Jeff: Usually when things are down you turn to me to show you that BC is better than you think they are and the season still has hope. Here it goes, and working backwards in our schedule:
-- Miami still has off the field issues that might end up helping BC when they meet at the end of the season.
-- Notre Dame is also 0-2.
-- N.C. State lost to Wake Forest so they're not looking as good as we might have thought.
-- Florida State looks good so far but with their one like opponent to UCF, FSU only won by 52 when UCF won by 62.
-- It took Maryland everything they had to beat Miami at home when Miami was dealing with suspensions.
-- Virginia Tech nearly lost to East Carolina (again) and their offense looks really bad so far.
-- Clemson struggled with both cupcakes they've played so far.
-- Wake Forest lost to Syracuse.
-- UMass should not be a team BC worries about no matter how bad off things get.
-- Finally, Duke is Duke of old having lost to Richmond and sitting at 0-2.
In other words, BC can still win a lot of games this season it Ramsey, Harris and Fletcher can get back on the field and play at 100 percent, right?
Brian: I'm not so sure. While all those things are true, one statistic does concern me. The fact that five of the Eagles remaining ten games are on the road, including games against Clemson, Virginia Tech, Maryland, Notre Dame and Miami. I don't think there's any doubt left that Spaz's record away from Alumni Stadium is fairly underwhelming at this point.
While Clemson struggled against Wofford, that team still has a lot of talent and lest we forget Spaz's last trip down to Death Valley. The Hokies offense doesn't seem to be clicking, but Virginia Tech has plenty of time to right the ship before the Eagles come to town, and the trip to Blacksburg two years ago was a disaster.
While Maryland struggled to put away a Miami team that was without over half its starting defense, Danny O'Brien still put up big numbers and the Eagles D has struggled to defend the forward pass. The comparison between Florida State and UCF is specious considering Charleston Southern is one of the worst programs in Division I-AA and the college football transitive property doesn't really apply there. The circumstances of the game -- early November Thursday night in Boston on short rest -- have to be more concerning to the Seminoles than the quality of opponent at this point.
Much like BC, Notre Dame's 0-2 record is a bit misleading as it's not like the Irish have played a pair of creampuffs in weeks 1 and 2. Finally, while the U may or may not be further hit with player suspensions, the fact remains that BC is a Hail Mary away from going 0-16 all-time against Miami on the road.
The opponents that I'm least worried about -- Duke, UMass, Wake Forest and N.C. State -- I wasn't all that worried about at the beginning of the season, so those program's struggles -- or play against inferior opponents, in the case of UMass -- don't give me any more comfort now than they did at the beginning of the year.
Jeff: We wouldn't be doing our readers justice if we didn't talk about Spaz being on the hot seat.
Being 0-2 is a reality that many people saw as a possibility when the schedule came out. Being 0-2 alone is not going to get Spaz fired. But when you consider that Persa did not play for Northwestern and we got beat by UCF 30-3, the seat is heating up quickly for Spaz.
The Eagles right now are facing two very real possibilities - 3 out of conference losses in one season and not making a bowl game. If both of those happen, Spaz has to go. He is not a young coach that needs a chance. If he can't win now, what are we waiting for? GDF fired Jags over off the field issues and of course TOB left on his own. This would be the first time GDF would be firing a coach for on the field performance.
Spaz would ultimately go down as GDF's only bad hire -- we hope -- and I think he might soon realize that the football program might lose a lot of what its built in the past decade if we don't right the ship. I think GDF will pull the trigger if BC loses to Notre Dame and does not make a bowl. A 4-4 in conference record in a year we play Duke should not be enough to save Spaz.
Do I think that's how BC will finish up? No. But it is a possibility and the talk of firing Spaz is something we have to engage in much sooner than I anticipated this season. A 27 point loss to an unranked Conference USA should start that type of talk. But UCF beat UGA in a bowl last season! Georgia is 0-2 right now. That's not making any BC fan feel any better.