Monday, October 20, 2008

Headlines: Eagles Hang On; Beat Hokies 28-23

Jeff: I was extremely excited to turn on the game at 8:00 and expected Alumni to be rocking after I had spent the afternoon watching some other college football games that seemed to have great atmospheres. But unfortunately, whether it was a poorly placed field mic, or the fact that Alumni was truly nearly silent, I felt like I had just turned on a San Diego State vs. University of Buffalo game which was being played at a neutral site. Please tell me the atmosphere was better in person.

Brian: The tailgating was great on a typical cool, crisp New England day. But when I got into the stadium, I agree there wasn't the same intensity that we've come to know for other night games. I'm not sure what it was. The game wasn't even sold out. In fact, one of our friends forgot her ticket back in South Boston and instead of going back to get it, she simply went to the box office and bought another ticket.

I'm really not sure why games like these aren't sold out. Part of me wants to point to the credit crunch and the struggling economy, but I think that's only part of the issue. The Red Sox playing in Game 6 at the same time, did that have something to do with it? If the Eagles can't pack 45,000+ into Alumni Stadium for a primetime game against arguably the best team in the ACC since the Great Expansion of 2004, it doesn't bode well for any of our other games against teams not named Notre Dame.

Jeff: The game should've been sold out before it was determined that the Red Sox would be playing but that certainly might have had a lot to do with the atmosphere. But anyway, Saturday was Frank Beamer's birthday and Chris Crane decided to give him a present in the form of 14 points. Jeff Smith also threw in 3 points on a fumble on the next drive's kickoff return, but fortunately, the Eagles were not successful in beating themselves. What'd you like about what you saw?

Brian: For the second straight BC game, one unit had a poor game and the other two units bailed them out. In my opinion, that's the sign of a very good team. While BC had 5 turnovers in this game, the Eagles were able to overcome an early 10 point deficit to outlast the Virginia Tech Hokies. The team was able to pull out the victory despite poor play from the offense. The Eagles were able to win with a stingy, stifling defense. Similarly, the Eagles were able to win in Raleigh with a potent offense despite very poor special teams play that gave the Wolfpack great field position on almost every one of their drives.

The thing that stands out most from this game for me is the ability of the team to march down the field and score after going down early 10-0. Others coaches and teams might have packed it in after that, but not Jags and Logan.

Even while Chris Crane seemed to struggle on offense, he did have some really nice, long passes to Brandon Robinson and Ifeanyi Momah for the touchdown. Harris and Haden also helped move the offense with 99 combined rushing yards on 24 carries.

Jeff, what stands out to you from this game?

Jeff: BC dominated the first half. It was incredible. We were down 10-0 before most people probably even tuned in to the game and Crane even added another pick 6 later on in the half. However, without turnovers the score could've and would've been 28-0 or worse. In a lot of ways it was the most impressive half of football I have ever seen any Eagles team play. They were just awesome in every aspect if you can manage to forget about the turnovers.

Brian: The first half performance was impressive. I think we can attribute the strong first half to a combination of a great defensive performance and a poor Hokie offensive performance. And the much maligned special teams unit came up with a big play too. Rich Gunnell's 65 yard punt return for a touchdown was a great individual effort and was one of the differences in this game. Glad to see the special teams pick up the team after their performance in Raleigh.

Jeff: You can say a lot of things about Jags and the team but you cannot say they are not improving. Every game has shown improvement in one area or another. If they can pull off a victory in Chapel Hill this weekend, the Eagles will be favored to win every game from here on which is shocking to say for the perrenially underrated Eagles.

Brian: Senior linebacker Brian Toal broke his leg in the Virginia Tech win and will be out for the remainder of the season. It's a tough loss for the defense as Toal was the second leading tackler this season. Does this temper your expectations at all for BC to be able to return to the ACC Championship Game in Tampa?

Jeff: No, this doesn't temper my expectations only if the Eagles can avoid further injuries. Unfortunately, Toal is the second starter on defense to go down for the season. I think our linebackers are good enough and have enough depth to survive Toal's injury but since Albright went down earlier in the season, I don't think the Eagles can afford any more injuries on defense.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I don't know which Alumni stadium you guys were in, but the student section was absolutely rocking, one of the best student atmospheres so far in my 2 1/2 years at BC.

Brian said...

The student section is always good. We're referring more to the rest of the crowd and the patches of empty seats. I think the Superfan student section noise doesn't project well on tv.

There were also a couple members of the 'down-in-front' crowd who were listening to the Sox game on radio. I appreciate die-hard baseball fans everywhere, but c'mon. You are at a football game.

Also, my season tickets are on the same side, opposite end of the student section, so it's hard to hear the student section.

Eagle in Brighton said...

Gotta agree with both: student section was pretty exceptional, casual fans in the stands were little more reserved than I was expecting (not to make excuses, but for non-alumni/non-students with season tickets, Game 7 I think really was a big draw v. our attendance figure).

Don't think I would have expected ESPNU for Clemson at the season's start, but the 3:30 time slot is excellent for all going to the game.