Boston College Football: What Were We Talking About Last Year?

While some people thought the football team was really going to struggle, for the masses, last season was a shock and a huge disappointment. So, let's look at what we were talking about a year ago.

• 7/7 -- Nate Freese Named to 2011 Lou Groza Award List - Nate Freese was thought of as being one of our strengths going into the 2011 season, but unfortunately, then the Duke game happened.
• 7/12 -- What Would It Take for Spaz to get Fried - A.J. looked at who was on the hottest seats in the ACC. Butch Davis topped the list and of course he ended up not even lasting until the season opener. In the comments several people threw out different win totals that would get Spaz fired. Bud Elliott from Tomahawk Nation said 4-8 or 3-9 would do him in. Turns out it was apparently 3-9.
• 7/20 -- Does BC Have the Toughest Schedule in the Nation? - BC ranked 6th on Phil Steele's preseason list for toughest schedules in the country. In the end it didn't matter because when you lose your winnable home games, an easier schedule might not have made a difference. In the end, our schedule did not break the top 10 by anyone's measure.
• 7/31 -- Restoring Balance to the BC-Virginia Tech Series - After Boston College got demolished in a game that was over by the end of the first quarter in Blacksburg in 2009, another lopsided game in 2011 seemed more likely than not. To our surprise though, while BC was 1-5 on the season, they managed to hold the lead at halftime in Blacksburg before losing to fall to 1-6 on the year.
• 8/1 -- How Crucial Will the Maryland Game be for BC? - AJ thought the Maryland game would be pivotal entering the year given the time it fell in the schedule and the tough loss we had to them in 2010. As it turned out, the season was over for both teams by the time they played each other but at least BC won the game.
• 8/2 -- Big East Commissioner Offers Open Invitation for BC to Come Back - Well while this might have been something to consider a year ago, it is not now.
• 8/3 -- More Upside: Danny O'Brien or Chase Rettig - Given the battle between these two QBs was very lopsided in their freshman year, this comparison might have seemed like a stretch at the time. But as we've seen, nothing that we predicted during the 2011 summer played out like we expected. Chase Rettig didn't light things up last year but at least he kept his starting job and improved as the season went on. Danny O'Brien meanwhile has a very unpredictable football future now.