BC favored over FSU, don’t buy the hype
Source: BC favored over FSU, don’t buy the hype
It seems that the Boston College bandwagon is growing by the moment as national columnists and commentators jump on board in advance of Saturday’s “Biggest Game in Program History” against Florida State. Over at CBS Sportsline their experts are picking BC to win across the board, while the Boston Globe and plenty of other outlets are just as excited that Boston is getting an invite to sit at the college football table with the big boys.
Even Eagle fans are starting to get excited, tossing off the trademark New England melancholy and starting to believe that this is the year that Boston College bursts into the college football big time. Boston College already boasts two, big wins this season over BYU and Army. This week they are the chic pick of the week to defend home field as the Florida State Seminoles roll into town fresh off winning their first two games.
It is easy to see that the hype for this game is only going to grow larger as the weekend approaches, with the boys from College Football Gameday coming to town, the ACC commish throwing the pre-game coin toss and a national TV audience fixating on this battle between the Northeast’s best team and on of the nation’s most dominant programs. It is going to be an exciting occasion for Boston College’s players and fans as they play their first ACC game at home against the Seminoles. There is a lot to look forward to about this game, but I feel that its only fair that we have a frank discussion of the reality of this contest rather than going on speaking in hyperbole about a titanic clash of wills or some other such foolishness.
Let’s get down to the brass tacks, the facts of this game.
Fact: Boston College’s offensive line is not as huge as Bobby Ross thought it was. He was quoted this week saying that Boston College was as big an offensive line as he’d ever seen. Admittedly, having two tackles that go 6′08″ is nothing to scoff at, but across the board BC’s line actually averages out to weigh less than Miami’s, with the same average height. After watching Florida State dismantle Miami’s All-American tackle, Eric Winston, I don’t think the Noles are afraid of anyone.
Fact: Team speed will hurt the Eagles. There is no question that the Seminoles are one of the fastest teams in college, year in and year out. If this game turns into a track meet the Eagles don’t have a prayer. Florida State is faster than Boston College across the board at every position, and that speed goes two deep on the depth chart. Will Blackmon’s huge run against Army won’t be a factor against the Seminoles because FSU’s linebackers (maybe the fastest in the country) would have caught him.
Fact: Weatherford is a liability for Florida State. If Tom O’Brien has half a brain in his head, he will do his best to confuse Drew Weatherford will lots of mixed-up zone coverages and multiple personnel changes. He has to try to get inside of Weatherford’s head and make the redshirt freshman make big plays to win this game. If he can get into a chess match with Weatherford and Jeff Bowden, (even better if Weatherford gets yanked in favor of Xavier Lee) BC can hang around and score some points early off of easy picks and bad reads.
Fact: It is imperative for Boston College to score soon after the opening kick, because as we learned from FSU’s games against Miami and The Citadel, after the first half the Seminole defense is nearly bulletproof. Mickey Andrews makes the right adjustments and the second half the defense throws a shut out. If the Eagles offense comes out and does no damage for the first two quarters, eventually FSU will score some points somehow. They are too fast and too athletic to be held out of the endzone for long. It is just a matter of time before the Noles get on track and get on the board.
Fact: Florida State has been in games like this before. The list of big-time games this program has been in is as long as my arm. They aren’t going to be intimidated by the size of BC’s crowd, the veteran leaders on this team have been in games against better teams and bigger rivals in stadiums that double the capacity of Alumni Stadium. Boston College is also 2-8 against current members of the ACC (with consecutive losses to Wake Forest), now they are expected to grab the proverbial tiger by the tail and beat the the best coach in the history of college football in their inaugural league match up? Does this seem implausible to the rest of the college-football speaking world?
I say Florida State rolls into Boston with their offensive woes fixed, a revitalized running game and a defense with something to prove. I think this game (much like Virginia at home last year) shows that the Noles can get up for the big conference games. How many teams in the ACC were touted as the ones to knock FSU off of their throne? First came Georgia Tech, then Virginia, then UNC, then Clemson, then NC State, then Maryland, then Virginia again. Lately the word is that Boston College and Virginia Tech will bully the ACC’s BMOC and take Bobby Bowden’s crown away for just the third time since FSU joined the league. I’ll believe it when I see it, but I won’t see it this weekend.
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