Boston College Football Notes - August and September

LATEST NOTES

September 25, 2005

The Eagles nearly gave away their second consecutive ACC game but came though in overtime to post their first ACC victory. Boston College outgained Clemson 385 yards to 251, had 25 first downs to Clemson's 13 and held the ball for 36 minutes of play. Still, they needed overtime to beat the Tigers thanks to 11 penalties for 76 yards and two interceptions, one in the Clemson endzone.

The BC rushing attack was solid on Saturday. They battered the Clemson defense for 164 yards on 46 carries. Andre Callender was one of the stars of the game. He rushed for 116 yards on 22 carries. Matt Ryan made some bad throws but he made some very good ones as well. His pass to Larry Lester on third down in overtime was the biggest completion of his career and may have saved BC's season. Ryan was 24 of 42 for 221 yards and two interceptions. Ryan has been forced into some terribly difficult situations over the past two years. It was great to see him come through against Clemson after the debacles against Syracuse last season and Florida State last weekend. Those losses were not completely his fault, but I'm sure his confidence was shaken a bit. A big win in hostile territory should do wonders for the sophomore's confidence.

The offense did a great job grinding out first downs but it was the BC defense that really won this game. Preseason All-ACC quarterback Charlie Whitehurst made few big plays on Saturday. He finished the day 19 for 28 for only 149 yards. The BC secondary simply would not allow Whitehurst to beat them deep. The linebackers and defensive line played well once again. Clemson had a little more success with the run than FSU (29 carries for 102 yards - 3.5 ypc) but most of that came on two plays, one for 27 yards and one for 20 yards. Most impressive was the fact that Clemson was 0 for 11 on third down conversions. By contrast, the BC offense converted 10 of 20 when facing third down.

The win keeps the Eagles in contention for the ACC Atlantic Division title but it will be an uphill climb. BC trails Florida State by one game and the Seminoles would win the division if the two teams end up in a tie at the end of the season because Florida State won the head to head battle last week. There are some other possibilities involving three-way ties, but it is way to early to think about that.

What is the deal with the horrible play by play announcers in college football. We suffered through the abysmal Paul Page when BC played BYU. On Saturday, the play by play man (whose name I can't even recall) called Will Blackmon "Soloman" FIVE times in the first half. You would think that someone would have been in his ear after the first or second time. Then there's the fact that they openly rooted for Clemson. I guess BC fans need to get used to being "that Northern team" for a while.

Callender appeared to be in the endzone before his knee hit the ground in overtime. That play should have been reviewed. Tom O'Brien needs to be on top of that. After seeing what happened last weekend against FSU there were no guarantees, even with first and goal from the one yard line.

What is going on with the dumb penalties? I can accept an occasional holding call or a pass interference but there is no excuse for repeated encroachment penalties on the defense. I think BC had six last week, one of which was declined. This is very much a reflection on the coaching. It has to stop.

Make no mistake though, O'Brien outcoached Tommy Bowden. Unlike Florida State last week, Clemson never made the adjustments they needed offensively. I was shocked by Bowden's gutless decision to play for overtime after Clemson regained possession with 1:10 left in the fourth quarter.

BC moved up to #21 in the AP Poll and #23 in the USAToday/ESPN poll. Six ACC teams are in the top 25 in both polls. Boston College is a 35-point favorite against Ball State next Saturday.

September 19, 2005

I really hope that Boston College's inaugural Atlantic Coast Conference game on Saturday is not a harbinger of things to come. BC Football has had more than it's share of agonizing losses over the past five years, but Saturday's game may take the cake. The Eagles dominated the eighth ranked Seminoles for the better part of three quarters, but managed to lose 28-17 thanks to a mix of questionable coaching, bad luck, mistakes, penalties and injuries. BC outgained the Seminoles by more than 100 yards, had ten more first downs (24-14), held the ball for 38 minutes of play and limited Booker and Washington to 30 yards rushing, yet it wasn't enough.

The first half of the game was particularly disturbing. BC was ahead by three points heading into the half, but they should have been ahead by three touchdowns. They held the ball for nearly 22 minutes in the first half and outgained Florida State 236-65. In fact, after BC's first possession of the second half (which resulted in a missed field goal), the Eagles had outgained the Seminoles 263 to 67, yet were still only ahead by three points. Here are a few more stats that are hard to fathom:

• Drew Weatherford was 11 for 14 for 140 yards and a TD pass in FSU's 10th and 11th drives of the game. The rest of the game he was only 9 for 24 for 102 yards and an INT. In Weatherford's defense, his receivers dropped several passes.



• Lorenzo Booker ripped off a 13-yard run on his first carry of the game. He and Leon Washington carried 12 times for only 17 yards from that point on.



• During a stretch of seven drives (their second to their eighth), Florida State gained only 34 total yards.



• Florida State gained 147 of their 256 total yards in just two drives.



• Florida State scored 21 of their 28 points on only 37 yards of offense.

In my preview last week, I mentioned that the loser of this game might look back on one play that made the difference between winning and losing. For BC, there were a half dozen or more plays that fit into this category. Three plays in particular stand out, however. The first two are obvious: the interception on the first play of the game which essentially meant that BC was starting the game down 7-0 and the second interception which stymied a BC drive and gave FSU an easy touchdown. Those two plays alone cost the Eagles between 14 and 21 points. The other play that comes to mind is the 12 yard loss on the handoff to Will Blackmon midway though the third quarter. Callender had just run for seven yards to give the Eagles a 2nd and 3 near midfield. The BC offense had been punishing the FSU defensive line. Had the Eagles continued to pound away, they may have been able to finish them off. The play selection was curious at best. I'm in favor of plays like that when things are not going well, but when you are ahead and have the opponent on the ropes, there is no need for that type of trickery, especially against a team with a huge speed advantage. The play seemed to change the momentum of the entire game. Prior to that play, BC had rushed 34 times for 135 yards (about 4.0 yards per carry). Following the loss by Blackmon, BC totalled 13 carries for 23 just yards (less than two yards per rush).

I also question the play calling at the end of the game. Given a first and goal on the two-yard-line, down by two scores with all three timeouts in hand and around 2:30 left on the clock, I think most coaches would have passed the ball four consecutive times. Scoring a touchdown was obviously the most important thing but saving the three timeouts and keeping the clock from moving was a close second. By running the ball and not scoring on the first two plays (and burning two timeouts), O'Brien took away his option to kickoff deep and play defense. Once the two timeouts were gone, the onside kick was the only option. Of course, they didn't accomplish the most important part - scoring the touchdown.

BC (2-1) lost to a top ten team and dropped nine places in the national polls. Notre Dame (2-1) lost to an unranked team and dropped only six spots. Sadly, I am not a bit surprised. The Irish can probably lose their next game and still be in the top 25. The good news is that the bowl system has changed. In the old days, they would be four wins away from playing in the Fiesta Bowl.

Speaking of college football prejudice, the ESPN Gameday crew's postgame analysis gave the impression that BC put forth a great effort but just isn't on par with FSU at this point. I know that Fowler, Corso and Herbstreit were in the stadium, but apparently they didn't watch the game. BC bullied the Seminoles for most of the game. Any objective person watching on Saturday would say that BC was the better team, but that Florida State had the better coaching. The media is so deep in the pockets of the 10-15 most popular schools you would need a crane to get them out.

September 11, 2005

ESPN's College Gameday will broadcast from the Boston College campus next Saturday. For more information, please click on the following link - ESPN Gameday at BC.

Here is a rundown of Sunday's newspaper articles:

• Game Report by Mike Vega (Globe)
• ACC Roundup (Globe)
• Ron Indrisano on Brian Toal (Globe)
• BC Notebook (Globe)
• Game Report by Steve Conroy (Herald)
• BC Notebook Herald (Herald)

September 10, 2005

The BC defense looked absolutely horrible in the first drive of Saturday's game against Army. There were penalties, missed tackles and very little resistance in a 12 play, 80 yard Army TD drive. After that, however, the defense was pretty solid. Army amassed only 190 yards of offense the rest of the way and did not score again. Army's Carlton Jones, who rushed for 6.1 yards per carry a year ago, averaged just 2.6 yards per rush on Saturday. QB Zac Dahman was 4 for 4 for 43 yards on the first drive, but just 13 for 28 for 111 yards and 2 INTs after. Al Washington, Ray Henderson and Brian Toal combined for 14 tackles. On the down side, Mathias Kiwanuka did not play up to his All American candidate level for the second week in a row. The Eagles are going to need the Continental Tire Bowl Kiwi next week.

Offensively, Quinton Porter was sharp once again. In two games, he's 42 for 55 (76%) for 438 yards, 4 TDs and 0 INTs. The offensive line continued to open up huge holes for the running backs. My concern is that the running backs are not getting many yards after contact. Whitworth and Callender combined for 23 carries and 96 yards (4.2 per carry). Against FSU, 4.2 ypc will be acceptable. Against Army, it's pretty disappointing. Will Blackmon didn't get the ball very often, but he made those touches count. His one reception yielded a highlight film 41-yard touchdown. He also rushed twice for 31 yards. BC will need to get him the ball more often next week. Jason Lilly (4 catches for 71 yards) and Tony Gonzalez (3 for 75 and a TD) made big plays as well.

BC will go into next week's game having scored 44 consecutive points. Florida State has scored 59 consecutive points. They beat The Citadel, 62-10, on Saturday in Tallahassee. FSU's offense, which sputtered against Miami, put up 629 yards of offense compared to 91 for The Citadel. The numbers are ridiculous but they should be. I think I could throw for 300 yards against The Citadel. The amazing thing is that The Citadel actually led 10-3 with under two minutes left in the first half. The Noles scored 59 points in 21 minutes of football. This game made Wisconsin's 65-0 win over Temple seem competitive.

BC entered this week ranked #19 in the ESPN poll and #18 in the AP. #15 Arizona State lost and #18/#16 Oklahoma was unimpressive again so the Eagles could move up a couple of slots. However, mark my words, Notre Dame will leapfrog BC in the polls this week. It won't matter to the voters that Notre Dame's win came about because of Heisman candidate Mike Hart's first half injury, a fluke touchdown, three Wolverine chokes inside the red zone (twice inside the 5 yard line), and the failure of the referees to call a touchdown on a Michigan quarterback sneak and an obvious pass interference on the final drive. The Irish were also balied out twice by instant replay (replay correctly reversed two calls that went against Notre Dame).

Speaking of replay, it is a good thing we have it. The officiating so far this year has been terrible. In the Notre Dame game, how could the referee not realize that Brady Quinn was down prior to losing the ball? The guy in the top row of the endzone seats probably knew that he was down. The same thing happened in the Ohio State game. They correctly reversed the calls, but how could they have missed them the first time around?

It was a rough day for the perpetually-overrated Big Ten. Michigan (#3), Ohio State (#4) and Iowa (#8) all lost on Saturday. Seven ACC teams were in the Top 25 coming into this week. It will be interesting to see the rankings this week.

September 3, 2005

I had four main concerns going into the BYU game: (1) Would Quinton Porter be rusty? (2) Would Will Blackmon have difficulty adjusting to the wide receiver position? (3) Would the altitude and dry air of Provo have a severely negative impact on BC, especially the injury-plagued defensive line? (4) Would BYU star receiver Todd Watkins get past the defensive backs for big plays? I think the answer to all four questions are a resounding NO. The Eagles played well in all facets of the game. They made a few mistakes, but always rose to the occasion to make sure those mistakes didn't hurt them.

Quinton Porter was very sharp for a guy who hasn't played in a regular season game in nearly two years. He completed 77% of his passes and threw no interceptions. In fact, I don't recall anything that was even close to an INT. The only really bad pass was an overthrow of a wide open Larry Lester in the second half. He also had a crucial 12 yard scramble for a first down.

How could any BC fan not be excited about Will Blackmon's performance at wide receiver? Blackmon's 8 reception, 100 yard effort was one of the best by a BC receiver in the Tom O'Brien era. Most impressive was Blackmon's ability to get yards after the catch. Most of his 100 yards occurred after the reception. The best of the lot may have been one catch that looked like a guaranteed no gain play that Blackmon turned into a five yard gain and a first down. Ten different players caught Quinton Porter passes on Saturday. Jason Lilly hauled in four for 57 yards. Needless to say, Chris Miller is a nice weapon near the endzone.

I was a bit frustrated that BC did not run more early in the game. They seemed to be having success from the beginning but Whitworth and Callender rushed only eight times (for 41 yards) in the first half. They ran more in the second half and by the end of the game, BC was dominating the line of scrimmage. Whitworth and Callender combined for 24 rushes and 139 yards (5.8 per carry).

The defense wasn't spectacular but they did the job when they needed to. BYU kept driving into BC territory and each time, the Eagles shut them down. A few self-destructive penalties by the Cougars certainly helped BC as well. The defense bailed out the offense and special teams after both the Callender fumble and the blocked punt. Kiwanuka was not dominant but twice batted down John Beck passes. Beck completed 41 passes (out of 60) for 328 yards but the secondary did not allow too many big plays. All American candidate Todd Watkins caught only two passes for 18 yards. BYU had only 18 yards rushing. The defense needs to tackle better on passing plays, but all things considered, it was a good effort for the opener.

The special teams blundered once when they allowed a blocked punt and once when they roughed the punter, but all in all played well. BYU averaged a meager 13.7 yards on kickoff returns. Johnny Ayers averaged 43.5 per punt and Ryan Ohliger connected on both field goal attempts. Brian Toal's blocked field goal halted some BYU momentum heading into halftime and gave the Eagles a 10-0 lead (it may have been 7-3 had he not blocked the kick).

The biggest play of the game may have been Ryan Glasper's sack of John Beck late in the third quarter. BYU was inside the BC 25 driving for the tying score. Glasper's sack forced the punt. The Eagles came down and scored and never looked back.

I felt a terrible sense of Big East deja vu early in the game when the referees botched an instant replay review that should have given BC the ball following a fumble. Not long before that, the refs on the field needed instant replay to reverse an obvious incompletion that was initially ruled a BYU interception. They also may have helped BC when they gave a bad spot to BYU on a scramble by Beck.

Nothing - I mean nothing - was more surprising that the total, mindboggling incompetence of play by play announcer Paul Page. I am not kidding when I say that this was the worst play by play I have ever heard. Where did ABC find this guy? Did he win a raffle where the winner gets to announce a college football game? Page's color man Ray Bentley was mediocre at best, but compared to Page, he came off as brilliant. Here is a summary:

• Page called the BYU back "Whitworth" and a BYU defender "Jason Lilly" among other player mistakes.
• When BC scored their first touchdown, he didn't really announce that BC had scored. About five seconds after Miller crossed the goal line he mentioned the score as if it was nothing more than a three yard run in the middle of the field. It was as if he was doing something else while BC was scoring.
• Page announced that Quinton Porter was from Portland, Maine (which is true) then added that Portland is "way up there in Maine."
• He referred to BC as just "Boston" (no "College") twice.
• He repeatedly failed to mention how many yards were gained, whether the play resulted in a first down, etc.
• Page called DeJuan Tribble "Dewayne" on multiple occasions.
• Bentley announced that the BC punter Ayers had blocked the BYU punt (it was Toal).

Another thing that bothered me was the signage (it looked like a small fence of mini billboards) that was about one yard out of bounds on parts of the sideline. Do the folks at BYU think this is the arena league? One of the BC defensive backs tripped over it and a few other players nearly did. Some player is going to be severely injured if that signage is not removed.

Here is a breakdown of the BC starters by state:

    Ohio: 6
    New Jersey: 4
    Indiana: 3
    Massachusetts: 2
    New York: 2
    California, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, 
       Maine, Rhode Island, Virginia: 1 each 

September 1, 2005

There were several BC-related articles in Thursday's Boston Globe. Take a look at Mike Vega's BC at a Glance for some quick info on the Eagles. The Globe also provided ACC capsules. Vega talks about BC's optimism in a more lenthy article. Steve Conroy features Tom O'Brien in an article in the Boston Herald. Conroy goes into more depth in his BC Notebook.

Twelve college football experts made their preseason picks. Five of 12 picked BC to win the ACC Atlantic, the other seven chose Florida State. All 12, however, picked the Coastal Division winner (Miami or Virginia Tech) to win the inaugural ACC Championship Game. Here's the LINK. Every expert picked USC to play in the BCS Championship Game (Rose Bowl). The choices for their opponent were: Texas (4 votes), VA Tech (3), Miami (3), Ohio State (1) and Michigan (1).

Here's how I spent eight of my dollars

Please click on the following link to read my BC-BYU Matchup (mini preview). Let the games begin!

August 23, 2005

The preseason polls and predictions are rolling in. Boston College is ranked 22nd in both the AP and USAToday/ESPN preseason polls. Other predictions of note:

• BC is ranked #18 in the CBS Sportsline 119
• BC is ranked #14 in the CollegeFootballNews.com NCAA Poll
• BC is ranked #37 in the SI.com Poll
• BC was picked 2nd in the ACC Atlantic by Dennis Dodd of CBS Sportsline

Here is a look at the ACC by the numbers:

For what it's worth, here are my 2005 ACC predictions.

Atlantic Division

1. Boston College -- The key game of the year in the Atlantic Division is BC-Florida State on September 17th. If the Eagles beat the Seminoles, they would become the front-runner in the Atlantic. Things would be even better should the Seminoles lose the opener to Miami (yes, we do in fact have to root for Miami when they play teams from the Atlantic). BC returns more starters than any team in the ACC and I expect that they will have a much better running game than they did last season. Most experts rank BC's offensive line among the top ten in the country and Mathias Kiwanuka is on everyone's All America team. The passing game is of great concern, but I think Porter will be fine as long as the running game is clicking.



2. Florida State -- If the Noles can beat Miami and Boston College early in the season, they should cruise to the division title. However, Florida State lost half of their 2004 starters and they have big issues at quarterback so they will be very vulnerable in these two games. FSU will rely heavily on tailbacks Leon Washington and Lorenzo Booker who combined for 1,838 yards rushing and 11 TDs last year. They added another 250 in receiving yards. Linebacker Ernie Sims and free safety Pat Watkins are Preseason All-ACC selections.



3. NC State -- NC State's offense suffered last year after losing star QB Philip Rivers to the NFL. The Wolfpack don't have any offensive players that jump out at you but they should improve over last season. The 2004 Wolfpack defense was ranked #1 in the nation, but they lost all four starting defensive backs and two of three linebackers. Their strength will be the defensive line where they return all four starters including Preseason All-ACC ends Mario Williams and Manny Lawson.



4. Clemson -- There is a lot of hype surrounding Senior QB Charlie Whitehurst which is surprising considering that he completed just 50.7% of his passes with seven TDs and 17 interceptions last year. The fact that Whitehurst is the Preseason All-ACC quarterback shows how weak the conference is at that position. Tommy Bowden's team won five of its final six games last year and could be a sleeper in the ACC if Whitehurst can get it together. Cornerback Tye Hill was third in the nation last year in passes defended and had 49 tackles.



5. Wake Forest -- Wake has started the season 3-1 in each of the last two seasons, but is only 3-12 after September 25th during that time. The Deacons have a great offensive weapon in Senior running back Chris Barclay who rushed for more than 1,000 yards and caught 21 passes. Wake's best player is their punter, Ryan Plackemeier, who is the ACC's all-time punting leader.



6. Maryland -- The Terps lost 14 of 24 starters from last season which may not be a bad thing considering that they were 5-6 and finished the season 2-5. It looks like last year's starting QB, Joel Statham, has lost his job to the inexperienced Sam Hollenbach. Preseason All-ACC selection D'Qwell Jackson returns at middle linebacker.

Coastal Division

1. Virginia Tech -- Unlike Miami, Tech returns their top running back and top two receivers. However, they do not have the luxury of another year with experienced QB Bryan Randall. The Hokies will pin their ACC and National Championship hopes on the shoulders of Marcus Vick, brother of Michael, who will be in the starting role after being suspended last season. The Tech defense should be solid once again, led by DE Darryl Tapp and CB Jimmy Williams. Most important of all is the fact that the Hokies play Miami at home. That game will likely decide the division champ though Virginia will have something to say about that.



2. Miami -- The Canes lost as many games in 2004 (3) as they did in the prior three years combined. But that does not mean that Miami is a program in decline. The Canes return eight starters on defense. Offensively, they will be a team in transition after losing their quarterback, top running back and top receiver. It will help that they return four of five offensive linemen, none smaller than 6'5". Devin Hester returned four kicks (three punts and a kickoff) for TDs last season.



3. Virginia -- The Cavaliers have as much talent as anyone in the ACC but they may be a year away from competing for a division title. Virginia lost seven players to the NFL draft and will be replacing them with a very young team, especially on defense. Virginia's projected starting defense includes six sophomores and four juniors. Three sophs will likely start on defense. Inside linebacker Ahmad Brooks and kicker Connor Hughes are Preseason All-ACC selections.



4. Georgia Tech -- The Ramblin' Wreck might be considered a challenger for the title if they were in the Atlantic Division. As it stands, they have an uphill climb as they play Miami, VA Tech and Virginia all on the road. They start the season at Auburn and end the season hosting Georgia. Georgia Tech has the best returning wide receiver in the league in Sophomore Calvin Johnson who hauled in 48 passes for 837 yards and seven TDs and was named ACC Rookie of the Year. Reggie Ball (16 TD, 18 INT, 49.7% completion pct) returns at QB. MLB Gerris Wilkinson is coming off a 119 tackle season.



5. North Carolina -- The Heels, like many ACC teams, have a big question mark at quarterback where Senior Matt Baker will take over for a very effective Darian Durant. UNC ranked second in the ACC last season in total offense. Junior tailback Ronnie McGill could have a breakout season. He rushed for 419 yards (5.3 per carry) last year despite missing five games with an ankle injury. The Tar Heels had the lowest ranked defense in the ACC last season, allowing 447 yards per game. Ironically, they return eight starters on defense. It's too bad that Marvin Williams and Sean May aren't available.



6. Duke -- When does basketball season start? Let's put it this way, Duke has won fewer games in this decade than Virginia Tech, Miami, Florida State and BC won last season alone. If there is a player to watch, it is kick returner Chris Davis who was 14th in the nation last season averaging 25.8 yards per kickoff return.

ACC Championship Game

• Virginia Tech over Boston College

There are several ACC and/or BC previews now available online. Here are a few of them:

• Pat Forde's BC Preview on ESPN -- LINK
• CBS Sportsline ACC Predictions -- LINK
• CollegeFootballNews.com ACC Preview and Predictions -- LINK
• CollegeFootballNews.com BC Preview -- LINK
• SI.com ACC Preview -- LINK
• TheACC.com Media Guide including BC Preview -- LINK

From the superiority complex pile, the webmaster at NDNation.com has listed "Fredo" instead of Boston College on Notre Dame's 2007 schedule [LINK - Lower Left]. For those who don't know, Fredo was the dimwitted, weak, clearly inferior brother of Sonny and Michael in The Godfather (which is one of the 20 best movies and 20 best books of all time, by the way). Now that BC has beaten Notre Dame five times in six years, I think it is time that Notre Dame accepts that they are now playing the role of Fredo.

Here are a few more articles and links of interest:

• Pat Forde's top sleeper candidates (ESPN) -- LINK
• Forde's "What's Hot, What's Not" (several mentions of BC) -- LINK
• ACC Tiebreaker -- LINK

August 15, 2005

The Boston College Eagles will kickoff their inaugural season in the Atlantic Coast Conference on September 3rd in Provo, Utah. The game between the Eagles and BYU Cougars will get underway at about 3:30 pm Eastern Time and will be televised on ABC. BC's home opener will be played on September 10th against Army. The first ACC game in Boston College history will played on September 17th when the Florida State Seminoles visit Alumni Stadium. The game will be televised on ABC at 3:30 pm or on ESPN starting at 7:45 pm. BC-Florida State and Clemson-Miami will each take one of those two time slots.

In case you aren't familiar with the new ACC football alignment and schedule, here's the info:

• ACC football will be split into two divisions of six teams each. The Atlantic Division will include BC, Florida State, Clemson, Wake Forest, Maryland and NC State. The Coastal Division will be home to Miami, Virginia Tech, North Carolina, Duke, Virginia and Georgia Tech.



• ACC teams will play eight conference games each year. Each team will play every division rival once (a total of five games) plus a designated rival in the other division (BC's rival is Virginia Tech). That leaves two additional rotating games against teams from the other division. For example, BC plays Virginia and North Carolina from the Coastal Division this year. Next year, they will play Miami and Duke. This means that BC will play Miami twice every five years - once at home and once on the road.



• The champions of the Atlantic and Coastal divisions will play the first ever ACC Championship game on December 3rd in Jacksonville. I have not seen the division tiebreaking procedures. I will post that info as soon as I have it.

Boston College was picked to finish second in the Atlantic Division by members of the Atlantic Coast Sports Media Association. Florida State was picked to win the Atlantic and Virginia Tech was their choice to win the Coastal. BC received 24 of 91 first place votes. BC cracked the top 25 in the first USAToday poll. The Eagles are #22 - [LINK]. ACC foes Virginia Tech, Miami, Florida State and Virginia also cracked the top 25.

Boston College senior defensive end Mathias Kiwanuka was named ACC Preseason Player of the Year by the ACC news media. Kiwi is the only Eagle on the preseason All-ACC team. Virginia Tech leads the ACC with four players on the Preseason All-ACC team. Wake Forest, Miami, Florida State, Virginia and NC State each have three.

Kiwanuka and center Pat Ross were elected 2005 captains.

Instant Replay will play a role in the ACC and in many of the major conferences this season. Please click HERE to read an interview with ACC commish John Swofford and others regarding instant replay (and a couple of other items).

Apparently the world of college sports is not immune to political correctness run amok. Last week, the NCAA announced a ban of American Indian mascots during postseason tournaments. The schools with American Indian nicknames deemed "hostile and abusive" will be allowed to participate in postseason tournaments, but will not be allowed to use their team nickname in the postseason. The NCAA also plans to ban schools using Indian nicknames from hosting postseason tournaments. Florida State's situation highlights the absurdity of the NCAA's decision because the Seminole Tribe of Florida supports the school's use of the nickname and tribal images. Some of the names are understandably offensive (one team is called the Savages and another is called the Redmen), but polls show that very few Native Americans are offended by school nicknames related to actual tribes (the Illini, the Utes and the Sioux for example). This is yet another example of a few lunatics using the threat of litigation to get their way. In fact, the psychos at PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) are already attempting to convince the NCAA to place a similar ban on animal nicknames they feel are "hostile and abusive." I'm a little concerned that the NCAA will eventually deem the Eagle a "hostile" mascot. I'd hate to have to go through life as the Boston College Maroon.

I'm quite sure that if American Indian nicknames had never been used in college sports, the same people who are now claiming to be offended by Indian nicknames would instead be offended because there weren't any Indian nicknames. They would be complaining that the NCAA does not have the proper ethnic diversity and would demand that a team be named after a tribe like the Seminoles, Illini or Sioux.

Good news on the tailgating front. Beginning this fall, Boston College will be allowed to open its campus parking lots 2 1/2 hours prior to kickoff on game day. Anyone who tailgates at BC knows that extra 30 minutes will make a big difference (it would make even more sense to open three hours or more before kickoff but this is better than nothing). For more information on tailgating, parking, tickets, etc. please visit BCEagles.com or call the BC ticket office at 617-552-GOBC.

It appears that BC will also make a serious attempt to get people to their seats by kickoff (I've heard this before). The sea of empty seats at kickoff that has been so typical at BC home games is a disgrace. The extra 30 minutes of tailgating time will certainly help.

Tom Henault attended this year's BC Football Spring Game. Click on the link to read his Spring Game Report.

Signing Day turned out to be a bit of a disappointment for BC fans as blue-chipper Brian Cushing, a linebacker from New Jersey, chose USC over BC and Miami (yes, at least he isn't going to Miami). Still, the Eagles landed several outstanding players including cornerback Andre Jones and offensive tackle Pat Sheil. To take a quick look at all of the future Eagles please visit Rivals.com.