. Maybe he can win a game with smoke and mirrors.

Ranking the most critical players

When Braxton Miller went down earlier in the week, I tweeted about BC's good fortune in missing the injury bug this summer. Of course this sort of mocking of the football gods will come back to bite me (and BC) and leave the roster decimated. But of all these hypothetical injuries which one would be the most serious? For example a injury to Tyler Murphy would be a bigger deal than an injury to Myles Willis. Not because Murphy is a better player, but because Willis' position is one of the few where we have depth. It is all subjective but here is my ranking of the most critical players for the 2014 season. Leave your thoughts or rebuttals below.

1. Tyler Murphy. Although he has never thrown a pass for BC, he's the starting QB in a QB dependent system and the only QB on the roster with any experience. If he gets hurt, we are forced to rollout a true, raw freshman.
2. Shakim Phillips. Assuming Swigert is not going to be 100% to start the season, Phillips might be our only experienced WR. We are going to run a lot, but we need a capable WR to be a threat or else we will face stacked defenses all season.
3. Steven Daniels. The fact that he is in a position battle may indicate that we are deeper at LB than expected, but Daniels remains the most experienced and productive linebacker in a linebacker dependent system.
4. Myles Willis. Willis won't approach Andre Williams' carries, but he is our most explosive offensive player. I expect him to be a critical part of the passing offense too.
5. Andy Gallik. Most of our OLine could and have played multiple positions on the offensive line. The nuances of Center are a little more tricky, making Gallik harder to replace. He's also expected to be our best OLineman too.

Pantale's surgery scheduled for Monday

BC Captain Chris Pantale will undergo surgery Monday to fix the broken bone in his foot. Recovery is scheduled for six to eight weeks. At this point a medical redshirt is unlikely. Pantale redshirted as a freshmen and as we learned with Momah, the NCAA is unwilling to grant sixth years unless the both redshirts are tied and documented to the same medical issue. Let's hope for quick and healthy return.

Other teams deal with injuries too

While some still feel a bit of "woe is me" regarding our injuries, it is important to remember that our future opponents are dealing with the issue too. Case in point: Dan Persa is still limping. Now I respect Persa and we saw Matt Ryan have a great year on one good leg in 2006, but this has to help BC's cause.

The known and unknown of the McLaughlin injury

An article in a Woburn paper -- that of course is not online -- is saying that McLaughlin has an Achilles injury. This is huge news for a potential Top 10 defense, but of course there is no other reporting from the Boston media or even the BC sites. I think there is some legitimacy to it all as students on campus are reporting that he is using crutches. Having your team captain and one of the better defensive players on crutches is not good news, regardless of the extent of his injuries.

What we know
-- He is injured
-- It is foot/leg related (likely Achilles)

What we don't know
-- If it needs surgery
-- How long he will be out
-- If he'll apply for a medical redshirt
-- If the NCAA will grant him a medical redshirt

McLaughlin redshirted his freshmen year. Although an additional medical redshirt in this sort of situation is common, they are never guaranteed. If he is unavailable for most of the season, it will be a huge setback for the team as a whole. Forget the subjective "leadership" role he filled. His production and importance to the defense was critical. His consistency was one of the reasons we were so strong against the run. His ability to cover space also allowed Herzy to rush the passer more. And as we saw against Maryland, McLaughlin is a playmaker in his own right.

The team has good depth at linebacker but outside of Herzy the rest of the guys are either young and/or untested. The only silver lining is that if he gets a redshirt, his extended career and time off will serve the team well in 2010 (like Raji and Toal's return did in 08, and how we hope Albright will provide a spark in 09).

I'll have more in this as the news trickles out.