Boston College Football: Making "24" Look About as Suspenseful as a Mid-80s Super Bowl

I really can't take this any more.

Another week, ANOTHER double OT game. Shit, NCAA football has only had overtime for 10 years--has any team EVER had 2+OT games on consecutive weeks before?? Don't get me wrong, the fact that we won both of them is great, but this shit is knocking years off my life, to mention nothing of the whale pants crowd. I'm pretty sure that my blood pressure after this past weekend is roughly equivalent to that of the Japanese hot dog eating dude.

Anyway, without further ado, the weekly roundup:

THUMBS UP
-DeJuan Tribble
#27 had perhaps his best game of his BC career on Saturday, coming up with several huge pass deflections in addition to his interception. As he has developed into a true shutdown corner at The Heights, I fully expect him to be deployed at defensive tackle vs. NC State.

-Running Game
L.V. Whitworth and Andre Callender combined for a total of 113 yards on 19 carries, not at all bad for a day's work. While neither is the dominant rusher that BC has had in the past with the likes of Derrick Knight, William Green, and Mike Cloud, they do seem to be effective as a 1-2 punch. I still would like to see A.J. Brooks and Jeff Smith worked into the game on offense, though. The offensive line did much better Saturday than in the previous two games, paving the way for the impressive running attack and also holding the BYU defense to two sacks of Matt Ryan.

-Matty Ice
Note that I said Matty Ice here, not Matt Ryan. The truth is that Ryan didn't have a great game--arguably his worst in a BC jersey (the Syracuse game in '04 never actually happened, contrary to popular belief, and even if it had it would not have been Ryan's fault). But he stuck it out and willed his team to victory at the end. Is there any doubt that this kid is a leader?? More to the point, if your team is down 6 with 2 minutes left and the ball on your own 20, is there any other QB in the ACC you'd rather have behind center?? I don't think there is.

-Kevin Akins
Despite his lack of size, Akins is doing well in his new role as a pass-rushing LB. That said, we simply can't afford to not have him in the secondary right now.

-Clemson
With the Tigers' clutch victory over Florida State, BC now is firmly in the driver's seat for the ACC Atlantic title.

-Michigan
Seriously, how fucking great was that?? Sure, it would've been better if it was BC heading into South Bend to demolish and expose the French, but since they are too pussy to play us, we can live vicariously through the Wolverines. Let all BC fans tip a glass to our Wolverine bretheren this week.



(thanks to MGoBlog for the video)

-Freshman Girls
Ask, Eric Cantona, and you shall receive.

As you can see, these lovely ladies are worthy answers to the infamous Cowgirls. But they need their own gimmick to gain national attention for BC--and major props to Eagles Talon of the EagleInsider board, who suggested maroon and gold Catholic schoolgirl outfits:


(ummmm, yeah, just picture that with a gold top)



THUMBS DOWN
-Diamond Stud
'Nuff said. I don't even really want to go into this. What I will say is this--we need a new kicker. Diamond Stud is fine for kickoffs; he does a pretty solid job of consistently putting the ball in the end zone. But he simply isn't cutting it as a placekicker. You just can not miss 2 PATs in one season, let alone one game. That doesn't do it at this level. I don't care if we run out Steve Aponavicius or burn Billy Flutie's redshirt or whatever the fuck. Hell, get Charlie Davies out there. Just get someone out there who can consistently hit extra points and field goals from inside 35, and let our offense take care of the rest.

-Cornerbacks not named "Tribble"
Can we PLEEEEEEEEEEEEEEASE get Akins back there?? I like him as a LB, but we simply need him more in the secondary. Get Roderick Rollins in there too, at this point. Larry Anam and Taji Morris would be fine in nickel and dime packages, if we used those, but they are not getting the job done in coverage.

-Playcalling
The defensive playcalling was bad; I've been saying this for 2 years, when you have cornerbacks who can't cover anyone but who are pretty good physical football players you need to have them jam the receiver at the line of scrimmage. If we don't change our coverage schemes we are going to get shredded by FSU. That said, the offensive playcalling was simply atrocious. What in the hell were we doing in the first OT?? Our kicker has already missed 2 PATs and we're going to count on him to make a game-winning FG and make no attempt to put the ball in the end zone?? Are Tom O'Brien and Dana Bible TRYING to give me a heart attack??

-The Fans
Seriously, all I ask is 3 things:
1. Show up on time (10 minutes before kickoff)
2. Wear maroon and/or gold, not white
3. Make noise, at the very least, on key defensive plays, the "We Are BC" chant, and sing the fight song.

Is this really too much to ask of BC's non-student fans?? This is big time now, people.

-NC State
First they lose to Akron at home, then they get bitchslapped by Southern Miss?? We better not lose to these jokers.

-ESPN.com
We're not the fucking "Golden Eagles", assholes.

-The Cheap Whiskey I bought for 99c a nip at Reservoir Liquor
Yeah.


Some post-weekend press coverage:
Herald: Eagles Get Early Edge in ACC
Globe: BC Climbing the Ladder

That's all for now. Still decompressing from that. More thoughts to come later on.