Pinstripe Bowl reactions

While there are always some gripes, I think most BC fans, players and coaches were excited about the Pinstripe Bowl selection. The media and the Iowa community don't seem as thrilled.

The Big Lead named the bowl one of the worst of the season. Their logic is that the game pairs two conservative, inefficient offenses on a slippery baseball field. 

Kirk Ferentz was Mr. Excitement in this interview. He admits to not knowing much about BC.

Here is Iowa's AD talking. He had to start the Q&As explaining why they are not going to Nashville.

The Iowa players don't seem as disappointed, but they don't seem particularly happy either.

Addazio was about the exact opposite of everyone from Iowa. He thinks this is the perfect bowl for BC.

"Start spreading the news..." BC to Pinstripe Bowl

After some 11th hour worrying, it all worked out for BC in the end. The Pinstripe Bowl selected BC for their December 27 game at Yankee Stadium. BC will face Iowa. This is a pretty perfect setup. It is a winnable game against a respectable opponent in a desirable location near a large percentage of our fanbase. Reviews of BC's last trip to the Pinstripe Bowl were good, so I expect another good showing by our fans in the New York area.

Like BC, Iowa finished 7-5 with some impressive wins but also some head scratching losses. I think it helps that BC has former Iowa staffer Jim Reid to help BC get familiar with their opponent. Addazio needs this win for many reasons. But getting to eight wins the first time in a bowl against a Big Ten team would be a nice way to end the season. Losing to cap another 7-6 season would be a letdown.

The teams and the fans should be excited. I am.

Basketball

Given how the Nebraska game ended, I expected BC to come out firing against Hartford. That's not exactly what happened. They first half was a struggle as the America East team to the lead. BC regained the lead and eventually pulled away in the second half to win.

The big factor was that Hawkins was out again. Gossip is that he's done for the season but that has not been confirmed by the school. Jerome Robinson led the scoring with 23 points and crossed the 1,000 career point mark. Once again BC struggled from 3. That's got to improve or this season will be frustrating.

BC has a week off before taking on Duke next Saturday.

Weird bowl news

Former ESPN reporter Brett McMurphy is still getting paid by ESPN but not allowed to report for them, or anyone else, so he has taken to Facebook. He is still very plugged in and still actively following the bowl shuffle. His latest update is not good for BC. From the update:

"Boston College looks like it won’t be playing in an ACC bowl. The Eagles most likely destination is either St. Petersburg or Birmingham."


As much as Detroit and Shreveport are terrible, I thinking getting bumped out of our own conference's slots is worse. Our bowl reputation is a vicious circle and going to a non-ACC bowl won't help.

In this update McMurphy has us playing FAU in St. Petersburg. The game is December 21 which is a Thursday. I wouldn't expect many to travel and I wouldn't love playing a red hot FAU team in a dome in what would be their Super Bowl. Let's hope McMurphy is wrong.

Beer, wine sales expand to Conte

Martin Jarmond announced that starting Friday, beer and wine will be sold in Conte during sporting events. This is follows on previous sales in Alumni and in suites. While the service and selection in the stadium received mixed reaction, most viewed it as a positive step forward in improving the game day experience. I like this move for two reasons.

1. This will continue to help grow revenue. Compared to pro sports, college sports leaves a lot of money on the table. Nurturing the growth, quality and selection of the game day food and beverage will only help BC long-term. More people will come and they will spend more money.

But more importantly

2. This shows that Jarmond is learning how to operate at BC. Father Leahy was against beer and wine sales, but Jarmond overcame his objections and the challenges with the City of Boston. Now he's pushed the service that much further with the implied blessing of Father Leahy and the permission of the City of Boston. These sorts of simple political moves were not done well or at all under Bates. The job requires someone with a vision, determination and the ability to adapt. This is a small step that shows Jarmond has many of those qualities. 

Bad night for Basketball in Nebraska

I had hoped BC would use the Big Ten-ACC Challenge as spring board. Instead it was more frustration as BC lost to Nebraska 71-62. The game really turned when Deontae Hawkins went down with a leg injury. (He was on crutches when he came out of the lockerrom.)  I know there is still plenty of time and the young guys will get better, but there were so many issues that concern me.

1. The 3-point shooting. 4 for 22 from deep. They forced some bad shots and were way off on many. If it is not falling, the team and coaches should know better than to force things.
2. The Defensive rotations. I know the announcers applauded some of the rotations, but I thought they were flawed. Nebraska had way too many easy shots.
3. Turnovers. Traveling and sloppy passes. BC shot themselves in the foot.

BC know has to hope for a little redemption against Hartford. If Hawkins can't go, who knows what will happen.

Pining for Pinstripe but not looking as good

This week's Playoff reveal doesn't mean much for BC. What really matters is next week when the real dominoes fall. I think most BC fans want the Pinstripe Bowl and the Pinstripe Bowl seemingly wanted us. But dear old Notre Dame screwed things up by losing to Stanford. That probably knocked the Irish out of any big bowl, so they will fall into the ACC's slots. That bumps nearly everyone in the conference down including BC.

Here are what the experts think as of Tuesday afternoon:

-- SBNation: BC to Pinstripe

-- ESPN: BC to Quicklane (Detroit) and BC to Independence (Shreveport); They have Virginia Tech and NC State going to Pinstripe

-- CBS: BC to the Military Bowl (Annapolis); They have NC State to the Pinstripe

-- SI: BC to Independence (Shreveport); They have Virginia Tech to Pinstripe

-- USA Today: BC to Pinstripe

-- Sporting News: BC to Military Bowl (Annapolis); They have Virginia to the Pinstripe 

I am biased but BC still seems like the best fit for the Pinstripe. We have a good regional fanbase that can sell tickets, we bring good TV ratings and there is an upswing in enthusiasm. We make much more sense than NC State or Virginia. However, I fear Virginia Tech. They will sell more tickets and have never played in the Pinstripe Bowl. The bowl's ability to bring in a fresh team with strong fan support is hard for BC to overcome. If we are knocked out of the Pinstripe, I believe it will be by the Hokies. 

If we don't get New York, it might be Shreveport or Detroit, with a chance at El Paso. In my opinion the worst option is Shreveport. We've been there recently, it makes no geographic sense and is not a compelling sell to fans or recruits. Going back to Detroit is not ideal, but at least we recruit the region. El Paso has some appeal to me as a football fan, but I doubt Addazio and Jarmond care about the history of the Sun Bowl. Keep your fingers crossed for New York.

DeFilippo: the man behind multiple messes

The Coaching Carousel has taking some weird turns this season. Nothing more unprecedented than the Tennessee fans revolting against the school's hire of Greg Schiano. With fit being so essential, you wonder how could Tennessee's AD John Currie so misread his own fanbase. Well guess who helped place Currie at Tennessee? Former Boston College AD Gene DeFilippo. Yes, Gene D handpicked Currie, who cited him as a mentor when introduced. Now less than one full football season later, Tennessee fans have neutered Currie and are ready to send him packing. Great pick, Gene!

In theory Gene should understand Tennessee given his past their and numerous ties. I am sure Gene and Turnkey would explain that the Schiano mess could have been avoided if they had been directly involved with that search. My guess is that they were conflicted out since Gene was already running the Ole Miss search. And who did Ole Miss hire after all was said and done? Their interim head coach. Gene really worked that one hard. It was like hiring Spaz all over again.

If you go back to last season, you start to notice a pattern. Gene ran LSU's coaching search last year. Who did they end up hiring? Their interim coach. Once again, money well spent on Turnkey!

It doesn't surprise me that Gene keeps getting these plum assignments. He was at his best when he was networking, mentoring and working the gossip. That's a major reason why BC got invited back into the ACC. However, the aspect of the job where Gene was least successful was hiring coaches. Jags, Spaz, Crawley and Donahue were all big missteps on his watch. But as long as colleges are looking for cover, I am sure Gene and his firm will gladly take their money and just hire the interim.

Regarding what Tennessee fans did, I am all for them standing up against the Schiano hire. I think the Penn State stuff was a red herring to make the relationship untenable. Ultimately they thought he was just another Butch Jones. I think Schiano is a good coach but an incredibly bad fit in Knoxville. Both sides could have done better. Maybe I should start my own search firm.

Second viewing thoughts and grades: Syracuse

There are times when the score reflects the game and times when it can be a little misleading. For example, the Florida State game really was a domination. The Clemson game was not as lopsided as the final result. This score feels a bit misleading. BC won handily, but for long stretches, it felt like Syracuse was going to get right back in it. Addazio does deserve credit for putting them away, However, there are still areas that weren't perfect. I am glad we have a month to practice.

Offense: A

Unlike past games, Wade played well from the start and throughout the game. He made some nice throws and was a bit more aggressive. I was also really impressed with his ability to avoid the sack when he got flushed out of the pocket.

Dillon is getting so much better at being a complete back. He is finding holes and not just running over people. Hilliman played better than he has been playing. His blocking was much better. Levy looked good when he finally got to see the field.

Like many of our recent opponents, Syracuse loaded the box to disrupt the ground game. The OLine handled the onslot well. Lindstrom played well. Lazard is not having as many problems as he did earlier in the year.

The Tight Ends really made the O click. They blocked well. They got open. They made their catches. Sweeney had some tough ones. Garrison played well. So did Callinan. Loved seeing Jeff Smith break free (what could have been with him...). White made some nice plays. Thadd Smith go multiple touches and did well.

This week's gameplan looked like it was made for Wade. Plenty of short passes. Plenty of boots and play fakes. We also added new wrinkles, ran the sweeps well and got the ball to many different guys. It was a good gameplan.

Defense: B

Allen had a solid game. I don't know if something was wrong, but Ray missed a few tackles. Ray Smtih was fine. So was Merritt.

Schwab played really well...even after he tweaked his leg. Jones seemed a little behind the action, but considering how new he is to LB, he played well.

The DBs were asked to do a lot and were pretty good. Cheevers played well in coverage and had a huge pass breakup that led to Harris' TD. Denis' return off the INT was nice. Torres looked okay in coverage. There were some missed tackles in this group but considering how good Cuse's WRs are, that was to be expected.

I didn't love the Defensive gameplan. I know it contained Syracuse to only 14 points, but they gained a ton of yards and hit lots of big passes. There were also plenty of 3rd down conversions. What saved BC were the 4th down stops and the turnovers. Once we realized that Culpepper was going to hit the passes, why not bring more pressure or give him more looks?

Special Teams: A

The success of the offense of late has hurt Knoll's chances at All ACC. His punts were good Saturday and both landed inside the 20.

Walker was fine.

The kickoffs haven't been as long or clean lately. Being indoors I expected the touch backs again. Maybe something is nagging GS.

No attempts at Field Goals. That was probably smart.

Overall: A-

There was plenty of message board talk after the game as to why Perry didn't get in to play. Maybe he could have been used during the final drive, but at this point it doesn't matter. The kid played and will practice for the bowl as the backup. BC needs a backup for the bowl, so this was not an entirely wasted season. I am not going to get on Addazio for that now. (Three years from now if Perry is great, I may reverse my current opinion.)

The other ingame coaching thing that Addazio did was to use timeouts to ice their kicker. It may seem childish, but in this case it worked.

Overall the team was much better prepared than his previous trips to the Carrier Dome and Wade looked much, much better.

Now it is time to get ready for the bowl and to develop the younger guys.

BC crushes the 'Cuse

That's how you end a season on a high note. BC played well in all aspects of the game to defeat Syracuse 42-14. With the win, Addazio guarantees a winning record regardless of the bowl game. (The bowl game is a chance to break the 7-6 ceiling.)

Wade had his best game yet and look very good passing out of bootlegs. He also spread the ball around. Dillon was dominant again.

The D allowed a lot of yardage against a quick strike Syracuse team. However, they got the turnovers and stops they needed during the game.

I did a quick Periscope to capture an uneventful game. I might do another Periscope Sunday night when the bowl picture becomes more clear.

BC beats Syracuse. Post game Periscope https://t.co/sLyA7eN2qj

— Bill Maloney (@bcatleagle) November 25, 2017

In-game comments post: Syracuse

Will the Carrier Dome be our House of Horrors again or does BC end the regular season on a high note?

Leave your thoughts and comments below.

You can also follow me on Twitter.

Friday picks

Just when I got things back to .500, the picks fell apart last week. I'm running out of time to get it better. Let's hope this week is the bounce back.

Picks in bold

UConn+5.5 at Cincinnati

Florida State-5 at Florida

Indiana+3 at Purdue

Georgia-11.5 at Georgia Tech

North Texas-11 at Rice

Southern Miss+3 at Marshall

UNLV+3 at Nevada

Alabama-5 at Auburn

Iowa State+3 at Kansas State

Vanderbilt+1 at Tennessee

Last week I went 2-8. For the season I am 55-61-3.

BC-Syracuse preview

Because his terrible Year 3 derailed any concept of a steady, program-building progression, so many Addazio games seem to serve as tests. This season we wondered "could he beat one of the big ACC teams?" or "could he finally get the offense to click?" or "could his home grown QB excel?" This Syracuse game is key step to an even more basic question: "can he ever be more than a 7-6 coach?" We know we are bowling, but the difference between 7-6 and 8-5 is enormous at this point. To get to 8-5, he needs to win this weekend.

What's on my mind (not totally related to this game)
I don't speak to every Syracuse fan, but I do know a few pretty well. What's interesting is how closely they associate Addazio with Pasqualoni. They view him as Paul P 2.0 and are quick to point out the many similarities. Addazio is quick to mention Urban Meyer (he did it this week when talking about his Thanksgiving schedule) but I don't think any BC fan thinks he's the next coming of Meyer. I think it is fair to say he's Coach P with a little more personality.

Three Simple Keys
1. Force turnovers. Like last week, I think giving Syracuse many looks will lead to INTs.
2. No Field Goal attempts. I know it is indoors and presumably easier to convert, but why risk it? Treat everything as four-down territory.
3. Complete at least 15 passes. We were lucky to win with so many drops and bad passes. That can't happen this week. Give Wade some easy throws and keep the ball moving.

Gambling Notes
-- Syracuse leads the all time series 30-19
-- Addazio is 0-2 in the Carrier Dome
-- Addazio is 1-3 vs Syracuse
The current line is BC-3.5

Factoid
Spaz is the only BC coach with a winning record (1-0) in the Carrier Dome.

Scoreboard Watching
Florida State-Florida is important to BC. If FSU gets to six wins, they will be a more desirable team than BC. A 'Noles loss would help BC's bowl options.

What I hope to see..
Perry get to make a real contribution. His redshirt is burned and we can't go back. Let's give him something to do.

BC is in trouble if...
This becomes a shoot out. Even without Dungey, Syracuse is built to score and score a lot. BC is not. That's why the ground game is so important this week.

Overall
After 2004, I will never take a Syracuse backup for granted. Regardless of who starts at QB for the Orange, I think they will move the ball. I think BC will control the tempo with the ground attack and hold off a Syracuse drive in the 4th to win the game.
Final Score: BC 28, Syracuse 21

Basketball needs wakeup call to beat Colgate

BC Basketball has talent. But not enough to just show up and beat every team on the schedule. Wednesday they got a scare when Colgate took a big lead into halftime. Fortunately BC adjusted and clamped down and eventually pulled away in the second half. Hopefully this is just an early season bump in the road.

What I am most frustrated by was Christian and staff's preparation. Aside from the low energy of the first half, they were playing soft and relaxed D and daring Colgate to shoot. And they did and made BC look silly. BC also was way too quick to shoot 3s in the first half. The shots were rushed -- sometimes too far beyond the arc and just sloppy. At halftime Christian adjusted. BC trapped more and also played much tighter on Colgate's shooters. BC started hitting the 3s in the second half. 

Robinson led the way with 28 points. He was aggressive and made some good shots. The small lineup was most effective overall for BC. Bowman had 19. Chatman 17.

The team gets another test Saturday against Providence. 

Revisiting the Thanskgiving Weekend problem

The Syracuse SB Nation bloggers asked this week if BC-Syracuse can ever become a rivalry if it is played on Thanksgiving Weekend. Their logic is two-fold. First the weekend is filled with established rivalries, so the BC-'Cuse game will rarely gain national attention. Their second issue is that with students off campus and many Alumni and fans not near each respective campus, the atmosphere and ticket demand will never be maximized. I agree with their logic and think BC should never play a home game Thanksgiving Weekend.

I don't want Thanksgiving Weekend home games for the simple reason that the atmosphere is subdued. Even when we are really good it is an effort to get students back on campus. If you are flying that weekend, you are likely not changing your tickets. It also puts a strain on BC fans from beyond the Boston area to get back during a holiday weekend that is also one of the busiest travel weekends of the year.

If BC completely avoids home games Thanksgiving Weekend, then the Syracuse series has to find another date, because as it stands now, BC is hosting Thanksgiving Weekend every other year. Another permanent weekend might give the series a little bit more notoriety. Without the Syracuse series, BC can just be the road team for whatever other ACC team is not in a rivalry game. (It would be a rotation of NC State and Wake).

Football is a fun part of of Thanksgiving Weekend. I love watching BC play. Let's keep up the tradition...just not at Alumni.

Second viewing thoughts and grades: UConn

As the game played out, I was frustrated that Addazio kept going with Wade. In hindsight it wasn't as bad, but still no less frustrating.

Offense: B-

As I've mentioned Wade started off horribly and then moved into just mediocre. I know the drops hurt his stats, but he was also off on some throws and looking to check down when there were bigger plays downfield. Perry played but didn't get to do anything.

Dillon carried the team again. He's getting better and better at waiting on his blocks and avoiding tackles in traffic. His power is amazing. Carrying three UConn guys into the endzone was fun to watch. Hilliman had his best game of the season. He was decisive and blocked well.

The drops were terrible for many of the WRs and TEs. Smith had a bad one that probably would have been a first down. White dropped more than one. Sweeney too. Garrison had a really nice grab for his TD. They did block well as a group. UConn was ready for Thadd Smith on the sweeps.

The OLine dominated. Aside from the rushing, Wade was rarely in danger. The times that UConn flushed him out of the pocket were often because he held it too long.

UConn has the worst pass D in the country and we couldn't exploit them through the air? That was on Loeffler (and Addazio). Even with the drops, there wasn't enough passing. Why not sharpen that area up? Fortunately the ground game was some dominant.

Defense: B

The DLine didn't seem that aggressive but I assume they were being conservative and doing their best to contain. Allen was active. Ray made some nice tackles. Merritt did a good job collapsing the interior. Smith was fine.

Lamont played well and once he got settled in seemed to adjust to UConn's offense. Schwab was fine. Bletzer was okay.

Cheevers played well. His first pick helped change momentum. Torres had a great run back on his as did Denis. Harris was fine. Yiadom was fine.

The gameplan was very conservative. I don't think BC's issues and the significant yards they gave up were schematic and on Reid. Instead it was more of an effort issue. In the beginning guys were quick to buy on the play action and not disciplined in their coverage. And there was bad tackling. UConn also added yards and points when we eased up and put the second teamers into the game.

Special Teams: D

I know the field was a mess and the weather was bad, but I don't know if you can keep going with Lichtenberg. Some of those misses were bad. Would you trust him if the game is on the line?

Walker's kick returns were good.

Das Boot's kickoffs were not as far again. Maybe it is the weather.

Knoll punted well, though he did have a shank.

The kick and punt coverage were good.

Overall: B

I hated how flat this team was to start the game. Addazio is supposed to be a motivator, yet this team had low energy, looked sloppy early on offense and allowed too many big plays. I know things improved, but this UConn team was terrible. A good team would have built a big lead against us and been much harder to put away. A game at Fenway shouldn't need hype. A killer instinct to put away a poor UConn team should be part of the program.

My other issue with Addazio is how he managed Lichtenberg. His confidence must be shot. Why keep sending him out there?

The good news for Addazio was that even with all the issues to start the game, he didn't lose his cool (like the last time at Fenway). We had an overwhelming depth and talent advantage and won. He got the team bowl eligible again and has a chance to keep improving. Now get rid of the Carrier Dome jinx.

Basketball bounces back

The true test will come during ACC play, but BC Basketball acquitted itself relatively well during the Hall of Fame Tipoff. They lost Saturday to a pretty good Texas Tech team and then bounced back Sunday to beat La Salle. BC now stands at 4-1.

The best part of the La Salle game was Robinson filling up the stat sheet. It was easily his best game of the young season. We are now at the point where BC has multiple weapons and can be competitive even if one guy isn't at his best.

BC is off for a few days and then takes on Colgate Wednesday. A big test comes next week when we play Providence. I know I am still cautious about this team's potential, but the first two weeks have been a good step forward. 

Boring but bowl bound

BC came out flat, but in the end it did not matter. BC trounced UConn at Fenway. Dillon made up for Wade's uneven performance. Hilliman also had his best game of the season. After a rough start, the D also adjusted. The score should have been even more one-sided, but BC couldn't convert extra points and UConn got some garbage points late in the game.

Beyond the game, the big issues of note were freshman EJ Perry playing and BC locking up a bowl bid. I will have more on both issues this week.

I will be traveling so I don't know if I will have the grades up Sunday night. I will have something up. Stay tuned.

Below is my Post-game Periscope.

BC beats UConn: Post Game Periscope https://t.co/csOqr8su0a

— Bill Maloney (@bcatleagle) November 19, 2017

In-game comments post: UConn

We've got UConn at Fenway. It should feel special. I hope it is a blowout. Let's get things back on track.

Leave your thoughts and comments below.

You can also follow me on Twitter.

Friday picks

Picks in bold

TCU-6 at Texas Tech

Minnesota+7 at Northwestern

Texas+3 at West Virginia

Fresno State-2.5 at Wyoming

UMass+4.5 at BYU

Georgia Tech-6.5 at Duke

Army+2.5 at North Texas

Arizona+2.5 at Oregon

Texas A&M+2.5 at Ole Miss

NC State+1.5 at Wake Forest

Last week I went 7-3. For the season I am 53-53-3.