So the news is kind of slow, not a whole lot left from the Media Days, camp won't start for another two weeks and the summer recruiting push is pretty over as well. Again i encourage people to read the Herzlich article, but if you've already done that than you can stick around for my team by team take on fans. This is only football though
I'll go North to South so that means I start off up here in Chestnut Hill and as far as fans go there's probably no worse place to start. I've mentioned this before but the first telling sign is that TV segment that ESPN ran when BC was #2 in the country after the VT game and people in Boston still had no clue. The fact of the matter is that Boston is a pro sports town and BC gets very lost in the shuffle. Local alumni are probably our best representation as they make up the bulk of the crowd at Alumni Stadium (Irony?) they shell out ridiculous coinage for good seats and even more for parking that is in the same county as the stadium. The students are a mixed bag, you have people like myself (headed into my Senior year) and then you have people like my freshman roommate who don't even know the most basic rules of the game, yet go to the game because everyone goes. I'd say thats about 20% of the student section, then theres another 50% casual fans who know next to nothing about the team, show up 5 minutes into the first quarter, drunk, with the occasional group of drunk bros who dumped a can of paint on their head then spray painted a witty saying across their chest to show how crazy they were. The other 30% are fans who show up early for games, know the majority of the starting players and might paint their chest during home games to show support for the team. Of that 30% of students and among the alumni you have the crazy nutters like myself who follow the team 365 days a year and write a blog that next to no one reads. We travel very poorly (geographic distance doesn't help), particularly the student section and I've heard negative things about the people who do travel.
Maryland: I have not made it to Maryland but they seem right on par with BC, the average populace is more concerned with the Orioles offseason and the Ravens. The alumni seem to rep well and the student section seems about the same as BC as well. I can't speak to their hospitality but they travel pretty well (we tend to travel to MD fairly well also due to proximity) and they are among the most polite while they are here.
Virginia: I really can't speak at all here, BC has not played them while I have closely followed the team.
Virginia Tech: By and large one of the most educated (football wise anyways, don't wanna ruffle any Duke feathers) fan bases. Lane Stadium is generally packed and the fans in the Blacksburg area are fairly courteous. I think a lot of this does stem from the interest they place in the team and the amount of knowledge the general fan has. They travel very well although I do have to admit that I have had a number of negative encounters with VTech fans who travel.
Duke: To be fair they had a run when they were so awful only the really true fans were sticking around and my experience with Duke was during that run. Until recently they repped poorly at home and from what I've heard tend to be apathetic and aren't overly hospitable. They didn't travel well when they came here in 06 and those that did come seemed to just soak in the atmosphere.
Wake Forest: There's not a whole lot to say here. The run to the ACC title in 06 seemed to stir the pot a bit and the fans seemed a little more into it. The relatively small capacity of BB&T (or Groves) means you never see an empty seat and the team travels well to boot. Both home and travel fans are polite and BB&T is one of the best places to watch a game in the ACC.
UNC: As they become relevant again after a weak stretch the fans are starting to get a little noisier. Last year they were close to capacity on average attendance and their proximity to other teams allows for a pretty solid travel squad. I can't say much on how they are when they travel but the home fans seem to be a mixed bag.
Clemson: In terms of devotion and sheer noise Clemson is probably the class of the ACC. I've been to Clemson a number of times and the even the dirt out there is orange. Everyone in the area is devoted to that team and the Death Valley is always packed. The devotion is borderline nauseating and there is a sense of fan ego (in 06 they stamped money with tiger paws and paid for most everything in cash) but the fact of the matter is that they travel well and are devoted. My opinion is that the average fan knows the team and is reasonably familiar with the opponents but doesn't do quite the research your VT fan does. I've heard many negative things about Clemson fans but my own experience has been nothing but great.
Georgia Tech: Perhaps a slightly inflated opinion of their team is really the worst you can level against the Tech fans, although Paul Johnson could quickly make that opinion valid. They are probably the Maryland/BC of the coastal. In fact the similarity with BC is right on par as they don't travel particularly well (at least not here) and they don't seem to have fans who are particularly familiar with the ins and outs.
FSU: Probably the worst fans of the ACC. I haven't made it to Tallahassee and I don't want to. Everyone who's come back has said that they were afraid to even mention they were from Boston. While the devotion to FSU is right along the lines with Clemson my experience with Clemson fans has been classy while FSU fans seem to be classless. When in FL my understanding is that they only want to start fights and when they are here that is certainly the case. They seem stuck in 1999 and have absolutely zero ability to be impartial when evaluating teams.
Miami: They used to have a rabid fan base but now it seems to have softened a bit. When some of my friends went down in 06 most of my friends just wanted to party in the warm weather and there weren't many issues. When they came up here in 07 there was no one traveling (although it was the Saturday after Thanksgiving and it was bloody freezing even for me)
Thursday, July 30, 2009
Herzlich Article
This SI article on Herzlich has been making the blog rounds, and for good reason. If you haven't read it yet, find some time. It's four well written and inspiring pages.
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
ACC Preseason Team Announced
The Preseason All-ACC team was announced today and Tennant and Castonzo both made it. I was bothered by HD's choice @ Center but its good to see that most other reporters disagreed with her (and to her credit she admitted to difficulty and oddly enough had Wes Davis as one of the Safeties)
As far as snubs go I think there's a small case to be made for Claiborne, Albright and Wes Davis, but Albright was hurt last year and the Safety position was stacked with Burnett and Chancellor winning roundly. The one snub that bothers me is McLaughlin here's a comparison of credentials:
Name Position Tackles/Solo /TFL/Sack/FF/Int/Misc
Mac: MLB 89 /53 / 14 / 4 / 2 / 1 /Captain, calls signals, vaults linemen
DeKoda Watson OLB 46 /28/ 8 / 0 /0 / 1 / missed 4 games, 28 tackles in last 4
Quan Sturdivan MLB 122 /87/ 5.5/ 2 / 2/ 1 /moving to MLB this year, calls signals
Alex Wujciak MLB 133 /56/ 8.5/ 1.5/ 0 / 0 / 2nd team All-ACC
One other thing to note is that Mac was also playing alongside Herzlich (110 tackles) and Francois/Toal (124 combined) and behind Brace and Raji so he has arguably less opportunity to make tackles (#5 total Defense) Watson and FSU are arguably as close (#15) but after that Sturdivan and Wujciak were standouts on relatively unheralded defenses (# 64 and #63 respectively). This shows particularly with Wujciak as he only has 56 solo stops(which is a lot, but less than half of his 133 total), meaning he had to help bring someone down more often than make a play.
When you look at it Mac has less tackles because he had less opportunity yet still had great numbers has always been a MLB, has leadership ability, calls signals and jumps over linemen to make sacks.
My only conclusion was that Mac was passed over because of the question on whether he will play and whether he will be 100% with his hobbled ankle.
As far as snubs go I think there's a small case to be made for Claiborne, Albright and Wes Davis, but Albright was hurt last year and the Safety position was stacked with Burnett and Chancellor winning roundly. The one snub that bothers me is McLaughlin here's a comparison of credentials:
Name Position Tackles/Solo /TFL/Sack/FF/Int/Misc
Mac: MLB 89 /53 / 14 / 4 / 2 / 1 /Captain, calls signals, vaults linemen
DeKoda Watson OLB 46 /28/ 8 / 0 /0 / 1 / missed 4 games, 28 tackles in last 4
Quan Sturdivan MLB 122 /87/ 5.5/ 2 / 2/ 1 /moving to MLB this year, calls signals
Alex Wujciak MLB 133 /56/ 8.5/ 1.5/ 0 / 0 / 2nd team All-ACC
One other thing to note is that Mac was also playing alongside Herzlich (110 tackles) and Francois/Toal (124 combined) and behind Brace and Raji so he has arguably less opportunity to make tackles (#5 total Defense) Watson and FSU are arguably as close (#15) but after that Sturdivan and Wujciak were standouts on relatively unheralded defenses (# 64 and #63 respectively). This shows particularly with Wujciak as he only has 56 solo stops(which is a lot, but less than half of his 133 total), meaning he had to help bring someone down more often than make a play.
When you look at it Mac has less tackles because he had less opportunity yet still had great numbers has always been a MLB, has leadership ability, calls signals and jumps over linemen to make sacks.
My only conclusion was that Mac was passed over because of the question on whether he will play and whether he will be 100% with his hobbled ankle.
ACC Media Days
The season is about a month away and the ACC media days provide yet another glimpse into the season. Most of it covered stuff that we have already seen ad nauseum here so I won't go much into depth. The media also picked us to finish last (with Maryland) in the Atlantic. Other than that most of the news revolved around QBs and Herzy's unfortunate circumstances.
The one new thing to come out of the media day was Spaz's news on Marty Bowman, who has really stepped up in the offseason. Good news to here as Marty will be the SS moving into the year, perhaps making the secondary better than I believed it to be.
ATLEagle had this VTech preview of BC which I have to say is pretty fair. The only thing that bothered me is the claim that we're not blue-collar. If there's on thing that TOB, Jagz and Spaz have all marveled at its the players "Blue-collar, working day in and out to get better" attitude.
More news to come later.
The one new thing to come out of the media day was Spaz's news on Marty Bowman, who has really stepped up in the offseason. Good news to here as Marty will be the SS moving into the year, perhaps making the secondary better than I believed it to be.
ATLEagle had this VTech preview of BC which I have to say is pretty fair. The only thing that bothered me is the claim that we're not blue-collar. If there's on thing that TOB, Jagz and Spaz have all marveled at its the players "Blue-collar, working day in and out to get better" attitude.
More news to come later.
Friday, July 24, 2009
Unit rankings and ACC Media Day
HD just finished up her unit by unit ranking of the ACC and as usual there is quite a bit to be disgruntled about. I really don't know about this whole blogger thing, or maybe they need to start adding two reporters for each conference because you can tell that shes personally familiar with a number of teams while she gets other information from reports. Her rankings aren't wildly off the mark they just sometimes seem to be a superficial analysis of certain situations. Now that shes all done I can give you my take.
First up are QBs where HD has us down @ 12 and I think thats right on the mark, I think her 2-11 are questionable but her analysis of BC is solid.
Next up are the RBs where Heather has us @ 5. As a pessimist I have to feel like there might be a chance that last year was a bit of a fluke with Harris, but at the same time you have to go with what you saw. Statistically 1(Haden) and 2(Harris) are definitely better than WF and Miami. I personally feel that VT should probably be #1 while we should be ahead of GT. I realize that Dwyer is the reigning player of the year and he will without a doubt be the best runner statistically, but you always see QBs from the spread get knocked why shouldn't tailbacks from the Spread Option get knocked. (that being aside I am legitimately afraid of what Paul Johnson can do when he gets his recruits into position, scary). While VT's stable is starting to look similar to USC's I feel that Harris and a healthy Haden are two great backs and that is what this is about, the units themselves, not the units in regard to their supporting cast.
WRs come in third and HD had us @ 4, to be honest to me that sounded high at first but looking at the returning players from other teams it is certainly understandable. I also like the decision to recruit big tall guys especially with our inexperienced QBs. I remember a couple teams over the years just lofting passes to receivers in the end zone and our CBs could do nothing about it (there was a really tall guy @ VT wore #2 I think, don't know if hes still there but he did it like 4 times)
O-Line where Dinich gave us some props @ #2 and maybe this is bias but we have to be #1 here. Castonzo and Tennant anchor a line with Lapham and Claiborne, two absolute forces. The LG spot is open still sure, but any number of the possibilities there could probably better than most other teams OLineman. We might be weak in blocking TEs but I still feel like they are capable and talented pass catchers in the group and McCluskey is one of the best FBs in the country.
D-Line is another area where I have a beef with HD. Yes, we have to replace BJ and Brace, but we also get Albright back. Albright, Ramella and Giles create one hell of a rotation of starting caliber ends. A lot of people also don't realize that BJ and Brace were big guys and needed a fair amount of breathers and Scafe in particular proved to be an effective backup. With Quinn coming in and Ramsey, Murray and Deska available there's still quite a lot of veterans along that line, even if it's not game experience. I wouldn't be surprised to see Giles get worked into the DT position either. This unit should be sixth above NC State at the very least.
Linebackers are up next and HD has us @ 10. My immediate reaction was that this was a fair enough assessment but looking at the situation of NC State, Duke and Maryland and factoring in McLaughlin's likely return and Spaz and McGovern's ability to really coach up LBs I think you could slot the unit in @ 7.
Dinich gave the secondary a 3rd place and I think she might have overestimated a bit here. We are returning 3 of 4 starters and plenty of experience but I think this year we're going to find that without a mind blowing front 7 the secondary will not quite live up to the hype. Looking at the other units we should probably be down in the 5-7 range.
Special Teams I think an off-season will give Quigley some good consistency and he's still got a boot for KO duty Aponavicious is pretty much money for PATs and he has great accuracy, just don't expect much out of him past the 15 yrds out. Nate Freese apparently hit a 52 yarder in HS but Ryan Ohliger hit a 58 yarder in HS and that didn't work out (granted that was because he was a head case).
First up are QBs where HD has us down @ 12 and I think thats right on the mark, I think her 2-11 are questionable but her analysis of BC is solid.
Next up are the RBs where Heather has us @ 5. As a pessimist I have to feel like there might be a chance that last year was a bit of a fluke with Harris, but at the same time you have to go with what you saw. Statistically 1(Haden) and 2(Harris) are definitely better than WF and Miami. I personally feel that VT should probably be #1 while we should be ahead of GT. I realize that Dwyer is the reigning player of the year and he will without a doubt be the best runner statistically, but you always see QBs from the spread get knocked why shouldn't tailbacks from the Spread Option get knocked. (that being aside I am legitimately afraid of what Paul Johnson can do when he gets his recruits into position, scary). While VT's stable is starting to look similar to USC's I feel that Harris and a healthy Haden are two great backs and that is what this is about, the units themselves, not the units in regard to their supporting cast.
WRs come in third and HD had us @ 4, to be honest to me that sounded high at first but looking at the returning players from other teams it is certainly understandable. I also like the decision to recruit big tall guys especially with our inexperienced QBs. I remember a couple teams over the years just lofting passes to receivers in the end zone and our CBs could do nothing about it (there was a really tall guy @ VT wore #2 I think, don't know if hes still there but he did it like 4 times)
O-Line where Dinich gave us some props @ #2 and maybe this is bias but we have to be #1 here. Castonzo and Tennant anchor a line with Lapham and Claiborne, two absolute forces. The LG spot is open still sure, but any number of the possibilities there could probably better than most other teams OLineman. We might be weak in blocking TEs but I still feel like they are capable and talented pass catchers in the group and McCluskey is one of the best FBs in the country.
D-Line is another area where I have a beef with HD. Yes, we have to replace BJ and Brace, but we also get Albright back. Albright, Ramella and Giles create one hell of a rotation of starting caliber ends. A lot of people also don't realize that BJ and Brace were big guys and needed a fair amount of breathers and Scafe in particular proved to be an effective backup. With Quinn coming in and Ramsey, Murray and Deska available there's still quite a lot of veterans along that line, even if it's not game experience. I wouldn't be surprised to see Giles get worked into the DT position either. This unit should be sixth above NC State at the very least.
Linebackers are up next and HD has us @ 10. My immediate reaction was that this was a fair enough assessment but looking at the situation of NC State, Duke and Maryland and factoring in McLaughlin's likely return and Spaz and McGovern's ability to really coach up LBs I think you could slot the unit in @ 7.
Dinich gave the secondary a 3rd place and I think she might have overestimated a bit here. We are returning 3 of 4 starters and plenty of experience but I think this year we're going to find that without a mind blowing front 7 the secondary will not quite live up to the hype. Looking at the other units we should probably be down in the 5-7 range.
Special Teams I think an off-season will give Quigley some good consistency and he's still got a boot for KO duty Aponavicious is pretty much money for PATs and he has great accuracy, just don't expect much out of him past the 15 yrds out. Nate Freese apparently hit a 52 yarder in HS but Ryan Ohliger hit a 58 yarder in HS and that didn't work out (granted that was because he was a head case).
Thursday, July 23, 2009
Good to see Someone (else) Upholding the ACC
News just broke of another Duke player dismissed from the team for "failing to uphold the conduct expected of a Blue Devil student athlete." After all the crap with FSU this year and historically Miami and even UNC at times it's good to see that other teams actually do uphold the integrity of the ACC. As much as I dislike the guy TOB doesn't put up with much so NC State is pretty reliable and I have to feel the same way about Grobe. Coming from Navy I'd have to say Johnson is a pretty reliable disciplinarian as well and I haven't heard of any problems in Blacksburg. So that leaves FSU, Maryland, UNC and Miami, 1/3 of the conference. Aside from Maryland if you look at the teams that are always projected to do well in the ACC you'll see a correlation. Maybe Swofford should take notice or something because it seems to me that teams willing to turn a blind eye on character issues are getting an advantage.
Edit: The second half of the argument
After a little research I'm going to pull Maryland off my conduct watch list. The only thing I could find was Rich Costa who was suspended through the end of his senior season, skirting the issue. I know there were some issues with Da'rell Scott last year but I couldn't find anything, so without substantiation I'll move to the other schools.
First up is UNC, Butch Davis is a win at all costs type guy, a somewhat ruthless recruiter who doesn't take much into consideration other than ability. A substantial amount of last years recruiting class won't make it on campus this year because of arrests or academic problems.
Next we have Miami, and I must say that I think Randy Shannon has really shut down the culture of problems that was sprouting there. He did give Marve a bit of a leash but eventually cut ties. This is nothing compared to the issues of violence, arrests and general character issues (google Miami-FIU brawl) that plagued the team in the past. Randy Shannon has already thrown a number players off the team but he has come under fire for it and many of the players, have spoken out against him which suggests to me that Shannon may be the only one making a true effort to change the culture.
Then finally we have FSU. I'm not here to say that Bobby Bowden is not one of the greatest, if not the greatest coaches of all time (for some reason I like Bear Bryant for that nod) but the fact is that he is so out of touch that the teams lost control. Maybe it was the great success in the late 90s but the culture @ FSU is all about winning and not student athletes. I for one agree with the NCAA ruling, FSU should vacate the wins. Half of the starting lineup was nailed for cheating, every syllabus @ BC contains a paragraph stating that crap like that gets you expelled. Aside from that the team has been nailed with a number of arrests in the past few years. My impression was that the ACC was supposed to be a premier Academic-Athletic conference. Maybe some rules should be shifted so that Swofford can start policing the ACC like Roger Goodell polices the NFL (though in my opinion Goodell seems to have gotten a little powerhappy).
BC is not without it's share of problems. Most recently the Brady Smith situation came to light, ultimately the justice system found that Smith was not responsible for a felony. I can't find details but ultimately he was found guilty of a misdemeanor. Still he was kicked off the team as (at the time) Jagz became judge, jury and executioner of Smiths career. (if Smith had been here no one would be doubting our d-line this year). Next up was the Cherilus/Tribble bar fight. If you read the full story Cherilus and Tribble were only helping the owner, who also works as a Massachusetts State Trooper, throw out a drunk troublemaker. The guy ended up getting severely hurt in the process because he caused trouble on his way out. You go quietly, minimum force is used, you try to be a tough guy and a state trooper, a brawler of an o-lineman and a hard hitting defenseback have to use more force, and in this case the guy got hurt in the process. Sometimes AJ Brooks is involved in this story as well but Brooks was actually suspended for the ACC title game because he got in a fight ON Campus and kicked the crap out of a student (sometimes described as a visitor other times described as an RA, who knows). What a lot of people don't know is that Brooks was actually released in the end, all the stories call Brooks a Junior, but he was a RS Junior. BC effectively dismissed Brooks but it never became a story because they simply refused to grant him his fifth year of eligibility. Most recently Dominique Davis was suspended because he didn't meet the universities academic requirements and before that BJ Raji was given the same treatment, both players were important parts of that years team.
Ultimately the point is that the playing field should be level. If you want to play amateur football, play in the Arena League. If you want to play College ball, go to class and don't spend your weekends getting arrested.
I forgot about Week 12 on the Schedule
We play Maryland and it should stay that way. Its an Atlantic matchup and theres a recruiting overlap. Geographically these teams are closest in conference anyways and makes for a fairly easy and cheap road trip for either team. I like having the game late in the season as well because it generally has implications for the division title as well.
Edit: The second half of the argument
After a little research I'm going to pull Maryland off my conduct watch list. The only thing I could find was Rich Costa who was suspended through the end of his senior season, skirting the issue. I know there were some issues with Da'rell Scott last year but I couldn't find anything, so without substantiation I'll move to the other schools.
First up is UNC, Butch Davis is a win at all costs type guy, a somewhat ruthless recruiter who doesn't take much into consideration other than ability. A substantial amount of last years recruiting class won't make it on campus this year because of arrests or academic problems.
Next we have Miami, and I must say that I think Randy Shannon has really shut down the culture of problems that was sprouting there. He did give Marve a bit of a leash but eventually cut ties. This is nothing compared to the issues of violence, arrests and general character issues (google Miami-FIU brawl) that plagued the team in the past. Randy Shannon has already thrown a number players off the team but he has come under fire for it and many of the players, have spoken out against him which suggests to me that Shannon may be the only one making a true effort to change the culture.
Then finally we have FSU. I'm not here to say that Bobby Bowden is not one of the greatest, if not the greatest coaches of all time (for some reason I like Bear Bryant for that nod) but the fact is that he is so out of touch that the teams lost control. Maybe it was the great success in the late 90s but the culture @ FSU is all about winning and not student athletes. I for one agree with the NCAA ruling, FSU should vacate the wins. Half of the starting lineup was nailed for cheating, every syllabus @ BC contains a paragraph stating that crap like that gets you expelled. Aside from that the team has been nailed with a number of arrests in the past few years. My impression was that the ACC was supposed to be a premier Academic-Athletic conference. Maybe some rules should be shifted so that Swofford can start policing the ACC like Roger Goodell polices the NFL (though in my opinion Goodell seems to have gotten a little powerhappy).
BC is not without it's share of problems. Most recently the Brady Smith situation came to light, ultimately the justice system found that Smith was not responsible for a felony. I can't find details but ultimately he was found guilty of a misdemeanor. Still he was kicked off the team as (at the time) Jagz became judge, jury and executioner of Smiths career. (if Smith had been here no one would be doubting our d-line this year). Next up was the Cherilus/Tribble bar fight. If you read the full story Cherilus and Tribble were only helping the owner, who also works as a Massachusetts State Trooper, throw out a drunk troublemaker. The guy ended up getting severely hurt in the process because he caused trouble on his way out. You go quietly, minimum force is used, you try to be a tough guy and a state trooper, a brawler of an o-lineman and a hard hitting defenseback have to use more force, and in this case the guy got hurt in the process. Sometimes AJ Brooks is involved in this story as well but Brooks was actually suspended for the ACC title game because he got in a fight ON Campus and kicked the crap out of a student (sometimes described as a visitor other times described as an RA, who knows). What a lot of people don't know is that Brooks was actually released in the end, all the stories call Brooks a Junior, but he was a RS Junior. BC effectively dismissed Brooks but it never became a story because they simply refused to grant him his fifth year of eligibility. Most recently Dominique Davis was suspended because he didn't meet the universities academic requirements and before that BJ Raji was given the same treatment, both players were important parts of that years team.
Ultimately the point is that the playing field should be level. If you want to play amateur football, play in the Arena League. If you want to play College ball, go to class and don't spend your weekends getting arrested.
I forgot about Week 12 on the Schedule
We play Maryland and it should stay that way. Its an Atlantic matchup and theres a recruiting overlap. Geographically these teams are closest in conference anyways and makes for a fairly easy and cheap road trip for either team. I like having the game late in the season as well because it generally has implications for the division title as well.
Thursday, July 16, 2009
Depth Chart Issues
Yesterday I spent a lot of time talking about my NCAA depth chart. Granted, most readers probably care less about who I have where but the reality is that with the unveiling of the preseason depth chart we really need to wonder whats going on because there are some very weird things going on in there. So here's my position by position take, I'll spend a lot of time referencing my NCAA depth chart because I spent a lot of time updating it from things I've seen in games (Billy Flutie is a great runblocker, showed good catching ability and better route running than the EA programmers would tell you) heard from rumors or have found in scouting reports (mostly for freshman). While my research is far from complete and I will probably continually update it for the time being I will use it as my database, coupling it with other rumors I've heard. So here we go, another long post for your enjoyment.
QB: The fact that the 3 players are separated by "or" was lost on no one. I do however think that Boek only has about 20% chance of starting. He made some improvements over the summer he took that least number of snaps with the 1st team in spring, he didn't look as lost as Tuggle at times but overall I just don't know if he has the stuff. To be honest I think Tuggle actually has the best chance and it really comes down to just having something "click" for him. Shinskie, as I've said before, is the wild card. He's supposed to have a real cannon, and was a 3* player who's been training with professional outfits for 6 years, granted its baseball but they still have some fairly good conditioning. The issue comes down to just how quickly he can redevelop his football IQ.
RB: The only surprise you might get here is finding that Haden leap frogs Harris. I am actually a Haden doubter, one of the people who was not impressed with Haden last year and found Harris to be a revelation. The fact that he was injured almost all season is not lost on me though and the things I hear is that he can still be great. I think Harris has the advantage in the Tranquill offense though. Both should get a fair amount of playing time especially if its no huddle.
FB: Haven't heard much about McCluskey but I honestly feel that he might be one of the best FBs in the country, hopefully hes healed up or you'll probably see either Jarick Walker or some of the TE's in there. If Boek doesn't make it as QB he might be listed next on the depth chart but I didn't see him on the field much last year.
O-Line: Now this is really screwy and an area where EA epically failed. I think they just play the trend because they gave us good o-linemen but none of them were really right. we know 4 of the 5 so long as Tennant's healthy. Castonzo @ LT, Tennant @ C, Claiborne @ RG, Lapham @ RT. The preseason depth chart has Emmet Cleary @ LG but the rangy athletic Cleary has always looked like more of a tackle to me, especially in a run up the middle offense. The only info I could find on Richman was that he didn't receive much recruiting interest (Buffalo and Deleware). As far as backups go Spinney is definitely 2nd string @ Center, though I suspect you will see Claiborne there if Tennant goes down. I think Goodman is also a lock @ RT. I have a feeling Cleary was moved inside because incoming, unheralded freshman John Wetzel really impressed, although I wouldn't be surprised to see Goodman and Wetzel switch. I also feel like the 2nd string guards are a crapshoot. Halloran's another guy who seems more like a tackle to me but I might just be showing my ignorance.
TE: I was blown away by Pantale at the spring game. Maybe this is a lesson in hype or flukes or whatever but I have him as 4-year starter. Those with actual knowledge of what's going on have Lars Anderson and McMichael ahead of him. Anderson seemed to do alright as Purvis' understudy and also seems very reliable in the blocking game. McMichael has been a bit of a bust, the only 4* recruit in the 06 class McMichael was supposed to play like Pantale did @ the spring game, showing athleticism that the Basketball team would be jealous of. Maybe this is McMichaels breakout year as he finally gets over injury. I get the feeling that I'm wrong but I'm still rooting for Pantale.
WR:Gunnells are starter and Jarvis is our #2, no surprises. I think you'll see Megwa in the slot on 3 receiver sets. Clyde Lee and Momah are listed as the #3 and #4 receivers and Lee might be in the slot if Megwa's still hurt. To be honest I think you'll see a lot of situational sets. Sometimes you'll have Gunnell, Lee and Megwa, other times you'll have Momah, Jarvis and Flutie. Larmond is also another speedy guy who can be quite useful as well. Don't be surprised if Tranquil spreads the love. I do think you'll see a lot of Jarvis and Momah though, as it's hard to match up with their height and I have the feeling that a lot of our passing is going to come off of play action. Nothing says run like a former TE(Momah) mauling CBs.
LE: Giles played well when Albright went down but I fully expect Albright to have a breakout year this year (he was granted a medical redshirt last year because he only played in one game so he has 2 years of eligibility) he's also probably one of the most athletic players on the field.
RE: Ramella has the starter spot for a second year but don't be surprised to see Giles lining up on the right side and you should see a fair amount of Newman on longer drives.
DT: Only Scafe is definite, and he should be pretty good, he played a fair amount last year when Raji or Brace needed breathers. As to who's lining up next to him it could be anyone's position. My early favorite is Ramsey although Dillon Quinn could be as good as advertised and take his place as Raji's heir apparent (although my understanding is that he played more like Brace). Don't be overly surprised to see RFr Bryan Murray make a play for the position as well after battling turf toe last year.
LB: No area is more confusing. We know that Herzlich won't be on the field this year, but there's till no word on Captain McLaughlin. Honestly his health could be the single biggest factor to this years outcome. If Mac is back expect to see Will Thompson on the strong side and either Clancy or DiSanzo on the Weak. If Mac is still hobbling you get the depth chart the media guide gave you with Bagan behind Thompson. I have DiSanzo ahead of Clancy on my depth chart but again, those in the know have Clancy ahead.
CB: Media Guide is confusing but EA tells a different story. Gause is currently listed as second string field (I think). Don't be surprised if he reclaims first string boundary (I think) but I've also heard rumblings that his hip injury freshman year has hobbled him a bit and he doesn't have the speed he showed when he was backing up Tribble. If Donnie Fletcher has improved I wouldn't be surprised to see him and Roddy though he has moved to boundary (I think) don't be surprised to see a lot of Johnson and Okpara either.
S: We know who the starters are and Okoroha is the heir apparent @ SS. Wes Davis has another year of eligibility because of his back injury. Unless there's an entire unit substitution I think you might see Okoroha backing up Davis when he needs a break and you might see some of the bigger corners rotate in as well as Elliot and Atkinson.
K: Aponavicious has a nice straight kick, but you can't teach power, expect to see Sid Vicious on most PATs and the closer FGs but don't be surprised if Freese starts picking up some FG duty. Quigley will take care of the punts and probably the Kick off duties as well.
QB: The fact that the 3 players are separated by "or" was lost on no one. I do however think that Boek only has about 20% chance of starting. He made some improvements over the summer he took that least number of snaps with the 1st team in spring, he didn't look as lost as Tuggle at times but overall I just don't know if he has the stuff. To be honest I think Tuggle actually has the best chance and it really comes down to just having something "click" for him. Shinskie, as I've said before, is the wild card. He's supposed to have a real cannon, and was a 3* player who's been training with professional outfits for 6 years, granted its baseball but they still have some fairly good conditioning. The issue comes down to just how quickly he can redevelop his football IQ.
RB: The only surprise you might get here is finding that Haden leap frogs Harris. I am actually a Haden doubter, one of the people who was not impressed with Haden last year and found Harris to be a revelation. The fact that he was injured almost all season is not lost on me though and the things I hear is that he can still be great. I think Harris has the advantage in the Tranquill offense though. Both should get a fair amount of playing time especially if its no huddle.
FB: Haven't heard much about McCluskey but I honestly feel that he might be one of the best FBs in the country, hopefully hes healed up or you'll probably see either Jarick Walker or some of the TE's in there. If Boek doesn't make it as QB he might be listed next on the depth chart but I didn't see him on the field much last year.
O-Line: Now this is really screwy and an area where EA epically failed. I think they just play the trend because they gave us good o-linemen but none of them were really right. we know 4 of the 5 so long as Tennant's healthy. Castonzo @ LT, Tennant @ C, Claiborne @ RG, Lapham @ RT. The preseason depth chart has Emmet Cleary @ LG but the rangy athletic Cleary has always looked like more of a tackle to me, especially in a run up the middle offense. The only info I could find on Richman was that he didn't receive much recruiting interest (Buffalo and Deleware). As far as backups go Spinney is definitely 2nd string @ Center, though I suspect you will see Claiborne there if Tennant goes down. I think Goodman is also a lock @ RT. I have a feeling Cleary was moved inside because incoming, unheralded freshman John Wetzel really impressed, although I wouldn't be surprised to see Goodman and Wetzel switch. I also feel like the 2nd string guards are a crapshoot. Halloran's another guy who seems more like a tackle to me but I might just be showing my ignorance.
TE: I was blown away by Pantale at the spring game. Maybe this is a lesson in hype or flukes or whatever but I have him as 4-year starter. Those with actual knowledge of what's going on have Lars Anderson and McMichael ahead of him. Anderson seemed to do alright as Purvis' understudy and also seems very reliable in the blocking game. McMichael has been a bit of a bust, the only 4* recruit in the 06 class McMichael was supposed to play like Pantale did @ the spring game, showing athleticism that the Basketball team would be jealous of. Maybe this is McMichaels breakout year as he finally gets over injury. I get the feeling that I'm wrong but I'm still rooting for Pantale.
WR:Gunnells are starter and Jarvis is our #2, no surprises. I think you'll see Megwa in the slot on 3 receiver sets. Clyde Lee and Momah are listed as the #3 and #4 receivers and Lee might be in the slot if Megwa's still hurt. To be honest I think you'll see a lot of situational sets. Sometimes you'll have Gunnell, Lee and Megwa, other times you'll have Momah, Jarvis and Flutie. Larmond is also another speedy guy who can be quite useful as well. Don't be surprised if Tranquil spreads the love. I do think you'll see a lot of Jarvis and Momah though, as it's hard to match up with their height and I have the feeling that a lot of our passing is going to come off of play action. Nothing says run like a former TE(Momah) mauling CBs.
LE: Giles played well when Albright went down but I fully expect Albright to have a breakout year this year (he was granted a medical redshirt last year because he only played in one game so he has 2 years of eligibility) he's also probably one of the most athletic players on the field.
RE: Ramella has the starter spot for a second year but don't be surprised to see Giles lining up on the right side and you should see a fair amount of Newman on longer drives.
DT: Only Scafe is definite, and he should be pretty good, he played a fair amount last year when Raji or Brace needed breathers. As to who's lining up next to him it could be anyone's position. My early favorite is Ramsey although Dillon Quinn could be as good as advertised and take his place as Raji's heir apparent (although my understanding is that he played more like Brace). Don't be overly surprised to see RFr Bryan Murray make a play for the position as well after battling turf toe last year.
LB: No area is more confusing. We know that Herzlich won't be on the field this year, but there's till no word on Captain McLaughlin. Honestly his health could be the single biggest factor to this years outcome. If Mac is back expect to see Will Thompson on the strong side and either Clancy or DiSanzo on the Weak. If Mac is still hobbling you get the depth chart the media guide gave you with Bagan behind Thompson. I have DiSanzo ahead of Clancy on my depth chart but again, those in the know have Clancy ahead.
CB: Media Guide is confusing but EA tells a different story. Gause is currently listed as second string field (I think). Don't be surprised if he reclaims first string boundary (I think) but I've also heard rumblings that his hip injury freshman year has hobbled him a bit and he doesn't have the speed he showed when he was backing up Tribble. If Donnie Fletcher has improved I wouldn't be surprised to see him and Roddy though he has moved to boundary (I think) don't be surprised to see a lot of Johnson and Okpara either.
S: We know who the starters are and Okoroha is the heir apparent @ SS. Wes Davis has another year of eligibility because of his back injury. Unless there's an entire unit substitution I think you might see Okoroha backing up Davis when he needs a break and you might see some of the bigger corners rotate in as well as Elliot and Atkinson.
K: Aponavicious has a nice straight kick, but you can't teach power, expect to see Sid Vicious on most PATs and the closer FGs but don't be surprised if Freese starts picking up some FG duty. Quigley will take care of the punts and probably the Kick off duties as well.
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
Joe Who? and The Start of Predictions
My posting schedule makes it nearly impossible to break news but the big one broke over the weekend, we got ourself a new QB and he's not too shabby. Chase Rettig who has been marked as one of the fastest risers in the 2010 class committed to BC over Lane Kiffin and the Vols as well as marked interest from USC. I have 2 feelings on this. First, for no good reason, I feel more confident that Rettig will actually come to BC. If you look way back in my old posts you'll see that I was uneasy on Boisture's commitment until he had his little "my word is oak" moment and even the Globe ran an article on him. This time however, I don't feel as uneasy, maybe its because this guy already had other big time offers I don't know. Those big time offers also lead me to my second point on Rettig, when we recruited Boisture he was only getting interest from fringe great team, Those teams that crack the top 25 occasionally but never really show up to the big bowl games. True, Tennessee has been the dregs of the SEC, but they have been great within recent memory (National Championship 1o years ago, competing for SEC title pretty much every year and generally show up in the preseason top 25). Rettig was also getting attention from USC, who like them or hate them have a very good program. As far as evaluating QB talent goes you can't knock Pete Carroll's staff. So if they were looking at a relatively unheralded guy (if you don't have at least 4*s don't even bother going to a USC camp) you have to get the feeling hes a little under the radar.
Alright enough gushing, back to reality. First up Heather Dinich actually saying something positive about BC, granted it's probably off the mark but whatever. Dinich seems to feel that Shinskie will be better than expected, she then continues to say that BC has the worst QB situation in the ACC. Here's my take, Shinskie is a wild card he could be pretty good, honestly I think Spaz and Co. took a flyer looking to get help wherever they could. This isn't a knock on Tuggle, he struggled in the spring and Shinskie has a real boom or bust potential. My feeling with Dinich is that she writes for the semi-casual fan. The guy that knew we signed a 25 yr old but then shrugged it off as a Depth Chart booster. I think the competition really comes down to Shinskie or Tuggle, which is why I'm surprised he seems to be at the top of a lot of depth charts.
In other news I picked up NCAAF 2010 yesterday and spent 2 hours copying my evaluation of players over from the custom teambuilder (I could have just downloaded it if the internet connection worked at my apartment). I then went about setting up the depth chart and I found myself with some interesting situations.
#1 QB battle: My evaluation had Tuggle and Shinskie both as a 79 overall, but very different styles. Tuggle is a quick scrambler with poor accuracy and awareness while Shinskie moves slower than Tennant but has a rocket arm with decent accuracy but also poor awareness.(for Tuggle I worked off what I saw at the spring game and practice notes and for Shinskie I worked off 7 year old scouting reports and the fact that he hasn't played in 7 years). To be honest I may have been optimistic with both 79 overall? but whatever. Shinskie got the nod in my book even though I prefer to play the game itself with mobile QBs. I gave Shinskie the nod because the RB situation is great and I wanted to have a solid arm when I actually throw.
#2 RB battle: the out of the box ratings for Harris and Haden are 89 and 88 respectively and the only thing I changed were Hadens speed and injury resist (up and down respectively) and Harris Break tackle (he just keeps going). Harris got the nod from the game to be the starter and I did the same. The only thing you have to be conscious of is to rotate even when Harris isn't tired. I got in the habit of pounding with Harris and flying outside with Haden.
#3 LB: To be honest not a great situation. I keep hearing mixed things about McLaughlin being back or not but I left him in. According to EA Wil Thompson can't play MLB leaving so hes out at ROLB, DiSanzo got the starting nod though 77 overall (I might have been generous there but he played well in the spring) and Luke Kuechly heads up the LOLB spot in Herzlich's absence (I bumped Mark to a 99 overall, though not intentionally, I intended to have him around 96, I then redshirted him to keep him available for next year) I gave Kuechly a 79 because he came in as a 4* (Quinn got the same treatment)and thats how the game generally evaluates 4* players (77-80). Dominick LeGrande got the nod as a backup, though it will be interesting to see if he stays @ LB or switches back to Safety.
The outcome: granted it is against FCS East (aka Northeastern) but playing with 5min quarters on the regular difficulty the score was 76-0. Offensively Haden had 238 yards and 3 TDs off of 7 runs (2 were long runs from garbage time options with Tuggle though) Harris had about 150 on 13 attempts with 2 touchdowns Shinskie had a 613.8 passer rating because he went 5 for 5 for something like 240 yards and 3 touchdowns. Tuggle had an interception (because I accidentally left him in after I ran a couple options in the first half then made a very bad bootleg throw) but added on a rushing touchdown in garbage time. Defensively DeLeon Gause had 2 int, one returned for a TD, there were 4 forced fumbles. McLaughlin was an absolute beast and Jeff Smith ran a punt return back for a TD. There was a missed 2 point in garbage time because of a clipping call after the Smith return.
and Fantasy Scheduler's Week 11
Who we play: North Carolina
Who we should play: Miami
I like the UNC game but the Miami matchup is a bit of a rivalry because of the Flutie game. Miami also used to be the toast of the Coastal and I believe is the only ACC team with a National Championship in the past decade (well FSU in 99 but Miami was 01)
Alright enough gushing, back to reality. First up Heather Dinich actually saying something positive about BC, granted it's probably off the mark but whatever. Dinich seems to feel that Shinskie will be better than expected, she then continues to say that BC has the worst QB situation in the ACC. Here's my take, Shinskie is a wild card he could be pretty good, honestly I think Spaz and Co. took a flyer looking to get help wherever they could. This isn't a knock on Tuggle, he struggled in the spring and Shinskie has a real boom or bust potential. My feeling with Dinich is that she writes for the semi-casual fan. The guy that knew we signed a 25 yr old but then shrugged it off as a Depth Chart booster. I think the competition really comes down to Shinskie or Tuggle, which is why I'm surprised he seems to be at the top of a lot of depth charts.
In other news I picked up NCAAF 2010 yesterday and spent 2 hours copying my evaluation of players over from the custom teambuilder (I could have just downloaded it if the internet connection worked at my apartment). I then went about setting up the depth chart and I found myself with some interesting situations.
#1 QB battle: My evaluation had Tuggle and Shinskie both as a 79 overall, but very different styles. Tuggle is a quick scrambler with poor accuracy and awareness while Shinskie moves slower than Tennant but has a rocket arm with decent accuracy but also poor awareness.(for Tuggle I worked off what I saw at the spring game and practice notes and for Shinskie I worked off 7 year old scouting reports and the fact that he hasn't played in 7 years). To be honest I may have been optimistic with both 79 overall? but whatever. Shinskie got the nod in my book even though I prefer to play the game itself with mobile QBs. I gave Shinskie the nod because the RB situation is great and I wanted to have a solid arm when I actually throw.
#2 RB battle: the out of the box ratings for Harris and Haden are 89 and 88 respectively and the only thing I changed were Hadens speed and injury resist (up and down respectively) and Harris Break tackle (he just keeps going). Harris got the nod from the game to be the starter and I did the same. The only thing you have to be conscious of is to rotate even when Harris isn't tired. I got in the habit of pounding with Harris and flying outside with Haden.
#3 LB: To be honest not a great situation. I keep hearing mixed things about McLaughlin being back or not but I left him in. According to EA Wil Thompson can't play MLB leaving so hes out at ROLB, DiSanzo got the starting nod though 77 overall (I might have been generous there but he played well in the spring) and Luke Kuechly heads up the LOLB spot in Herzlich's absence (I bumped Mark to a 99 overall, though not intentionally, I intended to have him around 96, I then redshirted him to keep him available for next year) I gave Kuechly a 79 because he came in as a 4* (Quinn got the same treatment)and thats how the game generally evaluates 4* players (77-80). Dominick LeGrande got the nod as a backup, though it will be interesting to see if he stays @ LB or switches back to Safety.
The outcome: granted it is against FCS East (aka Northeastern) but playing with 5min quarters on the regular difficulty the score was 76-0. Offensively Haden had 238 yards and 3 TDs off of 7 runs (2 were long runs from garbage time options with Tuggle though) Harris had about 150 on 13 attempts with 2 touchdowns Shinskie had a 613.8 passer rating because he went 5 for 5 for something like 240 yards and 3 touchdowns. Tuggle had an interception (because I accidentally left him in after I ran a couple options in the first half then made a very bad bootleg throw) but added on a rushing touchdown in garbage time. Defensively DeLeon Gause had 2 int, one returned for a TD, there were 4 forced fumbles. McLaughlin was an absolute beast and Jeff Smith ran a punt return back for a TD. There was a missed 2 point in garbage time because of a clipping call after the Smith return.
and Fantasy Scheduler's Week 11
Who we play: North Carolina
Who we should play: Miami
I like the UNC game but the Miami matchup is a bit of a rivalry because of the Flutie game. Miami also used to be the toast of the Coastal and I believe is the only ACC team with a National Championship in the past decade (well FSU in 99 but Miami was 01)
Thursday, July 9, 2009
Media Guide and Week 10
So the Media Guide is now available on bceagles.com. Now I'm an incredibly critical person, it's hard to impress me, I had only just bought into the Boisture hype when he decommitted, but this years Media Guide looks great. True some of the things are laughable for example they dedicate quite a few pages to Boston as a "media market" and claim BC is "Boston's College." Anybody familiar with Boston sports as well as BC can tell you that BC gets less media attention than off season Sawx moves and even the Celtics (back when the Celtics and Bruins were basement dwellers). It is also true that BC is the only FBS college in Boston which means that it should be "Boston's College" but I can't help but remember in 07 when BC was #2 in the country, Matt Ryan was leading the heisman predictions and ESPN ran a segment interviewing Bostonians (they could not name Jagz, Ryan, the nickname and most of them didn't even know where BC was). Still the media guide is nice and glossy, impressive to visitors, and especially to recruits.
Week 10:
Who we play: Virginia
Who we should play: Virginia
Again I'm tempted to replace UVA with Duke or Ga Tech especially because I would like to give Spaz another crack @ stopping that Option Attack (granted his lone coaching win already came against Paul Johnson). However looking at prestige in the programs, the athletes and even the academic requirements I feel like the UVA game is right up there. I value recruiting overlap and there's a fair amount here. One other thing that I haven't brought up before is the friend factor. Because UVA (or Wake) are so similar to BC in academics and whatnot there are a lot of regular student application overlaps as well which oftentimes leads to having friends @ UVA, WF or ND creating a little extra rivalry in the matchup. Overall the UVA game is not too shabby.
Week 10:
Who we play: Virginia
Who we should play: Virginia
Again I'm tempted to replace UVA with Duke or Ga Tech especially because I would like to give Spaz another crack @ stopping that Option Attack (granted his lone coaching win already came against Paul Johnson). However looking at prestige in the programs, the athletes and even the academic requirements I feel like the UVA game is right up there. I value recruiting overlap and there's a fair amount here. One other thing that I haven't brought up before is the friend factor. Because UVA (or Wake) are so similar to BC in academics and whatnot there are a lot of regular student application overlaps as well which oftentimes leads to having friends @ UVA, WF or ND creating a little extra rivalry in the matchup. Overall the UVA game is not too shabby.
Wednesday, July 8, 2009
This weeks WTF moment and Week 9
There are actually two wtf moments for your disenjoyment this week. Rising QB prospect Chase Rettig stood out this weekend as a likely blue chip passer coming into his senior season, good news. He loved BC, better news, and he was also on the verge of committing, best news. Well that was until Lane Kiffin got on the phone and offered from Tennnessee. My guess would be that USC will get a committ from Scroggins (#2 QB prospect) and Kiffin wants Rettig (who could turn out to be better, seems the kid has all the skills, but is slacking in production. So we're still in the running but not really.
The second moment is really barely news but it wasn't too long ago that BC fans were dreaming of watching Boisture and and Shakim Phillips in the coming years. The #4 QB and #5 WR would create one hell of an offense, and it looks like they might still. . . and before you get to excited that would be because that potent offense will probably be at MSU, good for them. Phillips likes the WR tradition @ MSU and that is one thing we really just do not have @ BC. (only on WR played more than 2 seasons within the last 30 years of the NFL, Brian Brennan from 84-93)
Week 9
Who we play: Central Michigan
Who we should play:Penn State
Week 9 of the 09 season has us up against Central Michigan. This will actually be a pretty good game this year because the Chippewas QB LeFevour is this years Nate Davis, putting up 2800y in 10 games last season and rushing for another 500. Still Central Michigan isn't much of a prestigious program. As the last non conference game I had difficulty choosing this one. UConn and Syracuse came into mind but I dismissed them because the Pitt game is already against the Big East. I then decided it would be good to have a game either against a Big 10 team and or an SEC team and figured Big 10 made more sense because of the recruiting overlap. The choice even that choice comes down to Michigan, MSU or Penn State. MSU is really just there because I don't like them much right now. Michigan has that big time prestige (despite rebuilding) and also has a similar academic level. In the end though BC and Penn State have an old rivalry, have similar programs academically and skill wise. Playing Pitt and Penn State would also give a real boost to PA recruiting.
09 outcome: We probably couldn't match up this year. PSU won't be as good as last years Rose Bowl team but they have a pretty solid team.
07 Outcome: The 07 team could handily take care of this years Lions but the real question would be how the 07 team could handle the 08 Lion team. The average on Whatifsports was a PSU victory (all 10 sims) by less than a touchdown (ranging from 1pt to 10 pts).
The second moment is really barely news but it wasn't too long ago that BC fans were dreaming of watching Boisture and and Shakim Phillips in the coming years. The #4 QB and #5 WR would create one hell of an offense, and it looks like they might still. . . and before you get to excited that would be because that potent offense will probably be at MSU, good for them. Phillips likes the WR tradition @ MSU and that is one thing we really just do not have @ BC. (only on WR played more than 2 seasons within the last 30 years of the NFL, Brian Brennan from 84-93)
Week 9
Who we play: Central Michigan
Who we should play:Penn State
Week 9 of the 09 season has us up against Central Michigan. This will actually be a pretty good game this year because the Chippewas QB LeFevour is this years Nate Davis, putting up 2800y in 10 games last season and rushing for another 500. Still Central Michigan isn't much of a prestigious program. As the last non conference game I had difficulty choosing this one. UConn and Syracuse came into mind but I dismissed them because the Pitt game is already against the Big East. I then decided it would be good to have a game either against a Big 10 team and or an SEC team and figured Big 10 made more sense because of the recruiting overlap. The choice even that choice comes down to Michigan, MSU or Penn State. MSU is really just there because I don't like them much right now. Michigan has that big time prestige (despite rebuilding) and also has a similar academic level. In the end though BC and Penn State have an old rivalry, have similar programs academically and skill wise. Playing Pitt and Penn State would also give a real boost to PA recruiting.
09 outcome: We probably couldn't match up this year. PSU won't be as good as last years Rose Bowl team but they have a pretty solid team.
07 Outcome: The 07 team could handily take care of this years Lions but the real question would be how the 07 team could handle the 08 Lion team. The average on Whatifsports was a PSU victory (all 10 sims) by less than a touchdown (ranging from 1pt to 10 pts).
Thursday, July 2, 2009
Blake Barker Goes West
More bad news for the now rain-soaked Chestnut Hill faithful (seriously I felt like Charlton Heston parting the red sea with my car this morning) as Blake Barker has decided to play ball at Stanford. BC actually does fairly well in the "keeping talent in the area" research that ESPN Rise turns out every year. However the perennial powerhouses don't let the elite talent go, so I've scoured Rivals database for every New England 4* and 5*(not including 2010) to see how many play football for BC. (Tip: If you want to play D1 ball and you live in Vermont, move)
Here's the Breakdown:
ME: 0 for 0
VT: 0 for 0
NH:1 for 1 (Lapham)
MA: 2 for 6 (Unis in 02 Eason in 07)
RI: 1 for 1 (Blackmon in 02)
CT:1 for 11 (Jones in 05)
Now an argument could be made that because UConn and Rutgers are about as close as BC its not "our backyard" but what I found in Connecticut was that none of the 4* went to UConn and in fact quite a few went to Maryland, UNC and UVA. The media market for Boston teams has always been New England (with some fudging in Western CT) thats where I recruiting grounds should be. Spaz and Co. need to get a hold of that local elite talent (there was a 4* QB that Jagz flopped on from CT last year). If we keep going 5 for 19 its going to be tough.
Week 8:
Who are we kidding, Notre Dame is Notre Dame. Big game, big plays. BJ Raji throwing offensive tackles into Jimmy Clausen, no reason to change it. The Notre Dame game is that one that everyone know about. As a diehard fan it actually gets a little frustrating because of the way casual fans, particularly students, handle this game. They show up shouting how we're going to crush them while half of them don't know that name of the starting Quarterback and the other half don't understand the rules. Meanwhile the guys that stood through the entire Rhode Island game (that rain was miserable) are crushed against the railing because Lawrence and his fratboy wannabe friends decided that it would be easier to just jam 100 people into the front corner than show up early for the game.
This game is a storied rivalry and deservedely so, but the casual fan needs to pull their head out of their own ***** long enough to realize that there are 11 or more other games in the season.
But really, will someone get Charlie a donut I think he might be hungry
Here's the Breakdown:
ME: 0 for 0
VT: 0 for 0
NH:1 for 1 (Lapham)
MA: 2 for 6 (Unis in 02 Eason in 07)
RI: 1 for 1 (Blackmon in 02)
CT:1 for 11 (Jones in 05)
Now an argument could be made that because UConn and Rutgers are about as close as BC its not "our backyard" but what I found in Connecticut was that none of the 4* went to UConn and in fact quite a few went to Maryland, UNC and UVA. The media market for Boston teams has always been New England (with some fudging in Western CT) thats where I recruiting grounds should be. Spaz and Co. need to get a hold of that local elite talent (there was a 4* QB that Jagz flopped on from CT last year). If we keep going 5 for 19 its going to be tough.
Week 8:
Who are we kidding, Notre Dame is Notre Dame. Big game, big plays. BJ Raji throwing offensive tackles into Jimmy Clausen, no reason to change it. The Notre Dame game is that one that everyone know about. As a diehard fan it actually gets a little frustrating because of the way casual fans, particularly students, handle this game. They show up shouting how we're going to crush them while half of them don't know that name of the starting Quarterback and the other half don't understand the rules. Meanwhile the guys that stood through the entire Rhode Island game (that rain was miserable) are crushed against the railing because Lawrence and his fratboy wannabe friends decided that it would be easier to just jam 100 people into the front corner than show up early for the game.
This game is a storied rivalry and deservedely so, but the casual fan needs to pull their head out of their own ***** long enough to realize that there are 11 or more other games in the season.
But really, will someone get Charlie a donut I think he might be hungry
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
Recruiting and Dream Schedule 7
We picked up two new recruit over the weekend, neither of which were any real showstoppers. Alex Amidon gives us some more depth at WR but I haven't found any real info on him. Andre Williams a 5'11" 202 lb "Bowling Ball"(ESPN) seems to be something of a mystery. ESPN has him tagged as a slow but powerful runner with good blocking but little upside @ halfback, projecting a possible switch to fullback. Meanwhile examiner.com has Williams as a 4.3 40 runner. One thing to keep in mind is that many of our great players were guys who developed.(See A. Castonzo)
and now week 7
Who we play: NC State
Who we should play: NC State
Ok so if I had looked at the schedule and planned this out ahead of time I might have seen that most of our schedule isn't half bad. Regardless I still like this project so I'll move forward. This is the start of our next Notre Dame Rivalry. I'm not saying Tom O'Brien was the best coach BC ever had, I'm not even saying he was as liked as Frank Leahy, but he was good, he abandoned ship and it's a divisional matchup. Theres no reason not to like this game.
This year: Tom O'Brien finally makes his triumphant return to Chestnut Hill*
'07: Decent win for Matt and Co.
*I'd like to share a realization I've made when making my projections on win/loss. Due to the fact that a number of these matchups have been the same I've taken a look at them and we are outgunned and overmatched a lot of the time. I do not however feel like we could not win these games. I truly get the feeling that if we play right, even with our loss of players this year, that we could win pretty much every game so far.
and now week 7
Who we play: NC State
Who we should play: NC State
Ok so if I had looked at the schedule and planned this out ahead of time I might have seen that most of our schedule isn't half bad. Regardless I still like this project so I'll move forward. This is the start of our next Notre Dame Rivalry. I'm not saying Tom O'Brien was the best coach BC ever had, I'm not even saying he was as liked as Frank Leahy, but he was good, he abandoned ship and it's a divisional matchup. Theres no reason not to like this game.
This year: Tom O'Brien finally makes his triumphant return to Chestnut Hill*
'07: Decent win for Matt and Co.
*I'd like to share a realization I've made when making my projections on win/loss. Due to the fact that a number of these matchups have been the same I've taken a look at them and we are outgunned and overmatched a lot of the time. I do not however feel like we could not win these games. I truly get the feeling that if we play right, even with our loss of players this year, that we could win pretty much every game so far.
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