What Would It Take For The BC Fanbase To Fully Embrace Frank Spaziani?
by A.J Black on Jul 13, 2011 4:30 PM EDT
in Boston College Football
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Yesterday, BCI took a critical look at this season and how disastrous it would be to fire Coach Frank Spaziani. Today we are going to look at the other side of the coin. What would it take for BC students and fans to fully embrace Spaz?
Spaz was put in a difficult position when he came here taking over after two wildly successful years under Jeff Jagodzinski. He came aboard after BC had gone to back-to-back ACC Championship Games and the program was riding a consistent level of success that had been unseen on the Heights in years. Was this setting Spaz up right from the get go? Matt Ryan was gone, B.J. Raji and Ron Brace left and Mark Herzlich lost the 2009 season to his battle with cancer. A string of QB recruits either fell on their face or transferred. Also on the coaching side, when Jags left so did his OC Steve Logan, leaving BC's offense in the hands of *gulp* Gary Tranquill. Things seemed stacked against Spaz right from the start.
The Eagles' record during Spaz's first two seasons speak for themselves. BC's record declined, their offense sputtered and attendance dwindled. But not all of this had to with the level of player talent. Rather, many fans wanted to see Spaz play with a little more, how you say it, BALLS. Spaz's conservative play calling irked fans, just open up Twitter during a game last season and you can see fans -- myself included -- fuming about punting on fourth and 1, the barrage of RB draws or Spaz's apathetic views of his teams performance.
How can this change? What will BC have to do this season for Spaz to win the trust of the BC fanbase?
For one, BC is going to have to beat a few solid ACC teams, teams like Virginia Tech, Florida State, N.C. State, Clemson, Maryland and Miami. Fans like myself want to see BC beat a solid opponent. Sure you can beat Duke, Wake Forest, and Virginia (all barely). Big deal. You are expected to win those games. We want to see the Eagles win a game against ACC contenders ... teams with a .500 record. None of these games are going to be easy, but getting embarrassed on a big stage is unacceptable. Win, Spaz, win, or I promise you this blog won't be treating you kindly.
Secondly, for the love of god beat Notre Dame. I know their fans don't view this game as a rivalry, but we do, and for many in our fanbase the BC-ND is the marquee game of the season. Spaz is 0-2 against the Irish. Beating them this year, especially in South Bend would be a great step in winning the fanbase. Students pay hundreds of dollars to go to South Bend to see BC win, not get embarrassed by the Irish. And while he's at it, beating UCF and Northwestern wouldn't hurt either.
Getting our offense up and going would be another easy way for fans to finally get behind Spaz. He no longer has Tranquill to hide behind when the offense goes out and lays an egg. Kevin Rogers has shown he can do it, now Spaz has to go out and show that maybe he can get some of that Jags/Logan offensive energy back at the Heights. The fans jump behind Spaz more if they see a huge turn around in the offense, especially the passing game, and more of an aggressive attacking game plan. And if Chase Rettig becomes a solid-good QB, with Andre Williams behind him pounding out yards, Spaz's recruiting efforts will be praised as well.
In terms of a final record, this is going to be a tough season for Coach Spaziani. If he can somehow pull of a 8-4 or 7-5 record against this schedule, he will definitely shut me up. Win a bowl game as well. How about you? What kind of season would it take for you to jump on the Frank Spaziani band wagon?
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What would it take for the BC fan base to fully embrace Frank Spaziani?
1. Win
2. Hire a publicist / interpreter for all on-field interviews, ACC coaches calls and press conferences
3. Start a Twitter account
Editor, BC Interruption
1. 9-3 record
2. Same as Brian’s #2
3. Do not Twitter and be something you are not, but do not be an idiot either, see #2
4. Shave your ’stache for charity
well, 10-3 with a final national raking (gotta win the bowl too, since we usually get slotted against a MAC/WAC team)
If we go 9-3, we are talking about Champs Sports Bowl / Sun Bowl / Belk Bowl territory for the Eagles. Two of those three bowls have Big East ties.
Bold prediction: BC plays a Big East team in the bowl this year — West Virginia, Syracuse or Pitt.
Gotta win that game. We went from massive bowl winning streak to significant bowl losing streak fairly quickly.
Editor, BC Interruption
9-3 record beating ND and having no embarrassing losses (these are losses where i question why i watch BC football. see: @NC St 2010, @Clemson and @V-Tech 2009).
Also, I would like two solid road wins (ND would obviously fall in this category along with V-Tech and Clemson. I’m not counting UCF here but that will be a tough, tough game).
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Enthusiasm
As a D.C., Spaziani was known for his enthusiasm. Once he took over, everything went flat. Last year’s game against ND was a case in point. BC came out flat at home and ND scored three tds in the first ten minutes. Jags had dynamic leadership and a lot of “smoke and mirrors”. Herzlich brought lots of fire and the team still faltered emotionally. Spaziani has to bring more emotion and enthusiasm.
Some doubts?
Does your rhetorical question suggest some doubt that BC’s defense and special teams came unprepared or unmotivated to play? Maybe they we just intimidated due to Spaz negative talk. I get the offense started slow by necessity due to intro of Rettig but why did D suck when needed most?
That was a god awful defensive effort: 193 yards, 10/16 passing, 3 TDs, passes of 37, 30, 25, 20, 18. The ND game shows just how bad the bend-don’t-defense can be when lots of little things do not go right. What was the problem with that quarter?
Oh, add to that allowing an opening 43 KO return,
Defensive letdowns
Everyone acts surprised as they lament about the defensive letdown in the Notre Dame game last season. The reality is we have one of these games every year:
Last year it was the first quarter of the Notre Dame game.
In 2009, it was Virginia Tech dropping 34 on us in the first half.
2008? Hakeem Nicks scoring 4 TDs down in Chapel Hill.
In 2007, Spaz and the D couldn’t buy a stop in an ugly, ugly loss to Maryland.
The problem is the offense has regressed to such a point where we can no longer recover from even one bad quarter from the D. In the 2007 season opener, Wake punched us in the mouth, going up 14-0 early in the first quarter. The 2008, 2009 and 2010 teams probably lose that game. But because we had Matt Ryan and a semi-competent O, we managed to crawl back, win that game en route to 11 wins that season.
I don’t blame the D for “coming out flat” against Notre Dame. Even elite defenses have off days or off quarters. It’s on the offense to pick them up when they falter, which we know hasn’t been the case the last two seasons with Tranq.
Editor, BC Interruption
Huh?
Here is what Kuechly said about ND game
“We came out flat,” said Kuechly. “We had good play calls. We just couldn’t execute on defense.”
Of course we needed to question McG and Spaz. The Team is breaking in new Frosh QB and the defense is needed more than ever, and they come out flat and spot ND 21 points. Are u kidding flat at home against ND? Spaz must have been a downer and no one thought they could win…ugly stuff
My point is the BC D can come out flat every once in a while. This isn’t anything new or a particularly profound statement.
I don’t put all the blame on the D for the Notre Dame loss. You have to look at the offense to pick the team up every once in a while, and we were starting a true freshman QB with no collegiate experience. What did we think would happen?
Editor, BC Interruption
The D played a hell of a game the week before against Virginia Tech (held the Hokies O to the second fewest points on the season) and the O put up a goose egg at home. The “writing was on the wall” for a defensive letdown, even if it was only for a quarter.
Editor, BC Interruption
I am not buying it
The defense does not get a “free pass” every so often, particularly to allow 3 TDs jn a quarter and 236 yards of offense and special team returns in ONE QUARTER
No excuses: They really sucked at the exact wrong moment . Gotta be a coaching issue. I think they might have been intimidated. That would really suck if true.
Again, you are blaming the defense, saying that they don’t get a “free pass” every so often. Then you turn around and give that very same “free pass” to the offense for an entire season.
Like I said, you can’t realistically expect even an elite defense not to have a letdown at some point. The problem is compounded by the fact that the offense and special teams units can no longer make up for any defensive letdown.
Anyway, I’d rather the D have a momentary lapse against ND or another non-conference opponent as opposed to during ACC play, as they did the three years previously.
Editor, BC Interruption
by Brian Favat on Jul 14, 2011 10:02 AM EDT up reply actions
I did?
you turn around and give that very same "free pass" to the offense for an entire season
Not me bro. Coming to work prepared — whether it be at game time in sports, at schools, in business or elsewhere – is a given in my view.
Just think you are barking up the wrong tree
The defense is rarely the problem and in the few cases it is, the other two units are a much bigger problem / liability.
Editor, BC Interruption
by Brian Favat on Jul 14, 2011 10:49 AM EDT up reply actions
the defense is out bedrock. we should expect excellent paly evry game b/c the other two units are very shaky.
So now we are talking in circles!
It is not the critic who counts; The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; and if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.
Blame the offense, not the defense
I’ll agree that the defense “came out flat” against the Irish in the first quarter, but I’m not putting the Notre Dame loss on the defense. The blame is in the wrong place.
You would come out flat too if your offense went three-and-out on its first three possessions for -9 yards.
We had 18 offensive possessions in the ND game, 10 of those were 3-and-outs (combined yardage on those drives? 11 yards, or 0.37 per play). Other than Rettig-to-Swigert for the 58 yard TD, we did jack on offense.
Our workhorse running back averaged 1.9 yards per carry and gained just 28 yards. We had net 5 yards rushing on the day.
Blame the “anemic” offense, not the defense (who kept us in the game for 3/4 of the game).
Editor, BC Interruption
by Brian Favat on Jul 14, 2011 11:44 AM EDT up reply actions
My rhetorical question relates to the fact I believe each of the last 2-3 comments from JBQ have made mention of this game.
“Last year’s game against ND was a case in point. BC came out flat at home and ND scored three tds in the first ten minutes.”
“Last year’s ND game was a warning shot. The team came out flat at home against their biggest rival. Three tds in the first 10 minutes.”
Semper Fi.
Editor, BC Interruption
Embrace Spaz
1) Spend a season giving just as much airtime to BC’s strengths as to our weaknesses
2) Beat a ranked team on the road
3) Do not lose a game by more than 14
4) Win 9+ games
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