Grounding the Flashes and the Big Finish

Brian: On Saturday, the Kent State Golden Flashes come to Alumni Stadium led by running back/return man Eugene Jarvis. Last week, Jarvis ran the ball for 141 yards on 27 carries in an 18-0 win over Coastal Carolina. He also caught 3 passes for 30 yards and scored a touchdown. Oh yeah, and he only added another 94 yards in kick returns for a total of 265 all-purpose yards in Kent State's week 1 victory. Will this young Eagles team be able to neutralize the big play threat of Jarvis tomorrow?

Jeff: Absolutely. No offense to Jarvis, but he is the one threat the Eagles have to worry about and I'm sure they'll be playing the run first all day leaving our experienced secondary in single coverage. If Jarvis does get a big play, it will likely be on special teams.

Brian: I agree the Eagles will likely build their defensive playbook around stopping Eugene Jarvis first and foremost. Kent State is also breaking in a new quarterback under center and his numbers were underwhelming in week one. Last week, Giorgio Morgan threw for 21 of 35 passing, 201 yards and 2 interceptions. Will it help the Eagles' young defense to scheme for stopping Eugene Jarvis, as we will have to key in on stopping another electric running back/return man next week in C.J. Spiller?

Jeff: I don't think there are enough similarities between Kent State and Clemson for this game against Kent State tomorrow to help us really prepare for a legit ACC offense and one of the top RBs in the country in CJ Spiller. On Thursday night the Tigers lost to Georgia Tech, but remember that Parker looked pretty solid and put up real impressive numbers in the second half.

Brian: Steve Conroy of the Herald reports that while the Eagles did beat Northeastern 54-0, the offensive line still has a long way to go:

"We’ve still got a long way to go," said center and tri-captain Matt Tennant. "Everyone is not really meshing the way I or (offensive line coach Sean) Devine wants. We’re not working together on our double teams, we’re not fitting the exact way we want, and I think that’s just a time thing. As the season progresses, our fits will get better, our pass blocking will get better and then everything will come together."

Will we see improvement in the offensive line this week, especially with the return of Rich Lapham?

Jeff: I wouldn't be surprised if we saw improvement out of nearly every unit of this team every week for the entire season. This team probably has the talent and skills to be very successful in the ACC, but just lacks experience in some key areas. I am confident that this team will work hard and show lots of improvement barring any major injuries.

Brian: The weather forecast for tomorrow calls for cloudy skies with occasional rain showers. High around 65 degrees. Will the rain help slow down Eugene Jarvis and the Golden Flash offense? Or will the weather conditions encourage even more of a ground attack from both the Flashes and the Eagles? Who has the advantage here?

Jeff: C'mon. It's Kent State. BC is favored by 21. We could play them in a dome or in a blizzard and BC would come out on top regardless.


Big Finish

Jeff: Great news for the Eagles. BC linebacker Mike McLaughlin rejoined the team and was practicing Wednesday for the first time since March. When do you expect McLaughlin to return?

Brian: I don't want him to rush his return to the field, but I'm cautiously optimistic he'll be back in the lineup for the Florida State game.


Brian: Boston College has 20 pros in the NFL this year, good for 8th best in the ACC. What, if anything, stands out to you from that list?

Jeff: Maybe that Maryland has more than us but it's only 4 more. No surprise Miami tops the list.


Jeff: BC still has two quarterbacks this weekend and will rotate in David Shinskie and Justin Tuggle. Will a starter emerge this week in time for the Clemson game?

Brian: I hope so. I will feel much less confident about our trip to Death Valley if a starter doesn't emerge this week and Spaz continues to play both guys.


Brian: The Emerald Bowl renewed their affiliation with the Pac-10 through the 2013 season but the conference will not be playing an ACC team. Instead, the Pac-10 will face a WAC team, Navy or Army. Your thoughts?

Jeff: Interesting how Army is going in 2011 if eligible and Navy in 2012. Not disappointed the ACC is out though because I like to drive to bowl games.


Jeff: I heard this on the radio yesterday. Kent State has the second worst all-time winning percentage in Division I-A behind Florida International. Guess who's third on that list? (Hint: It's an ACC team).

Brian: Everyone's gut reaction is to say Duke but they were really good back in the day. So I'll guess Wake Forest. Second guess would be NC State.

Jeff: Wake Forest is correct.


Brian: Get this. Albert Louis-Jean of Brockton is 15 years old and already has an offer from Boston College. Too soon?

Jeff: He's only 15 but he is a junior in High School so it's all good.


Jeff: Clemson and Georgia Tech looked a little sloppy last night. Clemson had two deadly mistakes on special teams, while Georgia Tech QB Josh Nesbitt completed only 36% of his passes and threw 2 picks. Still not in favor of preseason scrimmages?

Brian: Absolutely not. Both teams looked sloppy last week too - Georgia Tech had 5 fumbled and Clemson backup QB Willy Korn had two turnovers. How many preseason scrimmages would be needed to work out the kinks? If I'm told we can't have an NFL-style postseason, then college football shouldn't have an NFL-style preseason either.


Brian: Last one, final score prediction time. HD predicts the Eagles win 31-10. ATL has the Eagles as 28-10 winners. You gonna be a man and take the Eagles to cover the -20.5 point spread?

Jeff: Absolutely. I think we'll score more than either predict.


Pick 5

Brian: For the second straight year, I start the season 5-0. **Pats self on back**. And who says that picking lines preseason is difficult? You can follow our Pick 5 standings throughout the year on the left sidebar.

For my week 1 victory, I have honors and get to choose first.

• Kent State at Boston College (-20.5)
• Syracuse (+29) at Penn State
• UCLA at Tennessee (-10)
• North Carolina (-4) at Connecticut
• Notre Dame (-3) at Michigan

Jeff:

• USC (-7) at Ohio State
• Central Michigan at Michigan State (-14.5)
• Troy at Florida (-36.5)
• Houston at Oklahoma State (-15)
• Louisiana Tech at Navy (-7.5)

Enjoy all the college football this weekend. Go Eagles!

Headlines: Basketball Recruit Decommits

Brian: The big news over the weekend was that BC men’s basketball recruit Danny Lawhorn (Class of 2010) decommitted from BC via nearly every major social networking website known to man – Facebook and (your favorite) Twitter.

dlawhorn3: "chillin just decommiited from boston college now the list went up"

Lawhorn’s list of schools has been narrowed (?) to "Fordham, Arizona State, Texes A&M, UCLA, USC, Arizona, Organ State, Sout Carolina, Kentucky, Flordia, LSU, Mississippi State, Arkansas, UMass and UConn." No official announcement has been made by the school. Has this kid even talked to the coaching staff?

Sounds like it is time to update that MySpace graphic.


With PG recruit Lawhorn gone, that leaves only one recruit for the Class of 2010: Minnesota power forward Kevin Noreen. At the end of next season, we will lose senior Tyler Roche and go into the 2010-2011 season with 7 seniors on the roster (Paris, Raji, Trapani, Mosakowski, Sanders, Southern, Dunn). We currently have 11 on scholarship (with a max of 13 scholarship spots) and with Roche graduating and Noreen coming on, we will maintain 11 scholarship roster spots.

In your opinion, is Lawhorn a major loss to the recruiting class of 2010? Also, are you getting concerned that BC 1) doesn't have any recruits coming on board for this coming season and 2) the Eagles currently only have one recruit for the class of 2010?

Jeff: Lawhorn is not a major loss to our BC basketball's recruiting efforts. Recruits come and go and, like you said, we only lose Roche after this season. While it would be nice to have a couple good recruits included in the Class of 2010, it is not imperative until 2011. Unfortunately, this potential major problem we have for the 2011-12 season was created in the past by transfers and us having an extremely large class of 2011. The good news is that BC basketball fans get to be very optimistic about their basketball program as this class grows together. But the year after they leave will be a tough year for BC regardless of if we get one or two more recruits this year or not.

Brian: You have to be concerned about the class of 2011. I know Skinner likes to bank scholarships for future seasons, but Eagles fans only have to look back to recent history to see what happens when you are forced to sign a large number of incoming freshmen to fill the slots left by graduating seniors and transfers. See the drop off from 2006-2007 to 2007-2008 (-7 wins) when we had to replace ACC Player of the Year Jared Dudley, Sean Marshall, and Marquez Haynes (transfer to UT-Arlington). Sure, we should be excited about this coming season and next, but replacing 7+ seniors in the recruiting class of 2011 will be a tall, tall order for Skinner. My hope is the team picks up 1-2 more recruits for the class of 2010 so that we aren't scrambling to bring in so many players the following year.

Jeff: I'm not getting too worked up about this just yet. I don't get too worked up when recruits such as Joe Boisture or Danny Lawhorn decommit. Unfortunately, that is the reality of competing with the big boys. If you're a young football player that can go to nearly any program in the country, Boston College might not be your first choice. I would rather try to get those kids even though a smaller percentage might end up at BC than recruiting kids whose other option might be going to some MAC school. BC attracts kids that appreciate New England and want to be student-athletes, not just athletes. I'm fine with that and am willing to deal with the emotional speed bumps we hit as fans along the way.

The bright side for the basketball program is that at least freshman are more like to come in and produce right away in basketball compared to football. One or two stud recruits in 2011-2012 can quickly fill the large void that will be left in our program after so many players graduate after the 2010-11 season.

The QB Carousel and the Big Finish

Brian: Exhibit 154A as to why we don't get too emotionally invested in recruiting ...


The big news from Thursday was that Boston College's QB commit in the class of 2010 Joe Boisture decommitted from BC and signed with Michigan State. Apparently word isn't bond.

... The Spartans reportedly have added quarterback Joe Boisture to their 2010 recruiting class. According to Scout.com, Boisture switched his commitment from Boston College to Michigan State, giving head coach Mark Dantonio another solid in-state prospect

Boisture grew up in Saline, Mich., and his grandfather, Dan, coached at Michigan State under Duffy Daugherty.

An ESPNU 150 Watch List prospect, Boisture has excellent size (6-foot-6, 200) and polished mechanics."

This decommit comes after the Eagles signed Dave Shinskie and Maryland QB Josh Bordner. The Eagles now have Shinskie, Tuggle, Boek, Flutie, Marscovetra in the mix for 09 and Bordner in 10. Jeff, your thoughts?

Jeff: No offense to Flutie or Marscovetra but you are only even mentioning them to make a mockery of the situation. If you looked at any program any year that did not have a returning starter you could come up with a similar number of recruited QBs.

Brian: Maybe a little bit but I disagree that this situation is like any other year where we haven't named a starting quarterback going into the summer. The coaching staff is certainly taking the approach of throwing stuff at the wall and seeing what sticks in terms of determining the QB of the future. Under Tom O'Brien and even Jags, I felt like the starting QB succession was much more well-defined.

Jeff: I'm not comparing the situation to BC in the last ten years, but other BCS programs who have not have a clear cut QB to replace a graduating or drafted one. USC has had three man races several times in the last few years, for example.

Boisture leaving before he ever came sucks but it is really not a very big deal. You and BCMike are very, very sad I'm sure since you were already planning his 2013 Heisman campaign and booking rooms for the Orange Bowl but the bottom line is that our program has been built on unheralded recruits and will continue to be built on these types of recruits. The Floridas, USCs, and LSUs of the world get big time recruits regularly that don't pan out. They just get enough of them such that if half of those recruits are busts, it's no big deal. The signing of Bordner may have changed things for Boisture but the coaches probably considered his potential reaction and decided to sign another QB anyway. Therefore, I think fans were much higher on Boisture as BC's future than the people in the know ever were.

Brian: There is a huge difference between recruits not panning out - e.g. transferring, getting suspended or kicked off the team - and recruits changing their verbal commitment from one program to another. I'm sorry, but how many 4 or 5* recruits switch their commitment from USC, Texas, Ohio State or Florida? My guess is not many. I don't really care about Joe Boisture specifically (although no hard feelings, wish him well, etc.). I think the larger issue is that a highly rated recruit switched his commitment from Boston College to go to another BCS program. Just when the program seems to be making strides forward in recruiting, this feels to be to be a step backwards.

From everything I read, the coaching staff was open with Boisture about the recruitment of Bordner and Shinskie, but you have to question why we are bringing on more and more quarterback recruits if you have an ESPNU Top 150 recruit locked down. I know Boisture explained that this wasn't a factor in decommitting but this had to have had some effect on the kid.

Jeff: Verbals changing is just the way of the world these days. No big deal. Finally, when do I get to say I told you so?

Brian: For what? Because Joe Boisture didn't pan out? That's a really tough position to take to say a QB recruit won't pan out there, buddy. Forgive me for getting excited for having signed a 4* quarterback that compared himself to Matt Ryan.

Jeff: I said he might not even ever come to the Heights.

Big Finish

Jeff: Earlier this week Eagle in Atlanta mentioned Clemson in a way to be considered an equal with Notre Dame as far as a game that will sell tickets at Alumni. Thoughts?

Brian: Clemson travels well but will never, ever come close to Notre Dame in terms of the number of visiting fans traveling, the premium tickets to the Notre Dame game will go for or the buzz around campus and around Boston.


Brian: Providence College's men's basketball coach Keno Davis announced via Twitter - your favorite - that BC and PC renewed their basketball rivalry for the next 10 years. You like the move?

Jeff: This was actually a good use of Twitter. Celebrities and coaches having Twitter accounts (instead of blogs) I have no problem with.

Brian: I was asking more whether you like the renewal of the Providence series, not for you to bash Twitter. It's a great series and a good move.

Jeff: Oh yeah, good move for sure. North Carolina's Tyler Hansbrough went a little higher than expected in this week's NBA Draft (13th overall to the Pacers). Surprised?

Brian: No, not particularly given he was a dominant college player. Still I wonder how his skills will translate in the pros.


Brian: This comes as no surprise to you but Tyrese Rice went undrafted in Thursday's NBA Draft. Will he sign with an NBA team this season?

Jeff: I am guessing that he will at some point but not necessarily make a roster.


Jeff: 6'2", 18 year-old Chris Kreider of Phillips Academy-Andover (Mass.) is a BC men's hockey recruit taken 19th overall by your New York Rangers in this weekend's NHL Entry Draft. You excited?

Brian: Absolutely. I've always been jealous when looking across the Hudson and seeing Gionta and Clemmensen do great things for the Devils organization. I'm glad the Rangers grabbed a BC guy. I just hope York can keep him at school for a couple of years and he doesn't pull a Petrecki.


Brian: The New York Time's Quad blog has Wake Forest coming in at 69 in their preseason countdown. They predict a 6-6 season for the Deacons. Over/under 6 wins for Jim Grobe and Wake Forest?

Jeff: Smart money is on a push but I am actually going to say under since pushing is unmanly. Their out of conference schedule did lighten up slightly by not have Ole Miss again this year but a home tilt against Stanford and a road trip to Annapolis could be losses.


Jeff: Last one, the ACC & SEC blog has ten questions for the ACC in 2009. For BC, they ask "What will it take for BC to make it three straight ACC Championship Game appearances?" Your response?

Brian: Divine intervention.

Headlines: Shinskie and More Baseball Talk

Jeff: The big news of the last 36 hours is that QB Dave Shinskie is coming to the Heights and will be in an Eagles uniform this season. Will he be the starter? Who knows. Will he compete for the starting job? Absolutely. As you have probably already read, Shinskie was recruited by BC for the 2003 class but ultimately signed with the Minnesota Twins as a pitcher.

Should you be excited about this commitment? Absolutely. Do we have a Chris Weinke headed to the Heights? I doubt it. But Dave Shinskie could be something far less than a Heisman trophy candidate to still be considered a godsend next season.

Moving to baseball since baseball is still center stage in the NCAA right now we bring back BC alum and editor of the College Baseball Blog to talk about the tournament.

Jeff: Now that some dust has settled, how bad was the abuse of the pitchers in the 25 inning marathon game against Texas?

Brian from tCBB: I think the Austin Wood usage is a massive red flag. I think Belfiore being used for that amount of pitches is also questionable but how do you take a kid out of the game when he is just rolling through the lineup. Belfiore was nearly unhittable too. I still think BC should have won that game somehow and they would be in the CWS right now if they did win that game.

Jeff: With UNC and UVA left representing the ACC, what are the chances an ACC team wins it all?

Brian from tCBB: I think UNC and UVA have a good chance of winning the title. I would put them at a 33 percent chance of winning the tourney right now combined. I have LSU as my favorite still as they are the most balanced team in the tourney. If UNC and UVA keep pitching as well as they have, then they will be a tough out in Omaha.

ACC Baseball Championship Update and the Big Finish

Jeff: Brian, have you watched any of the ACC baseball tournament? Even though every seat has not been filled, it looks like there is decent fan support by NCAA baseball standards.

Brian: I've been following the action on Gamecasts so I can't really speak to how attendance has been at the ACC baseball championship. From the box scores, I can see that 1,518 were in attendance against Florida State and 1,194 watched the Eagles and Yellow Jackets yesterday. Is this a good draw? Bad draw? I have no idea. We're still new at this "our baseball team is now decent" thing.

Jeff: And how dumb is this tournament format? There are still two more days of round-robin play and Florida State has already clinched a spot in the finals.

Brian: Florida State had advanced to the Championship game out of Division A before Virginia and Clemson played their first of three games of the round-robin format. That is, indeed, crazy. That is going to happen every once in a while with this sort of format. It happens every so often in the FIFA World Cup too. This definitely gives FSU an advantage in the championship game as they can rest their starters in their game on Saturday vs. Georgia Tech and wait to see who comes out of Division B.

Overall though, I would say I prefer this tournament format to a single elimination or a double-elimination format. Participating teams are guaranteed three games and that can sometimes help out a team's NCAA tournament resume a great deal. That's exactly what has happened with BC. The Eagles actually rose in the RPI after their 7-2 loss to Florida State, and our RPI rose again today after the win over Georgia Tech. We are currently at #33, which should be good enough to get into the NCAAs.

Kendall Rogers of Yahoo! Sports has us as a tournament lock at this point and heaps on some praise for the BC baseball team. The College Baseball Blog's latest NCAA tournament projections have the Eagles as a #3 seed in the Oxford, MS regional. with Mississippi, Elon and Army.

Good luck to the Eagles today as they face Miami at noon.


Big Finish

Brian: This The Times West Virginian article discusses the possibility of Big Ten and Big East expansion, and mentions BC as a possible school for the Big East to scoop up to bring the number of teams back to 9. Yeah, right. Anyway, which will happen first - Big Ten expansion to 12 or Big East football expansion to 9?

Jeff: The Big East will expand. The Big Ten might never.


Jeff: Former BC standout Vinny Ciurciu returns to New England having signed with the Patriots. Will he make an impact on the team?

Brian: I hope he can be a solid contributor on special teams. Always have to root for former BC players. And Jeff, you must be especially rooting for him since he started his college career at Clemson before transferring to BC.


Brian: BC QB football recruit Joe Boisture competed in the Midwest Elite Camp last weekend and showed the "best overall passing ability" at the camp. Thanks to ACC Sports Journal for the link. You getting excited about the arrival of Boisture in 2010?

Jeff: Not really. I am not crowning him the future of BC QBs. It's way too easy to get overly exctied about recruits.


Jeff: The NAACP is not happy with the ACC rewarding the baseball tournament to South Carolina. Your thoughts?

Brian: I get that South Carolina is a central location for the conference to hold its baseball tournament, but I am more than curious as to why the ACC decided to break with the NCAA on this issue. Unfortunately, I don't think this is the last we'll hear on the issue.


Brian: College Game Balls takes a look at each BCS conference's 2009 out of conference strength of schedule and declares the ACC the weakest of the six. Although CGB uses a highly suspect mathematical equation, if this is indeed true, how disappointed are you in the ACC?

Jeff: I'm not disappointed with the ACC. The ACC needs to avoid marquee blowouts like Alabama-Clemson last year and LSU-Virginia Tech the year before.


Jeff: Here's an early look at the 2009 ESPN/ABC college football broadcast schedule. Not one BC game on the list. You surprised?

Brian: Not really. Maybe a tiny bit surprised that Florida State at Boston College didn't get picked up, but expectations are low for next season. At least Comcast finally picked up ESPNU.


Brian: To mark the occasion of Michael Vick being released from prison, Dr. Saturday gives us a Vick article. In said article, there is this highlight reel of Vick at Virginia Tech which came - of course - against Boston College.

Remember this performance, Jeff? I believe we were both in attendance. Bad memories. Can you remember a more dominant performance by an opposing player in Alumni Stadium?

Jeff: No, he was the man that day.


Brian: Last one, INCH wants the Frozen Four back in Boston after the 2012 season. I'll second that. What other cities would you like to throw back into the Frozen Four rotation?

Jeff: I might make the trip when its in Tampa if Boston College is there. I'd also go to Atlanta if it were there.

O-Line Experience Equals Success? and the Big Finish

Brian: Interesting read in the Wall Street Journal from a few weeks ago about how offensive line experience can predict success (HT: the new and improved Republic of Gobbler). The article notes that Notre Dame and Virginia Tech - two of the Eagles 2009 opponents - go into next season with two of the most experienced offensive lines. Both the Irish and the Hokies lines will have logged 100 starts. Florida State also will return an offensive line with a combined 86 starts.

Last season, Clemson - the preseason favorite to win the ACC - had a very inexperienced offensive line with less than 40 starts. And we all know how that turned out for the Tigers.

According to the spring football two-deep roster, our starting line next year will look like this:

LT	Anthony Castonzo	6'7"	287	Jr.
LG	Nick Rossi	6'6"	290	Sr.
C	Thomas Claiborne	6'3"	323	Jr.
RG	Nathan Richman	6'6"	284	So.
RT	Rich Lapham	6'8"	322	Jr.

The spring two-deep does not include senior center Matt Tennant, who is out this spring after having Tommy John surgery following an injured left elbow suffered in the second quarter of the Music City Bowl. Spaz is hopeful that Tennant will return for summer drills, and if he does fully recover, our offensive line should look like this opening day:

LT	Anthony Castonzo	6'7"	287	Jr.
LG	Nick Rossi	6'6"	290	Sr.
C	Matt Tennant	6'4"	294	Sr.
RG	Thomas Claiborne	6'3"	323	Jr.
RT	Rich Lapham	6'8"	322	Jr.

... moving Claiborne back to RG and placing Tennant back into the starting center position.

While statistics on offensive line starts are hard to come by on teh web, counting on Tennant returning to the starting lineup, I count that BC returns 84 starts at offensive line. This includes 28 from Castonzo, 28 from Tennant, 14 from Claiborne, and 14 from Lapham. If Tennant can't go and Claiborne plays C, BC will return 56 offensive line starts. In that case, Rossi and Richman will look to replace 55 combined starts from Matt Tennant (injury) and Clif Ramsey (graduation).

Two questions Jeff. Do you agree that college football success and experience at the offensive line positions are correlated? Are you encouraged by the fact that, hopefully with the return of a healthy Tennant, the Eagles will enter the 2009 season with so many starts at OLine (assuming of course that one of our QBs can get the ball to our receivers)?

Jeff: I am very optimistic about next season because even if we do have a subpar quarterback, I will continue to argue that he is just as good as Chris Crane last year. As long as Davis / Tuggle / Boek develops like Crane did as he got more starts, we will be just fine. The rest of our team, both offense and defense aside from the DT position should be as good or better than last season. Last year we learned early on in the Chick-Fil-A Kickoff Classic between Alabama and Clemson that a good offensive line can make you a good team and a bad offensive line can make skill players irrelevant.

Brian: Are you at all worried more about our games against Notre Dame, Virginia Tech and Florida State now that you know they return some very experienced offensive lines?

Jeff: I am naturally worried about the game at Virginia Tech and against Florida State since we haven't beaten the Seminoles in Chestnut Hill yet and Blacksburg is always a tough place to play. Notre Dame though I would say I am more worried having read that and given the fact that they almost have to get better eventually.

Brian: Not only will the offensive line be a strength for the Eagles in 2009, but the future looks bright for the line as well. Yesterday came word that St. Joseph's prep OL prospect Seth Betancourt gave BC a "solid verbal" commitment. A Scout four star recruit, Betancourt was being courted by schools like Penn State and Notre Dame, and had offers from West Virginia, Connecticut and Michigan State. Reportedly, even Florida was recruiting him hard and flew up to see him this past week. Maybe my perception isn't reality, but seems like recruiting has really stepped up this past year (with Betancourt, Boisture and Pierre-Louis). Would you agree?

Jeff: Everything is relative and given that there was absolutely no recruiting news to get excited about last year other than BC making some prospects' lists before they chose other schools, recruiting looks rosey this year. There's still a lot of time for things to happen though so I am quietly excited for now.


Big Finish

Jeff: Kevin Akins was invited to participate in the NY Jets minicamp yesterday. Any chance he makes the opening day roster?

Brian: I wish Akins all the best, but I think it will be tough for him to make the Jets opening day roster. Does he play linebacker? Safety? He probably has a better shot at safety, but will it hurt him that he didn't play the position for most of his college career?


Brian: HD thought that she'd see Justin Tuggle take over as BC's starting quarterback over Dominique Davis. Did you?

Jeff: Not really. It would've been tough for any redshirt freshman to take over for the guy who led the game-winning scoring drive against Wake Forest and then started the final 3 games last year. If Tuggle does become the starter, it will not be until right before the first game or a few games into next season.


Jeff: The AJC's Tony Barnhart lists Gary Tranquill as one of the 5 ACC assistants who will make a difference this fall. Are you expecting him to make a difference?

Brian: Tranquill certainly has the experience, but will only go as far as our eventual starting quarterback will take us.


Brian: DAP for the Atlantic Coast Conference for scheduling the second-most number of non-conference games against BCS conference opponents. ACC scheduled 41.6 percent of out of conference games against BCS opponents in 2009, trailing only the Pac 10 (15 of 30). Anything stand out to you on that list?

Jeff: It looks like the perceived weaker conferences are trying to change that perception by playing a tougher schedule.

Brian: ... or the perceived weaker conferences are perceived weaker because they play tougher competition and don't win as many non-conference games. Chicken or egg?


Jeff: Baseball shut out Dartmouth 3-0 Wednesday to guarantee their first winning season since 2006. How many games you have the Eagles taking this weekend against Miami (Fla)?

Brian: My overly optimistic projection is that the Eagles can take 2 of 3 - tonight and Saturday to be specific. The Saturday game is at 6pm in Brockton, MA though (and not Chestnut Hill) ... what's up with that?


Brian: Last one, Herzlich sat down with HD and said that his decision to return to BC for his senior season was an easy one. This surprise you?

Jeff: Nope, I never thought, nor predicted on this blog that he'd be a high draft pick.

Brian: Worth noting that B.J. Raji disagrees with you, and thinks that Herzlich would have been a Top 15 pick this year.

Pimp Spaz's Ride

Brian: Auburn recently upgraded its recruiting ride - from a stretch limo to a stretch Hummer. You like this move?

Jeff: Absolutely! Spend as much money on recruiting as you can afford without breaking NCAA rules.

Brian: Perhaps we should pimp Spaz's ride. What would you have Spaz ride around in for the recruiting season?

Jeff: If you're saying the stretch Hummer is already taken, how about we go with a little party bus done up in maroon and gold with a cozy interior.

Brian: No, no, no. We gotta throw some local Boston flavor onto the Spaz-mobile. My vote is for a maroon and gold Duck Tour mobile. Not only would this be styling but it could also go where regular vehicles couldn't.

Need to recruit in New Jersey or Florida and don't want to deal with the traffic on I-95? Hop in Boston Harbor and boat it on down there! Unfortunately though, the Duck Tour mobile would probably get even worse gas mileage than the Auburn stretch Hummer.

While I don't really watch the show anymore, I found myself home yesterday afternoon watching ESPN's Around the Horn. Towards the end of the show, they discussed this very topic of Auburn football's new wheels. J.A. Adande hated the idea because of economic reasons - sends the wrong message to recruits, etc. Mariotti called the upgrade "cheesy" while Bob Ryan says "brilliant." To counter, Mariotti called out "old school" Bob Ryan and said that if a northeast program like BC would make this move, Ryan would be against it. Ryan countered by saying that there is no college football in the Northeast. Way to stick up for your alma mater. What do you have to say to Mr. Ryan?

Jeff: I am one of the first people to say that college football in Boston is nothing like college football here in South Carolina so if Bob Ryan was simply pointing out that things at Auburn are always going to be a little different than things at BC, he's right sadly. But if you are looking for one of our alums and supporters to get us a little national attention, Bob Ryan blew it big time. Shame on him.

As for how Alumni Stadium stacks up with southern football stadiums or at least the ones I've been to, it doesn't really. The students are every bit as good at Alumni or better than most places now that they are doing better about making it to the game on-time. But meanwhile, the rest of the fans (with their Red Sox hats and non-logoed shirts) make little noise. In other stadiums around the country, it's much harder to pick out where the students even sit because not only do the not wear Superfan shirts, but the rest of the stadiums are just as packed and making a lot of noise, not just the students as it is in Alumni sometimes.

Brian: Somehow we went from pimping Spaz's ride and slamming Bob Ryan's lack of support for BC on national television to slamming Alumni Stadium and BC's fans?

Who is the ACC's Best and the Big Finish

Brian: Brian Cook of MGoBlog and Fanhouse fame has created a basketball version of the popular football blogpoll. This weekend we will post our first ballot for the basketblogpoll. But before we do, we have to answer this question: who is the best hoops team in the ACC?

Here's a look at the top 6 teams in the conference standings:

TEAM	CONF. W-L	OVERALL W-L
North Carolina	6-2	20-2
Duke	6-2	19-3
Clemson	5-2	19-2
Boston College	6-3	18-6
Wake Forest	4-3	17-3
Florida State	4-3	17-5

Try to wrap your head around the following:

• North Carolina was upset by Boston College at home and lost a close one on the road in Winston-Salem.
• The Blue Devils crawled back in their game against Wake Forest only to lose in a heartbreaker, and just got straight up crushed by the Tigers the other night.
• Clemson lost by 10 to Wake, was crushed by the Tar Heels for the 185th straight time in Chapel Hill, then followed that up with pounding a good Duke squad.
• Wake Forest, while they have wins over North Carolina, Duke and Clemson, have now dropped back-to-back road games to Georgia Tech and Miami, and lost to Virginia Tech last month.

Plus Boston College, Florida State and Virginia Tech are hanging around at the top half of the league standings. So who, Jeff, do you consider to be the team to beat in the ACC?

Jeff: After winning 6 in a row, I think North Carolina is once again the heavy favorite to win the Atlantic Coast Conference. No one will argue against the fact that they are the most talented team in the league. Wake Forest and Duke have lost some games by large margins recently which eliminate them from the conversation and UNC has already beaten Clemson.

Brian: I will agree with this. North Carolina is now the team to beat. They get Duke next week and if they beat the Blue Devils, they will be in prime position to win the regular season conference title. I like Carolina's size advantage to carry them over Duke. Wake Forest has been impressive in beating Duke, North Carolina and Clemson, but they have lost to some middle-of-the-road ACC teams and are now on the outside looking in.


Big Finish

Jeff: The men's hockey team has now fallen out of the top 14 of the PairWise Rankings, meaning if the season ended today, in all likelihood they wouldn't make the NCAA Tournament. Time to hit the panic button?

Brian: Absolutely. It had to start tonight with a shutout of Massachusetts. We need to take care of business on Monday against Harvard and keep this winning streak going.


Brian: Now that the recruiting class has been signed, which recruit will make the biggest impact next year?

Jeff: The kicker Nate Freese is going to have the biggest impact out of our recruiting class as he replaces Steve Aponavicius.


Brian: The women's hoops team now has their first losing streak of the season after falling to a ranked Florida State team, 64-53. Can the Lady Eagles (17-6, 5-3) stop this losing streak this Monday against No. 13 Maryland?

Jeff: We know that the ACC is an extremely competitive league in basketball for the men, but it is even tougher for the women. The streak will probably continue.


Jeff: After Miami gave Wake a beat down earlier this week, do you like the Eagles' chances a little better on Sunday?

Brian: Yes, I like the Eagles to improve on their 20-point loss to Wake Forest at home last month. Whether that is a 10 point loss or a straight-up win is another matter.


Brian: Last one, Maryland's offensive coordinator James Franklin has been named coach-in-waiting of the Terrapins. Maryland joins Florida State as the second ACC program to embark in a "coach-in-waiting" arrangement. How do you come down on all these coach-in-waiting deals?

Jeff: When is Ryan Day going to become coordinator in waiting? I think these arrangements have gone too far but they have served their purposes for some college football programs.

Headlines: Eagles Top NC State

Brian: The Eagles improved to 3-3 in ACC play after their two wins against Georgia Tech and North Carolina State last week. Jeff, what did you like about Saturday's game?

Jeff: You have to like a double digit conference win any time you can get one. NC State is a team that the Eagles have had tremendous success against over the last few years even dating back to a few matchups while we were still in the Big East. You also have to like that there are several players on the floor that are capable of making some big plays for us whether if be a Corey Raji offensive rebound putback, a Rakim Sanders three-point basket, a Trapani jumper, a bucket from Southern down low, or any number of things from Rice and Jackson. The Eagles appear as though the sky is the limit when they are playing well.

Unfortunately though, the Eagles don't always play well and our lack of depth at center and forward or just lack of a center entirely is frequently exposed. But the most concerning thing from Saturday's game was the blown 20 point lead early in the second half. The Eagles extended their lead to 20 at the start of the 2nd half only to let the Wolfpack go on a run and cut the deficit to 3 in the blink of an eye. I don't know what happened or why the team fell apart or if NC State just got that hot while we went cold but against better competition, this game could've been lost.

Brian: You have to like the results on the boards Saturday, with the Eagles outrebounding the 'Pack by 21. Raji led the way with 12 rebounds, Trapani had 10, Southern 7 and Rice and Sanders each pitched in 4. If the Eagles can remain aggressive on the boards to compensate for their height disadvantage or lack of a big man (when Southern gets in foul trouble), they can run with anyone in conference.

Next up for the Eagles is a road trip to the Comcast Center to face a 13-6 (2-3 ACC) Maryland squad. The Terrapins are equally undersized and should come out hungry, as last Saturday they suffered the worst loss during the tenure of Gary Williams, a 85-44 beat down courtesy of Coach K and the Blue Devils.


Quickly ... The NC State blog StateFan Nation tiers the ACC men's basketball programs ... Monday's game between the women's NC State team and Wake Forest has been postponed until February 10 due to the passing of women's basketball coach Kay Yow; as a result NC State will next play the Eagles on Thursday ... The men's hockey team got back on track with a pair of wins against Maine ... The College Hockey blog recaps the weekend around college hockey ... women's hockey extends their Hockey East lead over the weekend, topping Vermont 5-0 and 5-0 ... ex-Eagle commit TE Arthur Lynch staying loyal to Georgia ... BC gets a kicker ($) ... Gary Tranquill, really?? ... HD weighs in on the hire (meh) ... Miami close to hiring once BC HC bridesmaid Mark Whipple as their offensive coordinator

Headlines: Lynch-Fontaine To UGA

Wanted to close the loop on this one: Potential Boston College recruit tight end Arthur Fontaine committed to Georgia. Fontaine, who gave BC a verbal commitment and then backed out feeling he had rushed the decision, was deciding between Georgia, Boston College, Virginia and Maryland.

Bruce Springstein's kid Evan is heading to Boston College. I guess this fall it will be Greetings from Asbury Park Chestnut Hill.

Here is an overview of ACC football recruiting from the Baltimore Sun blog. Here's the gist of the BC overview: the headliner of next year's class - Dillon Quinn. The sleeper - defensive end Kasim Edebali. It won't be a large incoming recruiting class but that may be due to the fact that we pulled in 29 recruits in 2008.

Happy Time: Ridiculous Recruiting Story and Oates

No BC birthdays of note today or this week. If you know of any, please leave them in the comments section.


Happy Trails this guy. The Eagle in Atlanta linked to this story about a New York recruit who, while speaking with Jags and Bill McGovern, was interrupted by a helicopter landing on his HS practice field. Out came Greg Schiano and assistant Kyle Flood to recruit him for the SUNJ Scarlet Knights. This leads me to ask three things:

• What is Schiano doing wasting my parents and the good people of the State of New Jersey's tax dollars gallavanting around in a helicopter?
• Who doesn't want to play for this guy?
• And who is wowed by a helicopter landing on their practice field? Not a BC Guy.
  

This series of events lead to another classic quote from Jags [as reported by the Globe's Mark Blaudschun]:

"If that's what it takes [to get someone], I don't know," said Jagodzinski with a laugh. "I told Billy we should have shown him the jet packs we had under our seats."

We here at BC Interruption absolutely love Jags, if only because he is a quote machine!

Happy Anniversary John Oates. On this day yesterday, you were kidnapped and replaced with ... someone else completely and had the game of your life. 5-5 from beyond the arc (absolutely on fire in the first half), 8 for 8 from the floor and finished with 21 points, 4 boards, 3 steals and 3 blocks. Oates had 0 points in his last game against Clemson!

I don't know what you've done with the real Johnny Oates, but I like what you've done with the place.

Headlines: Recruits and Hoops

Jeff: By now anyone who follows Boston College enough to be reading this website knows that BC lost last night to Maryland by 5. There are a lot of goods and bads I saw in the game, but let's talk about what we saw in the stands. A LOT of empty seats. I understand weather might not have been great in Chestnut Hill last night but the weather should not play a factor into whether or not students show up. It was pathetic. Student sections were less than half full. If the students don't show up for Maryland I think it is then clear that they only care about UNC and Duke unless our ball team is in the top 25. I am dissapointed we have to talk about lack of fan support for BC AGAIN.

Brian: It was supposed to be Rivalry week on ESPN. Even though that label is some ESPN manufactured moniker to label the college basketball games of the week, you wouldn't have known it was rivalry week in looking in the stands. As you say, Jeff, very disappointing. And what was up with the Maryland fan sitting in the seats behind the basket? Did you see that?

Jeff: Well it was easy for that Maryland fan to get behind the basket because at tipoff there were not even enough students to fill the front rows. So sad.

Brian: Congratulations to Gary Williams on reaching his 600th career win. Williams was the Boston College coach in the early 80s when the Big East was just forming, and won 76 of those 600 games for the Eagles.


Jeff: National signing day was yesterday, BC signed 29 players. What did you like most about the class?

Brian: I try not to get too wrapped up in the recruiting process since I think that the gains from national signing day are realized much further down the line and recruiting rating services accuracy are marginal at best. I don't want to watch a ridiculous, cheezy, over the top press conference with a 17 year old kid picking one hat over another. That being said, I like a few things about the recruiting class.

• The emphasis on recruiting NJ kids again. It's clear that the recent success of Rutgers football has been boosted by keeping kids in state (and keeping them away from Syracuse which used to eat Rutgers lunch recruiting NJ kids). BC should continue to focus there. As a reader pointed out to me yesterday, if Rutgers was good 5 years ago, what's to say that players like Andre Callendar and Brian Toal wouldn't have stayed in state instead of coming to BC?
  
• Competition at QB. We brought in both Boek and Tuggle to provide some competition for Crane at the QB position
• Depth at RB. Headlining the class is Josh Haden, who is already on campus and may very well start this fall. But we also added Montel Harris, Jerry Kell and Eric Reynolds
• Bolstering the Secondary. Okechukwu Okoroha and Ugo Okpara, the latter who was committed to the Razorbacks before signing with the Eagles. They have height (6'1" and 6'2") and although I have nothing to base this on, envision them being absolute beasts in the Eagle secondary. I'm going to try to give them a nickname right off the bat - the roOKs.

Jeff: The two highlights of the recruiting class for me are the two QBs we have coming in and then stealing two players from SEC schools. Josh Haden was heavily recruited by Florida and then as Brian mentioned Ugo Okpara had originally committed to Arkansas. Getting back to the quarterbacks, I am hoping Cody Boek is the next Paul Peterson (my all-time favorite BC QB). And in my mind he will be until he proves otherwise or fails to win the starting job.