Extension for Spaz

Its the most wonderful time of the year! Bowl week!

With bowl season three games in and the Beef O'Brady Bowl in progress there really hasn't been much to report considering they've all been blow outs (not counting Beef bowl). However there is some news out of Boston College….

BC has awarded Frank Spaziani with a two year contract extension for his success keeping the program together after Jeff Jagodzinski left the program in 2008. This new contract extension will extend Spaz's contract through 2015 as he still has three years left on his original deal. The next five years will be under the steady hand of coach Spaz.

(Spaz is all smiles this holiday season)

Now, this may upset some people who claim that Spaz is to conservative, and that he isn't cut out to be a head coach. What those people didn't realize is that after Jags left, Boston College football was left in shambles. After Jags last game coaching, quarterback Dominique Davis transferred, B.J. Raji and Ron Brace graduated and went on to be drafted in the 1st and 2nd round of the NFL draft, Mark Herzlich, Reigning ACC POY was diagnosed with cancer and recruits that had committed to Jags de-committed. Spaz was left in a tight spot.

In his first year as head coach of the Eagles, Spaz lead them to 8-4 record (6-1 at home) and a date with the USC Trojans in the Emerald Bowl. Though they fell to the Trojans 24-13 and dropping their record to 8-5, I would consider that a successful year. Sure you want to win the bowl game and play better on the road, but given the circumstances Spaziani did a bang up job.

(Rich Gunnel sets the all time mark at BC in

receiving yards with this catch against USC

in the Emerald Bowl 2009)

The second year would be the real test for coach Spaz. Coming into this season BC's receiving corps was inexperienced, the graduation of all time leading receiver in Boston College history Rich Gunnel left BC with one legitimate option in Colin Larmond Jr. Four star recruit, wide receiver Shakim Phillips, figured to make an immediate impact. Both went down with injuries in the preseason. So the stage was set for Spaz's sophomore campaign, an inexperienced offense lead by junior running back Montel Harris and a defense with a good mix of youth and experience lead by the emotion return of senior Mark Herzlich.

After they jumped out to a 2-0 start, the Eagles lost five straight and many began calling for coach Spaziani's head. In the face of unrelenting criticism and in danger of losing his job, Spaziani decided to make a change a the quarter back position. True freshman Chase Rettig was given the wheel and asked to lead the team. Fast forward to present and BC is sitting pretty in the post-season for the 13th consecutive year and a match-up with 14th ranked Nevada. Spaz was able to lead an injury plagued, inexperienced team to 5 consecutive wins to end the season. This man deserves to be the coach of Boston College for years to come and this was expressed by athletic director Gene DeFilippo.

(Athletic Director, Gene DeFilippo)

"Let me tell you, to bring the team back that was, 0-4 in the ACC and 2-5 overall, it gave us all an opportunity to see, first of al, how these players and coaches reacted to Spaz. The fact he did a terrific job of rallying them through all the injuries, all the young kids we played, I told him, 'You know Spaz, there'll be sometimes in the coming years when we'll win 10 or 11 games, but I'll always look back at 2010 and say that was probably your best coaching job,' because how it ended up."

With Spaz locked up until 2015 Boston College football is on the right track and in good hands. If Spaz can pull out a win against a tough Nevada team in the Kraft bowl it will only validate the decision to keep the defensive genius under contract.

Finals Week

Yeah, so I have finals this week so I won't be posting but I will try to do 3-4 posts per week up until the Kraft Bowl game vs Nevada.

But quick update as Im sure many of you already know:

Virginia Tech wins the ACC Championship game for the 3rd time in its 6 year history, I mean thats pretty good, but of course if BC had come to play in 07 & 08 they might be the leader in ACC titles since 05….

Despite the allegations and investigation into wether his father "sold" him to Auburn, QB Cam Newton wins the Heisman trophy. Newton threw for 28 passing TDs and ran for 20 TD's. He had a ridiculous passer rating of 188.16 and lead Auburn to an undefeated regular season, SEC title, and a showdown with Pac 10 champs Oregon and LaMichael James, in the BCS National Championship game January 10th.

Kuechly fell short of the Butkus award for best LB in the country. The award instead went to Texas a&m's Von Miller, despite having 112 tackles less than Kuech the Freak (Miller: 59 Kuechly: 112).

A little ACC basketball news. New coach Steve Donahue lead Boston College to a victory over defending ACC regular season champion Maryland, 79-75 down in College Park. This is Donahue's first ACC win, and the Eagles are now atop the conference with a 1-0 record in ACC play and an 8-2 overall record.

Thats all I've got for now. Be back posting December 21st most likely. Until then…

WE ARE BC

BC vs Nevada: Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl, January 9th 9pm ET

Boston College vs #14 Nevada

Mark your calendars (or book your plane tickets!) for San Francisco, AT&T Park, January 9th because BC has a date with #14 Nevada in the Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl, 9pm ET/ 6pm PT. This will be the first meeting between the Eagles and the Wolfpack. BC comes into the Kraft bowl with a five game win streak and the nations best run defense while Nevada (12-1) comes into this game fresh off their overtime upset of then #4 Boise State, giving the Wolfpack a share of the WAC title. BC nation if you can go to this game, I urge you to go. We need to get rid of the reputation that the BC has a poor following.

WE ARE BC

Note: Luke Kuechly needs 21 tackles to set the NCAA single season tackle record. If he sets the record he will do it in one less game than the previous record holder Lawrence Flugence of Texas Tech, set in 2002.

Luke Kuechly: All-American Middle Linebacker

Thats right. Kuechly, who is leading the nation with 171 tackles including 101 solo tackles, was voted on to the 1st team All-America. As a sophomore. To put that into perspective, Matt Ryan didn't make 3rd team All-America and he lead BC during arguably its best year ever. BC fans, you are watching a very special player, one who might go down as the best BC defender in history. On Saturdays at the Aluminum Monster, you can be sure his name will be mentioned on the loudspeaker over a dozen times (he averages 14.7 tackles per game, including a 21 game streak with 10 or more tackles).

Not only was Kuechly named a 1st team All-American he was also named to the ACC 1st team along with teammates: Anthony Costanzo and Montel Harris. Montel had a fantastic last half of the season rushing for 100 yards 8 times and was the only unanimous selection to the ACC first team, getting 61 first team votes (the max). Harris and Andre Williams are going to be a deadly duo hopefully in whatever bowl game BC gets, but definitely next year.

(Luke Kuechly leads the nations best run defense)

With the regular season and the awards behind the Eagles, they are enjoying the rest of the week off and waiting to hear who their post-season opponent will be. (Side note: at the BC vs Indiana basketball game on Wednesday night Spaz walked by me and I shook his hand and congratulated him on the year. Damn he has a firm handshake). Now what bowl will BC be "bringing their talents (LeBron James "The Decision")" to?

There are three options for the Eagles, all have their benefits. Courtesy of the U, BC has a chance to land in the Sun Bowl in El Paso Texas. After losing their last game to South Florida, Miami fired coach Randy Shannon and in the process, scared away the heads of the Sun Bowl. Though this bowl isn't considered a major bowl, it is more prestigious than the other two options. If this was the case BC would most likely play an SEC team like Tennessee or Georgia.

The bowl that could select the Eagles is the Military Bowl in Washington D.C. The opponent for the Eagles has already been determined as the Military Bowl has taken Eastern Carolina. Now for those of you who watched the 2008 BC season you know what this means. ECU's quarterback is former BC quarterback Dominick Davis. After Chris Crane broke his collar bone against Wake Forest, Davis took over for the last game and the ACC Championship against Virginia Tech. Davis was average in that game and during the offseason decided to transfer from BC to ECU leaving BC in the quarterback predicament that we all suffered through over the past two years. It would be nice if BC could make Davis regret his decision and end his college career with a loss.

Last option, and most likely is the Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl in San Francisco California against none other than #9 Boise State. That would be quite a way to end the year for the Eagles, playing a team in Boise State that until their loss last week at Nevada, could have played for the National Championship. However there have been talks about sending Boise to the Las Vegas Bowl to face #21 Utah and having #14 Nevada (Not sure of their actual rank) go to the Kraft Bowl. The heads of the Kraft Bowl have stated that unless Nevada could bring a larger fan base, they were sticking with Boise.

Now we play the waiting game.

WE ARE BC

Perfect Ending

There couldn't have been a more perfect ending to Boston College's season. Up 16-7 on the road against the Syracuse Orange with just over a minute remaining BC's defense needed one more stop. Who better to make that stop than number 94 himself, Mark Herzlich. The man who beat cancer and won the hearts of BC fans as well as the nation, ended BC's season and his regular season football career with an interception. Despite not being allowed to wear his signature eye black, (who the hell tells a guy who beat cancer what he can and can't do?) sealed the game, bringing BC's winning streak to five games, finishing with a 7-5 record.

(Thank you Mark Herzlich #94)

Spaziani has given the team the week off of practice so they can rest while they await to hear who their bowl opponent will be. A much needed rest for the Eagles and a chance to get healthy before their bowl game. Hopefully Montel Harris will be able to play in the bowl game because BC will definitely need him, but I think they struck gold on Saturday with Harris's backup.

(Andre Williams #34)

Freshman running back #34 Andre Williams took over the backfield duties against Syracuse in Harris's stead. All he did against the Orange was carry the ball 42 times for 185 yards and a touchdown. Not to mention Williams ran for over 100 yards last week against Virginia. If Williams is for real than BC football is in better shape than I thought. Williams running style reminds me a lot of Patriots running back Ben Jarvis Green-Ellis. When he gets the ball he runs straight up the field and doesn't dance around trying to find holes in the backfield. What a find for the Eagles.

One more thing from Saturday's game. BC proved once again that it has one of the best defenses in the country. In each of the games during their five game win streak BC's defense has allowed one touchdown or less. They are 6-1 on the year when allowing one touchdown or less (the lone loss coming against 12th ranked Virginia Tech).

Now we wait to see who BC draws in a bowl game. Oh yeah remember last post when I said we might play Boise State? Well they lost to Nevada so its looking like a real possibility.

WE ARE BC

After Wild Season, BC To Play in 12th Consecutive Bowl

Hello Eagle Nation,

It’s been a crazy up and down year. I'm just laughing to myself right now because never in my 20 years of going to BC football games have I experienced a year with so much turmoil. I mean never has a year of watching BC football been so stressful.

Even before the season started, Mark Herzlich is coming back from cancer, with a titanium rod in his leg, and he fractures his foot in practice. Like the guy worked his ass off to get back on a football field and he breaks his foot before the first Saturday and the injury report was that he might be out the first game or two. But being the animal that he is Marky Mark was like “Broken foot? Nah, screw that. I'm playin.”

And it didn’t stop there for Mark. No, it seems like the guy can’t catch a break. After triumphantly beating cancer (and a stress fracture) he was back flying around, making tackles and giving opposing quarterbacks nightmares with his war paint. But he breaks his hand during a game. But, remember, Animal. He wraps his injured hand turning it into a battle club making him look even more intimidating. I'm starting to think that he’s breaking his bones on purpose now just to get stronger. I don’t know just a thought.

But I mean that started before the first kickoff. After that there was the quarterback controversy, would it be Uncle Dave? Maybe Marscovetra? Or will Coach Spaz have to release his secret weapon Chase Rettig a year early?

BC was shut out at home for the first time in over a decade, losing 19-0 at home to Virginia Tech on parents weekend, and got blown out by N.C. State 44-13. I know this is a long list but this season deserves an in-depth look back.

Next on the long list is the Debacle at home against Notre Dame. An embarrassing game on national T.V. that BC lost in the first quarter when they went down 21-0. Then after cutting the lead to 21-10, Rettig is marching the offense down the field and….he takes a funny step and hurts his knee, out for two weeks. This game was the tipping point for the fans and attendance began to decline.

The student run newspaper, "the Heights", were encouraging students to quit on the season, saying there was no hope for this year. That for me was the low point on the season, students around campus talking all doom and gloom about this team leading to a football player saying to a friend in the lunch line, "Im sick of football."

But unlike the flip flopping writers of "the Heights", I still had faith that once Rettig got going BC would rattle off a few wins and make it to the post season. A couple close loses to Florida State and Maryland, had more and more fans dropping out and by the time the Clemson game came around, only the true fans were left in the stands at the Aluminum Monster.

Then all of a sudden, BC beats Clemson and gets the Leather Helmet trophy with Montel Harris winning MVP on his birthday. The win train kept rolling, defeating Wake Forest and holding off Duke in dramatic fashion. Bringing Boston College's record to 5-5 with a home game against lowly Virginia on senior day.

BC didn't disappoint. They came back and won a wild game 17-13 to clinch a winning home record, at least .500 season and most importantly: a birth in a bowl game. But of course this season is no ordinary season and the win came at a price. Montel Harris injured his knee and required arthroscopic surgery and will be out 3-6 weeks, ruling him out for the season finale at Syracuse and putting him in question for what ever bowl BC gets into.

If BC can grab a win from the Orange and finish the season 7-5 they will most likely end up in the Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl (Previously the Emerald Bowl) and would for the second year in a row be heading out to San Francisco. Their two possible opponents? #19 Nevada or gulp…#4 Boise State.

But hey I'm not complaining cause after all in the last decade Boise State has only lost 15 times. One of those loses? At home to Boston College in the MPC Computers bowl. Lets Go Eagles.

We're Going Bowling

As the final seconds ticked off the clock at the Aluminum Monster, BC fans finally realized: Boston College football will be playing in December/January. A season full of twists and turns, ups and downs, injuries and surprises, Boston College finally got to the magic number of 6 wins and qualified for bowl eligibility for the 12th year in a row…

TO BE CONTINUED...