Bitter Eagle--A Bitter View of BC Athletics

Basketball Woes

2009-01-19T02:28:00.000-08:00

After BC's impressive upset of UNC on the road, the Eagles have proceeded to lose to Harvard (thanks in large part to Rice's uninspired play on defense), to Miami (credit Rice's horrible shooting, ball handling and a bogus charge in the final minute), to Wake (Rice and the rest of the team gave up in the first half), and to Va Tech (another bad shooting night by Rice). BC has transformed a sure NCAA Tournament invite into a ticket home for the post season. BC cannot win the close games because of its lack of effort and intensity for large segments of the game. As for individual players, the Bitter Eagle has soured greatly over Tyrese Rice. I loved the guy for his first 3 years but this year he seems uninterested in playing and he lacks intensity and heart. After the rough start against Wake (and basically any other game), Rice basically packed it in for the first half. He played lackadaisically, became careless with the ball, and gave zero individual effort. He is not the leader BC needs. He has a horrible attitude and if he keeps it up, he's got no chance at the NBA. Quit the crying Rice and suck it up. Players like Raji, Sanders, and Trapani seems to be better leaders than Rice. And let's not forget that Al, Al, the Ladies' Pal has a lot of the blame as well. As the Bitter Eagle has been harping about for the past few years, the Ladies' Pal is too slow to make any in-game adjustments. The flex did not work for basically the entire first half against Wake and Al never adjusted his game plan and moved away from it. He makes no game to game adjustments either. Everybody knows BC is going to run the flex and they come prepared for it every time. If Al threw in a new wrinkle every now and then, it might give opponents something else to worry about. Starting out 1-3 in ACC play is basically digging your own grave. If BC does not figure out how to turn it around soon, it will be sitting on the sidelines come March for a second season in a row.

Spaz In

2009-01-15T00:49:00.000-08:00

Spaz was named the head coach of the BC football team Tuesday after a short search process that included few outside names. Spaz got the position mostly because his players came to bat for him and he was considered the most logical choice in order to keep some sort of consistency in the program. The Bitter Eagle is not thrilled at all with this selection because Spaz is not the most qualified person for the position. If he was not qualified 2 years ago, what makes him qualified now? Outside of this, the Bitter Eagle will refrain from saying something in the spur of the moment. Look for a more thorough analysis in the upcoming days.

Jags Fired: Bitter Eagle's Initial Reaction

2009-01-15T00:45:00.000-08:00

As we all know, Jags was fired last week for interviewing for the NY Jets vacant head coach position. We all knew he had no chance of getting the job. It was a win-win situation for the BC program considering Jags would raise his profile, thereby also raising the BC profile on the national stage. It would impress recruits more considering he would be considered a great coach and he would have more NFL contacts. Alas, Gene mishandled the situation from the start and painted himself into a corner. His initial stance forced him to fire Jags, even if he had not taken the interview. As a result, BC lost a great head coach who is arguably one of the most successful in BC history. Here was the Bitter Eagle's initial reaction after he learned of the horrible news:

One of the worst weeks in BC sports ever (week starting Monday). BC goes down to a D-level opponent and then Jags gets shown the door. A true mess in the athletics department this week. As for Gene, he is one of the worst ADs ever. Even if he was right in the situation (which he was not), he handled the situation poorly. First off, who gets fired or even gets threatened for interviewing for another position? Second, what the hell was he thinking giving Jags an ultimatum. By doing this, he created a hostile situation for both parties and pretty much forced his hand into firing Jags no matter what happened. This should have been an internal thing as well. Finally, for all the Gene apologists, this has to be a 2 way street. If Jags suddenly went 2-10 in the next 2 years (which is a possibility now), he would have been shown the door. But since Jags tried to capitalize on his coaching success, he gets penalized for it. Sounds pretty hypocritical. And oh yeah Gene, if you're so concerned about loyalty and contracts, why exactly is BC in the ACC right now after making a fit when Miami and Va Tech left. Sounds very hypocritical. What a tool. If I were a booster, I'd be screaming bloody hell to get this clown fired. He is an absolute dope. What coach in their right minds would want to coach for BC now after seeing how Gene treats a successful football coach.

National Championship Game

2009-01-15T00:41:00.000-08:00

The Bitter Eagle has finally returned from his wedding and honeymoon. He will now attempt to catch up on all the occurrences in the BC and college sports worlds. When he was away, the National Championship game was played. The Bitter Eagle predicted Florida to win because it had a much better defense than Oklahoma's. Oklahoma put up a valiant fight, but Florida wore it down in the 4th quarter to win the championship. Even with this win though, the Bitter Eagle still believes that Utah should have won at least a half of the championship because it was the only undefeated team in the country. That is another story however. With the win, the Bitter Eagle's bowl record finished at 18-16, which is not that great but not that bad either. Better luck next year.

Jags Update

2009-01-07T00:24:00.000-08:00

Well the drama around the Jets interview continues. Jags apparently met and interviewed with the Jets for their open head coaching position on Tuesday. Now sources close to the situation report that he will not be retained by the school anymore. Gene has not spoken with Jags since Sunday and hopes to speak with him on Wednesday. For all those who held out hope that Jags would somehow miraculously be retained, it looks like it's over esp. with this quote by Chris Cameron, BC's associate director for media relations: "It's just a matter of putting two and two together. He was told by Gene on Saturday that if he went on the interview he'd be fired." Looks like we can all kiss Jags goodbye and call Gene the worst AD ever. Whatever Gene decides to do, he better do it quickly so BC can mitigate the turmoil and reassure its recruits. Signing day is Feb. 1 after all.

GMAC Bowl

2009-01-07T00:22:00.000-08:00

For all of those keeping score, even though the Bitter Eagle did not make a post before the game, he did select to pick Ball St. to win. He then proceeded to get his @ss kicked when Tulsa clobbered Ball St. by over 30 points. The Bitter Eagle needs to correctly predict the National Championship winner in order to end the bowl season with a record over .500.

Blackmail

2009-01-05T08:42:00.001-08:00

Good old Gene has clearly lost his mind and has become the idiot savant of college football. He has threatened to fire Jags if he interviews for the head coach position for the NY Jets. Jags is apparently planning on doing the interview nonetheless on Monday so the ball is in Gene's court now. This blackmail attempt by Gene is one of the most idiotic ploys ever. First, Jags is one of the most successful coaches in BC footballl history (which is not saying much) who has taken BC to its first 2 conference championships ever. He even did so this year when many experts predicted that BC would finish last in its division in the ACC. Second, with all this success, Jags has endeared himself to the BC fan base, which includes both big-time donors, the students, and Doug Flutie. By giving Jags this ultimatum, Gene is alienating this entire fan base and is breeding resentment not against Jags, but against himself and the BC football program in general. These fans would defend Jags to the death at this point, which means that Gene has given himself and the program a black eye that it could have avoided.

Third, Jags does not look like a bad guy in all of this. He has had 2 successful years so far at BC and no one expected him to stay at BC for life. If the Jets want to interview Jags, by all means he should do what is best for himself and his family. If that means he should interview for the coaching position, he should do it. Without a clause in his contract preventing him from seeking other positions for a certain amount of years, who the hell does Gene think he is blackmailing Jags? And since other programs like Auburn and Iowa St. have already inquired about Jags, it seems like there is no such contract provision. Fourth, Jags will probably not get the Jets job. By interviewing with the Jets, Jags raises his national profile even more. The job he has done at BC and ultimately the entire BC program will be given great notoriety. All this publicity and acknowledgement will help with recruiting.

Finally, with large possibility that Jags will not get the Jets' coaching gig, why on earth would you threaten a coach that will most likely be back for next season. This ultimatum fiasco will undoubtedly create resentment in Jags towards Gene. An unhappy coach is the last thing BC needs as its program looks to rebuild for the future. By making the ultimatum public, Gene has basically forced himself into the position of firing Jags to avoid all of the negative tension that will exist if both men are in their current posts for the start of next year. By firing Jags though, Gene will throw the program into turmoil. The future will be uncertain, recruiting will suffer, and the football program's reputation will be blackened. All in all, Gene has done a very idiotic move. He better work his tail off to smooth things over with Jags or BC better have the cajones to fire this idiot.

Fiesta Bowl

2009-01-05T08:33:00.000-08:00

Once again Ohio St. has hoodwinked the entire country into believing that this 10 win team is actually BCS worthy when it clearly is not. OSU has been slaughtered the past few years in the BCS on a national stage in huge games by superior opponents. Its only BCS win came against Notre Dame which was also a BCS fraud. Now that OSU plays Texas in the Fiesta Bowl today, it will add to its growing legacy of choking in the clutch on the national stage. Much like in its game against USC earlier this year, Texas will dominate every facet of the game and use its speed to blow out a much slower OSU team. The only speedster on OSU is Pryor. If Texas can slow him down and contain him in the pocker, it is lights out for OSU. The only hope for OSU this game is to use its power to hopefully wear down the Texas defense. However, in order to utilize a power rushing game, you cannot be down by 30 points. OSU cannot wait until the 4th quarter to start scoring points or it will be way too late.

Bitter Eagle's Winner: Texas

Bitter Eagle's Current Bowl Record: With UConn's comeback victory, the Bitter Eagle's bowl record gets over .500 once again. It currently sits at 16-15 and the Bitter Eagle needs only 2 more wins to ensure a victory over .500 for the entire bowl season.

Upset City

2009-01-05T08:07:00.000-08:00

BC stunned the college basketball world yesterday afternoon and when it beat UNC 85-78 in the program's biggest upset since 1992 (which was also against UNC by the way). What was even more impressive about the victory was that it occurred at the Dean Dome, where UNC is virtually unbeatable. BC tried everything in its power to blow a 15 second half lead, but UNC would not let them as it shot a woeful 29% from the field in the second half. BC was led by Tyrese Rice who scored 25 points and recorded 5 rebounds and 8 assists. Rakim Sanders also scored 22 points and played lights out on defense getting 7 steals. The biggest surprise of the game came from freshman Reggie Jackson who scored 17 points on 8 of 14 shooting. Apparently playing in historic arenas in front of 20,000 rabid fans who hate your guts does not faze this freshman at all. It was easily his best game of the season. Andy Katz gives a blueprint of how BC beat UNC and what its victory means to the college basketball world. Grades and analysis will follow in the coming days.

International Bowl

2009-01-03T01:25:00.000-08:00

Wow, what a pitiful game. If no one attends the game, does the game actually occur. In all fairness to the bowl, the game probably will draw a ton of fans, mostly from the great city of Buffalo. Buffalo will have a virtual home game as a result. It may have a crummy regular season record but it did take down then undefeated Ball State in dominant fashion in the MAC championship game. On the other hand, UConn comes into the game having lost 5 of its last 7 games. It does have a great running back in Donald Brown and a decent defense which will catapult it to victory. UConn wins in a close game.

Bitter Eagle's Winner: Connecticut

Bitter Eagle's Current Bowl Record: After being shut out yesterday, the Bitter Eagle's record once again hit the .500 mark at 15-15. The Bitter Eagle needs to win 3 out of the next 4 games in order to finish the bowl season with a record above .500.

Sugar Bowl

2009-01-02T11:05:00.000-08:00

Utah has been able to move the ball fairly well all season long, however, it was primarily against against MWC teams. TCU is the only team in the MWC that has a dominate defense. As for Alabama, the loss of Andre Smith will hurt. Outside of playmaker Julio Jones (who did not score many TDs in the second half of the season), Alabama is lacking an explosive offense. However, look for Alabama to pound the ball all game. It's defense will keep it in the game early and once Utah's defense begins to tire in the 4th quarter, Alabama should be able to finally pull away.

Bitter Eagle's Winner: Alabama

Liberty Bowl

2009-01-02T11:01:00.000-08:00

East Carolina started out the season on a hot streak taking down 2 ranked teams. Then it hit a bit of a lull at the start of conference play before picking it up to win its final 6 of its last 7 games including the CUSA Championship. On the other hand, Kentucky comes into the game losing 4 of its last 5 games. Although Kentucky's defense should keep it in the game throughout, its offense does not have the firepower to lift Kentucky past the Pirates. As long as East Carolina does not give the ball away, it should win.

Bitter Eagle's Winner: East Carolina

Cotton Bowl

2009-01-02T10:53:00.000-08:00

Mississippi comes into the game being the hot team after winning five straight games. On the other hand, Texas Tech comes into the game being very disappointed that it did not reach a BCS game this year after losing one game all season to a team that is playing in the national championship. The Bitter Eagle believes it should have been in the BCS over Texas, a team that it beat earlier in the season. The Rebels live and die with their defense. Of course it has not faced such an explosive team as the Red Raiders. Texas Tech will air out the ball all game, and unless Ole Miss rotates 8 or 9 players in the secondary, it is bound to run out of gas late in the game. Harrell comes into the game on a mission after being snubbed in the Heisman vote and Crabtree also comes in looking to improve his draft stock. Texas Tech's defense is also much unheralded, and it will be the key to the game as it will shut down the Ole Miss offense. Texas Tech wins going away.

Bitter Eagle's Winner: Texas Tech

Bitter Eagle's Current Bowl Record: The Bitter Eagle was one Spiller drop away from sweeping the day. After such a successful day, the Bitter Eagle's current bowl record stands at 15-12.

Happy New Year

2009-01-01T12:51:00.001-08:00

On behalf of his clan, the Bitter Eagle would like to wish everyone a happy new year. May everyone's 2009 be prosperous and successful, esp. BC athletics.

Orange Bowl

2009-01-01T05:15:00.001-08:00

The worst BCS bowl game by far. It will be a snooze fest considering it matches up two bad offensive teams who happen to be good on defense. Expect a low-scoring, turnover infested, snore in which special teams will decide the game. Cincy has faced a mobile QB in Pat White already this season so the Taylor legs factor will not be so big in this game. However, Va Tech has enough on offense to score 20ish points which should be good enough for the win. Also, since Va Tech has a better special teams unit than Cincy, the Bitter Eagle is going with the Hokies to win a 3 point ball game. On a side note, if both Va Tech and Clemson go down in flames, the ACC will truly be the worst BCS conference in the country and will rank right down there with the WAC, Sun Belt, etc. in conference inferiority.

Bitter Eagle's Winner: Virginia Tech

Rose Bowl

2009-01-01T05:08:00.001-08:00

Good night Penn St. USC eats Big 10 teams for lunch every year esp. in the Rose Bowl. This year should be no exception. USC has one of the best defenses in the game, which limits its opponents to an average of 7 points a game. In fact, the defense has only given up 87 points in its entire 12 game regular season. USC also has an offense which is capable of being as dominate as its defense. It is led by Mark Sanchez who manages the game well and a stable of RBs, led by McKnight and Johnson, who have the ability to find the end zone on every carry. Sanchez has a bevy of receivers to throw to and will has enough protection to sit and write a book in the pocket behind his o-line. Losing Stanley Havili hurts the USC offense but not enough to make a huge difference. USC already beat one overrated team by 30+ points this year and this game will be more of the same. Expect Pete Carroll to start laughing sometime in the 3rd quarter. USC wins big.

Bitter Eagle's Winner: USC

Gator Bowl

2009-01-01T05:01:00.000-08:00

Another bowl game with an ACC team. The Bitter Eagle is tempted to go with Nebraska without doing any analysis simply due to yesterday's debacle (BC and Ga Tech). However, Clemson has enough firepower on offense between its "stellar" RB duo and QB Harper to overcome a flimsy Nebraska defense. Further, the Cornhuskers are basically a turnover machine on offense, ranking 105th in the country in turnover margin. Committing turnovers and not creating any is not a recipe for victory in any game. Even though Clemson's offensive line is shaky at best, it has enough offense to defeat a game Nebraska.

Bitter Eagle's Winner: Clemson

Capital One Bowl

2009-01-01T04:57:00.000-08:00

The last time we saw Georgia, it was giving up over 400 rushing yards to its nemesis Georgia Tech. In fact, in its last 5 games, Georgia's defense has been extremely pathetic, yielding almost 37 points per game and over 226 rushing yards per game. This means that MSU RB Javon Ringer will have a field day right? Wrong. Georgia has too many athletes on both sides of the ball for MSU to handle. It is more balanced on offense considering it has both a passing and rushing game. If Georgia can limit Ringer's yards, MSU is sunk on offense because its passing game is feeble. Expect the Big 10 to go down in flames to another more athletic conference.

Bitter Eagle's Winner: Georgia

Outback Bowl

2009-01-01T04:49:00.000-08:00

South Carolina has a good defense but its offense is anemic because it does not have a consistent QB and its offensive line offers no protection for the poor souls who try to be the QB. On the other hand, Iowa is led by RB Shonn Greene who is the only RB in the country to have rushed for over 100 yards in every game this season. South Carolina has struggled on defense during its two game losing streak giving up 87 total points in the span. The Bitter Eagle likes Greene and Iowa to beat the other USC fairly easily in this game.

Bitter Eagle's Winner: Iowa

Bitter Eagle's Current Bowl Record: With the ACC going down in flames yesterday, the Bitter Eagle's bowl record fell to the .500 mark again. His record is currently 11-11- and he needs a big New Year's Day in order to avoid falling below this Mendoza line.

Gaylord Bold Prediction

2008-12-31T11:27:00.000-08:00

Once again, BC has been relegated to a 6th tier bowl game against an opponent that does not deserve to participate in the post season. BC comes into the game after a disappointing loss in the ACCCG in which they were dominated in every facet of the game by a formidable Va Tech team. At least Vanderbilt comes into the game as well on a low note as well as it has lost 6 of its last 7 games. 3 of the losses were against bad football teams in Duke, Tennessee, and Mississippi St. BC needs to come out motivated in this game and get a lead early so its defense can clamp down on Vanderbilt. If BC comes out flat and digs itself a hole, it does not have the offensive fire power to come back. This probably will not happen though because BC does have a lot on the line: their 8 game bowl winning streak. BC should dominate up front on both offense and defense. BC should be able to pound the ball with the rush which will open up the play action passes for Davis. Davis has had about 4 weeks in which to prepare so he does not play like a deer in the headlights like he did against Wake and Va Tech. Hopefully all that preparation time has worked because this game will decide Davis' future. If he struggles, he will not start another game for BC (unless its through injury) as Tuggle or some big recruit will most likely take over next year. If Davis performs well and acquits himself for his past performances, Davis will be able to compete next year for the starting gig. On defense, even though Vandy will play like 3 QBs in the game, BC should dominate. Its defensive line should disrupt the Vandy offense and apply enormous pressure. BC needs to convert that pressure into actual sacks though. Further, BC should be able to create some turnovers in the game as it does lead the nation in INTs. Expect a fairly low scoring game in which BC dominates but only wins by about 10 points or so.

Bold Prediction: BC 24, Vanderbilt 14

San Francisco Recap

2008-12-31T01:29:00.000-08:00

BC continued its torrid start to this year's basketball season by beating San Francisco 84-62 Monday night. The game was the Eagles' third "Jesuit Basketball Spotlight" contest, which is a nationwide effort to identify basketball games between Jesuit schools during the 2008-09 season, and, through those games, bring greater positive awareness to Jesuit education. USF got out to a 2-0 lead for 20 seconds before Tyrese Rice hit a 3 pointer to give BC a lead it would never relinquish. These 20 seconds are the only time that BC has trailed in its last 3 games. USF closed a 13 point halftime deficit to only 5 points in the beginning of the second half before BC was able to pull away behind multiple baskets by Rakim Sanders and Tyrese Rice. On to the grades.

Al, Al the Ladies' Pal: B

The Ladies' Pal did not have much coaching to do as this game was never seriously in doubt. He did do a good job in emptying his bench as the game got out of hand for USF in order to give his bench players much needed experience.

Corey Raji: A-

Raji followed up his career performance with another strong showing, scoring 16 points on 66% shooting. The only negatives the Bitter Eagle noticed was that Raji had more turnovers than assists and did not rebound as well as he normally does (he only had 5 rebounds).

Joe Trapani: A

Trapani recorded a double-double, contributing 22 points and 11 rebounds to the cause, which were both game highs. He looked good shooting the ball going 7-16 from the field and he has a nice touch from the outside has he hit 50% of the 3 pointers he attempted. He also contributed 3 assists and 2 blocks. He is quickly becoming the jack of all trades for BC.

Josh Southern: D

In his 25 minutes of play, Southern did squat diddly for BC. He only pulled down 3 rebounds and scored 2 points. He did however block 2 shots. Most importantly however, in those 25 minutes, he only committed 2 fouls, which is a minor miracle. His play surely needs to improve for ACC play.

Tyrese Rice: A

Tyrese Rice looked like he was trying to acquit himself for his poor and uninspired start to the season. Rice shot 50% from the field and hit 4 of 9 3 pointers, en route to a 21 point performance. His biggest contribution to the team came not from his shooting, but from his ball handling and shot creating. He earned himself 9 assists by taking the ball to the hoop and dishing it to wide open shooters. He also only committed 1 turnover in 34 minutes of play. Rice does need to concentrate better at the line as he hit only 3 of the 5 FTs he took.

Rakim Sanders: F

4 fouls in 11 minutes? Are you kidding? That's even worse than Southern!

Reggie Jackson: B

Jackson used his athleticism to snag 8 rebounds in 29 minutes. He also scored 13 points on a mediocre 5 of 12 shooting. Jackson needs to stop falling in love with the 3 point shot, esp. when it is not falling.

Biko Paris: C+

3 assists in 6 minutes is nothing to sneeze at.

Tyler Roche: F

Not a good day shooting the ball as he went 1 of 5 from the field and 1 of 4 from behind the arc.

Courtney Dunn: F

2 fouls in 5 minutes. Another fouling machine for BC.

Evan Ravenel/Dallas Elmore: N/A

Not enough playing time for these fellas to get a grade.

Chick-Fil-A Bowl

2008-12-31T00:57:00.000-08:00

Georgia Tech has already humiliated one SEC team this year and it will have the opportunity to humiliate another. GT should be able to take advantage of this opportunity because LSU is nowhere near as good as Georgia is. LSU's defense has disappointed all season and now it has to contend with GT's vaunted triple option attack. Good luck with that. GT put up over 400 rushing yards against Georgia. While it will not get as many yards against LSU, GT should be able to replicate that type of rushing performance and gain at least 250 rushing yards. And on the offensive side of the ball, LSU is a mess. Jarrett Lee has to be one of the worst QBs in the country, even worse than the Dominique Davis/Chris Crane combo. In the game against Arkansas, Jordan Jefferson did not do much better. Because of its QB troubles, LSU does not have the firepower to answer GT score for score. The game should be close at the half, but GT should wear down the LSU defense in the second half and pull away from the Tigers.

Bitter Eagle's Winner: Georgia Tech

Insight Bowl

2008-12-31T00:51:00.000-08:00

Minnesota was lucky to make it to this bowl game after losing its last 4 games of the season. On the other hand, even though it is not nearly as good as last year's Orange Bowl team, Kansas is a dangerous team because of its explosive offense, which can be seen in its victory over Missouri in the last game of its regular season. Minnesota has a poor offense that cannot move the ball against decent defenses and its defense is pathetic. Minnesota ranks 88th in the country against the pass and gave up 143 points in its last 4 games. Ouch. Minnesota does not have a prayer in containing Todd Reesing. Look for a blowout.

Bitter Eagle's Winner: Kansas

Sun Bowl

2008-12-31T00:40:00.000-08:00

Oregon St. comes into this game after being blown out by arch-rival Oregon in the last game of the season. It gave up an astounding total yards to the Ducks, including 385 rushing yards. Pitt RB LeSean McCoy must be licking his chops to face such a porous defense. On the other hand, Pitt comes into the game having won its last 2 games including a big win in the Backyard Brawl which effectively knocked WVU out of the Orange Bowl picture. Pitt has already faced 9 teams that made it to a bowl this year. It should be primed to face OSU in this game. With that said, Oregon St. still holds the edge because it played in a much tougher conference. Let's not forget that Oregon St. did beat USC earlier in the season and was atop the Pac 10 standings until the last game of the season. Plus, the OSU offense is much more well-balanced and explosive than the Pitt offense. Finally, who would trust good ol' Dave in a big game? The Bitter Eagle sure wouldn't.

Bitter Eagle's Winner: Oregon State

Armed Forces Bowl

2008-12-31T00:25:00.000-08:00

The second ranked passing offense (Houston) will be up against the fifth ranked rushing offense(Air Force) in this game. However, the Air Force defense defends better against the pass than the Houston defense does against the run. Houston's defense only ranked 90th in the nation in rush defense. Air Force has the edge there. Further, Air Force has already competed against elite teams like Utah, BYU, and TCU in the MWC and have experienced the trials and tribulations that such games bring. It should be better prepared for this game than Houston. Finally, Air Force has to win just because of the name of the bowl game.

Bitter Eagle's Winner: Air Force

Bitter Eagle's Current Bowl Record: The Bitter Eagle is on a bit of a hot streak of late, improving his record to 9-8 yesterday, which is the first time it has been over .500 at the end a day all bowl season.

NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year

2008-12-31T00:03:00.000-08:00

Matt Ryan was named the AP 2008 NFL Offensive Player of the Year for helping transform the 2007 NFL laughingstock into a playoff team that finished the season with an 11-5 record. He won the honor in a landslide collecting 44 of the 50 votes. Even though he struggled in the last few games of the season, Ryan still finished the season ranked 11th in passing rating at 87.7. He threw for 16 TDs and only 11 INTs. This recognition is significant considering the talent and depth of this years rookie class. Beating out the likes of Chris Johnson, Matt Forte, Steve Slaton, Joe Flacco, Tim Hightower, Eddie Royal, DeSean Jackson, and Davone Bess is an impressive feat.

Holiday Bowl

2008-12-30T13:18:00.000-08:00

The second bowl game in San Diego occurs tonight has Oregon faces Oklahoma St. in a game that is traditionally a shootout. This game should not disappoint considering both teams have ridiculously good offenses and mediocre defenses. Both teams have scored over 40 points at least 6 times this season. Oregon is coming off a huge win against arch-rival Oregon St. in its regular season finale after putting 65 points up on the scoreboard. On the other hand, Ok. St. comes into the game having lost 3 out of its last 5 games. These 3 losses though came against #1 Texas, #2 Texas Tech, and #3 Oklahoma so these losses are by no means bad. The difference in this game will be that Ok. St. lost its defensive coordinator to Toledo so it will be breaking in a new one this game. This gives the defensive edge and the victory to Oregon.

Bitter Eagle's Winner: Oregon

Texas Bowl

2008-12-30T13:15:00.000-08:00

Rice and Western Michigan are both pass happy offenses going up against two awful pass defenses so this should be a shootout. The Bitter Eagle is going with the team that has won 6 straight games and whose QB has thrown for 25 TDs and only 3 INTs and has run for 6 TDs in those 6 games. The Bitter Eagle has been burned too much this bowl season for picking against the hot team.

Bitter Eagle's Winner: Rice

Humanitarian Bowl

2008-12-30T13:06:00.000-08:00

This matchup pits Nevada against the most inconsistent team in the ACC, that being the University of Maryland. Maryland has won more games against ranked teams than any other team in the nation, however it has lost to too many horrible teams this year including Middle Tennessee St., and Virginia. Maryland really has no motivation to go west into the wretched state of Idaho and play in freezing cold weather against some team from a non-BCS conference. With Maryland losing defense coordinator before the bowl season, look for Maryland to struggle against Nevada's explosive offense.

Bitter Eagle's Winner: Nevada

Bitter Eagle's Current Bowl Record: With Russell Wilson going down to injury yesterday in the second quarter, the Bitter Eagle's record remained at .500 (7-7). Tough luck to the Bitter Eagle and the Wolfpack.

Alamo Bowl

2008-12-29T11:51:00.000-08:00

This bowl game features Missouri's high octane offense going up against a stout Northwestern defense. Missouri is led by QB Chase Daniel and WR Jeremy Maclin, who have led the offense to score 31+ points in 11 of 13 games. On the other hand, Northwestern's defense has held 9 of 12 opponents to 21 points or fewer. While Missouri's defense is absolutely horrible, Northwestern does not have the offense to take advantage and put up points. Let's face it too: the only reason why Northwestern's defensive numbers look good is because it plays in the all white and slow Big 10. Like Wisconsin, Northwestern plays smash mouth football, meaning that it does not have any athletes on either side of the ball. Missouri will use its speed on offense, esp. from Maclin, to put up a ton of pointson the scoreboard. Its defense will do well enough to hold Northwestern's offense in check for most of the game. Expect a rout by Missouri.

Bitter Eagle's Winner: Missouri

Papajohns.com Bowl

2008-12-29T11:39:00.000-08:00

Both teams got off to a rough start and seemed to be dead to rights midway through the season. However, Rutgers rolled off 6 straight wins and NCST went on a 4 game winning streak (including 3 wins against bowl eligible teams) in order to become bowl eligible. Rutgers is led by senior QB Mike Teel, who has led Rutgers through its recent successful seasons. However, the main focus of those teams was Ray Rice, not Teel. This year, Teel has acquitted himself nicely, esp. in his 447 yard, 7 TD performance against Louisville in the last game of the season. NCST, on the other hand, is led by star freshman QB Russell Wilson. He finished second in the ACC for ACC Offensive Player of the Year voting by throwing 16 TDs and only 1 INT. The Bitter Eagle believes that the team for the better conference will win the game. Ergo, he will be picking NCST to prevail in a close shootout.

Bitter Eagle's Winner: North Carolina State

Bitter Eagle's Current Bowl Record: With yesterday's big win, the Bitter Eagle's record has finally reached the .500 level once again. He has won 3 of his past 4 games and is looking to improve his record with 2 wins today.

Independence Bowl

2008-12-28T16:00:00.000-08:00

With these two teams that do not deserve to even be in a bowl, will anybody actually watch this game over the Denver-San Diego game for all the marbles? The Bitter Eagle has no clue about either of these teams except that both teams rank in the Top 40 in the country in rushing and apparently have decent pressure defense. Outside of that, the Bitter Eagle will take a random guess and choose Louisiana Tech to win because they are playing basically a home game.

Bitter Eagle's Winner: Louisiana Tech

Bitter Eagle's Current Bowl Record: The Bitter Eagle was one measly point away from sweeping yesterday's games. As it stands now, the Bitter Eagle's record is 5-6. With a win today, his record could finally get to a decent .500

Emerald Bowl

2008-12-27T02:45:00.000-08:00

Cal should easily beat Miami in this game because it is a virtual home game for the Bears. Cal is 7-0 at home this year and has won those games by an average of 21 points. Further, Miami was pathetic in its last two games of the year, esp. its defense. Against Ga Tech and NCST, Miami gave up a total of 79 points and almost 1,000 yards. If Miami cannot stop these offenses, it has little chance to stuff Cal's stud running back Jahvid Best. Expect Best to get 25-30 carries in the game and expect him to run wild. Miami's pitiful defense might be acceptable if it were able to score points, but Miami has been inconsistent on offense all year. The ACC will lose its first bowl game of the season.

Bitter Eagle's Winner: California

Champs Sports Bowl

2008-12-27T02:41:00.000-08:00

This matchup pits two teams that had very underwhelming seasons against each other. Both teams were picked to be contenders for their respective conferences and both teams faltered after getting out to a hot start. Florida St. has too many athletes and too much speed for Wisconsin to compete. Many people say that Big 10 teams play smash mouth football, but that language is just code for the Big 10 (and Wisconsin) having too many slow, white guys. Wisconsin fails to make big plays on defense and its offense is too one-dimensional (with the run) to give FSU any problems. FSU should be able to utilize its team speed to run circles around Wisconsin. Look for another ACC team to find the winner's circle.

Bitter Eagle's Winner: Florida St.

Meineke Car Care Bowl

2008-12-27T02:35:00.000-08:00

West Virginia has a lot of incentive to play for this game seeing as how it is the last game of Pat White's collegiate career. On the other hand, North Carolina is attempting to salvage what was a very disappointing season. UNC was in the driver's seat of making it to the ACC Championship, however it faltered down the stretch, with its most embarrassing loss of the season against NCST. UNC's defense is weak against the pass but pretty strong against the run. WVU has a weak passing game but a great running game which plays into the strengths of UNC's defense. On offense, UNC has had enormous success this year via the play action. Don't look for the ACC team to lose to one of the worst conferences in the country (Big East).

Bitter Eagle's Winner: North Carolina

Bitter Eagle's Current Bowl Record: 3-5. Ouch.

Motor City Bowl

2008-12-26T11:50:00.000-08:00

This is a matchup between two high-powered offenses that are led by 2 unheralded QBs. CMU QB Dan Lefevour has thrown 19 TDs and only 5 picks this season (despite missing 2 games) to lead to Chippewas to an 8-4 record. On the other side, QB Rusty Smith has thrown 22 TDs and only 14 picks, despite having a completion percentage of only 53%. FAU needed to win 5 out of its last 6 games just to become bowl eligible. While this might give them much needed momentum, CMU's offense is simply too powerful to be stopped. Remember, this same CMU gave BC all it could handle a few years ago. Now that it is facing a crappy team from the Sun Belt Conference, CMU should have its way with FAU. All CMU needs to do to ensure victory is to limit the amount of points FAU scores. Holding them to FGs instead of TDs and creating a few turnovers will do the trick.

Bitter Eagle's Winner: Central Michigan

Bitter Eagle's Current Bowl Record: It took Charlie Weis 13 games to finally discover that the only way it can score any points is to throw to WR Golden Tate. As a result of this epiphany, the Bitter Eagle's record dropped to 3-4, which is a better defensive formation than actual record.

Bitter Eagle's Christmas Wish

2008-12-25T13:44:00.000-08:00

Dear Santa,

Would you please change the BC cheer squad's uniforms? They mysteriously made an idiotic transformation of their uniforms before the football season began. Instead of being a traditional cheerleader uniform with nice maroon and white colors, the new uniforms were ineptly designed and have the hue of drunken piss. The uniforms are so heinous that even the attractive cheerleaders look disgusting in them. Just look at these things. Whoever designed these things should be taken behind the pasture and shot.

So Santa, will you please burn these hideous things and replace them with uniforms that are classy looking...

or that reflect the culture and atmosphere of the university and its surrounding area...

or that are even innovative in design.

Heck, you can even bring back the old uniforms. They at least looked nice and traditional.

The Bitter Eagle is on the good list this year so please grant his wish. He will be forever grateful. Oh yeah, and how about a BC win in the Gaylord Bowl?

Yours truly,

Bitter Eagle

Merry Christmas

2008-12-25T13:40:00.000-08:00

The Bitter Eagle and his clan would like to wish all of BC Nation a Merry Christmas! Hope everyone has a great and safe day. Go BC!

Hawaii Bowl

2008-12-24T14:37:00.000-08:00

Notre Dame comes into this game with a 9 game bowl losing streak. These underachieving clowns have not won a bowl game since the 1993 season. And it does not look like they will break the streak this year either. First, Hawaii is basically playing a home game on their own field. No doubt, the entire stadium will be cheering loudly for the Warriors. Second, after ND's offensive coordinator was hired to be the head coach at Miami(OH), (Are you kidding me? The guy's play calling duties were stripped from him after his anemic offense sputtered out mid-season) Charlie Weis is now back calling the offensive plays. Let's face it, he's no offensive genius. Third, the Notre Dame offense is a virtual sieve, yielding enormous amounts of yards and points a game. This defense has no chance of stopping or even slowing Hawaii's passing attack. Fourth, Hawaii's defense has enough play makers to slow ND's non-existent offense and create turnovers. Finally, the Bitter Eagle would never pick the hated Notre Dame to begin with. It will be a long day for Notre Dame tonight as it's bowl game losing streak will be extended to 10 games.

Bitter Eagle's Winner: Hawaii

Bitter Eagle's Current Bowl Record: After the Bitter Eagle's spot on analysis of last night's Poinsettia Bowl game, the Bitter Eagle's record currently sits at a mediocre 3-3. Let me take a minute to say that the Bitter Eagle attended the Poinsettia Bowl last night and the game did not disappoint. The key matchup turned out to be Boise St.'s defense versus TCU's offense. Boise St. could not stop the TCU rushing game all night and TCU outgained Boise St. by almost 200 yards. Hopefully the Bitter Eagle's good fortunes will continue tonight.

Poinsettia Bowl

2008-12-23T13:18:00.000-08:00

Welcome to the land of the Bitter Eagle. Pull up a seat and relax for the ride of your life. America's Finest City hosts the best non-BCS bowl game this year which will pit the nation's second best defense versus the country's 13th best offense. While everybody believes this is the key matchup of the evening, the Bitter Eagle believes that the key will lie in the matchup of TCU's offense against Boise St.'s defense. Whoever wins this battle will win the game. TCU has faced 3 ranked teams already this season and went 1-2. Their two losses were against Top 6 teams though (Utah and Oklahoma). Further, TCU played in one of the best conferences in the nation (the MWC was easily better than the ACC, Big East, and maybe even better than the Pac-10 and Big 10). These tests have prepared TCU for the game tonight and it will be a large reason why TCU will win the game. On the other hand, Boise St. only faced one ranked team this year and played in one of the worst conferences in all of football. Boise St. has hardly been tested all year long and it will be interesting to see how it reacts to any adversity it faces today. Will it gather up all its testicular fortitude and handle the adversity or will it fold like a cheap tent? The Bitter Eagle likes TCU in this game simply because it has played better teams in bigger games than Boise St. has, which should have prepared them for the fight it will face tonight.

Bitter Eagle's Winner: TCU

Bitter Eagle's Current Bowl Record: The entire bowl season has been a broken record so far. The Bitter Eagle selects a winner, that team either does not show up (BYU) or epically collapses in the 4th quarter (Troy, Fresno St.), and that team blemishes the Bitter Eagle's record with a loss. The Bitter Eagle's record currently sits at a brutal 2-3. Since the Bitter Eagle has just given TCU the kiss of death, expect his record to be even worse come this time tomorrow.

New Orleans Bowl Pick

2008-12-21T04:32:00.000-08:00

Troy and Southern Mississippi meet today in the New Orleans Bowl. Troy is the Sun Belt champion who comes into the game with an 8-4 record. 3 out of its 4 losses have come against perennial BCS stalwarts in LSU, Oklahoma St., and Ohio St. On the other hand, Southern Mississippi struggled for most of the year, esp. in the beginning of the season. USM did manage to win 4 straight games to become bowl eligible though. Both teams come into the game averaging over 400 yards a game and scoring over 30 points a game. As anyone can see, the game will be won by the defenses. Southern Miss comes into the game having allowed only 21 points in its last 3 games combined. Despite these impressive numbers, Troy's offense is much too explosive for USM's defense. Further, Troy has become seasoned taking on the BCS powers of the world this year. Troy will be ready and waiting for any new wrinkle that the Golden Eagles throw their way. As a result, Troy should win the ball game going away (let's hope that they do not blow another 28 point second half lead this year).

Bitter Eagle's Winner: Troy

Bitter Eagle's Current Bowl Record: With Fresno St.'s epic 4th quarter meltdown and BYU laying an egg against Arizona, the Bitter Eagle's bowl record currently sits at an underwhelming 2-2. He is looking to rebound in the next few games.

Grinch

2008-12-20T05:24:00.000-08:00

If this is the Christmas season, the Music City Bowl sure is not participating. The Music City Bowl Santa Claus is not being nice to BC or Vanderbilt. When other teams are receiving nifty electronic devices like Flip minos, navigation systems, digital video recorders, and MP3 players, huge shopping sprees to places like Best Buy, or new wonder-gifts like Oakleys with built in MP3 players, BC is stuck getting some pretty crappy gifts. BC gets noise-canceling headphones, a Fossil watch, an Adidas fleece jacket, a cap, and a backpack. Wow, how uh, nice of you bowl commissioners. Are you trying to tell us that $500 buys only that crap? Cheapskates. Knock the Champs Sports Bowl all you will, but at least it gives out shopping sprees to Best Buy. And the Meineke Car Care Bowl gives out a Flip mino, a digital video recorder with a built-in USB key, a Fossil watch and sunglasses kit, a laptop backback,and a commemorative football with every players' name and the bowl and school logos. BC players must be wishing that they were playing at these other POS bowls like they were the past few years.

Another Snub

2008-12-20T04:59:00.000-08:00

Another award, another snub. Mark Herzlich got snubbed again by another panel of "football experts," this time led by the AP. The AP basically looked at Herzlich's body of work this year and relegated it to the heaping pile of trash out back. Instead of selecting Herzy for the AP All-America first team or even second team, the AP named him to the third team behind players he easily had a better season than. How insulting. Who are the players that were selected ahead of Herzy one might ask? Well, James Laurinaitis, Rey Maualuga, and Brandon Spikes were selected for the first team. The Bitter Eagle has no problem with Laurinaitis and Maualuga making the first team. After all, Herzlich's numbers are comparable to Laurinaitis in terms of tackles (15 less than Laurinaitis) but he also did have 4 more INTs. As for Maualuga, he is the best defender on the best team in the country. He did not get as many tackles simply because most offenses chose to run away from him. Finally, in no way, shape, or form, is Spokes qualified to be on the first team. First off, Florida is known for its offense, not defense. Second, Spokes' numbers are pretty mediocre. Spokes only had 70 tackles this season, including a measely 37 unassisted tackles. Further, he only had 2 QB sacks, 0 forced fumbles, 0 fumble recoveries, and only 3 INTs. Herzy's numbers are vastly superior than this guy's.

Scott McKillop, Brian Cushing, and Aaron Curry were selected for the All-America second team. McKillop had a great year, recording 126 tackles and 4 sacks. However, he did not create many turnovers at all. In fact, he created only 1 turnover--an INT. A part of being a defender is being able to create turnovers. Although McKillop was an extraordinary tackler, he was severely lacking in the turnover facet. With that said, the Bitter Eagle does not have a problem with him being selected over Herzy. At least his numbers are comparable to Herzy's. As for Brian Cushing and Aaron Curry, the Bitter Eagle believes that Herzy had a better year than these 2 for the reasons stated in this post. To summarize the post, basically Herzy had better numbers than Curry and Cushing as not even the best linebacker on his team. Mark Herzlich should at least have been selected for the second team and maybe even the first. The Bitter Eagle would have put him on the second team.

Even though the AP snubbed Herzlich, it did give well-deserved recognition to B.J. Raji, naming him to the All-America third team as well. Raji definitely deserved this recognition for his stellar play this season.

December 20th Bowl Winners

2008-12-20T04:37:00.000-08:00

The Bitter Eagle will pick winners for each and every bowl game this year. The Bitter Eagle will record the results of his picks so the readers at home can play against him. The bowl season starts with 4 games on Saturday including the Eaglebank Bowl, the New Mexico Bowl, the St. Petersburg Bowl, and the Las Vegas Bowl. The only promising bowl out of this trash pile is the Last Vegas Bowl. Now on to the selections.

Eaglebank Bowl--Wake Forest v. Navy

This is a rematch of a September game, which Navy won by 7 points. Having seen Navy's offense in motion already this year, Wake Forest will be able to better prepare for it. Further, it will know the intricacies of the offense and what to expect from it. Wake's defense ranked in the top 25 against the run this year so it should be able to contain the Navy option game. Wake has enough offense with Skinner and its medium range passing game to pull out a victory.

Bitter Eagle's Winner: Wake Forest

New Mexico Bowl--Fresno St. v. Colorado St.

Even though FSU got blitzed 61-10 against Boise St. in its final game of the regular season, Fresno St. is still the better team in this matchup by far. Colorado St.'s defense is a virtual sieve, and it does not have the offensive fire power to stay in the game even though FSU's defense is pretty suspect. And let's face it, a team that barely hangs on to beat San Diego St. is not a good team.

Bitter Eagle's Winner: Fresno St.

St. Petersburg Bowl--Memphis v. South Florida

This is a virtual home game for South Florida which clearly gives it the home field advantage. Memphis has a decent offense, esp. with its wide outs, however, USF's defense is vastly superior. It should be able to contain Memphis' offensive threat. Further, Memphis' defense is atrocious so Grothe should be able to pick it apart all day.

Bitter Eagle's Winner: South Florida

Las Vegas Bowl--BYU v. Arizona

This will be a matchup between two pass happy offenses that like to score a lot of points. Whichever team plays better on defense will win the game. BYU has the better QB in Max Hall, who was a Heisman candidate in the beginning of the year, so it should be able to win the game. Arizona does not have anybody in its secondary that will be able to cover Austin Collie, who is the leading receiver in the nation.

Bitter Eagle's Winner: BYU

Stay tuned for tomorrow's games.

Bitter Eagle's Bowl Ranking

2008-12-20T03:33:00.000-08:00

The second greatest time of the year is upon all of us now (the first being March Madness). That's right, it's bowl season. The first bowl games of the year kick off Saturday. 4 games will be played and the day will be headlined by the BYU-Arizona game, which promises to be a classic shootout. With the bowl season about to begin, the Bitter Eagle will rank the bowl games from the best to the worst. The factors included in the calculations include importance of the game, how good the competing teams are, and the promise of excitement. Without further ado, here are the games ranked in order from 1-34.

1. BCS National Championship--Florida v. Oklahoma

What did you expect? The Music City Bowl?

2. Poinsettia Bowl--Boise St. v. TCU

Easily the best non-BCS matchup between one team that was snubbed by the BCS and another teams whose only losses come against Top 6 teams. This will be the most exciting game of the bowl season outside of the championship game.

3. Rose Bowl--USC v. Penn St.

It's always fun to see USC beat up on poor Big 10 teams in the Rose Bowl year after year. In fact, it's become a tradition in the Bitter Eagle's nest to watch the massacre every year while enjoying a New Year's feast. Ya gotta love when Pete Carroll continues to score possession after possession and laughs after each score.

4. Holiday Bowl--Oklahoma St. v. Oregon

Another fantastic game in San Diego. This promises to be the biggest shootout of the bowl season as both offenses are ranked in the top 8 in the country. Plus, the Holiday Bowl has a tradition of obscenley high scoring games.

5. Sugar Bowl--Alabama v. Utah

The last time Utah was in a BCS game, it won. However, this time it has to face a stout defense in Alabama. Given that Utah's offense is pretty feeble, Utah might have no hope in scoring. However, the best upsets come when nobody expects them. Who would have thoughout that Boise St. would have beaten Oklahoma a few years ago? This game will either be really close or a huge blowout. Here's to hoping its really close.

6. Las Vegas Bowl--BYU v. Arizona

Although this game is a pre-Christmas bowl game with little to no importance in the grand scheme of things, this game promises to be exciting with 2 really good offenses who like to chuck the ball around the field all day. The game might last 5 hours but it will be well worth your time.

7. Capital One Bowl--Georgia v. Michigan St.

A battle between two of the best RBs in the country: Knowshon Moreno v. Javon Ringer.

8. Hawaii Bowl--Hawaii v. Notre Dame

BC fans will love to see Notre Dame's bowl losing streak extend to a whopping 10 games.

9. Alamo Bowl--Missouri v. Northwestern

A matchup between a surprising team and a disappointing team. Both have good, efficient QBs who can put on a show.

10. Fiesta Bowl--Texas v. Ohio St.

Much like USC has a tradition of slaughtering Big 10 teams in the Rose Bowl every team, Ohio St. has developed the tradition of getting killed in every BCS game it plays in against teams not named Notre Dame. Look for another ugly blowout loss. But hey, at least Ohio St. is not playing in the championship game this year.

11. Cotton Bowl--Ole Miss v. Texas Tech

The game turns on how Texas Tech will react from being screwed by the BCS. Will they come out and show people how disgracefully flawed the system is or will it flop in a pool of its own self-pity?

12. Sun Bowl--Oregon St. v. Pittsburgh

Oregon St. is going to be coming out fightin' mad for this game and it will take its frustrations out on the Panthers. Pitt needs to win this game to bring the Big East any sort of credibility as a conference.

13. Meineke Car Care Bowl--West Virginia v. North Carolina

This is a game between two of the most inconsistent teams in the country. Both teams had a chance to win their conference coming down the stretch, but both teams took themselves out of the running with bad losses. If both teams show up to play, this game has the potential of being a good, close game.

14. Gator Bowl--Clemson v. Nebraska

Both teams finished the season strong for their first year coaches. Clemson needs to ram the ball down Nebraska's throats with its to premier backs if it wants to win.

15. Champs Sports Bowl--Florida St. v. Wisconsin

With the amount of mistakes both teams seem to make on a weekly basis, this could be an ugly, ugly game. However, it should be close. Both of these teams also had disappointing seasons.

16. Emerald Bowl--Miami v. California

A few years ago, this would have been a huge game, but this season, both teams struggled throughout the year. California should have its way with Miami's defense, esp. with the run.

17. PapaJohns.com Bowl--NC State v. Rutgers

This will be a prime opportunity for scouting for next year's BC-NCST game. Be afraid of NCST, be very afraid. Wilson came out of nowhere to become the best QB in the ACC.

18. GMAC Bowl--Ball St. v. Tulsa

Tulsa could not hold Ball St.'s jock strap. However, after Ball St.'s epic meltdown to Buffalo (seriously?), anything is possible, esp. if Ball St. comes out traumatized from its conference championship loss.

19. Orange Bowl--Cincinnati v. Virginia Tech

Can we say BORING? Who in their right mind would watch this uninspired garbage? Do the ACC and Big East really deserve these automatic BCS bids? Absolutely not.

20. Chick-fil-A Bowl--Georgia Tech v. LSU

After Georgia Tech steam-rolled the Georgia defense with its triple option, LSU has no chance of stopping it esp. after its mediocre defensive performance all season. This game would have been much higher had LSU had even a remote chance of winning the game. With that loser Lee as the QB, LSU has no chance of winning.

21. Outback Bowl--South Carolina v. Iowa

South Carolina's defense should smother Iowa. Look out for another Big 10 smackdown.

22. Armed Forces Bowl--Houston v. Air Force

An intriguing matchup between two polar opposite teams: a pass-happy Houston team and an option rushing Air Force team. As it turns out, both defenses have trouble stopping the other team's strength on offense.

23. Insight Bowl--Kansas v. Minnesota

What in the world happened to Kansas and Todd Reesing this year? This is not how Kansas fans envisioned their season would turn out.

24. Gaylord Hotels Music City Bowl--Boston College v. Vanderbilt

Another successful season, another sixth tier crap bowl for BC. And once again, BC plays another teams that has no business of playing in a bowl game. Since when does a .500 record warrant such a reward?

25. Eagle Bank Bowl--Wake Forest v. Navy

This is a rematch of a game that occurred in September, which Navy won by a TD. Both teams should have trouble stopping each other's offenses. Navy's defense is just horrible while its triple option threat still works wonders.

26. International Bowl--Buffalo v. Connecticut

Come on down Buffalo. With a win in the MAC championship game, Buffalo earned itself a berth to the reputable and esteemed International Bowl. That's just sad. But hey, at least they will have a virtual home game.

27. Humanitarian Bowl--Maryland v. Nevada

The only reason to watch this game is to marvel at the blue turf.

28. Liberty Bowl--Kentucky v. East Carolina

ECU followed up its stunning wins against Va Tech and West Virginia by pretty much sucking for the rest of the season. Kentucky basically sucked the entire season, esp. in the SEC. Aren't you excited to watch?

29. New Mexico Bowl--Colorado St. v. Fresno St.

When did this game come into existence and whose bright idea was it to stick a bowl game in the sparesly populated New Mexico?

30. Motor City Bowl--Florida Atlantic v. Central Michigan

Ouch, this bowl really sucks. It's no surprise that BC has been here before. Central Michigan, led by Dan LeFevour should wallop FAU.

31. Texas Bowl--Rice v. Western Michigan

Both teams actually have good records this year. Albeit, they play in weak conferences.

32. New Orleans Bowl--Southern Mississippi v. Troy

Troy is easily the more physical team, which should carry it to victory.

33. St. Petersburg Bowl--Memphis v. South Florida

South Florida once again followed up a promising undefeated start by floundering down the stretch. Sounds like the former Red Sox of yesteryear.

34. Independence Bowl--Northern Illinois v. Louisianna Tech

How is this even a bowl? The Bitter Eagle did not even know that both of these teams were actually D-1 schools.

College Football News Honors

2008-12-16T00:24:00.001-08:00

3 BC players were honored by College Football News for their performances this season. Anthony Castonzo was named to the CFN All-Sophomore first team, while Thomas Claiborne was named to the CFN All-Sophomore second team. With Castonzo and Claiborne helping to anchor the BC offensive line, the BC freshman RB duo and first year starter Chris Crane were able to achieve a rewarding level of success this year. BC allowed only 21 sacks this year, which ranked 49th in the country and they ranked 25th for tackles for a loss allowed. The third Eagle to earn accolades was Montel Harris, who was given an honorable mention status for the All-Freshmen teams. Harris set new BC freshman rushing records with 832 yards and five 100-yard performances. He ranked third in the country among all freshmen RBs, averaging 69.3 yards per game.

Dudley Traded

2008-12-16T00:03:00.000-08:00

Just to catch up on some of the events that have occurred recently: Jared Dudley was traded from the Charlotte Bobcats with Jason Richardson and a 20120 2nd round draft pick to the Phoenix Suns in exchange for Raja Bell, Boris Diaw, and Sean Singletary. Dudley was having a decent year coming off the bench for the Bobcats, contributing 5.4 points per game and 3 rebounds per game at the time of the trade last Wednesday. The good news from the trade: Dudley was actually coveted by a Western Conference contending team. He was actually coveted by a team that easily got the better end of the deal. Apparently Suns GM Steve Kerr is really high on Dudley, saying :He's versatile and can guard multiple positions and play like a small four (power forward) or a big three (small forward)." The bad news from the trade: Dudley still will not receive that much playing time. With Barnes, Amundson, Hill, Stoudamire, Tucker, and even Richardson all receiving minutes at the forward positions already, Dudley will have to compete with more entrenched players to receive minutes. Since the trade, Dudley has seen his playing time become virtually nonexistent. The three games before the trade, Dudley received 22, 21, and 39 minutes of playing time respectively, while in his past 2 games with the Nets, he has played a grand total of 2 minutes. Although he was not putting up huge numbers with the Bobcats, he gave them serviceable minutes and was actually an asset to the team. With the Suns, he might as well buy himself a cushion because he will be riding pine most of the time. Hopefully, Dudley can catch on somewhere else with a team that actually needs and desires his strengths and assets.

A True American Hero

2008-12-11T00:34:00.001-08:00

Here is a profile in courage from the Bitter Eagle's hometown of San Diego: Mr. Dong Yun Yoon

A Korean immigrant who lost his wife, two children and mother-in-law when a Marine Corps jet slammed into the family's house said Tuesday he did not blame the pilot, who ejected and survived.

"Please pray for him not to suffer from this accident," a distraught Dong Yun Yoon told reporters gathered near the site of Monday's crash of an F/A-18D jet in San Diego's University City community.

"He is one of our treasures for the country," Yoon said in accented English punctuated by long pauses while he tried to maintain his composure.

"I don't blame him. I don't have any hard feelings. I know he did everything he could," said Yoon, flanked by members of San Diego's Korean community, relatives and members from the family's church.

Authorities said four people died when the jet crashed into the Yoon family's house while the pilot was trying to reach nearby Marine Corps Air Station Miramar. Another unoccupied house also was destroyed.

Everybody can learn a thing or two from Mr. Dong Yun Yoon. Also, it's a huge reality check that there are a lot more important things in the world than Boston College athletics.

Butkus Award Travesty

2008-12-11T00:08:00.000-08:00

Guess which player failed to win the 2008 Butkus Award, which is awarded to the best linebacker in the country? That's right, Mark Herzlich failed to win the coveted award. What is even worse than Herzlich failing to come in the Top 3 in voting is that Wake Forest's Aaron Curry won the award. Mark Herzlich came in a disrespecting 5th place. Last time the Bitter Eagle checked, Mark Herlich handily defeated Curry in voting for the All-ACC first team (he beat Curry by 12 votes). In fact, Curry got beat out for the second highest vote getter by a linebacker from Duke of all places. Also, Herzlich was named the ACC Defensive Player of the Year, while Curry was nowhere to be seen. So let the Bitter Eagle get this straight: Curry was not the best linebacker in the ACC (not even the second best), but yet he's still the best linebacker in the country? How can that be? And let's compare statistics just to be fair. Curry can't even hold a candlestick to the type of numbers Herzlich put up. Herzlich had 105 tackles (including 79 solo), 11 tackles for losses, 3 sacks, 7 pass breakups, 6 INTs, and 2 forced fumbles, and 2 fumble recoveries. Curry's numbers were worse than Herzlichin every category: he had 103 tackles, 3 fumble recoveries, and only 1 pick. No wonder why nobody has heard of this guy. If the Bitter Eagle could vote his ballot would look like this:

1. Marl Herzlich--Put up the best numbers out of any of the other 4 contenders.
2. James Laurinaitis--Had over 15 more tackles than Herzlich, but he also had 4 less INTs.
3. Rey Maualuga--Best defender on the best defense in the country.
4. Aaron Curry--His numbers and his team's success suggest he was only the 4th best on the list.
5. Brian Cushing--A stalwart on the USC defense, but not even the best on his own team.

It is an absolute travesty that Curry won. The 51 voters are clueless and should be stripped of all future voting powers.

Gaylord Hotels Music City Bowl

2008-12-08T23:42:00.000-08:00

Greeeaaaat, BC gets to play in a 5th tier ACC bowl game this year. They get to play in a bowl called the Music City Bowl. After such a successful season, BC gets the shaft again and gets to play a team whose record is not above .500 and who has not been to a bowl game in decades. And seriously, what kind of name is the Gaylord Hotels Music City Bowl? You only invite jokes, and not pleasant ones at that, with that kind of name. In response to his teams selection to another crappy toilet bowl game for a 10th straight year, BC athletic director had this to say: "Our team is looking forward to playing Vanderbilt in this year's Gaylord Hotels Music City Bowl. We had a fantastic experience the last time we visited Nashville, in 2001, capped off by an exciting win over a very good Georgia team. We are all very proud of our team's accomplishments this season." Stop lying Gene. Who are you trying to kid? No fan, player, or coach is pleased with the great honor of playing in this pitiful bowl game. Stop lying to yourself and to all BC fans. We are not that stupid. But hey, on the bright side, BC can extend its nationa leading bowl winning streak to 9 games. Whoopdee-freakin-doo.

On a side note, the Bitter Eagle's hometown of San Diego came out of the bowl selection process like a bandit. It has the two biggest non-BCS games to watch. They are both must see TV, even more so than some BCs games like the Orange and Fiesta Bowls. First, in the 4th edition of the Poinsettia Bowl, the #9 and undefeated Boise St. takes on the 10-2 and #11 TCU in the best non-BCS bowl. It is a fluke that such a young bowl got such a great game. In the Holiday Bowl a week later, #13 Oklahoma St. will face #15 Oregon in what promises to be another great Holiday Bowl shootout. Mark your calenders everyone.

Miserable Ending

2008-12-08T23:31:00.000-08:00

Well, BC sports had a miserable ending to Saturday's athletic games when the men's hockey team lost to BU 3-1 to lose the weekend series. The football team put up a disappointing performance in the ACCCG and was dominated in every facet of the game by Va Tech. Much like its football counterparts, the hockey team was also dominated in every facet of the game by BU in its disappointing loss. BU took a 2-0 lead with a goal early in the first period and midway through the second period. BC attempted to comeback in the third period on a goal by Matt Price at the 6 minute mark in the thid period, but BC could not close the deal. BU scored an empty net goal as the buzzer sounded to conclude the scoring. BC goaltender John Muse stopped 23 of the 25 shots he faced. With the loss, BC's overall record dropped to 9-5-2 and its Hockey East record fell to 5-4-2. BC is now tied for third place in the league with UNH with 12 points. However, teams 4 and 5 (which includes BU) sit only 1 point behind BC and have played one less game. Team #7 sits two points back having played 1 less game. It is conceivable that BC can find itself in the bottom half of the league once all the teams have played an even amount of games. Not a great start to league play.

BU Tie

2008-12-08T23:26:00.000-08:00

The #2 BC men's hockey team tied BU 1-1 Friday night before a packed house at Agganis Arena. BC and BU traded goals 19 seconds apart in the first period for the only scoring in the game. BC took the lead midway through the first period, but BC tied the game at the 11:28 mark on a goal by Brock Bradford. Brian Gibbons and Benn Ferriero assisted on the goal. John Muse was easily the player of the game for BC as he stopped 35 of the 36 shots he faced in the game. BU controlled the puck for most of the game outshooting BC 36-22 in the game. If not for Muse's stellar goaltending, BC surely would have lost. With the tie, BC's overall record dropped to 9-4-2 and its Hockey East record fell to 5-3-2.

SI Sportsman of the Year Nominee

2008-12-08T23:17:00.000-08:00

BC hockey coach Jerry York was nominated for the SI Sportsman of the Year by SI writer Kevin Armstrong. York was nominated because of his continued success at BC and for his telling character. Case in point, before BC's meeting with President Bush at the White House, York arranged for a 2 hour visit for his team to the Walter Reed Army Medical Center. He has overcome numerous odds in his life including a bout with prostate cancer to become the most successful college hockey coach in history. According the Armstrong, York embodies the best that collegiate athletics have to offer: purity in winning and teaching. With York winning his third national championship this year, he has been nominated for the SI Sportsman of the Year.

Hockey East Player of the Month (Redux)

2008-12-08T23:10:00.000-08:00

BC junior Kelli Stack was named the Hockey East Player of the Month for November. She recorded 13 points on 7 goals and 6 assists in 7 November games. She scored a hat trick against Maine on November 16 and tallied three three-point games. This was the second consecutive month Stack earned such honors. She was also named the Hockey East Player of the Week for the week of December 1. On the season, Stack has recorded a whopping 28 points (14G, 14A) in 14 games. She currently ranks 4th in the country in points per game and is tied for third in the country for goals per game. She also currently holds a scoring streak in Hockey East games stretching back to February 17 of the 2007-2008 season.

Hockey East Player of the Month

2008-12-08T23:04:00.000-08:00

Brock Bradford was named the Hockey East Player of the Month for November for registering 13 points on 7 goals and 6 assists in 8 games. He had back to back 4 point performances against Merrimack (Nov.14) and UNH (Nov.15). He scored at least 1 point in 7 of his 8 November games. For the season, Bradford has recorded 22 points on 13 goals and 9 assists in 14 games. He led the country in points per game and ranked second in goals per game.

ACCCG Game Recaps and Links

2008-12-08T02:23:00.000-08:00

Va Tech dominated every facet of the game to pull out the ACC Championship.
Winning ACC Championships has become routine for the Hokies.
BC lost its spot in the Orange Bowl with its loss in the ACCCG and will have to settle for some 6th tier crapfest of a bowl.
Rich Gunnell reflects on BC's loss.
Even though his football players are disappointed with the loss, Jags is still proud of his team for its surprising season. This quote by Jags sums up nicely his thoughts on his team: “I thought they were the most unselfish team I’ve ever had . . . they kept battling, and it didn’t go our way today.”
Dominique Davis' homecoming quickly became a nightmare after his uneven performance.
For the second straight year and third time in 5 years, BC failed to win a football game with a BCS berth at stake.
BC was relegated to the 5th ACC bowl game on the totem pole. On another note, BC only sold 2,000 tickets for the ACCCG. How pathetic. It only further cements BC's horrible travel reputation. Way to go BC nation.
Even though BC had a good game plan for Davis, David just had an off day. It was too much to rely on a freshman in such a pressure-packed situation.

ACCCG Initial Thoughts

2008-12-07T23:13:00.000-08:00

Well, for the third time since 2004, BC once again failed to get over the hump and earn a berth into the BCS. It started back in 2004 with an ugly upset loss to Syracuse, then continued in 2007 with a sickening loss to Va Tech in the 2007 ACCCG. Unlike these two disappointments, yesterday's game does not hurt nearly as much. The Bitter Eagle did not think that BC had enough offensive power to win the game with a freshman QB at the helm, and boy was he ever right. Nobody (including the Bitter Eagle) expected BC to make it this far in a rebuilding year. So the Bitter Eagle was just happy to be in the ACCCG after such a successful season. The loss hurt yesterday, but not as bad as the other two because they were truthfully not expected to win.

Offense:

The Good: It was a dismal offensive performance when the Bitter Eagle can pinpoint Dominique Davis' performance in the last 2 BC possessions of the first half as the only good in the BC offense yesterday. Everything else was just that bleak. On those two possessions, Davis looked his best, making good, quick decisions and throwing accurate balls with a lot of zip to them. His touchdown nice was pretty but his pass to Gunnell, who proceeded to fumble the ball into the end zone, was his best pass of the night.

The Bad: The offensive line had its first bad game in quite a long time, probably since UNC. Va Tech dominated BC's offensive line and put significant pressure on Davis, which forced him into making some horrible decisions in the second half. Further, Va Tech was able to prevent BC from establishing the run, which made BC one-dimensional and forced Davis to beat them with his arm, which was never going to happen. Other bad points include the 5 dropped passes by BC's receivers and the horrible play calling by Logan.

The Ugly: The fumbles. Gunnell's fumble was the most costly. It could have been a tied game going into the half and who knows what could have happened in the second half. Gunnell's fumble was inexcusable because he was not even hit hard. He failed to protect the ball and he paid for it when it was easily stripped.

Defense:

The Good: In an otherwise feeble defensive performance, Mark Herzlich single-handedly tried to keep BC in the game recovering two Va Tech fumbles. If this was his last game in a BC uniform, its not a bad performance in which to go out. More on his future later.

The Bad: Va Tech's offensive line also controlled the line of scrimmage as it basically ran the ball down BC's throat. Davis looked like a whole new back gaining 129 yards on 31 carries and scoring 1 TD. BC also failed to contain Taylor. BC's linemen and linebackers failed to stay in their respective lanes when they rushed Taylor. As a result, Taylor was able to scramble and find an open whole (which was usually right up the middle) that he was able to burst through for big gains. He gained 52 yards on 11 carries and he scored 2 big TDs.

The Ugly: The key to the game was Va Tech's ability to convert on 3rd down. BC and Va Tech gained roughly the same amount of yards but BC's drives always stalled due to their inability to convert third downs. It converted only 3 of the 15 third downs it faced. On the other hand, Va Tech was able to convert 7 of the 17 third downs it faced. It did not seem to matter how many yards Va Tech needed because it usually found a way to convert, esp. in the first half. As a result, Va Tech was able to prolong their drives, score points, and keep BC's defense on the field.

Special Teams:

The Good: Apon did not miss a FG. Boy was the special teams unit bad yesterday.

The Bad: Quigley's punting was especially bad yesterday. His long was only 47 yards and he averaged only 37 yards a kick. His punting gave Va Tech pretty good field position throughout the game. And what in the world has the BC kickoff return unit come to? It has to resort to a Chris Fox to return kicks? Who in the world is Chris Fox and where was he for the entire season?

The Ugly: Kickoff coverage once again. It's becoming a broken record with that unit. You would think they would get a little practice to improve. Hasn't seemed like that has happened at all yet.

The Bitter Eagle's Top 25 (XV)

2008-12-06T10:06:00.000-08:00

Here is the Bitter Eagle's Top 25 for the week of 11/30-12/06:

Rank Team Change

1. Alabama ---

When was the last time a #1 ranked team was a 10 point underdog? If Alabama is such a big underdog, why are they ranked #1?

2. Florida ---

Tim Tebow has thrown only 2 INTs this year against 25 passing TDs. He has made a strong case the past 8 weeks for winning the Heisman again.

3. USC ---

USC's defense is the best in the country. It held Notre Dame without a first down for virtually the first three quarters of the game. 7 straight Pac-10 titles for USC and counting.

4. Oklahoma ---

Ok. St. hung around for 3 1/2 quarters before giving way. Can Oklahoma keep its 4 game streak of scoring 60+ points alive for another week against Missouri? Most likely.

5. Texas ---

If Missouri upsets Oklahoma, how can Texas be deemed worthy enough to go to the National Championship if it was not worthy enough to win its division in the Big 12?

6. Utah ---

Utah is definitely going to a BCS Bowl. It is 10-3 against BCS conference opponents since 2004.

7. Penn St. ---

Just another Big 10 team that USC can embarass in the Rose Bowl. It's sad that USC is stuck facing these horrible Big 10 teams year after year.

8. Boise St. 1

If the chips fall correctly, BSU could be ranked as high as 5th after this week, but it still will not go to the BCS as long as Utah is still ranked ahead of them. What a travesty.

9. Texas Tech 1

In its second biggest game of the year with a Big 12 Championship berth on the line, Texas Tech lays an egg in struggling to beat a bad Baylor team.

10. Ohio State 2

Let's hope OSU doesn't get another BCS berth so it can avoid embarassing itself on a national stage yet again.

11. Ball State 2

Ball St.'s choke job against Buffalo in the MAC Championship will be reflected in next week's rankings.

12. TCU 2

TCU's only two losses came against teams ranked in the Top 10 (Utah, Oklahoma). Not a bad season at all.

13. Georgia Tech 6

The only ACC team this year that won a big game against a good BCS opponent. Way to make the ACC proud finally.

14. Oklahoma State 4

Ok. St. matched Oklahoma's scores with points of their own for virtually the entire game, but lost because it could not stop the Sooners' offense no matter how many different

15. Cincinnati ---

What a job coach Brian Kelly has done in turning around a once moribund program in such a short amount of time.

16. Oregon 2

Oregon must feel good after beating its rival in the Civil War and preventing them from going to the Rose Bowl. USC owes Oregon for a second straight season.

17. Boston College 3

BC was predicted to finish as high as 4th and as low as last place in the ACC Atlantic in preseason polls. So much for preseason predictions as BC earned a berth in the ACCCG for a second straight season.

18. Missouri 7

If Kansas can throw all over the Missouri defense (which is ranked 116th in the country against the pass), imagine what Sam Bradford will do in the Big 12 championship.

19. BYU 2

The MWC has more teams in the Top 25 than the ACC and the Big East. How about the MWC gaining an automatic spot in the BCS instead of one of these loser conferences?

20. Michigan St. 2

Javon Ringer carried the ball 66 more times than the second leading carrier in the nation. (370 to UConn 's Donald Brown's 304). Workhorse.

21. Pittsburgh NR

Eked out a victory in the Backyard Brawl, which eliminated WVU from Big East contention.

22. Northwestern 3

Northwestern is looking for its first bowl win since 1949.

23. Mississippi NR

Ole Miss has beaten perennial SEC stalwarts Florida, Auburn, and LSU this year and only lost to #1 Alabama by 4 points.

24. Georgia 8

Giving up 409 rushing yards in 1 game is laughable. And to think, many people thought this team was really, really good. Ha!

25. Oregon State 8

Oregon St. gave up 65 points in its biggest game of the year. Maybe it had a Thanksgiving Day hangover.

Dropped Out: Florida St. (24), West Virginia (25)

ACC Defensive Player of the Year

2008-12-06T09:55:00.000-08:00

BC linebacker Mark Herzlich was named the the ACC Defensive Player of the Year. Herzlich is also a Butkus finalist, which is awarded to the nation's top linebacker. Herzlich leads the team with 6 INTs, two of which he returned for TDs. He also leads BC with 98 tackles, including 74 solo tackles, and he has tallied 10 tackles for losses. Finally, he has recorded 3 sacks, 7 pass breakups, and 2 forced fumbles this season. He received the award Friday at the ACC Coaches' Luncheon in Tampa. This is the second consecutive year a BC player has been awarded at the luncheon. Last year, Matt Ryan received the ACC Player of the Year award.

Final question: how was Herzlich named the ACC Defensive Player of the Year but fail to make the All-ACC first team by a unanimous decision? That is almost as incomprehensible as a certain Big 12 QB being names the Big 12 Offensive Player of the Year but failing to earn a spot on the All-Big 12 first team. It just boggles the mind.

ACCCG Bold Prediction

2008-12-06T09:39:00.000-08:00

Keep the streak alive! That will be the Bitter Eagle's mantra today as he will once again pick against BC in the hopes of keeping his streak alive. This game will be a matchup of the defenses as both teams are ranked in the Top 10 in the country in total defense. This means that the key to the game will be the offenses. Whichever offense plays better and makes less mistakes will win the game. BC won the regular season game despite Crane scoring 14 points for the other side. BC will not be able to overcome these mistakes again. BC needs to establish the run again and pound the ball. Do a lot of the read options and actually get into running formations like the I. If BC can run the ball successfully, it will take the pressure off of Davis to win the game. Davis will be asked to do less which might set him up for success, esp. with the playaction rollouts that he ran to perfection last week. BC should win the game if Davis does not turn the ball over. As for the defense, it needs to make Va Tech one dimensional once again, meaning that it needs to take away Tech's run threat. The key to stopping Tech's rushing game is to take away Taylor's ability to run. BC will need to bring the pressure but it will also need to stay in their lanes to contain Taylor and to not allow him to break the pocket. Taylor is deadly if he has open space after breaking the pocket. In order to get a little more assurance for a win, another defensive touchdown today would be nice. Finally, BC needs to make plays once again on special teams. BC out Beamer-balled Beamer last game and it will need to do so once again. If BC makes special team mistakes this game, they are as good as dead. Va Tech love to capitalize on those mistakes. All in all, Va Tech should win the football game. The Bitter Eagle does not feel good entrusting the biggest game of the season in the hands of an inexperienced freshman.

Bold Prediction: Va Tech 20, BC 17

All-ACC Team

2008-12-04T22:46:00.000-08:00

6 BC football players were selected for the various All-ACC teams. Mark Herzlich, B.J. Raji, and Clif Ramsey were the big cahunas that were voted to the All-ACC first team. Ron Brace, Anthony Castonzo, and Ryan Purvis were each voted onto the second team. Herzlich led the 7th ranked BC defense with 98 tackles and 6 INTs. Raji has 33 tackles on the season, including 11 for a loss, and he has sacked the quarterback 7 times this season, which is a godly amount for a defensive lineman. Ron Brace has 21 tackles this season, including 9 for a loss and he has 3 sacks. Finally, even though Purvis experienced a much less productive season catching the ball this year, he was selected for the second team. Purvis has only caught 21 balls for 147 yards but he was selected mostly for his outstanding blocking in a new offense and for his leadership. Let's not forget to mention that the ACC also has a weak crop of tight ends.

Completing the honors list are Thomas Claiborne, Matt Tennant, and Paul Anderson who were honorable mentions.

Final question: how was Herzy not a unanimous selection to the All-ACC first team? What hack had his head in the clouds and was oblivious to the world? There are three linebackers for the first team; how could he not get one of your three selections? Fire that clown immediately.

Maryland Game Recaps and Links

2008-11-30T23:33:00.000-08:00

BC advanced to the ACCCG for the second straight year after it beat Maryland 28-21 Saturday.
Another Flutie made the key play to vault BC into the ACCCG.
College GameDay Final member Mark May awarded a helmet sticker to Robert Francois for his play against Maryland.
The Boston College front seven earned an ACC helmet sticker from Heather Dinich.
We all learned that Dominique Davis is efficient enough to carry BC to victory.
Even without a superstar in its team this year, BC found a way to work together to win the ACC Atlantic for a second straight year.
BC had to overcome significant hurdles this year, including the graduation of key players at skill positions on offense and gruesome injuries, to repeat as ACC Atlantic champions.
You almost expect the BC defense to score at least once a game.
A pass by one Flutie brought BC one step closer to playing in its first major bowl since the other Flutie roamed the Heights in 1984.
The Orange Bowl awaits as the reward for winning the ACCCG.
Ron Brace will play on Saturday after being injured in the 3rd quarter.
BC earned the right to use the "nobody gave us a chance" mantra after its win Saturday.
Dominique Davis delivered the goods for BC by leading them to the ACCCG.
Billy Flutie finally made an impact in a game in his third year on the Heights.

Ivy League Sweep

2008-11-30T23:22:00.000-08:00

The #5 men's hockey completed a weekend sweep of the Ivy League when it beat Dartmouth 2-1 in overtime Sunday. BC was lucky just to get the game into overtime as it netted the game tying goal with only 38.2 seconds remaining in regulation. Dartmouth scored the first goal of the game at the 12:28 mark of the second period and looked like it would be able to preserve the lead as the time dwindled away in the third period. However, BC pulled Muse for an extra attacker and Brian Gibbons was able to score the first BC goal of the game to tie it with 38.2 seconds remaining in the game. The game went into overtime when Benn Ferriero stole the puck from behind the Dartmouth net and fed it to freshman Barry Almeida who buried the puck into the back of the net for the game winner with 1:14 remaining. BC outshot Dartmouth in the game by a whopping 40-23 margin. Muse stopped 22 of the 23 shots he faced en route to his 9th win of the season. BC improved its overall record to 9-4-1 on the season.

Harvard Goes Down

2008-11-30T23:12:00.000-08:00

The BC men's hockey team dismantled Harvard, its perennial thorn in its side, 5-1 Friday. BC took the lead in first period on a goal by Andrew Orpik only to see Harvard tie up the game midway through the second period. The game looked like it would be close from there on out as it usually is every year. However, Brock Bradford scored a goal with 26 seconds remaining in the second period to give BC a 2-1 lead going into the third. BC never looked back and scored three more goals in the third to ice the game. Cam Atkinson, Matt Price, and Andrew Orpik all scored in the third period. BC was led on offense by Orpik (2G), Atkinson (1G, 1A), Matt Price (1G, 1A), and Matt Lombardi (2A) who all had 2 points in the game. Goaltender John Muse played a strong game between the pipes stopping 18 of the 19 shots he faced to record his 33rd collegiate win. BC outshot Harvard 36-19 in the game. With the win, BC's overall record improves to 8-4-1.

Maryland Initial Thoughts

2008-11-30T14:36:00.000-08:00

BC is once again the ACC Atlantic Champions and will play in the ACCCG against Va Tech in a rematch of last year's game. The offense was surprisingly effective under the leadership of Davis. The defense made the plays when it needed and the special teams did nothing to lose the game for BC.

Offense:

The Good: Montel Harris rushed for over 100 yards once again. Dominique Davis looked like a whole new player this game. He made good, quick decisions and showed that he has a pretty decent arm. He is very accurate on the run and kudos to Logan for calling plays which allowed Davis to get outside the pocket. He still is slower than Crane though for some reason.

The Bad: Logan's Dana Bible-esque play calling in the 4th quarter. Cannot get much more conservative than a run up the middle, a screen pass, and then a short intermediate pass. A quick 3 and out gave Maryland even more momentum right after it had pulled within 7 points (21-14) in the 4th quarter.

The Ugly: Short yardage playcalling. In the second quarter on a 3rd down and a short 2, Logan decided to pass the ball instead of giving it to Harris. Maryland could not stop Harris all game. Then later in the second quarter, Logan did a QB draw on 3rd and 1 followed by a throw on 4th and 1. Whatever happened to the power running game?

Defense:

The Good: BC held Maryland to -6 yards rushing on 26 carries. It also made the necessary plays when it needed to with Herzy's big INT in the first half and then Francois' INT for a TD to preserve the BC in in the 4th quarter.

The Bad: BC's inability to stop the dink and dunk game of Maryland. BC will not be able to stop this style of passing attack if it keeps playing its corners 10 yards off the receiver at the line of scrimmage.

The Ugly: The BC secondary, in particular Fletcher. Fletcher repeatedly allowed his man to get behind him on deep routes even playing 10 yards off him at the line. The safety (Gauze) was too slow to provide the deep help. As a result, Fletcher got burned twice, including on a 43 yard pass.

Special Teams:

The Good: Nice, sophisticated fake FG for a TD. On most of those attempts, the holder pitchers to the kicker to run. In this case, the pitch was faked and Flutie rolled to the opposite side to hit a wide open McMichael in the end zone.

The Bad: Inconsistent punting.

The Ugly: BC's kickoff coverage once again. Maryland returned the ball to the 40 yard line twice and to the 30 once. Pathetic.

Maryland Bold Prediction

2008-11-29T11:52:00.000-08:00

The good news about BC's game against Maryland today: BC is playing at home. Last year BC lost to Maryland on the road. Further, BC's defense has been absolutely dominate since its 2 game debacle against UNC and Clemson earlier this year. BC pressures the quarterback effectively and stifles the run. Maryland is susceptible to a good pass rush as seen by last week's ugly loss to FSU. FSU had too much foot speed and put Turner on his back throughout the game. BC can do the same against an inferior Maryland o-line. If BC can pressure Turner, Maryland will be forced to run the ball, which will play into the strength of BC's defense.

And for the bad news: BC has already lost 2 games at home this year. Also, BC probably will not have much fire power on offense now that Crane is out for the rest of the season. BC's offense will probably not be able to score more than 17 or so points today, meaning that BC's defense will either have to hold Maryland to under 17 points, or it will have to put some points on the scoreboard. That is a lot to ask of from any defense, no matter how good it is. Finally, the numbers and facts go against BC as well. Maryland is undefeated against ranked teams this year and has the most wins against ranked teams in the country. Next, all ranked ACC teams are cursed and usually lose the week they are in the rankings. Finally, BC has won the last 2 weeks when the Bitter Eagle has picked against them. So to be on the safe side, the Bitter Eagle will once again pick against BC even though he believes they should win.

Bold Prediction: Maryland 17, BC 13

The Bitter Eagle's Top 25 (XIV)

2008-11-29T02:54:00.000-08:00

Here is the Bitter Eagle's Top 25 for the week of 11/23-11/29:

Rank Team Change

1. Alabama 1

Watch out for Auburn. Even though Auburn's offense is pathetic, it's defense is still pretty stout, which might mean bad news for the limited 'Bama offense. This could very well be an ugly, low scoring game.

2. Florida 1

The way Florida was been playing lately, it is all but assured of making the BCS title game if it can take care of business against FSU and then Alabama in the SEC Championship.

3. USC 1

USC needs Oregon to beat Oregon St. in order to maintain what little chance they have of playing in the BCS title game.

4. Oklahoma 2

Oklahoma slaughtered a team that Texas could not beat. Hence Oklahoma is ahead of Texas. At least Oklahoma kept it close against the Longhorns.

5. Texas ---

Tough luck. Texas took care of business against the Aggies but it still might not win the Big 12 South. This means Texas' title hopes would be all but dashed.

6. Utah 1

With its win against BYU last week, Utah clinched the MWC and earned a berth into the BCS for the first time since 2004.

7. Penn St. 1

Penn St. dismantled Michigan State last week to earn its first trip to the Rose Bowl since 1994.

8. Texas Tech 7

Utter humiliation. Texas Tech proved what the rest of the country thought last week: that TT does not belong on the national stage. Kiss your title hopes and Harrell's Heisman dreams goodbye.

9. Boise St. ---

If not for Utah, Boise St. would be headed to the BCS with its undefeated record.

10. Oklahoma St. 1

Oklahoma St. is undefeated at home this year but it was lost 5 straight games to the Sooners. One of these streaks has to end Saturday.

11. Missouri 1

What looked like a huge, decisive game against Kansas at the beginning of the year, has been on reduced to a mere warmup for Missouri before it plays in the Big 12 championship game.

12. Ohio St. 1

Much to the Bitter Eagle's disgust, Ohio St. has beaten Michigan in 5 straight games for the first time ever. Thanks a lot Lloyd Carr and Rich Rodriguez. You guys are getting outcoached by a dude who wears a sweater vest. A freaking sweater vest!

13. Ball St. 2

Yes, you finished the season undefeated. No, you do not deserve a place in the BCS. Play in a real conference and then get back to the Bitter Eagle.

14. TCU 2

With its win against Air Force Saturday, TCU won its 10th game this season. It has won 10 games in the of the past 4 years.

15. Cincinnatti 4

Cincy could be BC's opponent in the Orange Bowl, if the Eagles get that far.

16. Georgia 4

Georgia did not play last week, but at least it did not skate by Arizona like Oregon St. did. Hence Georgia's vault over OSU.

17. Oregon St. ---

Wow, did the Beavers ever get lucky against Arizona. They can thank Arizona for going into a prevent defense at the end of the game, which allowed OSU to get into FG territory to kick the game-winning FG. Yet another instance in which the prevent defense prevents the utilizer from winning.

18. Oregon 3

Oregon is going to need to find a way to pass the ball against OSU's stingy run defense.

19. Georgia Tech NR

The Bitter Eagle would love to see a rematchbetween Ga Tech and BC in the ACCCG. However, Va Tech needs to lose to Virginia in order for this possibility to happen. Not likely.

20. Boston College NR

It does not look pretty for BC against Maryland. Maryland is undefeated against ranked teams this year and has the most wins against ranked teams in the country. Further, all ranked ACC teams are cursed and usually lose the week they enter the rankings. These numbers and facts suggest that BC is doomed for Saturday. Only time will tell.

21. BYU 9

Former Heisman contenderMax Hall blew the game for the Cougars against their arch-nemesiUtah. The guy turned the ball over 6 times, 5 on INTs. That's even worse than Mr. Chris Crane.

22. Michigan St. 8

MSU could not even compete against good teams (Penn St., Ohio St.), let alone entertain any thoughts of winning. They got blown out of the water.

23. Northwestern 1

Northwestern won 9 games in a season for the first time since 1996 and for only the 5th time in school history.

24. Florida St. NR

FSU has become the biggest Maryland fans in the country. With a Maryland win over BC, FSU would represent the ACC Atlantic in the ACCCG.

25. West Virginia NR

Way to choke away any Big East title hopes you had against Pitt.

Dropped Out: Pittsburgh (18), Maryland (22), Miami (23), LSU (25)

Happy Thanksgiving!

2008-11-27T01:06:00.000-08:00

The Bitter Eagle and his clan would like to wish all of BC Nation a happy and safe Thanksgiving.

First WTF Loss of the Season

2008-11-26T22:11:00.001-08:00

The BC men's basketball team earned its first WTF loss of the season when it lost to St. Louis 53-50 last Saturday in what can truly be called an abysmal performance. And yes, BC lost to the same St. Louis team that only scored 20 points in a game last season. BC got caught looking ahead to the semifinals of the NIT Tournament and took St. Louis lightly. Further, it was not prepared for St. Louis' physical style of play. BC came out to start the game flat, and never generated that spark to pull out a victory. This truly was one of the ugliest basketball games BC has played in a while considering both teams shot horrendously. BC got the worst end of the stick converting only 33% of its FGs, 18.8% of its 3 pointers, and an abominable 57.9% from the charity stripe. They key to BC's loss was its inability to convert free throws and St. Louis' ability to do so. St. Louis shot 75% from the stripe and outscored BC by 4 points. Let's hope this was a fluke loss to a crummy team and not an actual reflection of how good BC truly is. If BC plays like this the rest of the season, BC fans are in for a suicide watch. The next few games will give us more information. And now to the grades:

Al, Al, the Ladies' Pal: F

If your team comes out flat and plays uninspired and lackadaisical basketball throughout the game, it is a damning reflection of the coach.

Corey Raji: A

Raji was the only player to actually show up and play. He shot 8-11 from the field and single-handedly saved BC from reaching the lower depths of patheticness FG percentage wise. He also converted 6 of the 8 FTs he took and contributed 7 rebounds to the cause.

Joe Trapani: F

Trapani did nothing right from the offensive end. He could not pass or shoot and commited 3 bad TOs.

Josh Southern: F

Southern was flat out worthless in the game missing all his FTs, scoring 0 points, and bringing down only 1 measly rebound. He did commit 4 fouls in 14 minutes. Bravo, what a performance.

Tyrese Rice: F

Rice was not able to handle St. Louis' physical style of play. St. Louis put a body on Rice as often as possible. As a result, Rice had the worst shooting performance of his career, hitting onlt 2 of the 14 shots he took. Further, Rice's shooting struggles affected the rest of his game, esp. his passing and penetrating game. He committed an obscene 6 TOs in the game and only set up 3 shots. Not exactly the sign of a team leader.

Rakim Sanders: D

Sanders was pretty quite throughout the game. He only scored 5 points and brought down 4 rebounds. His shooting was atrocious as well.

Reggie Sanders: B-

Sanders was the only other BC player who played worth a damn. He hit over 50% of his shots, and hit 2 of BC's three 3 pointers. However, he missed both his free throws and committed 5 fouls in 20 minutes. Growing pains.

Paris Biko: D+

0 points in 18 minutes. Clutch. Although in his defense, he took only 2 shots. He did manage to record an assist and bring in 3 boards.

Evan Ravenel: D

Horrible defense, but he committed the least amount of fouls among the BC bigs. Perhaps, it was because his man blew by him repeatedly. Ravenel has good offensive moves but the kid cannot finish.

Courtney Dunn: F

Dunn played a very Tyler Roche-esque 11 minutes. He put up goose eggs in almost every category except for his 1 foul and 1 assist. If a player hardly registers in the stat sheet, did he actually play the game?

Overall: F

Flat play, horrible shooting from everywhere on the floor, stupid turnovers, and terrible rebounding (on the losing end of a 41-31 margin). Even with all that adversity, BC still found a way to only lose by 3 points. A large part of this was due to the fact that St. Louis also shot the ball poorly, missing numerous open shots. That was the promising part of the game. The negative: BC was tied with St. Louis with roughly 5 minutes left to play, but could not find a way to pull out a victory. You have to develop the ability to win in the clutch in order to be successful. BC has not done this yet.

Second Round Loss Again

2008-11-26T22:05:00.001-08:00

The BC men's soccer team was eliminated from the NCAA Tournament in the second round for the second straight year when it lost to #16 Dartmouth in penalty kicks. At least BC was not expected to do much of anything in this year's tournament unlike last year's team that entered the tournament ranked #1 in the country and with the #1 seed. And at least this years team actually earned a victory when it beat Colgate in the first round. However, it is very disappointing that the soccer program has stalled and cannot get passed the second round. BC and Dartmouth played to a 0-0 tie in the 90 minutes of regulation and the two 10 minute overtime periods. However, Dartmouth beat BC in the penalty kick round by a 4-2 score. BC only converted kicks #2 and #3. It's pretty sad when you can only score 2 goals in penalty kicks. Penalty kicking in soccer is one of the easiest things to do in sports. BC goalkeeper Chris Brown stopped all 6 shots he faced on goal for his sixth shutout of the season. He ended his career with 29 victories, which ranks second in BC history.

ACC Honors

2008-11-25T03:33:00.000-08:00

Redshirt freshman quarterback Dominique Davis and Mark Herzlich were named Atlantic Coast Conference Players of the Week. Davis was named the ACC Rookie of the Week for his performance against Wake Forest Saturday. He came into the game when Crane broke his collarbone in the second quarter. He finished the game completing 13 of 23 passes for 103 yards. He also recorded a rushing touchdown. Most importantly, he orchestrated a 9 play, 70 yard drive that led to BC's game winning TD. Herzlich was named the ACC Defensive Back of the Week by finishing the game with 9 tackles and picking off 2 passes. He returned his first TD 34 yards for a TD, while his second INT set up a FG. Herzlich was named the ACC Defensive Back of the Week on October 20 and was the conference's Co-Defensive Lineman of the Week on November 10.

Wake Forest Game Recaps and Links

2008-11-25T03:14:00.000-08:00

BC kept its ACC title hopes alive by beating Wake Forest 24-21 Saturday.
Dominique Davis is getting up to speed with the BC offense for the last game(s) of the season.
Thomas Claiborne has taken his game to the next level largely through patience.
The most likely bowl games for BC are the Orange Bowl (if it wins the ACC title), the Champs Sports Bowl (if it loses the ACCCG), or the Emerald Bowl (if it loses to Maryland).
Chris Crane fractured his collarbone and is out for the rest of the season.
BC drew two representatives from the Chick-fil-A bowl to the Wake Forest game.
BC beat Wake Forest, but lost Chris Crane.
The 2004 season and the 2008 season are eerily similar.
Despite struggling for most of the game, Davis led a key rally late in the game for BC.
Davis was shocked and overwhelmed when he entered the game Saturday. Luckily for BC fans, he managed to pull it together in the nick of time.

Wake Forest Initial Thoughts

2008-11-25T02:53:00.001-08:00

BC showed a lot of toughness and heart in coming from behind to pull out a miraculous victory Saturday against Wake Forest. The good news: BC is now 1 win away (against Maryland at home) from reaching the ACCCG for the second straight year, in what was supposed to be a rebuilding year for the program. The bad news: Chris Crane is out for the rest of the season with a broken collar bone. Now BC will have to advance to the ACCCG and possibly the Orange Bowl with freshman QB Dominique Davis, who looked every bit the freshman on Saturday.

Offense:

The Good: BC was moving the ball at will, esp. with the inside option when Chris Crane was at the helm. Also, Rich Gunnell and Brandon Robinson single-handedly saved the game and the season for BC with their highlight catches on BC's game winning drive in the 4th quarter.

The Bad: Dominique Davis. Davis played like an inexperience freshman virtually throughout the game. He was hesitant in the pocket, slow at making his reads, extremely slow at making decisions both in the passing game and while running the option, and he had happy feet. The biggest cause of concern though is that Davis looked like his feet were stuck in quicksand when he took off to run. It seems as if he has lost about 1/2 a second off his 40 time. He is much slower than Crane. Oh yeah, and can somebody on BC actually protect the ball? 3 more fumbles by QBs? Are you kidding?

The Ugly: Can somebody on BC actually protect the ball? 3 more fumbles by QBs? Are you kidding? Somebody teach these guys how to properly protect the ball!

Defense:

The Good: The BC defense dominated the game and basically won it for BC. First, the defense basically pitched a shutout. It also created two more turnovers. Mark Herzlich picked two passes off and returned one for a TD. It was sheer athleticism that he was able to pick off the screen pass and bring it back. BC also limited Wake Forest to only 9 first downs in the entire game. Finally, Wake was limited to only 65 rushing yards and 126 passing yards for a grand total of 191 yards. If a defense shuts out the opponent and gives up less than 200 yards, it has defintely done its job and in dominant fashion.

The Bad: BC did give up a lot of rushing yards to Pendergrass who gained 69 yards on only 13 carries. He got a lot of yards after the initial contact because BC had problems bringing him down at times.

The Ugly: Nothing.

Special Teams:

The Good: Apon connected on all 3 of his FGs. He has now been perfect in the last 2 games. Has this clown finally gotten his act in gear?

The Bad: BC still had horrible coverage on kickoffs. BC could not even cover a squib kick. And what was with the squib kick going out of bounds? BC sure does have a knack for that this year. If you're going to do a squib kick, kick it down the middle of the field to avoid it taking a bad bounce out of bounds. It's not rocket science.

The Ugly: Flutie's 16 yard punt. That follows Quigley's 9 yard punt last game. Something must be in the water at the Heights that affects only punters.

Tough Loss

2008-11-25T02:41:00.001-08:00

The BC men's hockey team followed up its big win Friday night by losing to UMass 4-3 in OT the very next night. UMass got off to a quick start when it scored a goal in the first 2 minutes of the game. However, BC responded strongly 1 minute later when it scored 2 goals in in a 2 minute stretch to take the lead. UMass scored the next 2 goals and BC managed to tie the game at 3 in the second period on a goal by Benn Ferriero. The game would stay tied and head into overtime before UMass notched the game winner with only 41 seconds left in the game. BC was led by Jimmy Hayes, Kyle Kucharski, and Benn Ferriero, all of whom scored goals in the game. Goaltender John Muse had a decent game stopping 37 of the 41 shots he faced. With the loss, BC's overall record dropped to 7-4-1 and its Hockey East record fell to 5-3-1. BC currently sits in second place in the Hockey East Conference with 9 points. However, it has played at least 1 more game than every team (except Providence) that is below them in the standings. Northeastern currently leads the conference with 11 points. BC is now ranked 7th in the country. It will next face Harvard Friday.

Big Hockey Win

2008-11-25T02:36:00.001-08:00

The #4 BC men's hockey team defeated UMass 2-0 last Friday to get a crucial Hockey East victory. BC was led by Cam Atkinson who scored a power play goal in the second period which gave BC a 1 goal advantage at the time and by Paul Carey who scored another power play goal, this time last in the third period to ice the game. BC outshot UMass 38-27 in the game. Goaltender John Muse had his first good game in about a month as he stopped all 27 shots he faced in the game. He earned his seventh win of the season and fourth career shutout with his performance. With the win, BC improved its overall record to 7-3-1 and its Hockey East record to 5-2-1.

NCAA Tournament Win

2008-11-25T02:29:00.000-08:00

Unlike last year, BC men's soccer team recorded a win in the NCAA Tournament by beating Colgate 2-0. Sophomore Shawn Chin opened the scoring for BC at the 18:32 mark when he one-timed a pass from Alejandro Bedoya into the back of the net. Freshman Edvin Worley closed out the scoring in the game when he scored off a header on a corner kick by Shawn Chin at 40:57. BC dominated the game outshooting Colgate by a 17-4 margin, including a 10-2 margin in the second half. With the win, BC improved its record to 11-7-2. Further, it advanced to the second round and will play Dartmouth (at Dartmouth) on Tuesday.

Eliminated

2008-11-25T02:19:00.000-08:00

The #10 BC women's soccer team was eliminated from the NCAA Tournament in the Sweet 16 when it lost to Florida St. 1-0 over the weekend. Unlike what others claim, BC's exit was not early and it was not a bad loss as BC made it into the second weekend and lost to a clearly superior team. FSU was ranked # 6 in the country and its record stands at a remarkable 17-2-3 for the season. FSU scored the only goal of the game at the 64:32 mark when Sarah Wagenfur's shot was deflected past BC goaltender Jillian Mastroianni by Tori Huster. This was Boston College's fourth round of 16 appearance and third in the last four years. Have no fear, BC should come back strong next year as many of its stars return.

Some other notes: Carolina Walden and Caitlin Hiler were selected to play in the annual New England Women's Intercollegiate Soccer Association (NEWISA) Senior Bowl. The game will be played on Sunday, Dec. 7 at Salem State College at 11 a.m.
Junior forward Gina DiMartino was selected to play for the U.S. in the Under-20 Women's World Cup in Chile.

Wake Forest Bold Prediction

2008-11-22T12:10:00.000-08:00

Wake comes into the game coming off a bad loss to NCST. Guess what happened when it last played a team that came into the game coming off a bad upset. That's right: BC got destroyed by UNC (who incidentally enough has just played itself out of the ACCCG). Wake lives by the misdirection and short passing. If BC can stuff the run like it has in the past 2 games, it will force Riley to win the game with his arm which is a sketchy proposition at best. He will be forced to make big plays with his arm when he's just used to the dink and dunking. BC has played Wake for the past 5 years so it should be more than prepared to stop the Wake misdirection. On offense, BC will come out and execute a conservative gameplan. That will only go so far though. BC is going to have to make big plays on offense, probably through the air in order to win. Whether Crane can make the big plays through the air is debatable. He will however have to avoid the turnover (whether by INT or fumble) which has plagued him all year. All in all, the game should be close but Wake will use the home field advantage to eke out the win.

Bold Prediction: Wake Forest 24, BC 21

The Bitter Eagle's Top 25 (XIII)

2008-11-22T01:41:00.000-08:00

Here is the Bitter Eagle's Top 25 for the week of 11/16-11/22:

Rank Team Change

1. Texas Tech ---

The showdown with Oklahoma St. is upon us. Win, and TT has smooth sailing to the BCS Championship game. Lose, and TT can end up falling to a second tier bowl game.

2. Alabama ---

Only Auburn stands in the way of an Alabama perfect regular season.

3. Florida 1

Destroyed a ranked South Carolina. Spurrier must have been feeling quite sick after the game. Good night Citadel.

4. USC 1

USC just toyed with Stanford before blowing them out in the second half.

5. Texas ---

Texas shut down Kansas' vaunted passing offense. Texas better hope and pray for a TT loss Saturday or it has no shot at the BCS Championship.

6. Oklahoma ---

Since both Oklahoma's and TT's offenses are ranked first and third in the nation respectively in points, it looks like it's going to be one big shootout on Saturday.

7. Utah ---

The Mormon Showdown separates Utah from another BCS bowl game. BYU has won the last 2 meetings though by scoring late game winning TDs.

8. Penn St. ---

A win against Michigan St. sends the Nittany Lions to Pasadena. A loss though would be a whole lot more fun though allowing both MSU and OSU to have a shot at the roses.

9. Boise St. ---

Even a perfect record might not be enough to get Boise St. into the BCS, esp. if Utah ends the season undefeated.

10. Missouri ---

With Missouri's win over Iowa St., it clinched a berth into the Big 12 Championship.

11. Oklahoma St. ---

Oklahoma St. has won 9 games, which it did not do since 2003. It can cap off a successful season by beating Oklahoma in its last game of the season.

12. BYU 1

BYU can win a share of the MWC title by beating Utah Saturday. Even more incentive to win the Holy War.

13. Ohio St. 1

All the Bitter Eagle can say is "Go Blue!"

14. Michigan St. ---

For the first time in forever, MSU will actually be rooting for its intra-state rival to win. Go figure.

15. Ball St. ---

Huge win Thursday against a good Central Michigan team. Ball St. cannot rest yet as it has to play Western Michigan. If it loses, it shares the division title with WMU and it will not make it to the MAC Championship.

16. TCU 1

TCU has only given up more than 14 points in a game once this season and that was to Oklahoma.

17. Oregon St. 4

2 more wins and the Beavers actually deny the Trojans a spot in the Rose Bowl. Who would have believed that at the beginning of the year? The two remaning games are tough though: @ Arizona and against Oregon at home.

18. Pittsburgh 2

Cincy, West Virginia, and UConn remain. If Pitt wins out, it gets into the BCS once again, although it surely would not have deserved it.

19. Cincinnati 4

Cincy plays Pitt this week in a match that will most likely determine the winner of the Big East.

20. Georgia 2

Georgia's offense is continuing to struggle and it skated by another horrible opponent by the skin of its teeth. Not exactly the work of a great team.

21. Oregon NR

Oregon is 5th in the country in rushing. This coming from a team that is in the Pac-10 and that's coached by Bellotti. Go figure.

22. Maryland NR

Maryland has the most wins against ranked opponents in the nation with 4. It also has a 6 game win streak against ranked team. This does not bode well for BC.

23. Miami NR

Once it gets ranked, it embarasses itself on national television. Wonderful. The curse of the ranked ACC teams lives on.

24. Northwestern NR

Northwestern is having its best season in many, many years.

25. LSU 1

You hardly deserve to be ranked if you spot Troy a 31-3 lead. Terrible.

Dropped Out: North Carolina (16), Florida St. (19), South Carolina (22), California (25)

Florida St. Recap

2008-11-22T00:23:00.000-08:00

BC went down into FSU's backyard and repeatedly pounded them in all their black jersey hokum glory until the Seminoles could not pick up their hide from the field at the end of the game. The final score was 27-17 so the game appeared a lot closer than it truly was. BC dominated all facets of the game and had FSU's offensive and defensive lines crying for mercy by the end of the game. BC saved it season and now sits in the driver's seat of the ACC Atlantic. Win out and BC advances to the ACCCG. Lose, and BC faces the sure-fire prospect of spending late December in San Francisco.

Offense: B

This grade would surely have been higher had it not been for Mr. Crane's excruciatingly horrible 3 fumbles. BC's offense was the most balanced it has been all year largely due to Logan's mix of the pass and run. The o-line dominated the line of scrimmage, keeping grass stains off Crane's back and opening up running lanes so big that Mack Trucks can fit through them. It is not surprising in the least that Harris was able to gain 129 yards and score a TD on only 25 carries. Harris also proved that he was a shifty bulldozer. He had the speed and agility to find his holes and hit them. However, what sets him apart from other wannabe type backs is his physicality. On numerous occasions, it took at least 2-3 defenders to bring Harris down. Harris gained a lot of yards after initial contact and it was mostly due to his physicalness. Crane had a decent game. He managed the game well and made pretty smart decisions with the football, often hitting his dump off man when his receivers down field were covered. As a result, he did not throw an INT and BC had an effective game through the air. However, there were significant knocks on Crane. First, his deep ball is pathetic. It looked like it was thrown by a girl as it flew through the air quacking more than hunted duck. He still has not realized that the deep ball needs some velocity in order to get to a receiver. Also, that was one pretty horrendous throw to Lars Anderson on the goal line. It makes the Bitter Eagle sick to his stomach just thinking about it. Finally, Crane has got to tuck the ball properly when he takes off on the run. It is football 101. When you run, tuck the ball under your arm and use a second arm if you have to. Further, his internal clock needs some readjusting. He needs to better be able to anticipate pressure so that he can tuck the ball in when he gets hit.

Defense: A

Domination, pure and simple. Props to the ball hawks in the secondary that added another 3 INTs to its season total to lead the country. Davis played extremely well in the secondary and was basically all over the field. Bowman intercepted a pass and ran it back for a TD and also contributed a significant sack to stall an FSU drive. It was probably the best game of the season for the secondary. As for the linebackers, the star was McLaughlin. He was all over the field making plays left and right. He played in the flats well, stood up the FSU RBs at the line and made sure tackles. He finished with 9 tackles on the day, including 1 for a loss. As for the defensive line, it blew up another offensive line for the second week in a row. Raji is basically unstoppable these days and Brace is feeding off that energy to also turn in great performances. Raji and Brace clogged the middle which basically stuffed the inside running game and forced FSU to run to the sidelines. BC's linebackers are too quick to allow these RBs to turn the corner so FSU's running game was basically stalled all night. It is not pretty when your punter is your leading rusher for the night. As for the passing game, Ponder had his worst game of the season largely due to the significant pressure BC applied all night. He hurried his throws and forced his passes into tight coverage.

Special Teams: B-

The special teams unit was acceptable as it did nothing to lose the game for BC. Apon was finally able to hit all of his gimme FG attempts, which he hasn't been able to do in forever. Jags played the trickeration card again and did a surprise onside kick. Although it appeared that the ball first bounced off a BC player within the 10 yard window, BC was able to keep the ball after it recovered it. The kickoffs were basically crap and gave FSU good field position, however they were not able to capitalize. Even the poor kick returning of BC did not come back to haunt it. Jeff Smith really needs to be replaced on kickoff returns. He is nowhere near what he was just 2 years ago. He is trying to be too fancy and force things instead of exploding through a hole. He is thinking way too much and not going off his feel of the game. The weakest part of BC's team Saturday was surprisingly its punters. Quigley kicked a God-awful 9 yard punt that a 3 year old could do. Flutie was not great either averaging only 35 yards a kick.

Coaching: A-

This was one of the best coached games on both sides of the football this season. Logan executed a brilliant gameplan in which he was able to mix both the pass and run well. This balanced attack helped keep FSU on its heels throughout the night. And when BC needed to kill clock, he gave the ball to Harris and let him pound away at FSU's line. On defense, Spaz blitzed just enough to confuse Ponder and make him scurry around in the pocket. When Spaz did not blitz, he gave Ponder different coverage looks which also seemed to confuse him. The key to BC's success is that it is able to generate a significant pass rush using only 4 players which has given Spaz the freedom to vary his coverages and drop back more people into coverage. This has helped Spaz cover up a pretty mediocre secondary all year long.

Overall: B+

This was definitely the most well-rounded BC performance of the season. Besides the 3 Crane fumbles, the offense was able to move the ball well and even put it in the end zone a few times which was truly a miracle after the last few games. On defense, BC stifled the FSU run and forced Ponder to win the game himself, which he failed to do. The special teams could have been better but it did nothing to lose the game for BC. Finally, the coaches came into the game with their best game plan of the season and executed it to perfection.

Next Game: C

Road game, at Wake Forest. Wake Forest has given BC fits over the years and loves to break BC's heart. Plus Wake is coming into the game coming off a tough loss to NCST. Remember what happened when BC played UNC after it came off a tough loss? That's right. Utter annihilation. While the Bitter Eagle does not expect that to happen in this game, BC will be hard pressed to win.

Madison Square Garden Bound

2008-11-21T02:15:00.000-08:00

BC earned a trip to Madison Square Garden Tuesday when it beat St. John's 82-70 in the second round of the NIT Season Tip-Off. It will next face Purdue in the semifinals of the tournament on Wednesday, Nov. 26. The game was close most of the game as BC struggled to stop the St. John's offense. It was not until BC went on a 19-4 run late in the second half that it was able to finally pull away from the Red Storm. BC played well on the offensive end as it was able to match St. John's basket for basket. It also hit the boards well, outrebounding the Red Storm by 14. On the defensive end though, BC was a mess. BC was unable to stop the St. John's guards from penetrating. It failed to defend the 3 point line. St. John's also got too many easy looks down low whether it be from a pass or by blowing right past a BC defender. BC's bigs have got to get quicker feet as they were repeatedly left in the dust. Ravenel was the biggest offender. And if an opponent blows right past you for an easy bucket, for the love of God, do not foul him. It only sends him to the line for a 3 point play.

Al, Al, the Ladies' Pal: C+

Al was hampered by the foul trouble of BC's bigs and he somewhat made the most of what he had during the game. However, he did not make any in game adjustments at all. When his big men got in foul trouble, Al decided to put in overmatched wastes of space like Roche and Dunn instead of putting a smaller lineup out on the court, which could have created problems for St. John's. He also never made any adjustments on the defensive end, when St. John's was scoring at will. In the end though he was able to find a way to get his team to win.

Corey Raji: C+

Not a good shooting day again but he played hard on the boards, esp. on the offensive end. He needs to learn how to create his shot better. A lot of his points come off of second chance putbacks.

Joe Trapani: A-

Trapani has to be the second option behind Rice. He can shoot the 3 ball surprisingly well for a big man (he went 2-3 from behind the arc), and he plays well on the baseline. He is agile enough to handle the ball well and create his own shots off the dribble. He is also a good passer. Finally, he is one of BC's better defenders (which is not saying much) and the best front court defender. He will consistently give you 2-3 blocks per game (had 3 this game). He still needs to hit the boards more aggressively though and take better care of the basketball. He is the ultimate dual-threat shooter.

Josh Southern: F

His play was significantly hampered by his foul trouble. 3 fouls in 8 minutes? Really? Learn how to move your feet on defense. Be intelligent enough to avoid committing idiotic fouls. Over the back fouls are just plain silly.

Tyrese Rice: B+

Rice consistently sliced through the St. John's defense like it was butter. He was able to create his own shot off the dribble and get all the way to the rack for an easy bucket on numerous occasions. He was also able to create open shots for his teammates off penetration and a kick out. He is an opposing coach's nightmare because there is so much he can do with the basketball. With that said, he needs to avoid mental lapses. He seems to miss his free throws when he becomes unfocused at the end of games. He also has the habit of committing horrible turnovers when he gets these mental lapses.

Rakim Sanders: B

Sanders had another off-night shooting the basketball but he was still able to score 14 points. Sanders is most valuable to BC on the boards as he hauled in a team leading 10 rebounds. Between Sanders and Raji, BC's little guys lead the way on the boards which is as much a blessing as it is a bad thing. Sanders played fairly well on defense. He did get beat off the dribble but he was able to make up for it with his 3 blocks. Sanders needs to stop turning the ball over, whether it be by traveling or horrible passes.

Reggie Jackson: C

Jackson has yet to find his touch shooting the ball although it looks like he can pass fairly decently. Jackson did well on the offensive boards, bringing down 3 offensive rebounds.

Biko Paris: D

It was surprising that Paris only got 9 minutes of action considering BC got in foul trouble. Paris can shoot well but he needs to take better care of the basketball. He also needs to play much better defense. His man blew by him a few times. Not pretty.

Tyler Roche: D

Thank God he only played 5 minutes. At least the Ladies' Pal learned there. He actually did register on the stat sheet getting 1 steal.

Evan Ravenel: F

His offensive moves are pretty good and he can move without the ball. However, his shooting was a bit off (understatement). Ravenel was also horrible on the defensive end. He was like a sieve as his man repeatedly dribbled right by him. To compound his horrible defense, Ravenel made idiotic fouls turning an easy bucket into a 3 point play. Do not compound your errors buddy. Take your lumps and move on.

Courtney Dunn: F

Useless. If he only gets 2 minutes of playing time when all of BC's big men are in foul trouble, that is saying something, namely that he is not very good at all.

Overall: B-

BC has been impressive shooting the ball early this season. Here was another game in which BC shot around 50%. BC's FT shooting is inching along as it shot 73% from the field. The telling stat of the game was the 42-28 BC advantage on the boards. 17 of BC's rebound were on the offensive end, which led to numerous second chance points. It was BC's rebounding that won the game. The most impressive thing about BC this year is its athleticism. BC's athleticism has significantly improved from last year to the point where every starter can run the floor well, esp. on a fast break. Those who are not athletic like Roche have been banished to the great depths of the bench. This team is also fairly deep which will come in handy in ACC play. On the negative side, BC is not a good outside shooting team. BC consistently shoots about 30-40% from behind the arc on any given day which is not good. Further, BC's ball handling leaves a lot to be desired. 15 turnovers in a game is sloppy and flat out unacceptable. Finally, BC's biggest weakness is on the defensive end. St. John's got too many easy and open looks at the basket. Its guards created open shots off the dribble and even its big men blew right past BC. BC 's big men also get used and abused down low. BC's only resort to prevent a bucket is to foul which is not a good strategy at all. Most of the time, this leads to "and 1" opportunities. Despite BC's defensive deficiencies, it is off to a solid 3-0 start. However, BC faces 5 hard games in a row: @ St. Louis, Purdue, Oklahoma/UAB, Iowa, and @ UMass. BC will be hard-pressed to come out of the gruesome strecth winning a majority of the games. A 2-3 record is most likely. Once this stretch is over, we will all get a better feel for the BC team and how it will do this year.

NIT Season Tip-Off Win

2008-11-21T01:25:00.000-08:00

BC destroyed Loyola (Md) 90-57 in the first round of the NIT Season Tip-Off on Monday. BC led from the start to the finish. It got off to a resounding start going on a 22-5 run to begin the game before going into a patented BC brain lapse. Unlike last year, BC was able to recover in short order and blast Loyola out of the water in the second half. What is promising about this team is that it was an infinitely better front court than it did last year. Blair, Oates, Roche, and Spears were an unmitigated disaster last year. They all played about 6 inches shorter than they really were. Oates and Roche never played on the baseline but rather pitched a tent behind the 3 point line. Blair was the only player who could play a shred of defense, but his over-aggressiveness led to consistent foul trouble. Finally, none of the 4 players were especially good on the boards. This year, the front court is much stronger. Raji and Trapani are a dual inside-outside threat on offense. Raji has one of the prettiest touches on his shot. Raji also plays like he is 6 inches taller than he really is on the boards. He reminds the Bitter Eagle of Jared Dudley that way. He may not be the biggest guy out there, but he will definitely be among the leading rebounders every game. He just finds a way to get it done. Finally, Southern is a much better inside scorer than Oates or Blair ever dreamed of being. The front court's continued development will be the key to BC's success this year. And now on to the grades:

Al, Al, the Ladies' Pal: B-

Not much for Al to do in the game. His one big decision turned out to be almost catastrophic for BC. BC led by 17 points early in the game after it went on a 22-5 run. At that point, instead of finishing off Loyola, Al decided to basically empty his bench which allowed Loyola to respond with a 17-7 run. That run narrowed BC's lead to only 7 points and allowed Loyola to hang around much longer than it should have. When you have a team on the ropes, finish them off before emptying your bench Al.

Corey Raji: A-

Raji was dominant in all facets of the game. He was able to rebound from a poor shooting night by hitting 4 out of the 5 shots he took. He showed good moves when he posted up down low. He was also a beast on the boards pulling down a team leading 9 rebounds. Finally, he was also able to see the floor well, contributing 4 assists. Raji's poor free throw shooting limited him to scoring only 14 points though. How does a player who can shoot so well from the floor only shoot about 50% from the charity stripe? It boggles the mind.

Joe Trapani: B+

Trapani showed once again that he can play both inside and outside. He did spend a little too much time near the 3 point line than the Bitter Eagle would have liked him too. He also chucked up a few too many 3 balls as a result. He did score 20 points however, due in large part to his great free throw shooting. He also shot 50% from the floor, which pretty much shows that his short to medium range game is deadly. Trapani also played decent defense blocking 2 shots. However, Trapani does need to get more aggressive on the boards. It seems like he shies away from contract sometimes. A power foward needs to grab more than 4 rebounds in 26 minutes.

Josh Southern: A

Well look who has an offensive game. Southern had his best game ever on offense. It is obvious he has significantly improved his footwork around the basket. His drop step looks good. He has also developed a nice touch around the glass. And his 4-4 shooting from the line is outstanding for him. Finally, it also seems like he has taken rebounding to heart as he hauled in 9 boards in only 22 minutes. Domination. Oh yeah, it was also great not seeing him in foul trouble for once. On the negative side, the dude needs to learn how to protect the ball and take the ball hard to the rim so we will not get swatted by another 6'3'' guy again.

Tyrese Rice: B

Rice did not have a great shooting day and he forces up bad shots when he gets into one of his shooting slumps. With that said, he still was able to score 16 points on 4-10 shooting. He also hit all his free throws. His biggest strength though is his ability to create shots not only for himself but for his teammates as well. His speed makes him absolutely lethal on the dribble. He is able to penetrate consistently while always finding the open man. His 6 assists prove that. What is even better is that his passing is much more crisp and precise. 0 turnovers for that sort of shot creating play is unbelievable.

Rakim Sanders: F

He follows up a career game with a horrible shooting performance. Not only that, he has horrible handling the ball. And will someone please inform him that it is a traveling violation when you take 2+ steps. You cannot pick up the ball and go on a walk around the court buddy. Get that straightened out Pronto. On the plus side, Sanders is a very good rebounder and is able to position himself in the correct place.

Reggie Jackson: B

Jackson is a very flashy player and is the most athletic by far on the team. Just witness his monster dunk. Jackson still has to significantly improve and develop his skills but he is a player with a lot of potential. He will be a star some day.

Biko Paris: B

Paris looks like he is one of the better 3 point shooters on the team. He also has significantly improved his ball handling and passing skills from last year. Once again he was able to hit the player with the open shot.

Tyler Roche: B

Thine eyes must deceive the Bitter Eagle. Roche scored 5 points on 2-3 shooting and 1-1 shooting from behind the arc? It can't be!

Evan Ravenel: C-

Decent on offense, horrible from the line, horrible on defense. Fouling is the only way he can stop his man from getting a basket at this point.

Dallas Elmore: C+

Nice shooting, however he committed 2 fouls in 9 minutes.

Nick Mosakowski: N/A

Who? Any relation to Kelly Kapowski?

Overall: B+

BC finally got off to a fast start taking a large double digit lead early in the game. Even though it went into an extended brain lapse, it was able to recover and destroy Loyola. BC once again shot well from the field, hitting over 50% of its shots. It also improved its 3 point shooting and FT shooting from the last game as well. What was crucial to BC's dominant win was the fact that it outrebounded Loyola 46-30 and it was able to get to the line to shoot 34 free throws. BC was much more aggressive on the boards, led by both Raji and Southen, which resulted in the large rebounding differential. On the negative side, Sanders has to keep his head in the game, even when the going gets tough as he is an integral part of the team. Also, the BC defense needs to drastically improve. The Loyola guards consistently beat BC off the dribble which created wide open shots which Loyola missed most of the times. Further, BC was horrible defending behind the arc. Loyola got way too many open looks at 3 pointers, even though they missed most of them. Good teams will not be so nice. They will take advantage of these miscues. Finally, BC struggled once again with the full court press. BC has always had trouble breaking the press in its recent history and Monday was no different. It was painful watching BC try to bring the ball up the court. Just wait for an actual good team to employ the press. It will be good night BC unless the Ladies' Pal does something soon.

First Regular Season Win

2008-11-21T00:51:00.000-08:00

The BC men's basketball team recorded its first regular win of the season last Saturday when it beat Central Connecticut 80-65. As usual, the team got out of the gates slow but they turned it on right before the first half ended to turn a 3 point deficit into an 8 point lead at the half. BC then proceeded to go on a 13-6 run in the first 3 minutes of the second half to take a 15 point lead. Central Connecticut never got within 10 points the rest of the way. Here are the grades for the game:

Al, Al, the Ladies' Pal: B

Al could not really screw this game up. His team was much more talented than Central Connecticut to even have a close game. His team started slowly but finally pulled away in the first half when it began to click on all cylinders. Al utilized his bench well giving valuable time to bench players.

Tyrese Rice: F

The idiot did not play because he was suspended for violating team rules. You're a senior. You should know better. Start acting like a team leader.

Corey Raji: C

Raji had one of the worst shooting days in his collegiate career leading to his poor total point total. Raji did not hit the boards like BC fans are normally accustomed to seeing. Further, he committed some stupid personal fouls. 3 in 21 minutes to be exact. Not exactly a great start to the season.

Joe Trapani: B+

Trapani had a good start to his BC career. He is one of the better outside shooters on the team which is reflected by his 2 of 3 shooting from behind the arc. Further, he can hold his own on the boards, bringing down 9 rebounds, including 4 on the offensive end. Finally, he sees the floor well and is a great passer for a big man. His 6 assists led the team.

Josh Southern: D

Josh Southern still cannot keep himself out of foul trouble even against a bad team. He committed a whopping 3 fouls in only 14 minutes of play. As for the time he spent on the court, he showed he cannot shoot free throws, he has a very limited offensive game, and he does not hit the boards hard. Sounds like other centers BC has had in the recent past.

Biko Paris: B

Paris filled in ably for Rice. He dished the ball out well and shot reasonably well from the floor. He still makes some bad shooting decisions when he falls in love with the 3 point shot. It looks like he has worked on his free throw shooting over the summer as he went 3 of 4 from the line. His best statistic of the game: his 4:1 assist to turnover ratio.

Rakim Sanders: A

Sanders shot lights out in the game from the floor and from behind the arc. As a result, he led all scorers in the game in points. He even made 75% of his FTs, which is basically a miracle for him. His great play was not just limited to the offensive end. He also made plays on defense blocking 2 shots and getting 2 steals. Further, he pulled down 7 rebounds and disrupted the Central Connecticut offense all night. The only knock on Sanders: he has to take better care of the basketball.

Reggie Jackson: D-

Not an impressive start to his collegiate career. He was the brick layer of the team as he hit only one of his shots. His athletic ability was on full display when he created his 3 steals.

Tyler Roche: F

Why does this clown even get any minutes. He still cannot shoot, only going 1 of 5 from the floor. His defense his poor. But hey, at least he contributed 3 rebounds to the cause, which is more than he contributed last year.

Evan Ravenel : C-

He seems like he is another big time fouler like his partner in crime Mr. Southern. He has more offensive ability than Southern though. He uses his feet decently and takes the ball a lot harder to the basket than Southern. Someone needs to teach him how to rebound though.

Dallas Elmore: B-

He has a nice touch on his shot which allowed him to score 9 points on 1 of 1 shooting from behind the arc and hit all his FTs. Elmore also needs to take better care of the basketball.

Courtney Dunn: D

Basically useless. He did not help the team but he did not hurt it either.

Overall: B-

Even without Tyrese Rice in the game, BC took care of business and easily beat a team it should beat 100% of the team. BC shot the ball well from the field and actually played good defense, limiting Central Connecticut to only 65 points on 43% shooting. Even more promising was the fact that Central Connecticut only went 5 of 15 from behind the arc. BC struggled all of last year trying to prevent the 3 ball. Finally on offense, the BC scoring was spread out throughout the team. Most of the players look like they can contribute on both ends on a nightly basis and the team looks fairly deep going into the season. There are bits of concern though. BC still cannot shoot the ball from behind the arc hitting only 38% of their attempts. BC did not rebound the ball well at all, collecting only 4 more rebounds than a smaller and less athletic team. BC's assist to turnover ratio wasalso just brutal. Finally, BC needs to improve from the charity stripe. 64% is just not going to get it done.

ACC Defensive Back of the Week

2008-11-18T13:43:00.000-08:00

Junior free safety Marcellus Bowman was named the ACC Defensive Back of the Week for his performance in BC's 27-17 victory over FSU. Bowman returned an interception 87 yards for a touchdown, which gave BC a 14-0 lead late in the first quarter. Bowman also recorded a 9 yard sack in the second quarter which stalled an FSU drive and made them settle for a FG. Bowman was the third BC defensive player to earn ACC honors in the past 2 weeks.

Florida St. Game Recaps and Links

2008-11-18T13:27:00.000-08:00

BC upset FSU Saturday by only allowing 73 rushing yards the entire night.
Revenge was sweet for the Eagles who beat the team that ruined its undefeated season last year.
BC kept its ACC title hopes alive, beating FSU last Friday. BC now controls its destiny and is two games away from the ACCCG.
BC enhanced its bowl prospects with its win against FSU. The most likely destinations for the Eagles are the Music City bowl, which it has not played in since 2001, and the Emerald Bowl, which it has not played in since 2003.
The BC offensive line shined in BC's win by flustering FSU's defensive front.
BC's ACC title hopes became brighter after BC played the best game of its season against FSU.
Montel Harris made home team FSU pay for not showing any interest in him.
When BC needs someone to step up, Roderick Rollins answers the call time after time.

Hockey East Player of the Week

2008-11-18T13:23:00.001-08:00

Brock Bradford was named the Hockey East Player of the Week for his performance over the weekend against Merrimack and New Hampshire. In those two games, he registered a total of 8 points, on 5 goals and 3 assists. He recorded his first collegiate hat trick when he scored three goals against Merrimack on Friday. On the season, Bradford has recorded 19 points and has scored 12 goals in only 10 games. He leads the nation in goals and is tied for the lead in points with two other players.

Sweet 16 Bound

2008-11-18T13:16:00.001-08:00

The BC women's soccer team advanced to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament by defeating Northeastern in the second round of the tournament. BC scored 3 goals in the first half on goals by Stephanie Wirth, Hannah Cerrone, and Brianna Wilson-Byrne to put the game virtually out of reach. BC iced the game on a second half goal by Kerri McNicholas. BC dominated both its first and second round games outscoring its opponents by a combined 7-0, outshooting its opponents by a total of 35-9, and earning 16 more corner kicks. BC advanced to the Sweet 16 for the 4th time in the last 5 years and it will face Florida St. Sat. Nov. 22 at 2 p.m.

What The?

2008-11-18T13:07:00.000-08:00

What the hell happened last Saturday? The BC men's hockey team won a shootout against New Hampshire 8-6 to finally break its 3 game winless streak. BC pulled a rabbit out of its hat and came back from a huge deficit to win the game. BC was down 3-0 heading into the second period before it scored 5 goals in the span of only 14 minutes. It scored another 3 goals in the third period to ice the game. BC was led by freshman Jimmy Hayes who scored a hat trick and recorded an assist and Brock Bradford who scored two goals and tallied two assists. Despite a strong offensive performance, John Muse continued his sophomore slump by stopping only 31 of the 37 shots he faced. The performance was good enough to earn him his 31st collegiate victory. BC's overall record improved to 6-3-1 and its Hockey East record improved to 4-2-1. BC next plays UMass at home Friday night.

Florida State Initial Thoughts

2008-11-16T12:18:00.000-08:00

Once again the Bitter Eagle almost nailed the score, however he once again had the teams reversed. BC dominated the game from start to finish esp. in the trenches once again. BC is now in the driver's seat in the ACC Atlantic. If it wins out, it will find itself in the ACCCG for the second straight year. Wake Forest at home looms for BC next week.

Offense:

The Good: Montel Harris. As a freshman who was not highly recruited, he proved that he was a man among boys last night. He ran so hard and had the moves to back it up that it took 2-3 defenders to bring him down. Contributing to the success of Harris was the BC o-line, which controlled the line of scrimmage for a second straight week. The sign of a successful team is the ability to run the ball in the 4 quarter. BC was able to run effectively in the 4th quarter, stringing together long drives to pad the score and kill the clock.

The Bad: It's duck hunting season. Step right up to snag yourself a slow, wobbly duck. Chris Crane's deep throws are particularly egregious. He has yet to grasp the concept that you cannot just loft up a pass for grabs on the deep ball. Yes, the deep ball needs touch but you have to get some velocity on it so it will actually receive your receiver. And let's not even get into that 2 yard pass attempt to a wide open Lars Anderson that would have been a sure TD. That pass was brutal. Other than these attempts though, Crane was pretty accurate.

The Ugly: Tuck the ball under your arm and wrap it up with your other arm Crane when you take off and run. 3 fumbles is unacceptable.

Defense:

The Good: The ball-hawking secondary helped shut down the passing game (its 21 INTs this year leads the country). Herzlich and esp. McLaughlin were all over the field making plays. Raji and Brace dominated the FSU line and blew up numerous plays. BC absolutely shut down the FSU running game, a running game which averaged 205 yards per game coming into the game. It's pretty sad for FSU that its punter was the leading rusher and that he gained 24 of its 73 total rushing yards on one play, a trick play at that.

The Bad: Just nit-picking, but how did the defense allow Parker to get 6 catches. Who is this guy? Also, BC still needs to work on taking better angles. There were a few plays in which BC defenders got burned taking bad angles. To name one, Herzy took a bad angle at Ponder on his TD run.

The Ugly: Nothing.

Special Teams:

The Good: Apon converted all the FG attempts he took! Unbelieveable! Lucky for him, both kicks were gimmes of 19 and 30 yards.

The Bad: Bad kick coverage yet again gave FSU nice field possession on a few drives.

The Ugly: Nice 9 yard punt Quigley. That was one of the ugliest punts the Bitter Eagle has ever seen.

Florida St. Bold Prediction

2008-11-15T09:42:00.000-08:00

Before FSU suspended 5 of its receivers for today's game, the Bitter Eagle believed that BC had no shot in heck of winning. BC is playing FSU on the road at night on national tv. BC did not stand a chance. Then the suspension came. The suspension benches FSU's leading receiver and two other crucial cogs in the FSU passing attack. Easterling, Surrency, and Reed have combined for 51 catches, 722 yards, and 8 TDs this season. So the task becomes clear: contain Carr to make FSU one-dimensional so BC has a chance of winning the game. The BC defense might be able to shut down the FSU offense, but the offense virtually has zero chance of making the big plays it needs to win the game. FSU is a hostile environment and if Crane does not start well, he will sink faster than the Titanic. Top an anemic offense with a pathetic kicking game and BC does not have many ways it can score points. The BC defense will not be able to carry the team in the points category like it has in the past 2 games. In the end, FSU should win and win comfortably, but with the recent suspensions BC has a very slim chance of winning.

Bold Prediction: FSU 27, BC 14

Ugly Tie

2008-11-14T22:17:00.000-08:00

The #5 BC men's hockey team was not able to rebound from its two losses last week when it tied Merrimack 5-5 on the road Friday night. BC held leads of 2-0, 4-2, and 5-3 in the game but it failed to hold on in the third period. BC was outshot by a 12-6 margin as it lost all offensive aggressiveness and persisted in playing a prevent defense. Merrimack was able to tie the game on a power play goal with 3:25 left to play in the game. How BC let Merrimack go on the power play so late in the game, clinging to a 1 goal margin is beyond belief. BC was led by an outstanding performance by Brock Bradford, who recorded his first career hat trick. On the other hand, Muse continued his recent mediocre performance by stopping only 29 of the 34 shots he faced in the game. He has given up 14 goals in his last 4 games. BC's overall record falls to 5-3-1 while its Hockey East record falls to an unimpressive 3-2-1. BC next plays New Hampshire Saturday night.

First Round Win

2008-11-14T22:11:00.000-08:00

The BC women's soccer team advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament today by beating Central Connecticut 3-0. Caitlin Hiler scored BC's first goal on a penalty kick in the first half and Brooke Knowlton and Stephanie Wirth both scored second half goals to ice the game. BC's record improved to 14-5-2. It will face Northeastern, who beat Harvard in PKs, in the second round on Sunday at home.

Eliminated

2008-11-14T22:04:00.000-08:00

The BC men's soccer team was eliminated from the ACC Tournament by losing to #2 seeded Maryland 1-0 in the semifinals. BC caught all the bad breaks in the game as the only goal of the game was an own goal by BC with 12:35 left to play in the game. Maryland forward Jason Herrick took a hard shot on goal that BC goaltender Chris Brown managed to deflect. However, the ball caromed off BC freshman defender Patrick Chin into the back of the net. Maryland, the fortunate recipient of this lucky break, will face the winner of Wake Forest-Virginia in the ACC Championship game. BC's overall record fell to 10-7-2, but it should be good enough to sneak BC into the NCAA Tournament. BC finished in third place in the strong ACC this year which should vault them over other teams with better records, but who play in weaker leagues.

FSU Suspensions

2008-11-14T21:54:00.001-08:00

Florida St. will come into its game against BC severely short-handed at WR after suspending 5 WRs today for their involvement in an on-campus brawl earlier this week. Taiwan Easterling, Bert Reed, Corey Surrency, Cameron Wade, and Richard Goodman will all be suspended for the BC game. Easterling, Reed, and Surrency are all crucial components of the FSU passing attack as they have combined for 51 catches, 722 yards, and 8 TDs this year. In fact, Easterling is the leading receiver on FSU. This is the second suspension of the year for both Reed and Surrency as both were suspended earlier this year. With an inexperienced Ponder at the helm, BC can make FSU one-dimensional on offense by double-teaming Carr to take him out of the game and relying on man coverage to face whoever else FSU decides to play at WR. By neutralizing the FSU passing attack, it will force FSU to play into the strength of the BC defense: the run. These suspensions can only improve BC's chance of victory.

Rice Suspended

2008-11-14T21:46:00.000-08:00

Tyrese Rice was suspended from the BC season opener against Central Connecticut because of the always vague "violation of team rules." It was initially reported that Rice was to miss the first 3 games of the season, but it got changed to 1 game later. This discrepancy is either due to a reporting error (which would not be the first time it happened) or due to the revelation of mitigating circumstances which reduced the suspension. BC should quit acting like its the second-coming of Bill Belichick and actually announce the reason for the suspension like many other schools do. There needs to be a window of transparency and it might actually do some good for the suspended player as well. It might embarrass him enough that he wouldn't think of violating other team rules again. Rice is expected to play Monday night against Loyola (MD) in the first game of the Preseason NIT.

The Bitter Eagle's Top 25 (XII)

2008-11-14T20:51:00.001-08:00

Here is the Bitter Eagle's Top 25 for the week of 11/09-11/15:

Rank Team Previous

1. Texas Tech ---

After its two impressive wins against Texas and OSU, TT still needs to face Oklahoma after its bye week. There is no rest in the Big 12. If TT can pull off that feat, then Harrell should win the Heisman.

2. Alabama 1

The Bitter Eagle thought that the Tide was going to lose after it missed a chip shot FG at the end of regulation. Send special thanks to LSU's Lee, who is even worse than Chris Crane.

3. USC 1

The USC defense has only given up 54 points in 9 games this season. Further, it has only given up 13 points in its last 5 games. Utter Domination.

4. Florida 1

Even though Tebow's numbers are not even close to last year's, Florida has a better team and remains firmly within grasp of another title game.

5. Texas 1

Texas has to root for its rival Sooners against Texas Tech if it wants any chance of playing in the BCS Championship. If you do not make it to the Big 12 game, you should not make it to the BCS Championship. Plain and simple.

6. Oklahoma 1

The Sooners have scored 50 points in 6 games this season. Too bad its defense could not be as dominant.

7. Utah 2

Utah showed how good of a team it is this year beating TCU in a tough game. The only hurdle remaining between Utah and its second BCS berth is the Mormon Showdown on Nov. 22.

8. Penn St. 6

The Bitter Eagle's prayers have been answered! No Big 10 teams in the BCS Championship game!

9. Boise St. 1

Boise St. better hope BYU can upset Utah or it might find itself shut out of a BCS game, despite running up an unbeaten season in impressive fashion.

10. Missouri 1

Only Kansas separates Missouri from winning the Big 12 North.

11. Oklahoma St. 3

With 2 losses in its last 3 games, OSU's Big 12 South hopes have been dashed. It can still play spoiler against Oklahoma though.

12. Ohio St. 2

Despite a lackluster season and an inability to win showcase games, OSU can still make it to the Rose Bowl to get beat down by USC yet again if MSU beats Penn St.

13. BYU 2

BYU needs to beat Utah in its rival game and then hope for some help for it to win the MWC. Air Force is going to need to beat TCU for this dream to happen.

14. Michigan St. 3

MSU has 2 weeks to prepare for its big showdown against Penn St. A Rose Bowl berth could be on the line.

15. Ball St. 1

Ball St. is currently undefeated and is in first in the MAC West. It can easily fall from this perch though as it faces Central Michigan next week (who is tied for first with a 6-0 conference record) and then Western Michigan in two weeks (who is in third with a 5-1 conference record). Tough times ahead.

16. North Carolina 3

After its upset loss to Virginia, UNC has really picked up its game throttling BC and GT in its last 2 games by 21 points apiece.

17. TCU 6

TCU's only two losses this season have come against Top 10 teams: Oklahoma and Utah.

18. Georgia ---

Georgia barely survived an upset bid by Kentucky in a game that it should have lost.

19. Florida St. NR

FSU is the team to beat in the ACC Atlantic although it will be severely short-handed in the WR position against BC.

20. Pittsburgh NR

A showdown with Cincy for all the marbles in the Big East is next for Pitt in 2 weeks.

21. Oregon St. NR

Despite starting out the season 0-2, OSU can still dash USC Rose Bowl hopes if it can win out. 3 tough games against Cal, Arizona on the road, and Oregon await though.

22. South Carolina NR

South Carolina's visit in the Top will be short-lived as it has to face Florida Saturday. What a shame.

23. Cincinnati NR

After its big win against West Virginia, it has set itself up nicely to win the Big East.

24. LSU 11

QB Jarrett Lee has scored 6 TDs for the other team. The Bitter Eagle has finally found a QB that is worse than Chris Crane. Good luck winning another big game with this clown at the helm. Way to blow that game against 'Bama Lee.

25. California 4

What an utter waste Nate Longshore has become.

Dropped Out: Maryland (20), Georgia Tech (22), Northwestern (23), West Virginia (24), Kansas (25)

Notre Dame Recap

2008-11-14T19:28:00.000-08:00

BC finally got back on track after a 2 game losing streak last Saturday shutting out Notre Dame 17-0. BC's stifling defense was enough to carry the team to victory. The final score does not do justice as to how much BC actually dominated the game. If it were not for a poor kicking game and an anemic offense, BC should have won by 30. With that said, BC is going to need to develop a killer instinct if it wants any hope of winning its last 3 games.

Offense: D

Very, very anemic. It was unable to capitalize on great field position time after time. BC started 5 possessions inside Notre Dame territory and was only able to score 10 points. Absolutely pathetic. Logan came in with a conservative gameplan where Crane was not asked to make any plays downfield. He, by and large, stuck to the plan, which was one of the big reasons BC couldn't take advantage of its field position. Since there was no big play threat, Notre Dame was able to stack the box and take chances on the short Crane passes. As a result, BC gained a measly 246 total yards in the game and 167 of those came from the ground.

The offensive line had its best game of the season, which allowed BC's rushing attack to be pretty successful. The line opened up gaping holes for its running backs to go through and the BC backs made the most of it, esp. Montel Harris, who gained 123 yards on only 20 carries. The line also dominated the ND pass rush, giving Crane eons of time in which to pass. Crane was virtually untouched in the game, which was the biggest reason why he did not turn the ball over. Crane, however, played a pretty awful game. He was 9 of 22 passing for only 79 yards and a touchdown. Blackledge made such a big deal about him not turning the ball over and based his grade largely on that one criteria, but this is such a cop out. A QB has to be graded on all aspects of his performance: avoiding turnovers is only one aspect. Crane avoided the INT yes, but he failed to make any plays through the air. The only play he made was on his TD pass to Brandon Robinson, but that pass was fairly generic. Granted, Logan called one hell of a conservative game, but Crane still had the opportunities to make plays, which he failed to take advantage of. A completion percentage of under 50% is bad, and only 79 yards in an entire game is even worse. With that said, Crane did display some promising signs that he is finally developing as a QB. First, his decision making was much better. He made good decisions to tuck the ball and run when the pressure started to get to him or he found an opening in the line. He also made good decisions throwing to his receivers. He did not force the ball into coverage much and looked to find an open receiver on most plays. The balls that were almost intercepted were a result of a bad throw more than anything.

Finally, a quibble about the playcalling. If Logan is going to rush the ball like he did Saturday, at least vary the formation and play. Logan called the same inside option play out of the shotgun all the damn time to the point where ND knew exactly when it was coming. It became obvious and predictable and its a tribute to the BC o-line that it worked so well. At last have Crane take off and run with the ball much more frequently than he did Saturday.

Defense: A

Dominating. Not much more the Bitter Eagle can say. The BC defense won the game at the line of scrimmage. The key to the defense's success was the line's ability to generate significant pressure using only a 4 man rush. That allowed 7 guys to drop back into pass coverage and blanket the ND receivers. BC's line got in the face of Clausen throughout the game, and when a blitz was called, it usually got to him. BJ Raji was an absolute man-beast in the middle. ND was not able to contain him with one blocker. Raji just plowed right through his man and blew up a lot of plays. He might not have finished the play with a tackle, but his presence in the backfield contained the ND RBs until help arrived. That one tackle he had where he put his head down, bowled right through his blocker, and pushed him into the RB has officially achieved legendary status. Herzlich also had a great game contributing 11 tackles, including 10 solo ones. Even the maligned secondary came up big for BC. Wes Davis had one of his better games of the year in coverage and came up with a huge forced fumble. Paul Anderson has come into his own this year and owned the passing lanes recording 2 INTs. The one quibble the Bitter Eagle has with the BC defense is that it needs to contain its emotion better and avoid committing the idiotic penalties. The BC defense was flagged for two personal fouls for roughing the QB. Both penalties were basically cheap shots against Clausen. BC is much classier than that and it does not need to resort to such deplorable tactics. Play hard until the whistle and then stop. Not to hard there.

Special Teams: C+

Apon sucked again, what a surprise. If you only go 1 of 3 on FGs that are less than 35 yards in a game, you do not deserve to be kicking in high school, let alone college. A change needs to be made now. No more of these baby "competitions" to fire Apon up. He has failed--miserably--and needs to be replaced. End of discussion. As for the other areas, Quigley had an impressive game punting the ball. The Bitter Eagle esp. likes the rugby-like kicks due to the fact that they have a better chance of being downed inside than 20 than normal punts. He also averaged 46 yards a kick which means he's been able to develop a decent leg this season. Even more impressive than Quigley's punting was the third blocked punt in 4 games by BC's block unit. Whoever had the idea of rushing a WR is a genius, considering 2 BC receivers have had punt blocks this season. The speed and height a WR brings to the table to difficult for a lineman to contain. As for kickoffs, Quigley got some good boots in, some even went into the endzone. However, the kick coverage is still considerably weak considering ND was able to return the ball 20 yards before the BC gunners even appeared on the Bitter Eagle's television screen. BC got lucky in this area as ND committed some horrible holding and block in the back penalties to negate some big returns.

Coaching: B

Good coaching by Spaz. He utilized a good mix of blitzes and zone coverages, which kept Clausen confused virtually the entire night. On the other hand, Logan kept it pretty safe by relying more on the rushing game. However, if Logan is going to continue to do this, he has to take his shots down field. The defense needs to respect the viability of a big play or it will stack the box and take away the rushing game. Play action passes would keep the defense on its toes and add some variety to a predictable game plan. Also, run the ball out of the I formation or at least an Ace formation. Continually running the ball out of the shotgun is not the recipe for success. Finally, vary the runs! Running the inside option over and over and over is not going to win many games. It became very predictable and obvious, esp. when Crane kept handing the ball off and not taking the corner, which the ND linebackers constantly gave him throughout the night.

Overall: B

The defense came to play, but the offense did not. BC still cannot put together a well-rounded performance. At least one area is always lacking. This kind of lopsided performance was good enough to beat a mediocre ND team but it will not be good enough to beat strong teams like FSU. BC is going to have to develop a killer instinct so its opponents do not consistently hang around. One lucky play here or one lucky bounce there and Notre Dame could have found itself back into the game. At least BC stopped its gruesome slide and is back on the winning track. And hey, BC also became bowl eligible with the win. The most exciting thing was that BC extended its winning streak against Notre Dame to 6 games in a row. Now we all know why ND was so eager to discontinue this annual game and add a creampuff like Rutgers to its schedule.

Next Game: D

FSU. On the road. In prime time. On national television. Ouch. BC lost to FSU last year with Matt Ryan at home, so a Chris Crane-led BC probably does not even have a sniffing chance of a victory against a much better FSU team this year. Here's to hoping though.

NFL Star Performances

2008-11-13T00:23:00.001-08:00

Two former Eagles turned in star performances in the NFL Sunday. First, Will Blackmon, redeeming himself for fielding a punt in his own end zone earlier in the game, returned a punt 65 yards for a TD to give Green Bay a 3 point lead against the Minnesota Vikings late in the third quarter. This return could have been the Pontiac game-changing performance in the game but the Green Bay defense gave up a late go-ahead TD to Minnesota and Mason Crosby missed a game winning 52 yard field goal at the end of the game. Blackmon had some pretty nifty moves to get into the clear for the TD. It was the second punt he returned to the house against the Vikings this season. He is quickly becoming one of the premier punt returners in the NFL. Here is the replay of the punt return from Sunday:

For those of you who missed his first punt return for a TD against the Vikings in Week 1, here is a replay of that return:

Matt Ryan also turned in an All-Star performance Sunday, leading the Falcons to its 4th win in 5 games. Ryan went 16 of 23 passing for 248 yards and 2 more TDs.

In his rookie season, Ryan has clearly developed a special relationship with WR Roddy White, as White has become Ryan's favorite receiver. This Pro-Bowl caliber young tandem will be deadly for years to come for Atlanta.

Wide World of BC Sports

2008-11-12T23:40:00.000-08:00

The BC field hockey team lost in the first round of the ACC Tournament to Wake Forest 4-3 last week. The game was a back and forth affair with Wake Forest netting the game winning goal at the 64:25 mark. Boston College forward Bob Dirks was been named to the All ACC and All ACC Tournament teams. Dirks ranked third in the ACC in points with 43 and second in the ACC with 19 goal. She ranked 9th in the NCAA in points and fourth in goals. She also scored a goal in the ACC Tournament.
Last week, the BC men's soccer team concluded its regular season by beating Va Tech 2-1 behind two goals by Alejandro Bedoya. With its 5-3 ACC record, BC was able to secure the #3 seed in the ACC Tournament. BC faced #6 seed Clemson in the quarterfinals today and beat them 1-0 in double overtime. Mor Avi Hanan scored the game winning goal off a free kick with 5:58 remaining in double overtime. With the win, BC's record improved to 10-6-2. BC will next face #2 seed Maryland in the semifinals. On the individual accolades front, Alejandro Bedoya and goalkeeper Chris Brown earned 2008 All-ACC first team honors while forward Edvin Worley earned All-ACC freshman recognition. Even with missing 5 games this season, Bedoya was able to rank second in the ACC in points (16), points per game (2.00), goals (six), goals per game (0.75), assists (four) and assists per game (0.50). In the regular season, Brown posted a 1.07 goals against average and a respectable .635 save percentage. Finally, Worley finished second on BC with 13 points, coming from 4 goals and 5 assists.
The #10 women's soccer team rode into the ACC Tournament coming off a highly successful regular season. It notched the #4 seed and faced #5 seed Duke in the quarterfinals. BC beat Duke 1-0 behind a goal by Brooke Knowlton. The reward for beating Duke in the quarterfinals was a semifinal date with perennial powerhouse UNC in the semifinals. Despite a ton of preparation, #1 seed UNC handily defeated BC 2-0 to knock BC out of the tournament. With the loss BC fell to 13-5-2 on the season. This record was good enough for BC to earn an entry into the NCAA Tournament. It was even good enough for the committee to select BC to host first and second round games, meaning that BC will not have to go on the road for these crucial games. BC will open the tournament playing Central Connecticut in the first round on Friday, November 14. If BC wins that game, it will face the winner of the Harvard-Northeastern game in the other bracket. That game will take place on Sunday. On the individual recognition front, Brooke Knowlton was named to the 2008 All-ACC Tournament team. She is the first BC player ever to be named to the ACC Tournament team.
The #4 women's ice hockey team suffered its first defeat of the season to #5 Dartmouth last week by the score of 4-0. Some people might point the finger at freshman goaltender Kiera Kingston who made her first collegiate start in place of Molly Schaus. However, she did make 35 saves so the defense let her down quite a bit. Further, a team must actually score a goal to win a game and BC did not bring much firepower against Dartmouth. BC next plays UConn on Thursday, November 13.

Exhibition Time

2008-11-12T23:25:00.001-08:00

The BC men's basketball team started its exhibition season last Sunday by beating St. Francis Xavier 82-56. This Francis Xavier team does not even play basketball in any college division in the United States because it is from Canada. This leads to a question: how in the world did Gene and Al find this gem of a school to beat down in its exhibition season? Out of all the schools in America that play basketball, they chose to compete against a not very highly regarded team from our friendly neighbors to the north? At least the Duke of the worlds choose tiny schools like Presbyterian to pick on, not teams from small schools in other countries. In terms of the actual game, BC struggled with St. Francis for the first 25 minutes of the game before pulling away in the end. BC only led by 3 points at the half and trailed by as many as 3 points in the second half before taking the lead for good. If this keeps up, this does not bode well for the regular season. Actual grades are only given out for regular season games so the Bitter Eagle will leave you with a few random thoughts.

The Good: Raji was finally in the starting lineup after the Bitter Eagle was clamoring for it all last season. He did not disappoint either scoring 22 points and bringing down a whopping 14 boards. Not bad for an undersized forward. BC also dominated the smaller St. Francis team on the boards outrebounding them 53-30. Finally, Trapani, who is a freshman who started, got off to a good BC debut scoring 17 points.

The Bad: BC let St. Francis hang around much too long in the game. BC clearly out-talented and out-classes St. Francis in every phase of the game, yet they only led by 3 at the half and even trailed in the second half. BC finally managed to pull away but it took far too long to do so. Actual teams from America will be able capitalize in these situations.

The Ugly: BC's 3 point shooting. Yes, the 3 point line was moved back before the season got under way but that is still no excuse for shooting only 4 of 20 from behind the arc. This begs the question: if you're struggling from behind the arc, why on earth are you still chucking up the 3s? St. Francis clearly shot better from long range going 9-19. BC needs to work on this phase of its game if it wants to make noise in the ACC.