Twelve Boston College Eagles Predictions For 2012

Building on Eagle in Atlanta's recent Predictions for 2012 post, I figured I'd add my thoughts on what 2012 has in store for the Boston College Eagles. Here are 12 predictions for the Eagles in 2012. Leave your own in the comments section.

1. Men's basketball will win multiple ACC games. Though guessing which ones is a little more difficult. I think the Eagles can split with Wake Forest and surprise a team in the upper half of the final regular season standings (non-Duke, Carolina). Say, Virginia or Florida State. As a reminder, no ACC program has ever gone 0-16 in a season. I don't think BC becomes the first.

2. Men's basketball will win an ACC Tournament game. I agree with ATL here. I think BC can win at least one game in the ACC Tournament, pulling an upset in the 5 vs. 12 or 6 vs. 11 game. Outside of the top 3-4 teams in the conference this year, there really isn't a program that BC can't beat in a single-elimination tournament.

3. One (or more) of the freshmen will end up transferring. With a freshman class as large as this year's, there's bound to be some attrition. I think we'll see one or possibly two of the current roster players transfer out of the program to a mid major where they can get more PT.

4. Boston College hockey will win the Beanpot. The Eagles will win the tournament for the third straight year, and fourth time in five years. But it certainly won't come easy. BC will knock off Northeastern in the opener and win a close one over Boston University in the Beanpot final.

5. The Eagles will win Hockey East, again. This year's hockey team is far from perfect, but I think York will have the boys playing well for the late season stretch run. Hockey East also seems to be going through a down year, with Maine and New Hampshire stuck in the middle of the league standings. BC defeats Merrimack for the second straight year to win the program's third straight HEA title (and sixth in the last eight seasons).

6. Boston College advances to the Frozen Four in Tampa. For winning Hockey East, the Eagles will be rewarded with a No. 1 seed and a trip down the Mass Pike to the DCU Center in Worcester. York and the Eagles extend their near-perfect NCAA Tournament record in Worcester to 9-1 by advancing out of the Northeast Regional and making the program's 23rd Frozen Four appearance.

7. Boston College will double its ACC championship win total in 2012. As Rick Pitino loves to point out, the Eagles have won just one ACC championship since joining the conference in 2004. The Eagles will double the conference championship count by taking home an ACC title in one of the fall sports. One of men's soccer, women's soccer or field hockey will break through and win a conference title in 2012.

8. Montel Harris will break the ACC's all-time career rushing record. Harris will return to school to break the ACC's career rushing record held by N.C. State's Ted Brown (4,602 from 1975-78). Montel needs 868 yards to surpass Brown's career mark. However, since Harris returns to a more crowded backfield in 2012, it will likely come down to one of the Eagles' final games of the season.

9. Boston College will be bowl eligible. Superfans will be rewarded with a 6-6 football season and a trip to Washington D.C / the Military Bowl. However, the Eagles will push their bowl game losing streak to four games, falling to Conference USA's East Carolina.

10. Spaziani will be retained for the 2013 season. The offense will be improved (though it can't get much worse) and Spaz is able to parlay a 6-6 season to another year on the Heights. Though the calls for Spaz to be fired will not let up throughout the year, and Spaz will continue to coach from the proverbial hot seat for all of next season.

11. Football per-game attendance will rebound, but season tickets will be way down. The Eagles are almost certain to improve on their 35,709 per-game average in 2011, simply because the Notre Dame game is guaranteed to sell out Alumni. But Gene and Spaz have pissed off enough loyal season ticket holders that we'll see season ticket sales and parking pass sales plummet in 2012. Season ticket holders have zero incentive to renew next season when they can get deeply discounted tickets to any non-Notre Dame home game on the secondary market. Years of DBS seating policies and dumping tickets on GroupOn and the secondary market finally catch up to BC football in 2012.

12. Syracuse and Pittsburgh will get out of the Big East in time for 2013. The Big East, Syracuse and Pittsburgh successfully broker a deal to allow both programs to join the ACC by the 2013-14 season. That's a great thing for BC, who needs Syracuse and Pitt to join the conference ASAP to make our football program look decent in comparison.