Looking Ahead To UMass
by eagle2411 on Sep 18, 2011 9:48 PM EDT
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PrintI was at the Umass-URI game last night, and I have some thoughts to share.
1. UMass QB Pagel is clearly still learning, he had a bunch of obvious miscomms with receivers and he threw two picks, but he is a tremendous physical talent. He threw for 66% and 270 in his first start. The kid is no joke.
2. UMass RB Hernandez could dominate. BC's defense is flat-out weak in every respect except for ILB, and Hernandez is an outside oriented guy.
3. IF Harris doesn't play (with Spaz considering a red-shirt season for MH this seems to be a deffinite) UMass CAN win this game.
4. Northwestern without its star QB, UCF, and Duke are easily in the bottom 20% of the FBS. UMass is a top 15 team in the FCS. What makes you guys think we are so very insulated from being beaten? We had all best ditch our cockiness pretty dang fast here.
The last time we played the Zoo we had arguably the greatest BC team ever under a guy named Matt Ryan and we still won by just 10. And yes, I do care about the UMass-BC thing, as we all damn well should! The Zoo is a sleeping giant! BCI seems to think that we will be sharing the spotlight with them when they make the jump to FBS. What tremendous luster does BC football have right now? We're a generally disliked private school with almost no history of football success save for one pass! We NEED to be playing UMass EVERY YEAR for the sake of retaining fans!
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BC-UMass
We don’t need to play UMass every year in order to retain fans. UMass needs BC way more than BC needs them.
Editor, BC Interruption
No?
You’re right. We need to BEAT UMass every year to retain fans.
1. In virtually every state the populace favors the public school over the private. BC is a generally disliked private institution, while UMass is the flagship state school of the commonwealth.
2. UMass clearly has the advantage in venue, which will likely pull many of the casual fans away from BC and into Gillette.
3. The loyalty of non-alum BC fans is born of BC being the de facto home team. There is no long standing legacy of success that draws the masses to the heights.
BC will obviously always have its students and its alum, but its only a matter of time before UMass wins the hearts and minds of the rest of the state.
UMass isn’t winning the hearts and minds of anyone playing a MAC schedule of Bowling Green, Akron, directional Michigans, Temple, Buffalo and Toledo.
Editor, BC Interruption
by Brian Favat on Sep 18, 2011 10:46 PM EDT up reply actions
No history of football success save for one pass?
Boston College is the fourth winningest private school in college football history behind only Notre Dame, USC and Miami. C’mon.
Editor, BC Interruption
Projection?
Did you miss how much media love UMass got for making the jump alone? They haven’t played a D1A snap yet and the media is buzzing at the prospect of UMass at Gillette. 33k went to the Colonial Clash last year to see UM play UNH for chrissakes! What do you think will happen when the big boys of the Big 10 come to town?
Don’t kid yourself. Success on the FBS level can be measured in nothing less than BCS bowl bids and National Championships.
I think you’ll find UMass is going to have a hard time bringing the “big boys” of the Big Ten to Gillette. The Big Ten is moving to a nine-game conference schedule. So too is the ACC in all likelihood. UMass has scheduled Indiana and Vanderbilt. Not exactly college football heavyweights.
The Colonial Clash was a one time event. I’d like to see UMass draw 33k for a game against Ohio, Miami (Ohio) and Northern Illinois.
UMass’ attendance at the Razor will be more in line with Temple’s at the Linc.
Editor, BC Interruption
You are right mostly
Obviously all of us diehards are scared about attendance for MAC conference games, who wouldn’t be? I also don’t think you will see top 25 teams coming to Gillette anytime soon, especially ones with stadiums larger than 68,000. UMass will probably schedule non-conference like BC does with decent teams like Northwestern that have large alumni bases in Boston but don’t want to play at BC.
My attendance success metric is seeing how close we can get to what you draw.
By the way, we definitely don’t NEED to play BC. Yes rivalries are good but personally I’d rather play a school in a recruiting hotbed.
By the way why does the UMass/BC rivalry always get shit on when BC gets crushed by Miami every year?
by Go Minutemen on Sep 19, 2011 10:00 AM EDT up reply actions
“Yes rivalries are good but personally I’d rather play a school in a recruiting hotbed.”
This is why BC doesn’t need UMass. There’s no incentive to playing a road non-conference game in your own backyard when you can go out and play a MAC team from Ohio, Michigan or Illinois, or play at Notre Dame, Northwestern or USC, which helps with recruiting.
The UMass/BC rivalry gets shit on because we have no football rivalry. We have a rivalry in every other sport, but not football. The two programs have played all of two times since 1982.
Editor, BC Interruption
by Brian Favat on Sep 19, 2011 10:08 AM EDT up reply actions
Every other sports … well besides hockey, too, which has been more than lopsided in BC’s favor.
Editor, BC Interruption
by Brian Favat on Sep 19, 2011 10:08 AM EDT up reply actions
This is who I am as a fan.
I am critical. I love BC, but if we don’t make radical changes in the football program UMass will inevitably take us over.
And I noticed you seemed entirely unconcerned by the Zoo in the Holy Cross post. Are you still complacent? Whats your prediction for this week?
if we don’t make radical changes in the football program UMass will inevitably take us ove
Sorry, nice post, but I have to disagree. They are playing in the MAC conference, people around here don’t care about college football, and they will even less when they are playing Buffalo and Toledo. BC is always going to be the premier college sports program here in New England. UMass isn’t even in BC’s rearview at this time.
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Well except for UConn Basketball
But we shall see how that program evolves after Jim Calhoun retires.
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Line?
Anyone have a line? I’m guessing BC -7. Richmond beat Duke… UMass beating BC is certainly a scary possibility. If it is 10+, the smart play is the Minutemen.
I might be stating the obvious here, but BC is bad… really really really bad. Truth be told, BC would be in the middle of the pack in the MAC. They would be underdogs to Toledo, Northern Illinois, Western Michigan, Ohio and Temple. Toledo would be a double digit favorite.
Wrong About UCF
Hicup against FIU or FAU or whoever the hell they played. Trust me though, this is not at all a bad team. certainly much better than Duke. Don’t know about Northwestern. They’ll get to a bowl game of some sort. Don’t get me wrong, though. BC still sucks big time.
UCF
I agree, I was very surprised to see UCF lose to FIU. It was FIU homecoming, but I was still very surprised. FIU snuck past a pretty bad Louisville team the week before, I would’ve guessed UCF big… but that’s why they play the games. Let’s not kid ourselves, Northwestern is NOT good. They lost to Army last week, a middle tier team from the aformentioned MAC. I’m not a huge Sagarin guy, but he has Northwestern #94 and BC #118. With all that said, I’ve actually flip-flopped. I haven’t seen much of UMass, but it looks like their defense gives up some points. I think BC will come out fired up knowing that starting the season 0-4 by losing to a FCS team would be a new low. I like BC by 2 scores.
FIU
FIU will probably only lose 1-2 games this year, but “legit” may be a stretch. They play in the Sun Belt… a conference that is actually rated below the CAA (FCS).
Disagree. Sagarin currently has FIU rated 47. FIU could easily run the table this year – will likely beat Duke and Akron to finish 4-0 in non-conference play.
If FIU isn’t “legit” this year, then UCF wasn’t “legit” last year.
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