Yesterday, I read this analysis over at Tomahawk Nation on BCS teams win totals over the last few seasons. It's an interesting bit of perspective on where fans want the program to be compared to how far the Seminoles still have to go to crack the sport's upper echelon of programs.
As we all know, Boston College is a .500 football program over the last three seasons. 19 up, 19 down.
I wanted to take a similar look at BC football's results over the last three seasons to see just how Eagles football has measured up. Performing a similar analysis, here is the list of BCS programs with a win total equal to BC over the last three seasons (19).
Arizona
Washington
And here is the list of BCS programs with fewer wins than BC over the last three seasons:
18 Kentucky
18 Iowa State
18 Louisville
18 Tennessee
17 Illinois
17 Syracuse
17 Ohio State
16 Purdue
15 Mississippi
15 Virginia
14 Wake Forest
13 Maryland
12 Minnesota
11 Colorado
11 Duke
10 Kansas
10 Indiana
10 Vanderbilt
7 Washington State
That's just 19 BCS programs that BC has outperformed over the last three seasons. * Eighteen, if you don't include Ohio State, who vacated all wins and losses due to playing ineligible players for the 2010 season, but still managed a 12-win season.
For comparison, here is the list of BCS programs with more wins than BC during the three seasons prior (2006-2008).
35 Florida
34 USC
34 Oklahoma
33 Ohio State
32 Texas
31 LSU
31 Virginia Tech
31 West Virginia
BCS teams with wins equal to BC from 2006-2008 (30):
Georgia
Missouri
TCU (non-AQ at the time)
Utah (non-AQ at the time)
In essence, BC football has gone from a list that, at the end of the 2008 season, accounted for the last seven BCS National Champions -- counting backwards from 2008, Florida, LSU, Florida, Texas, USC*, LSU, Ohio State -- to one that includes BCS afterthoughts Arizona, Kentucky and Iowa State. The Eagles, who ranked tied for 9th nationally in win totals by a BCS AQ conference program from 2006-08, now sit in a three-way tie for 46th in total wins from 2009-11.
46 out of 67.
The drop-off has been swift and painful, and frankly, unacceptable. Unacceptable for a program with the 29th highest winning percentage all-time (.584) among BCS AQ programs, and 35th in college football history. A program with 629 all-time wins, a Heisman Trophy winner and an undefeated and untied 11-0 team (yes, way back in 1940 ... still) and a disputed National Championship.
Caveat: Win totals are a very crude measure of the strength of a program given the variance in scheduling and not accounting for factors like strength of schedule. Admittedly, this is a very quick down and dirty comparison. So why post this at all, you might ask?
Perspective. There have been quite a few comments putting this site on blast for being too pessimistic, engaging in perceived coach bashing and painting a doom-and-gloom picture for Boston College football. That we should be patient and trust the administration and the coaching staff that this is going to work. That we need to put more work into the site, do our homework or that we're bad Eagles.
Remaining critical of the football coaching staff and demanding better for this program, however, is not pessimism. This site is simply setting a high standard for our alma mater's football program and demanding accountability and results from the leadership and the coaching staff. That's not pessimism. That's living up to the motto of our fine University, Ever to Excel.
We are all proud alumni and fans who believe this school, this program and the players deserve better. If you honestly feel that over the last three seasons, Boston College should only be better than roughly 28 percent of the schools in a BCS AQ conference, then more power to you. This site, however, will continue to demand better and we encourage you to do the same.
If, however, you have a differing opinion on the state of the Boston College football program, the beauty of this platform is that you have a voice. Just like this site's Front Page writers, you can pen your own thoughts using the FanPost feature of this site. The better entries will be placed on the Front Page, regardless of the message and whether we agree with the perspective or not.