Headlines: Final Summer Scrimmage and Preseason Polls

Brian: Both the Globe and the Herald covered the Eagles last intrasquad scrimmage on Monday. Sunday was the last scrimmage of the summer as Jags & Co. take the next two weeks to prepare for Kent State and the home opener against Georgia Tech. The offense appears to have made some strides. At least it was a step up from last Wednesday's performance. Crane went 10 of 20 for 66 yards, 1 touchdown and 1 interception late. Haden rushed for 52 yards on 8 carries. Even though the offense progressed, Jags rested Brace, Toal and McLaughlin on the defensive side of the ball, so it is worth noting that the offense wasn't playing against all 11 starters. Also coming out of Sunday's scrimmage was a surprising sound byte from Coach Jags, who is "disappointed" in our kickers. Bennett missed a 37 yard attempt. Aponavicius missed an extra point.

So with two weeks to go before kickoff in Cleveland, what's more concerning? The Eagles inability to move the ball on offense against the defense, or that our kicking woes continue?

Jeff: I'm not worried about the offense at all and actually encouraged that Haden averaged 6.5 yards per carry. The kicking woes are killing me. Wasn't Bennett a highly sought after recruit at his position? He needs to start stepping it up because if nothing else, his upside potential is far greater than Aponavicius's potential.

Brian: I agree that the kicking game is definitely more concerning at this point. The weather is still nice out and these are essentially chip shots that your average BCS starting placekicker makes. Although Jags is quoted as saying he is happier with kickoffs, which basically means that we are able to keep opening kickoffs from being squibbed out of bounds.

Jeff: Back to the offense, in an intrasquad scrimmage you would always expect defense to win out because they know all the tendancies of the guys on the other side of the ball. And as Jags mentioned, last year's offense did similarly poorly against the defense. There is one more thing to be worried about though. Why is Jags complaining about the intensity of the scrimmage?? That should never be in question so I am a little disappointed with the guys as well if that is true.

Brian: That is frustrating to hear. I guess the team has two weeks to pick up the intensity.

The preseason AP poll was released Friday and again, the Eagles didn't crack the Top 25 but received enough votes to finish 33rd. Fellow BC blogger the Eagle in Atlanta also released his preseason blogpoll ballot and has the Eagles ranked even higher than we do, at #16. You at all surprised that ATL is even more optimistic than we are?

Jeff: Absolutely not. If you have been following the Eagles recently rather than just being a West coast, SEC or Big XII sports reporter that votes for these polls, you know that BC is going to be legit this season and is not going to fall to the dungeon of the ACC just because Matt Ryan left.