Good Cop/Bad Cop: Fixing ACC Football's Opening Weekend

After the ACC's forgettable opening weekend, many ACC coaches and journalists came out of the woodwork, each with different theories on how to fix this ACC football mess. And by mess, we mean going 4-6 in non-conference play, including 0-4 vs. BCS competition and 3-2 against I-AA competition.

Jeff and I debate some of these theories, as well as one mouthy RS sophomore Kent State QB, in a game we call Good Cop / Bad Cop. Let's get our first suspect.


Suspect #1 - Allowing preseason inter-team scrimmages

Brian as Bad Cop: NC State coach Tom O’Brien has joined Frank Beamer in calling for the NCAA to allow teams to schedule a preseason exhibition game against another team. Supposedly these scrimmages will get teams better prepared to play on opening weekend. "It will give you an indication of who and what you are against somebody else," O'Brien said. "Then when you open with a South Carolina or an Alabama like he did, you might be better prepared to take on the first game." O’Brien attributes support of the idea from the American Football Coaches Association from the influx of NFL coaches in the college ranks. Personally, I don’t like the idea. While the NCAA does allow college basketball to schedule up to two exhibitions before the season begins, college basketball and college football are very different beasts. With football, you risk injury when playing other teams. There was certainly no shortage of injuries this college football preseason to begin with; a inter-team scrimmage would only make matters worse.

The other issue I have with this suspect is that O’Brien and Beamer are just coming off as whiny. Perhaps it is human nature, but whenever someone feels slighted, they use the opportunity to try to bring about change. What would seem like a good idea under normal circumstances comes across the wrong way when someone like O’Brien or Beamer brings this up. Your teams just lost on opening day. Of course you want to find a better way of preparing your team for their opener since you fell flat in week one. This same phenomenon can be found with the slight of an undefeated Utah squad last season, and Mountain West commissioner Craig Thompson using Utah’s situation to bring about a college playoff or an automatic bid for the MWC. What is normally a pretty sound idea gets shot down prematurely given the circumstances.

So O’Brien and Beamer, the NCAA does allow for de facto "scrimmages" to start the season (although don't call them scrimmages in front of Al Groh of David Cutcliffe!). It’s called playing Division I-AA programs. Go and share this wonderful new revelation with your respective ADs post haste.

Jeff as Good Cop: Were you in the interview room Brian? How can you say O'Brien and Beamer are whining? They probably just simply answered a question from a reporter who set them up to sound whiny.

Personally, I like the idea. Make the scrimmaged among teams of similar caliber or turn the games against I-AA opponents into scrimmages. Either way would be win-win for the schools and the fans. You know ESPN would broadcast many of these scrimmages and they would greatly improve the quality of the product we see on the field the first weekend so we don't have to suffer through watching TOB's squad fail to score a touchdown two years in a row in their opening game and similarly, BC didn't look too polished last year against Georgia Tech. Wouldn't you have liked to have a crack at the Yellow Jackets when it was not the first game of the season?


Suspect #2 - ACC playing all league games in week one

Jeff as Bad Cop: Oh, this is a terrible idea!! They need to schedule the Miami (Fla.) vs. Florida State game on the first Monday night to get that paycheck the league loves so much. Besides that, all ACC programs need to schedule I-AA schools for college football's opening weekend. Then the league's record would be at least 8-4 and maybe 11-1 in good years! Florida State is already behind the eight ball in the Atlantic Division standings just because of a few miscues against a very good cross-divisional rival. A program shouldn't have so much riding on the first game of the season. BC's season this year would've looked much more hopeless if we didn't benefit from starting off with two extra scrimmages before heading south to play at Clemson.

Brian as Good Cop: I don't mind this idea. Why does the ACC have to go out and prove that it can beat the big boys of the SEC on opening weekend every year? All they ever do is fall flat on their face and give the league a very unnecessary black eye. Why not just keep opening weekend "in the family?" This way, as Caulton Tudor points out, the ACC wouldn't need any sort of damage control or spin after the first weekend as the best the ACC could do in week 1 is 6-6. That's an improvement on 4-6, to be sure. The one part I don't like about Tudor's proposal is having any intra-divisional games on the opening weekend. As you said Jeff, a program shouldn't have too much riding on week 1. So what the ACC should do is use one of the two non-intra-divisional, non-rivalry games and schedule these for week one. In this alternate reality, this year's opening schedule could have looked something like this:

Boston College at Virginia
Clemson at Miami (Fla.)
Wake Forest at Georgia Tech
Florida State at North Carolina
Virginia Tech at Maryland
Duke at NC State

I will selfishly schedule Virginia for the Eagles to open the season 1-0. NC State would have beat Duke and the wheels wouldn't have fallen off the NC State bandwagon quite so early. Virginia Tech would have blasted Maryland and kept their BCS Championship Game hopes alive, if only for a few more weeks.

Finally, you likely would have had not one but three great league games in week 1. Clemson at Miami (Fla.), Wake Forest at Georgia Tech, and Florida State at North Carolina all have the potential to be just as good as Miami (Fla.) vs. Florida State was. People would be gathering around the water cooler talking about not one but three epic ACC games, and that is exactly what this conference needs. This idea surprisingly has legs, even if it did come from the Raleigh News & Observer.


Suspect #3 - The ACC continuing to field teams in the Chick-Fil-A Kickoff Classic

Brian as Bad Cop: This is a no-brainer. John Swofford should say "thanks, but no thanks" to the Atlanta Sports Council and the Chick-Fil-A Kickoff Classic going forward. What good has come of this game for the ACC? Last season, the ACC preseason media darling got pasted by the Alabama Crimson Tide, who went on to have an undefeated regular season. This year, while Virginia Tech was much more competitive, the Tide killed the BCS Championship Game hopes of another preseason ACC Champion pick. And, the way I see it, it’s not going to get any better from here.

In 2010, Chick-Fil-A has matched LSU vs. North Carolina in the Georgia dome on September 4. Is UNC going to be the cream of the ACC college football crop next season? Highly unlikely. Meanwhile, Les Miles will likely have LSU ready to stomp an ACC opponent for the third straight year. The 2011 game isn’t finalized, but The Raleigh News and Observer reports that the 2012 game will feature North Carolina State and Tennessee. Again, the trajectory of both of these football programs suggests that this will again be ugly for the conference. While the large payout for each school is certainly enticing, how many more opening weekend black eyes can the ACC take before the conference starts to be mentioned along with the Big East about revoking an automatic BCS bowl berth? I’m all for interesting intersectional games featuring ACC teams to start the season, but why do we have to continue to take it on the chin from a superior SEC program year in and year out? No thank you.

Jeff as Good Cop: Are you crazy? This type of exposure is great for the ACC. Alabama has had their best teams in a long time in back to back seasons and that was just tough luck for Clemson and Virginia Tech. If this series continues for a long time I'm sure the SEC will have a winning record in the series but that's OK. They're supposed to beat the ACC more often than not. This game is great for ACC fans, too. The fans of the ACC rep in this game will continue to sell out their half of the Georgia Dome

Clemson got embarrassed last year and the Bama beating they took had an impact on their entire season. Virginia Tech, however, showed it can play with the big boys and only dropped slightly in the rankings as a result. Swofford better not mess this one up by not continuing to send ACC schools to Atlanta on college football's opening weekend.


Suspect #4 - Kent State QB suggesting BC should be on upset alert this weekend

"I know they are a BCS team, but that really doesn't mean nothing," Morgan said today in a news conference at Dix Stadium. "This is college football - anybody can be beat." - Giorgio Morgan, Kent State QB

Jeff as Bad Cop: What an idiot. Didn't he learn a little from Legarrette Blount of Oregon? Blount said that Boise State deserved an ass whooping and Boise State gave said whooping instead of getting one. He should have just said that Kent State has improved since last year when they got shut out by the Eagles, blah, blah blah. It's not that hard.

Brian as Good Cop: BC should be on upset alert this weekend. At least that's what I would have the team thinking if I was Coach Spaziani. Nevermind the 54-0 final score from last week. That was last week, and it was against 2-10 Northeastern. The Eagles were far from perfect last Saturday.

Ok ... sorry. Who am I kidding? I can't possibly play the good cop on this one. I appreciate the swagger but how can you say stuff like this when you threw for no touchdowns and 2 interceptions against I-AA Coastal Carolina in your college debut? Not to mention Morgan suffered a mild ankle sprain on Saturday but will likely start for the Golden Flashes. If I was Giorgio Morgan, I wouldn't be giving the young, hungry Eagles defense any bulletin board material whatsoever. Finally, no style points for use of the double negative. Poor form, kid.

Good Cop/Bad Cop: The Best Days of BC Football Ahead?

Welcome back to the precinct. Today Jeff and I discuss several BC football offseason storylines in a game of Good Cop / Bad Cop.  Let's get our first suspect.


Suspect #1 - The best days of BC football ahead of us

Brian as Good Cop:  Interesting read on the Virginia Tech blog Blogsburg wondering whether the glory days of Virginia Tech football are in the past.  Sidenote: in my opinion, the answer to that question is yes.  The glory years for Virginia Tech football were clearly the 1999-2000 era.  Undefeated regular season, BCSNCG appearance, 22-2 record.  While everything in college football is certainly cyclical and I'd expect Virginia Tech to again compete for a National Championship in my lifetime, I don't think they'll ever get back to the Michael Vick era dominance of 1999-2000.  They are in a much tougher conference now, both in terms of number and quality of opponents, have an extra game to win with the ACCCG, and programs like Florida State and Miami aren't going to be terrible forever, right?  Simply too much parity these days in college football.  But I digress.

Are the best days ahead for BC football?  The answer to that question is a resounding yes.  I fully expect BC to win an ACC championship in football in my lifetime. (Heck, every team except BC, Miami, North Carolina and NC State has won an ACC championship in football in my lifetime. Yes, even Duke!)  The 2000s have arguably been the best stretch of BC football since the 1940s, with the Eagles going 80-35 (.696) since 2000.  But I'm guessing a 12-2 or 13-1 season will happen one of these years.  We've been so close the last two years, but I would argue an ACC championship would top this recent stretch, and possibly even the Flutie and Frank Leahy era of the 1940s.  It is easy to say that Doug Flutie and/or Matt Ryan isn't walking through that door, and equally easy to predict a drop off the next few years.  But our football program is only getting better with the move to the ACC.  The conference switch has only provided the football program with increased revenues and more and more national exposure.  The next Flutie/Ryan will come, and BC will top the 11-3-0 2007 season in the next 10 years.

Jeff as Bad Cop:  The best days of BC football being ahead of us would mean that we would have a stretch of seasons better than the past several.  That is not going to happen.  Back to back ACC Championship Game appearances and ten straight bowl appearances are going to be tough to beat.  Also, the question implies the relatively near future and I think it is impossible to predict that BC will be any better than the last 2-3 years in a 2-3 year span over the next five years.  I think the potential is there to be just as good and an ACCCG trip might turn into an Orange Bowl trip but one season with an ACC Championship would not mean that a couple year span is better than the last few have been.  We are in the middle of the best years of BC football.  They are not ahead of us.


Suspect #2 - Virginia Tech AD Jim Weaver asking ACC coaches to try to schedule non-conference competition no farther than one state removed (and no farther west than the Mississippi River)

Jeff as Bad Cop: I do not understand this at all. Not to mention Virginia Tech has hardly abided by their own "rule" either as last time I checked, Nebraska is west of the Mississippi where they played last year.  Not every ACC school needs to play Big XII and Pac 10 teams every year but there need to be a few matchups each year so that poll voters can have something to judge relative conference strength on which plays a key role in who plays in BCS games.

Brian as Good Cop: This statement is nearly impossible to play the good cop on but I'll give it a shot anyway. All Jim Weaver meant by this statement is to suggest a creative way to keep football travel costs down in this economic downturn.  The truth of the matter is most of the ACC programs are doing this already starting in 2009.  North Carolina State has 0 out of conference road games next season and most programs that do play out of conference road games are staying close to home.  Clemson's only out of conference road game is intra-state (at South Carolina) as are both of Miami's out of conference road games (at Central Florida, at South Florida).  Teams will have to use their discretion, however, as this rule can't possibly be a hard and fast rule for every ACC school.  If it did, you are basically giving BC the opportunity to schedule only the following D-IA teams out of conference: Connecticut (which should never happen), Army, Syracuse and Buffalo.   


Suspect #3 - This Florida State booster's idea for ACC divisional realignment - swap Georgia Tech for Maryland

Jeff as Bad Cop:  If the ACC is going to realign, they can do a lot better than simply swapping Georgia Tech for Maryland.  The best solution would probably be a North/South alignment but it's all a waste of time talking about it since the conference schedule is set through 2015.

Brian as Good Cop: The conference schedule may be set through 2015, but that wouldn't preclude the conference from making a move before then if push came to shove. As Gobbler Country points out, the conference has already made a scheduling change in baseball with the move of the 2010 ACC baseball championship from Boston to Greensboro next season. The reasoning/excuse? Decrease travel costs ... in this economy.

The conference has seemed to pick and choose which cost cutting measures they want to pursue, but this certainly could be another one of those. Swapping Georgia Tech for Maryland moves the conference closer to having a pure North/South alignment, with the only exception being BC would still be in the Atlantic (a.k.a. the ACC South) and Miami still in the Coastal (a.k.a. the ACC North). But really, those two teams will have to travel pretty far anyway for most road ACC games and this move would decrease travel costs to some extent for 10 of the 12 teams.

This alignment ensures that Florida State and Georgia Tech, the Seminole's closest geographic ACC opponent, would play every season in football, and also moves the Georgia Tech vs. Clemson and Maryland vs. Virginia permanent rival games intra-division. With the new alignment, you backfill the permanent rival setup with Clemson vs. Maryland and Georgia Tech vs. Virginia, and this Florida State booster is happy.


Suspect #4 - ACC rule change where road teams no longer have to wear white jerseys

Brian as Bad Cop:  I don't have really strong feelings about this but I will play the bad cop on this one.  What's the point of this?  I mean, I thought it was kinda cool when Pete Carroll made a point of having USC wear their red jerseys at the Rose Bowl when they played UCLA for the sake of tradition.  But I don't see the point of this ruling.  For BC, we're not going to stop wearing our maroon jerseys at home.  And it would only cause mass confusion if a Florida State or a Virginia Tech wore their home jerseys in Chestnut Hill ... it would be a maroon fest of epic proportions.  The only teams that might be able to capitalize on this ruling are North Carolina or Georgia Tech, who have light-colored home jerseys.  I wouldn't have a problem if UNC came to Chestnut Hill wearing their Carolina blue uniforms or Georgia Tech showed up in their Vegas gold.  Otherwise, this rule change is dumb.  The rest of the ACC's home uniforms colors are too distinctive that you would never want to watch a game with two teams wearing their home colored uniforms.  Imagine watching a game with Clemson or Miami in orange vs. Florida State or Wake Forest black unis.  Or how about Maryland or NC State in red vs. Miami in green.  These color combinations would surely cause an epileptic seisuze.  No thank you. 

Back in 2003, the NHL changed their rule to be that home teams had to wear dark colors, which flew in the face of 30+ years of tradition where the home team would wear white.  That was a dumb rule change and so is this.

Jeff as Good Cop:  I think it would be great to be able to wear a gold jersey on the road just like the basketball team wears at home sometimes.  Jerseys would have to be approved by someone who would have to avoid the red and green combo and any other confusions.  ACC officials are a little smarter than you give them credit.

Brian as Bad Cop: The officials won't be signing off on this, the teams will before the game. I would be the good cop on this if the Eagles did have a gold jersey they could wear on the road, but gold jersey and gold helmet? Not sure that would look so hot.


Last one, Suspect #5 - BC football attendance is recession proof

Jeff as Good Cop: Two years ago, the Eagles played essentially the same home schedule where Florida State was the only marquee opponent to come to the Heights. Attendance was great throughout that season despite the weather being bad for multiple games that year. BC fans will be back out in force this season for ACC games since the Eagles will not lose their first home game as they did last year to Georgia Tech. If the team can win at Clemson in September, Alumni will be full the rest of the season and I fully expect Spaz to get the season started on the right foot.

Brian as Bad Cop: There will be multiple factors that contribute to lower attendance at BC football games in 2009, and the economy will certainly be one of those.  But the economy won't be the only factor in lower attendance.  It certainly doesn't help the Eagles that the schedule isn't doing them any favors this year.  No Virginia Tech, Clemson, Notre Dame or Miami at home this season.  In addition, a bunch of relatively obscured out of conference opponents come to the Heights this fall in Central Michigan, Northeastern and Kent State.  As you mentioned Jeff, the only headliner is Florida State, but two years ago we didn't even come close to selling out the FSU home game.  Granted the weather was terrible but the Eagles went into that game 8-0!  There isn't the buzz surrounding the team that there was for Matt Ryan's senior year - new head coach and coaching staff and possibly new starting quarterback certainly contribute to this.  And lastly, the economy will certainly be a factor in attendance in 2009.  People everywhere are cutting back on discretionary expenses and this could very well be the difference between going to all 7 home games and instead going to 2-3.

For those number-oriented nerds reading this, here are the raw attendance figures over the last two seasons.  Attendance was actually down by 6,669 in 2008 from the 2007 season, but that can solely be attributed to the fact that we swapped a decent I-AA UMass team for a terrible Rhode Island cupcake last season (a difference of over 11,000 fans).  Read into these numbers what you will, but with Florida State being the only marquee team coming to Alumni Stadium this fall, it wouldn't surprise me if we didn't sell out Alumni once this season.

2008		2007
Ga Tech	40,106	Wake Forest	42,292
UCF	41,267	NC State	42,513
Rhode Island	32,628	Army	40,329
Va Tech	44,127	UMass	44,111
Clemson	41,863	Bowling Green	40,117
Notre Dame	44,500	Florida State	40,065
Maryland	42,767	Miami	44,500
TOTAL	287,258	TOTAL	293,927
AVG	41,037	AVG	41,989
CAPACITY	92.2%	CAPACITY	94.4%

Good Cop/Bad Cop: Eagles Beat Noles

Today we play a game of good cop / bad cop and discuss the latest and greatest in Boston College basketball.

Let's get our first suspect ...


Suspect #1 - The Seminoles losing Wednesday night's game (as opposed to the Eagles winning the game)?

Brian as Good Cop: I will play the good cop on this one. Florida State ended up committing 18 turnovers on the night. Orlando Sentinel FSU blogger Andrew Carter calls this "self inflicted wounds" on the part of the Seminoles. Florida State's Toney Douglas played one of his worse games of the season (4 turnovers, 3 fouls despite his team-leading 19 points). Early on in the game, somewhere around 9-4 Seminoles ... and which quickly ballooned to 16-4 Seminoles ... I wrote you an quick email with the subject "We are going to lose this game and it is going to be ugly." The Eagles absolutely did not belong in the game in the first half but due to the slew of FSU mistakes, went into the half trailing by 1. A better team would have put the Eagles away early and led the Eagles by 10-15 at half. Instead, the Noles left the door open and the Eagles took advantage.

Jeff as Bad Cop: How can you say Douglas had a bad night scoring 19 when Rice only scored 11. Douglas clearly won the battle of the superstars. Turnovers are either given up or forced, and after the first ten minutes of the game the Eagles played with a lot of intensity and forced many of those turnovers rather than them simply just being given up. And finally, you need to make shots in order to win the game and down the stretch the Eagles did just enough of that including Rice's big 3 to put them up 4 with 20 seconds to play.


Suspect #2 - Florida State as a tournament lock?

Brian as Bad Cop: FSU is now 21-7, 8-5 in conference with three regular season games left to play. The Seminoles have an impressive RPI but a not so great SOS. At first glance, you would think they are a tournament lock at this point regardless of the team's setback in Chestnut Hill. But not so fast, my friends. I'm here to tell you the boys from Tallahassee still have work left to do. FSU has three regular season games left - at home vs. Clemson, on the road in Durham and finish at home against Virginia Tech. Assuming the Seminoles' kenpom predictor to be correct for a second, FSU will lose to both Clemson and Duke but beat Virginia Tech in the regular season finale. 1-2 in their last 3 games gets them to 9-7 in the ACC and in the tournament. But let's say that FSU drops to the Hokies as well? That would make FSU 0-4 in their last 4 and drop them all the way to 8-8 in the ACC. This is starting to smell of a bubble team. Then, if the Noles draw a Maryland or an NC State in the first round of the ACC Tournament, this becomes virtually a must-win. So are the Noles a lock? No. Given the slight chance that they finish the season on a five game skid, this team will have to beat the Hokies or win their first round tournament game, otherwise the Seminoles could be N. I. T.ing it.

Jeff as Good Cop: Since really no one is a lock right now with 3 conference games yet to play and conference tournaments, FSU is the closest thing there is. All FSU needs to do is either win one of their remaining regular season games or win 2 games in the ACC tournament which this team is very capable of doing. The Eagles and FSU are both sitting with 8 conference wins and if the tournament started today, the Seminoles would get the higher seed.


Suspect #3 - Poor Conte Forum attendance for the next-to-last home game against a Top 25 opponent?

Brian as Good Cop: Hard to do, but I will give it a shot anyway. I will play the good cop on this one. Last night's game against No. 23 Florida State was attended by only 4,968 fans. Back of the envelope math tells me that Conte was only about 58% packed last night. Sounds pretty terrible at first, but this is certainly understandable. Last night's game had a lot of factors working against it ... 1) it was a 9:00pm tip 2) the last week before spring break 3) exam week and 4) it was Florida State and we weren't playing football. Even though Florida State came into Conte Forum as a ranked opponent, I'll bet most students and casual Superfans didn't even know that fact. Florida State is a football school, not a basketball school. With no real basketball history and a lack of name brand college hoops recognition, students would rather get better grades on their exams than watch another game where Tyrese Rice doesn't score a point in the first half. Plus it's not like students are going to storm the court after the win, even if we beat FSU on a buzzer beater. Finally, students are showing their opposition to GDF's dumb student ticket policies (half-season ticket plans) by not attending the games.

Jeff as Bad Cop: Florida State is a football team and nothing to get excited about when it comes to basketball, the economy still sucks, and a 9:00 Tuesday night game means you are not getting home until midnight or later, but c'mon people, where are ya!? This poor team deserves better support than they have gotten at home this season. The first few games following the UNC victory had good attendance but then attendance has slacked off again outside the Duke game. BC fans need to come out and take advantage of their chances to watch some great ACC basketball action and the student attendance is the most disappointing of all since they should be least bothered by the 9:00 pm start.


Suspect #4 - Joe Trapani as this year's team MVP?

Jeff as Bad Cop: Is this question a joke? Have we forgotten that Tyrese Rice is a member of this team. MVP doesn't just mean guy who scores the most points or guy who plays the most minutes - even though Rice would be MVP is that were the criteria averaging 17.5ppg in 33.1 min. Rice is our team MVP because he is our team leader and has taken all those Sophomores we've had and helped to turn them into decent players and people. He is also our team MVP because he is the man on the floor that the opposition has to worry about the most and sometime's throw 2 defenders at opening up shots for others like your boy Joe. Finally, Joe is in no way the team MVP because he threw away an inbounds pass late against FSU nearly costing us the game.

Brian as Good Cop: Since he's my boy, I will play the good cop. Joe Trapani is this year's team MVP. He's averaging 14.1 points per game, more than anyone other than Rice (17.5). He leads the team in rebounds (6.6 per game) and blocks (1.0 per game). He is the second best three-point shooter (.369) and free throw shooter (.778) of our starting five. Not to mention, he is forced to make up for our lack of height when Southern gets in foul trouble. At this point, this is where Raj leaves a comment about how Trapani hasn't hit a clutch shot or anything. But last time I checked, you didn't have to hit a clutch shot to be the most valuable player on your team. With Trapani, you don't have to worry about him getting shut out of the scoring column in the first half (like Rice), and he doesn't decide to have horrible games against good Top 25 competition (see: Rakim Sanders vs. Wake x2). Just how much more consistent has Trapani been compared to Sanders? Looking at both of their individual game lines, Sanders scored less than 10 points in 11 games this season compared to only 6 games for Trapani.

Simply, without Trapani, this team would have only marginally improved from last season's 14-17 record.


Suspect #5 - ACC ass clowns that work for a certain NC newspaper campaigning for the ACC to contract back down to 10 teams

Brian as Good Cop: To everyone's surprise, I will play the good cop on this one and go along with this idea. Sure, let's pair down the ACC back to 10 teams so Coach K, ACC sportswriters and others of their ilk can stop waxing poetic about the beauty of the round-robin basketball schedule. But why would you get rid of BC and Miami? Well, forget Miami for a second, why would you want to get rid of BC? In our four years in the league, BC has only posted the third best record in ACC play behind only Duke and North Carolina. But apparently, we still aren't a good enough "fit" for the conference since we are a small, Northeast school. And football? Ha. Without BC football the last four years, the ACC is Conference-USA, or worse yet, the MAC. So let's play nice and go with this idea of trimming the ACC back down to 10 teams. The question is, however, which 2 teams to contract?

You keep Virginia Tech because, as much as it pains me to say, they have been the flagship football program for the conference post expansion (and meh in basketball). You can't contract North Carolina or Duke because even though their football programs are mediocre / suck, respectively, their hoops are first-rate. Florida State and Miami (FL) have to be great in football again at some point, right? ... Right? Georgia Tech and Wake Forest have more than held their own in football since the Great Expansion of 2005. You keep Clemson around for the comedic value of the annual collapse of their overhyped football teams (and who would have figured?! suddenly have a decent hoops team). And Maryland, while irrelevant in football, at least have had recent success on the hardwood. So all signs seem to point to Virginia and NC State as the ACC's Minnesota Twins and Kansas City Royals. Honestly, what have either of these teams done post 2005?

Virginia had one great season in hoops and football two years ago, but otherwise has gone 7-9, 5-11 and 3-9 (this season) in basketball. They don't make much noise in the ACC Coastal in football, playing second fiddle to Tech in the state. While UVA is great for the conference in other sports, for the ones that count, the Cavaliers are easily forgettable.

And don't get me started on NC State. Complete this sample SAT analogy. Duke : ACC Coastal :: _________ : ACC Atlantic. If you guessed NC State football, you'd be correct! NC State would like to thank their Tobacco Road buddies over in Durham for diverting attention away from their horrible football seasons since 2005. 3-5 ... 2-6 ... 3-5 ... 4-4. 4-4 in their second year under TOB. Ooo! Progress.

For a large state school that underachieves in college football and basketball and likes to poke fun at Boston College, you bring basically nothing to the table in football or basketball. Get out of my conference and go join Conference USA. You can set up a nice, little in-state rivalry with ECU.

So go ahead, ACC purists. Contract away. But why don't you go ahead and contract away teams that have actually been irrelevant in the post-expansion ACC rather than teams that don't fit your little North Carolina-centered basketball conference?

Jeff as Bad Cop: ACC purist? I understand the term baseball purist but how can anyone be an ACC purist? It wasn't too long ago that the conference was born(1956) and then even more recently Florida State was was added in 1991. There are no retired men sitting around talking about how their fathers took them to ACC games as a child since their fathers had taken them as a child so how can we even have these purists and historians? Lastly, why would they contract to ten teams since the ACC started as 8 teams, lost South Carolina to become 7, gained Georgia Tech to become 8 again, and finally added FSU to become 9. The ACC has had a varied membership over the years but never ever was it a ten team conference.

Good Cop/Bad Cop: Championship Game Edition

Today we play a game of good cop / bad cop and discuss various items wrapping up the ACC college football regular season.

Let's get our first suspect:

Suspect #1: Coach Jags as the real ACC Coach of the Year

Jeff as Bad Cop: Boston College went 9-3 this year and 5-3 in the ACC. BC has two losses to unranked teams, including one at home. More importantly, BC is the defending ACC Atlantic Champion. BC should have competed for the division crowd and the ACC Championship again this year with the large number of defensive players they had returning. Meanwhile, at Georgia Tech, Paul Johnson took a team that was not at all a factor in the ACC Championship last year to a team that is now ranked the highest of all ACC teams. Add to that the fact that they have the best win of any team this year in the road win over Georgia last Saturday. Paul Johnson should be coach of the year.

Brian as Good Cop: Well Paul Johnson IS ACC Coach of the Year and Jeff Jagodzinski finished second. However, I think you can make the case for Jags over Paul Johnson due to all the pieces Jags lost from last year's 11-3 team. ESPN's Pat Forde knows what I'm talking about. And it's not like Paul Johnson inherited a team whose cupboard was completely bare. Georgia Tech returned one of the top defenses in the league. All Johnson had to do was install his patented, gimmicky flexbone offense to achieve a lot of success in a league devoid of offense. Last year, Jags was beat out for Coach of the Year to Virginia's Al Groh. Virginia went 9-4 last year and barely beat North Carolina, Middle Tennessee State, Connecticut, Maryland and Wake Forest. Jags should have got Coach of the Year this year to make up for all the naysayers that said he was riding TOB's coattails. If Jags goes 11-3 again THIS year and brings BC and the ACC a BCS bowl victory, there is no question who the real ACC Coach of the Year is.


Suspect #2: NC State as the best team in the ACC right now, as stated by HC Tom O'Brien

Brian as Bad Cop: So I realize that Tom O'Brien is trying to sell the Wolfpack to get an at-large bowl selection, but this statement is just ridiculous. Yes, the Wolfpack has won four straight games, but you know who else has won four straight games? The Eagles! After losing 6 of their first 8 games, the Wolfpack has beat Duke and North Carolina on the road, and struggling Wake Forest and the Baby Canes at home. During that same four game stretch, BC beat Notre Dame and Maryland at home, and Florida State and Wake Forest on the road. Did NC State beat Maryland? No. Did NC State beat Florida State at home? No. Did NC State beat Boston College at home? No. End of argument.

Yes, Tom O'Brien, you have a very high strength of schedule (only team you played with a losing record is Duke), but I would not go as far to say that you are the best team in the ACC right now. NC State is one of the hottest teams in the ACC, but, they aren't even close to the best team in the ACC right now. Take a number behind Boston College, Georgia Tech, Florida State and Virginia Tech for that distinction.

Jeff as Good Cop: NC State is one of the best teams in the ACC now. NC State has been good all season when they've been healthy. But in order to consider them one of the best you have to expand the best teams in the ACC list to include Boston College who beat them at home, Florida State who beat them at home, Maryland who beat them, Clemson who destroyed them, Georgia Tech who is the highest ranked ACC team, and Virginia Tech who is headed to the ACC Championship game. Yes coach, NC State is one of the 7 best ACC teams. I completely agree with you.


Suspect #3: Tampa as Location of ACC Championship Game

Jeff as Good Cop: I will have a much stronger opinion of Tampa as the ACC Championship Game host after Saturday but right now I am happy with it. As of right now you can still get a flight from Friday to Sunday out of Boston or NYC for under $300 round trip after taxes. Also, you can get a hotel room within a mile of the stadium for under $60.00 per night. The problem with Jacksonville was that you could not find either of these. BC fans have access to get to Tampa that they did not have going to Jacksonville last year. In addition to accessibility, it is going to be warm and sunny on Saturday which is the clear advantage of having the game in Florida instead of Charlotte next year or somewhere further north in the future.

Brian as Bad Cop: It's a "not so secret" secret that the ACC Championship game was first staged in Florida (Jacksonville for the first three years, and now Tampa for 2008 and 2009) in hopes of an annual Florida State vs. Miami matchup. Aside from the first year for the title game that saw Florida State beat Virginia Tech in front of 72,749, neither the FSU or Miami programs or the attedance figures for this game have lived up to the hype. Since then, the ACCCG has seen its smallest school from North Carolina play in the big game, Georgia Tech, and now back-to-back BC-Virginia Tech games. Until FSU and Miami are "back," I'm done pandering to these programs. Let's move this thing to Charlotte or even Gillette Stadium. If its going to be Boston College vs. Virginia Tech every year, why stage the thing in Florida? The state of Florida is good for bowl games and spring training, not a conference championship for a conference that is geographically spread out over 1,500 miles. And if weather was a factor, we wouldn't have awarded the city of Charlotte the game in two years and the Big XII wouldn't play their championship in Kansas City, MO, where the temperature is going to dip as low as 32 degrees Saturday night.


Suspect #4: 9-3 Boston College as ACC's Most Surprising Team

Brian as Good Cop: I will play the good cop on this one. Boston College is the ACC's most surprising team. Anyone outside of this program couldn't even fathom seeing BC win the Atlantic Division this year. Jagodzinski lost Matt Ryan, Andre Callendar and L.V. Whitworth on offense, and Tribble/Silva/Dunbar on the defensive side of the ball to graduation. Add to this losing Brady Smith (preseason), Brian Toal, James McClusky, Alex Albright, Clarence Megwa, and our starting quarterback Chris Crane, and Jags has certainly turned lemons into lemonade. Enough can't be said about the job the coaching staff has done this year with all the injuries and attrition due to graduation. With all due respect to Georgia Tech, Duke, and Clemson (the other type of surprise), BC is this year's most surprising team.

Jeff as Bad Cop: There is no way that I am going to agree with you that the team which finished highest in the rankings of all ACC teams after bowl season last year is now the most surprising team in the ACC by going 9-3. NC State has won 4 in a row in order to become bowl eligible so I think they could be the ACC's most surprising team. Maryland beat 5 ranked teams this season so that should get some consideration for most surprising team. Miami has shown some signs that they are taking significant steps towards becoming a great program again. Georgia Tech finished 9-3 with a new coach which was certainly a surprise. And finally, Clemson who was picked preseason top 10 in every major publication and got a lot of National Championship talk. Clemson the laid an egg against Alabama, lost at home to Maryland and Georgia Tech and did not become bowl eligible until the final Saturday of the year. The ACC has some stories this year, but BC is not one of them.


Suspect #5: Loser of ACCCG Falling To Music City Bowl

Jeff as Good Cop: I have no problem with this for two reasons. First, there is very little separating the top teams in the ACC and the tenth team. Second, Boston College and Virginia Tech are being treated equally here. Last year BC fell to Orlando after losing the ACCCG but we all know Virginia Tech would not have fallen that far in the bowl pecking order had they lost. Finally, if we went to Orlando again it would be to play Wisconsin who is terrible. They barely beat Cal Poly in OT. I'd rather fall to Nashville and at least play an SEC team in front of a larger crowd.

Brian as Bad Cop: You won't be able to play the good cop on this one, Jeff, when BC beats Virginia Tech and the Champs Sports Bowl takes Virginia Tech over Florida State. That wouldn't necessarily be treating these teams equally now, would it? Besides, this is essentially providing disincentives for making the ACC Championship game and falling short. The ACCCG runner-up always seems to get jobbed here, since the other bowls don't want to wait until Sunday to fill their bowl selections. They'd rather get their selections out of the way early so they can sell more tickets. Don't you think the team that loses the Championship game would rather have been Georgia Tech, who at 9-3 (5-3) lost the tiebreaker to Virginia Tech to play in the Title game but gets to play in the ACC No. 2 bowl against the defending National Champions in their own backyard? The consolation prize for the ACCCG runner-up is a trip to Nashville against a 6-6 Vanderbilt team (a team that hasn't gone bowling since 1982) or a 6-6 Kentucky team that finished 2-6 in the SEC, DFL in the SEC East. These teams are hardly powerhouse SEC football programs. Some consolation prize!


Suspect #6: Clemson to the Gator Bowl

Brian as Bad Cop: No way to play good cop on this one. The Gator Bowl is reportedly flirting with Clemson to fill its January 1 bowl slot from the ACC. Seems like it is all but a done deal. Are you shitting me? A 5 loss team playing in the No. 3 ACC bowl on New Year's Day? What are we, the SEC this year? Now I realize Clemson is going to travel well, but you have 4 other ACC schools that finished with a better ACC record (5-3 Boston College, Florida State, Georgia Tech and Virginia Tech), and 5 other schools that finished with a better overall record (add 8-4 North Carolina). This would simply be inexcusable for the ACC. I'm fine with sending Clemson to the Champs Sports Bowl or to a lesser bowl, but Clemson is not one of the three best teams in this conference.

This team went 4-4 in the ACC and beat Boston College and the three worst ACC schools (Duke, Virginia and NC State). Sounds like a great idea to reward mediocrity with a January 1 bowl game! This sends the wrong message to the rest of these ACC programs that it flat out doesn't matter how well you play, who you beat or how you finish on the field. They'd rather brush their hands of this whole bowl selection process and let the rich get richer. The deck will always be stacked against the smaller schools and the teams that don't travel (see: Maryland and Wake, who both beat Clemson).

Jeff as Good Cop if BC wins ACCCG: If BC beats Virginia Tech I have no problem with it. The Gator Bowl would have no 9 win team to choose from because Georgia Tech would be going Chick-Fil-A and Boston College would be going Orange. Therefore the only slighted teams would be Florida State and North Carolina because they are both 8-4 which is better than Clemson's 7-5 obviously. I have no problem with slighting the Seminoles at all because they are FSU and North Carolina was only 4-4 in conference which is the same as Clemson's record. I don't think that UNC would have beaten Alabama if they had played them out of conference either.

Good Cop/Bad Cop: The Catholic Bowl Eligibility Bowl

It's Notre Dame week! In anticipation of this Saturday night's Catholic "Bowl Eligibility" Bowl, we play a little good cop / bad cop.


Let's get our first suspect:

Suspect #1: Notre Dame's 2008 football schedule

Brian as Bad Cop: This year's Notre Dame schedule is a JOKE. The only team they have beaten with a winning record is Stanford (5-4). They have beaten the worst Mountain West Conference team out there at home by 8 (San Diego State), the two laughing stocks of the Big Ten this year (Purdue and Michigan), and one of arguably the worst teams in a BCS conference (Washington). I have no knowledge of when these games' deals were inked by former Irish AD Kevin White, but it's almost as if White sat down with the final college football standings of say, 2005, and scheduled the bottom feeders from each of the BCS conferences and various other teams with losing records. That year Syracuse was 1-10 (0-7), Purdue was 5-6 (3-5), Michigan State was 5-6 (2-6), North Carolina was 5-6 (4-4), Stanford was 5-6 (4-4), Washington was 2-9 (1-7) and so on and so forth. The only decent teams they have played this year - Michigan State, North Carolina and Pittsburgh - all resulted in losses. To the Irish's credit, they do close with 3 of 4 games against teams with winning records - BC, Navy and USC, all on the road. I'm sure the Irish will manage to win 6 games given this year's pathetic schedule and get embarrased in another January bowl game.

Jeff as Good Cop: Well let's compare their schedule to a schedule we know pretty well - ours. We have one like opponent in UNC this season. We have played 8 games, lost three, beaten only one team with a winning record and have beaten up on three teams with losing records and one 1-AA school. Then their remaining schedule is @ Navy, Syracuse, and @ USC while BC plays @ Florida State, @ Wake Forest, and Maryland. Clearly the best team on that list is USC, all of BC's opponents have winning records, and Syracuse stinks. In the end though, because USC is head and shoulders above Florida State (the best team left on our schedule), I'll give the two schedules a push. Then if you factor in the fact that you can't blame Notre Dame for scheduling Michigan because you never expect Michigan to stink, I'd say the Irish have a tougher schedule than BC.


Suspect #2: Notre Dame discontinuing the Boston College series after 2010

Jeff as Bad Cop: I've said it before and I'll say it again. The Boston College-Notre Dame series will resume sometime after 2011. Notre Dame needs to sell tickets just like everyone else and now that Notre Dame has been down a few years renewing the BC series become more appealling. It is a game that the students of both schools get excited about because many students do apply to both Notre Dame and Boston College. I don't think too many students apply to both Notre Dame and Syracuse or Navy.

Brian as Good Cop: As much as you want to think so, Jeff, Notre Dame isn't coming crawling back to the Eagles. And for all I care, let them move on. Notre Dame would rather bend over teams like Connecticut and schedule ridiculous series where UConn would play 0 games against the Irish at Rentschler Field instead of continuing the Irish-Eagles series played at Alumni Stadium. I am glad GDF doesn't kowtow to the Irish's demands to play so-called "home" games at Gillette Stadium or the new Giants Stadium. Those contracts are a joke, but the sad reality of it all is that this is the direction Notre Dame football is headed. Look at some of these silly games: Washington State in San Antonio, Baylor in New Orleans, Navy in Dublin, Ireland, Arizona State in Dallas. Notre Dame is going to end up playing 6-7 home games every year and 5-6 neutral site games in NFL stadiums at this rate.

While the series has been good for both programs, I'd rather not play the Irish than play this program at a neutral site. With upcoming series against Northwestern, Syracuse, USC and a loaded ACC schedule, I'd rather schedule other BCS teams who want to play the Eagles at Alumni than the traveling three-ring circus ND football has become.


Suspect #3: Jimmy Clausen as a better quarterback than Chris Crane

Brian as Good Cop: I will play the good cop on this one. This isn't even close. Clausen leads the No. 18 ranked passing offense in college football this year. His touchdown to interception ratio (18:9) is inversely proportional to that of Chris Crane's 8:12. Clausen has nearly a full year of experience on Crane and is getting better as the season has progressed. In his first three games he threw six interceptions but has settled down in his last 5 games throwing 12 touchdowns to only 3 interceptions. Meanwhile, Crane has been terrible the last few games and many Eagles fans are calling for his head now that he may have been the primary reason we got blown out by North Carolina and dropped to Clemson.

Jeff as Bad Cop: When Jimmy Clausen drops back to pass you know what he is going to do - pass! So of course he has more passing touchdowns than Crane. Crane, however, has 7 rushing touchdowns and so you just don't know how to defend him. He is a defensive coordinator's nightmare. Do you pass rush? Put a spy on him so he doesn't break for a four-yard carry? Or do you only play run defense so that Chris Crane will throw the ball and then you can intercept it? Chris Crane has defensive coordinators totally confused.


Suspect #4: Notre Dame's Brandon Walker a better kicker than Steve Aponavicius

Kicker	XP	FGM	FGA	Pct.	1-19	20-29	30-39	40-49	50+	Long	Pts
Walker	27/27	8	15	53.3	0/0	3/3	1/3	4/8	0/1	48	51
Aponavicius	28/28	7	12	58.3	1/1	3/4	3/7	0/0	0/0	36	49

Jeff as Good Cop: Brandon Walker is a far better kicker than Steve Aponavicius. If you look at 53.3% vs. 58.3% you might think it's close but the only reason why that statistic is close is because Aponavicius hasn't attempted a field goal beyond 40 yards. If Aponavicius had some more attempts this season, he would have an even worse percentage. Also, look at Walker's long of 48 yards versus Aponavicious's long of 36. That's a big difference.

Brian as Bad Cop: Hard to argue against this but I'll give it a shot. While Walker's stats are a bit better than Aponavicius', Apona hasn't straight up lost a game (yet) for the Eagles while Walker has. Walker's 38 yard field goal miss in the fourth overtime gave Pittsburgh a chance to win the game last week. While Apona's field goal misses have been costly in our losses to Georgia Tech and Clemson, they haven't come in pressure, late-game situations. Not to mention that Walker's 53.3% field goal percentage is an IMPROVEMENT on last year's 50% field goal percentage. While Apona's percentage has steadily declined from 2006 (72.7%), he's never had a season where he's only hit 1/2 of the field goals attempted.


Suspect #5: Charlie Weis as a good college football coach

Jeff as Bad Cop: What have you done lately Charlie? Does that Super Bowl ring still fit? Are you keeping it shiny? Do you send Tyrone Willingham a Christmas card every year thanking him for sending you to the Fiesta Bowl in your first year? Since then you have done nothing and have taken the once high and mighty Notre Dame football program and turned it into a joke of a program. If you are able to go 7-5 this year you should be extremely happy and you should enjoy every minute of whatever bowl you go to because next year it is going to be just as difficult or more difficult for you to get your team back there. Charlie Weis stinks.

Brian as Good Cop: Such hate for a guy from New Jersey, Jeff. I will bite my tongue and play the good cop on this one. You say I won with Ty Willingham's players, Jeff? Well how did Willingham do with those same players the year before I got there? Oh, 6-5? Willingham could recruit, but he couldn't coach. Look at that mess up in Washington! I can coach. I coached up Ty's recruits and posted a 9-3 record in my first year and a 10-3 record in my second year. That's two consecutive BCS berths baby! How many BCS bowl appearances does your boy Jagodzinski have? Sure, I won't get there this year, but look at my schedule next year! We are going to feast on the bottom-feeders of the BCS, go 9-3 in 2009 and get a nice fat check for getting our butts handed to us in another BCS bowl. Not to mention the fact that I risk personal injury to myself for the benefit of my team. I don't see Coach Jags getting laid out for your Eagles!

Good Cop / Bad Cop: Offseason Storylines

Today we play a little good cop / bad cop on some of the more interesting storylines of the offseason. Let's get our first suspect:

Suspect #1: ESPN ranking Boston College basketball #70 over the last 24 seasons

Brian as Good Cop: I know we have had a good run the past few years, but in reality, for most of these 24 seasons, we haven't been very good. To be honest, recent grads have been very spoiled when it comes to BC basketball. We have only averaged 17 wins / season over that time span, and have been wildly inconsistent. A 9-19 in 1994-1995 following by a 19-11 season the following year under Jim O'Brien. 6-21 in Al Skinner's second year followed by a 27-5 record two years later. The criteria awards points for only NBA draft picks in the top 10, and while we have put out some quality NBA talent over the past few years, no one has been drafted Top 10. And if the NCAA Tournament selection committee didn't think it was so amusing to put BC up against under seeded opponents and old Big East rivals, we probably would have gotten a few more points in the NCAA tournaments. Plus the ranking system awards Conference titles, of which we only have exactly 2 (both in the Big East). Meanwhile, schools like Butler, Chattanooga and College of Charleston can rack up the Conference title wins in the who-cares mid major conferences of the country. ESPN probably should have awarded some points for Top 25 finishes, which would have gotten BC a little higher, but I am OK with this ranking. We are a football and ice hockey school, not a powerhouse basketball program.

Jeff as Bad Cop: Between 2000 and 2007, BC was not top 50, not top 30, not top 25, but a top 10 basketball program in the nation over that span. Multiple Big East regular season and tournament titles and then one of the top teams in what is without a doubt the premier basketball conference in the land – the ACC. So I don't care how far back you go before that, BC does not fall out of the top 50 at least. It's BS that there are mid-majors ranked above the Eagles.


Suspect #2: BC hockey's tentative 2008-2009 schedule

Brian as Bad Cop: I will play the bad cop. This schedule stinks. I know we can't control how many home games we get against Boston University (we are on the road for 2, only get 1 at home), but for the one home game we DO get with the Terriers, don't put it on the same day as the ACC Championship in Tampa. I mean, I know the media doesn't think much of our chances to repeat as Atlantic Division champs, but there's a shot, right? Why schedule even the possibility of such a conflict for Eagles fans? What's also missing from this schedule is the marquee out of conference away game or opening tournament away from Conte Forum. In years past, we have traveled to Notre Dame, Michigan, North Dakota and Wisconsin in the beginning of the season. York usually uses those games to prepare the Eagles for the Hockey East and National tournament. I also don't like the idea of playing two exhibition games in January, which opens up the possibility of injury. We all see how much the team struggled for a good portion of the year due to injuries and team dismissals. I realize that in years past we have played in tournaments and invitations over the winter break, but at least those games count towards your tournament resume. These don't.

Finally, BC deciding to raise the championship banner when Wisconsin comes to town? Weak. I understand the need to get the banner up there when the season begins, but it would be so much cooler if we got to raise the banner in front of Notre Dame, or even New Hampshire or Boston U.

Jeff also as Bad Cop: It is impossible to play good cop on this one. This schedule does suck. Great point on the BU game and we did raise the banner during Notre Dame weekend back in 2001 so why not do it again? Especially since we beat Notre Dame in the final!


Suspect #3: Jags changing his mind about using First and Toal

Jeff as Good Cop: Jags should've never had to change his mind about this. He should've been planning on using First and Toal all along. Haden is going to lose weight as the season goes on from carrying the load at RB and he is not very big to begin with so that doesn't exactly fit the mold of a goal line back. Meanwhile Smith will hopefully be there to split some of the backfield duties but Jags better not be risking injury by putting him in during goal line situations. Love it or hate it, First and Toal is the way it should and will be.

Brian as Bad Cop: What’s wrong with Dan Mulrooney? Between Mulrooney, Haden and Smith, we have plenty of options on the goal line. Let the skill players play their position. Giving the ball to Toal in goal line situations says to our team members who are actually running backs that we don’t have the confidence in them to get the job done. Also, First and Toal smacks of Tom O’Brien desperation and gimmickry. I find it hard to believe Steve Logan won’t get creative close to the goal line and be resigned to using the battering ram that is Brian Toal. You can throw the element of surprise out the window as soon as Toal steps onto the field and joins the offensive huddle.


Suspect #4: Haden to have the most receptions of any Eagle RB, ever

Jeff as Bad Cop: Slow down there, fast car. Haden hasn't even caught one ball yet, let alone set any records of any kind. Jags, you don't have a first round draft pick at QB anymore, why don't you hand the ball off to Haden a few times first? Josh can get his feet wet and Chris can stop shaking, then maybe, come the third or fourth game, you can start drawing up plays between "rookie" QB and true freshman out of the backfield.

Brian as Good Cop: This quote is coming from good authority in former Boston College coach Jack Bicknell Sr. So long as Steve Logan stays for Josh Haden’s four years, I can definitely see Haden breaking the Eagles running back record for receptions. Haden is small and fast and Logan will scheme the offense to his strengths. I see Haden being dynamic out of the backfield as a receiving threat as Logan tries to extend the field vertically.


Suspect #5: Boston College and Virginia Tech football keeping ACC from becoming the MAC

Jeff as Bad Cop: This article is a joke. It is still too early to say that expansion was a good or bad thing. Unfortunately, there were a lot of rumors involving expansion and who knows, maybe some recruits actually went away from ACC schools to another conference because they didn't know what was going to happen. And the stars of last year, for example, Matt Ryan, were red shirt Sophomores the first year the ACC had 12 teams. Similar to when you hire a new coach, you need to give the league an entire cycle of recruits before you evaluate its performance.

Brian as Good Cop: Boston College and Virginia Tech have kept ACC football afloat the past 3 years. Consider the alternatives. What if Virginia Tech wasn’t invited to the ACC in favor of Syracuse (as per the original plan of Miami, Boston College and Syracuse)? The ACC would have instantly become the 6th best BCS conference over the past 3 years and the college football world would have been talking about revoking the ACC’s automatic BCS bowl birth instead of the Big East’s auto birth. The idea behind expansion was that Florida State and Miami would be the perennial national title threats. Three years later and both of those programs are in serious rebuilding mode, and the only teams that have finished 1st or 2nd in their respective divisions the past three years are … Boston College and Virginia Tech. The only knock on Virginia Tech is that they are a miserable 1-3 in bowl games as a member of the ACC. This doesn’t help the perception of ACC football when you can’t win your bowl games.

Good Cop / Bad Cop on Eagle in Atlanta

Brian: Today we play a little good cop, bad cop over on the BC blog Eagle in Atlanta. ATL Eagle is a little tied up with the newest member of the BC Superfan section (congratulations Bill!), so Jeff and I were more than happy to fill in. Check it out.

Good Cop / Bad Cop

Suspect #1: Rice leaving early

Brian as Good Cop: Saturday's individual display from beyond the arc was just awesome, and we still lost. What more can Rice do for this team? The fans have given up on this team this year, we are losing our two senior big men and no one plays defense. Why suffer through another 4-12 ACC season while receiving all sorts of individual accolades? Go get paid! Make some money in the pros.

Jeff as Bad Cop: Rice leave early? Why are we even talking about this? You know what the NBA likes? Big bodies. Look at Sean Williams and you see someone who got kicked out of school but still went in the first round because he had size, athletic ability and potential. The NBA doesn't want some overachieving College player from a bad team. Stay in school Rice, leaving would be a mistake.

Brian as Good Cop: Two words for you, Jeff. Chris. Paul. How'd leaving early work out for a fellow ACC guard? Also, Allen Iverson. Rice is an inch taller than both those dudes. So don't give me the size argument. Athletic ability? Well, if you saw the display on Saturday, you'd be singing a different tune on this one.

Jeff as Bad Cop: You mean Bad Cop Jeff. Chris Paul was awesome in college and his team actually won with him running the show. Wake Forest went 48-16 in his two years there and dropped to 17-17 after he left. Rice is not getting drafted in the first round whenever he leaves BC.


Suspect #2: Matt Ryan as #1 Draft Pick

Jeff as Good Cop: Ryan is going #1. This surprises even me but its true. When you have the number 1 pick in the draft you don't draft a defensive lineman the way the Texans passed up Reggie Bush, you draft an offensive stud. And as the second best quarterback to ever come out of BC (sorry Matt Hasselbeck) that is what Matt Ryan is, a stud. Girls love him more than Barack Obama and guys want to be him more than Tom Brady.

Brian as Bad Cop: #1 is a lot of pressure and I don't want that for my man Matty. It looks like the Dolphins are stuck with the #1 pick, but they need a lot more than just a QB. There are plenty of free agent QBs on the market. Sure up either the offensive or defensive lines by picking one of the Longs (OT Jake Long or DE Chris Long) with the #1 pick and go out and get a free agent QB.


Suspect #3: York not splitting time in net

Brian as Bad Cop: I started to wonder this on Friday night, but why isn't York at least giving a game or two to BC's backups (Margolin/Kremer)? For the 8 years that I've followed BC hockey, this is the first year York has gone with 1 netminder the entire season. In years past, we've had Schneider/Pearce, Kaltiainen/Schneider, Kaltiainen/Kelleher, and Clemmensen/Kelleher. But this year, its all on John Muse. His confidence seemed completely shot in our 3-2 loss to Providence. Seems to make sense to me to have thrown Kremer or Margolin in for at least a game or two.

Jeff as Good Cop: You are questioning Jerry York? The greatest college hockey coach of all time? What York sees that you don't is practice. Obviously these backups stink and have have no skill. Otherwise York would be playing them. How dare you question him.


Suspect #4: Red Sox beat down of the Eagles

Brian as Bad Cop: You are World Series champs and are beating down on a bunch of college kids ... by 24 runs. Did Big Papi use a metal bat in this game? How many runs give you a comfortable lead, here? This was a disgusting display and the Red Sox should be ashamed of themselves. I hope the Eagles are so disappointed that the Red Sox didn't let them hang with them that they defect and cheer for the Yankees this year.

Jeff as Good Cop: The Eagles have had some good baseball teams the last few years but this might not be one of them. The Eagles have played tight with the Sox before however this was sad, but also meaningless so BC just needs to shake it off before conference play.