A Stretch Of Three ACC Road Contests Crucial To Eagles' 2011 Success

We plan on playing a bit of catch up in our 2011 BC opponent previews. For the next week or so, we'll take a look at the Clemson, Virginia Tech and Maryland stretch of road games.

This year's schedule has a bit of an odd scheduling quirk, with the Eagles hitting the road for three straight conference games from October 8 to 29. I say odd because BC rarely goes on the road for three straight games against anyone, let alone in conference play. In fact, this scenario where the Eagles hit the road for three straight regular season games has happened just twice in the last 20 years.

In 1992, the Eagles faced West Virginia, Penn State and Tulane all on the road in a stretch between October 3 and October 24 of that year. BC went 2-0-1, knocking off Penn State and Tulane and tying West Virginia. Ten years later, BC hit the road for three straight in 2002, facing Pittsburgh, Notre Dame and West Virginia. The Eagles won just one of those games but it was a big one -- a 14-7 victory over 4th ranked Notre Dame.

The Eagles have never gone on the road for three straight either as a member of a football conference (Big East or ACC), so this Clemson-bye-Virginia Tech-Maryland stretch will be a first for the Eagles.

BC has always been a very strong home team in the ACC since joining the conference, compiling a home ACC record of 17-7 in conference play and outscoring opponents 619 to 482.

In contrast, the Eagles have struggled much more on the road, going just 13-11 in six seasons and getting outscored 539-478. The yearly point differentials paint an even more grim picture. BC has been outscored on the road in ACC play in every year in the conference with the exception of 2007 (outscoring Georgia Tech, Virginia Tech, Maryland and Clemson 93-79 that year). In each of the other five years, BC has been outscored on the road (PF-PA-Delta):

2005: 71-75 (-4)
2006: 67-74 (-7)
2007: 93-79 (14)
2008: 113-114 (-1)
2009: 54-100 (-46)
2010: 80-97 (-17)

With an extremely difficult conference road sched of Clemson, Virginia Tech, Maryland and Miami, this stretch of three straight October road contests will be crucial to the Eagles' success in 2011. Hopefully BC can reverse this trend and put some points on the board in these games. Otherwise, it might be another long roller coaster type of a season for Spaziani and the Eagles.

After the jump, a look at the Boston College ACC conference point totals from 2005-2010.

Boston College Football ACC Contests Points, 2005-2010