If there has been one regular intra-conference thorn that has been recently lodged in VT’s O&M side; clearly that team would be the Boston College Eagles from up on Chestnut Hill Massachusetts.

B.C. is 3-2 vs. our beloved Hokies in our last five games.

They have stymied us with 2 human battering rams inside on defense and with improved speed and athleticism behind that in the Flying Eagle hind-7 as a stop-unit goes.

The B.C. offense has been just good enough.  Thanks more often than not to moving the ball through the air with the bare minimum rushing yards on the ground to keep Bud Foster’s defense honest.

That caveat typed; gone are the Flying Eagles who have messed around with Virginia Tech every year since 2005. The only question is how high can Boston College now soar with more than just a few superstar departures in the last two years?

1o.1o Boston College
Offense=7 back, Defense=7 back, ST=both back

B.C. Pros:

1. 4 Oline starters. The one remaining strength of the B.C. offense is clearly found in its starting Offensive Line. Four Flying Eagle starters return upfront in 2009. All five 2009 starters are upperclassmen and B.C. enjoys the services three potential all-ACC candidates upfront this year; lead by possibly the best Ot in the whole darn ACC, one Tony Castonzo. The remade B.C. OLine is not quite the 5 of a kind super-sized Flying Eagle offensive linemen of yesteryear. B.C. is now sevelt, well at least for being B.C.; as the Flying Eagles have now gone to primarily a Zone-Blocking oriented scheme. B.C.’s rushing offense improved to 146 yards per game last year and was 39th best in protecting the Qb. Both of B.C.’s talented young Rb’s return. The B.C. Oline may not be quite as deep as recent versions; but he B.C. starting-5 might just be first best in the entire ACC.
2. Secondary. Anytime you return 4 out of 4 in your secondary you should have at least an adequate Pass Defense. B.C. looks like it will be well north of adequate as pass defenders go in 2009. Last year B.C. was only 7th in Pass Efficiency Defense in all of D-1 football. The Flying Eagles may just have the best set of Safeties in the entire ACC. Wes Davis (#45) at Fs, and Marcellus Bowman at Ss say so. The Flying Eagles easily field the largest Secondary in the ACC. For comparisons sake, B.C. has all four starters checking in at 6`0“ or better. We/VT only have one north of 5`11“. B.C. actually has five different ballers in their hind-4 with starting experience. This is one of the very best secondaries in the ACC folks.
3. Lombardi. “Winning is habit forming.” Like it or not, B.C. has won and won a lot since 2001. Only posting two seasons of less than 9 wins in that time frame; and in both of those years the Flying Eagles chalked up a none too shabby 8 wins thank you very much. Other than 2003, B.C. has been close to unbeatable at home. The 2009 B.C. docket nearly gar-ron-tees B.C. going 3 for 3 out of conference. In a year where most people are picking B.C. to be down; B.C. only needs to win 3 ACC games to yet again become bowl eligible. 10 straight bowl games and 8 wins is such is pretty damn impressive. Not many D-1 schools can say that about their last 10 bowl games; and we/VT can only say we are 4-6 in our last 10 Bowl games as recent post-season objective outcomes directly state.  This is no small part of why this B.C. football program must now be regarded as winners despite a less that glorious level of national recognition as such.

B.C. Fence: Korterback.  Qb. Pivot. Many of my fellow scribes are listing this as a B.C. Con. Incumbent 2008 starter Dominique Davis was suspended for academic woes and has elected to transfer in lieu to his less than Summa Cum Laude scholastic career. Last year Davis was 2-2 as a four game starter with an very middled 6:6 Passing Ratio (TD’s:INT’s) and he had only one starting game in which he completed more than 50% of his throws. On top of that Davis ran basically nowhere and seemed to regress as the season wore on.

Ergo, therefore and to wit, I’m not so sure if this is not actually addition via subtraction. Davis was simply not very good in my book. The catch (no pun intended) however is that not one returning B.C. Qb has even 1 single D-1 football pass attempt to their collective credit. The situation at Pivot is so influx up on Chestnut Hill that a 25 year old lifer minor-league pitcher has signed with B.C; (hold your mouse pointer over the pic). Though most will have you believe that it is difficult to find encouragement here; I for one expect that whomever the 2009 B.C. starting Qb eventually shakes out to be … will actually be a better Qb than Davis twas. Which may or may not be saying very much in the end.

B.C. Cons:

1. Dt. Anytime you enjoy the services of 2 N.F.L. caliber battle-horses starting side-by-side at Defensive Tackle that is a good thing. Anytime you must replace both of them in the same year you are bound to drop more than a little. That’s never good, but what really jumps out at me is just how diminutive the 2009 B.C. DLine truly is; as only one baller checks in north of 256 lbs. upfront. This conspires to tell me that unlike in previous seasons; the Flying Eagles are tailor made for D.Evans and R.Will to run right up the gut and make the new B.C. Dt’s prove they can stop our Internal Zone and Fold-Blocks this year.
2. FG Kicking: on a team who’s strategic margin of error is down the last thing you want is an inconsistent Kicker with a an inconsistent leg. The celebrated walk-on made for Disney musical otherwise know as Steve Aponavicius (#83) … AKA Sid Vicious, has not been very vicious from distance. With only 2 makes in three years from beyond 40 yards and no attempts longer than 37 yards last year. On top of that he tends to hover right at 67% or two out of three all year long. Upon closer inspection, one quickly sees that Steve is either very hot or very cold. A streaky Kicker if there ever was one. B.C appears to have at least 6 games in which points will be a a premium this season. If we consult history; history teaches us that Steve will be dialed in for about 3-4 of those games; and the newly invented and uninvited telemarketer who has the audacity to put you on hold for 2 or possibly 3 of those other games. 3 cold kicking days from Steve would prove dicey at best to 2009 for the Flying Eagles.
3. Field Position. An inert offense with Punting and Return concerns is the anti-thesis of Beamerball if you will. Last year B.C. was 99tth in Net Punting, 100th in Kickoff Returns and 103rd in Passing Efficiency Offense. “Sweet Caroline” big-plays was not a melodious tune that B.C. could name even with 10 notes last year. On top of that B.C. only returns 1 Wr who averaged more than 11 yards per catch last year and the 2009 B.C. KO and PR’s are extremely vanilla at best. One way or another B.C. needs to manufacture some HR hitters to take the heat off of a true-blue rookie Qb and two unproven Dt’s this year. Where that kinda of Babe Ruth power might come from is unknown at best as we head into the 2009 pre-season.

B.C. conclusions:  Most pundits have B.C. picked somewhere between 4th and 6th in the ACC Atlantic Division for 2009. 4th may not be real far off; in fact I view that as the B.C. basement for 2009 with a very compacted ceiling of 3rd place immediately layered right on top of that.

Now consider that B.C. is 1 of only 2 ACC football teams that plays their Home games on a synthetic track. That artificial surface is no small differentiating part of B.C.’s stellar home record of late. The key to the Flying Eagles in 2009 can be found in games #3 through #7. A rugged stretch that reads like this…

o9.19 @ Klempson
o9.26 Wake
1o.o3 FSU
1o.1o @ Virginia Tech.
1o.17 NC.State

The good news is that Boston College gets three of those five at home. The bad news is that  B.C. has to play its top-4 toughest ACC opponents all within a 5 week span with no OPEN dates to be found. To make matters worse, B.C. must then sojourn to the Midwest to play Notre Dame in the Catholic Bowl out in South Bend before finally catching an OFF week in week #10.

IF B.C. can somehow just be 5-4 when they return from playing the Irish, they stand an extremely decent chance to qualify for a Bowl game. That is exactly what I’m predicting. Though I am not sure who(m) B.C. will upset over that likely five game underdog stretch, I do like the Flying Eagles chances to play keep-away and steal at least one close game over that spell.

That said … rest easy … I’m not picking the Homecoming upset on 1o.1o.

• Point Spread: Boston College+16.5
• Odds on VT winning=73%
• Prediction Virginia Tech=26 Boston College=10
• Happy 233rd Uncle Sam!
  

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“HOKIES!”

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