BCI 2013 End Of The Year Awards: Do Over Moment

Today's poll asks the question "if there was a moment in 2013 you could hit the redo button" on, what would it be? For some sports like baseball/basketball/hockey it's hard to pick game moments because it happens so quickly. But for football, and administration wise there are moments you might want to redo. Let's take a look at what our editors selected today.

At Syracuse: The Missed Fumble

Late fourth quarter, Syracuse driving with under 2 minutes to go. On 1st and 10 from the BC 33, Orange QB Terrell Hunt rushes for 8 yards but fumbles the ball. There's a scrum for the ball but it's ultimately recovered by SU's Macky MacPherson. The Eagles pounce on the ball there, the game is over. BC reaches the 8-win mark in Addazio's first season on the Heights and subsequently denies Syracuse bowl-eligibility. BC's senior running back Andre Williams also garners more Heisman love (playing on an 8-4 team) and finishes second in the Heisman voting to Winston. - Brian Favat

BC Football At USC, 4th Down Play

Boston College at USC - 4th and 1 from the USC 47 - early 3rd Quarter

Boston College was 2-0 and riding an emotional high when they traveled to the LA Coliseum to take on USC. BC had knocked off Villanova and then put together a really solid effort against Wake Forest that had the masses thinking upset. The Trojans on the other hand, were in free fall, beating a bad Hawaii team to open the season before being shocked by Washington State at home. The Wazzu loss had put Lane Kiffin squarely on the hot seat.

BC struggled though against the SC defense and went into halftime behind 14-0, missing a golden opportunity to recover a fumble at the USC 3 with 1:50 left in the half.

Now taking over at their own 15 with 11:21 to go in the third quarter, the Eagles marched 9 plays and 37 yards to the USC 47 where the Dazzler faced 4th and 1. A first down here leading to a score and BC is right back in the game. BC goes with a tight formation and the offensive line can't hold up as Andre Williams is dropped for a yard loss on a run straight into the line.

Four plays later, USC is in the end zone courtesy of a 30 yard Tre Madden TD run and school is out.

The Eagles get smoked 35-7 and take a step backwards in the rebuilding process.

Not saying that BC would have won that day, but I would definitely have liked a mulligan on that call. It did serve to tell us though what the rest of the year would hold from a strategy perspective, that the Dazzler was going to pound the rock and damn if he cared that you knew it was coming. - CoachJF

Handling Of The New Eagle Mascot

When the athletic department brought back the live eagle for football games and public representation, we all pretty much watched fans' heads explode. On the list of initiatives taken by Brad Bates and the Eagle upper administration, this ranked somewhere in the stratosphere of awesome. We were so elated to have the new bird, and watching his majestic wings spread on the field in that first appearance was as amazing as humanly possible. BC announced a campaign to come up with a name. They came up with several finalists, including Welles, after Welles Remy Crowther; Margo, after the school colors MARoon and GOld; Ignatius, after St. Ignatius.

And almost immediately after the campaign was announced, everything imaginable to screw it up happened. PETA protested having a live eagle at the games in the press, which makes total sense when Texas has a live longhorn bull and Auburn has an eagle in stadiums twice the size of BC. BC moved the naming from the Florida State game to the Army game, then promptly had to delay it again because of the government shutdown (which threatened the Army game itself). And by the time the BAMF was named, he was relegated to a pregame act and nary was seen on the field before games or on the Jumbotron again. As hot as he came in, that's how quickly the novelty flamed out - not because we wanted it to but because that's what simply happened

We all kind of watched this with a sense of bewilderment. In the court of public relations, BC's new regime had managed to do so much to enhance the gameday experience that it seemed ludicrous that they'd foul up something to the point it would become something of a sideshow joke. Yet that's what happened. By the time the bird was finally named Welles, the luster of naming it was slightly diminished. There was no pomp, and there was no circumstance. We didn't even know it was going to be announced until it happened. There was only an announcement with several members of Welles Remy Crowther's family on the field waving

If given the chance, the marketing folks over at The Heights would almost assuredly like a do over. - Dan Rubin

BC Basketball: Defensive Scheming This Offseason

I don't know what Steve Donahue focused on this off season, but it certainly wasn't defense. BC's offense at the beginning of the season was solid, averaging in the top half of the league in terms of points. But my god the defense was awful, and BC's inability to stop anyone driving the lane has been nauseating. My do over moment would be the BC basketball offseason, maybe Donahue and Co should have spent a little bit more time focusing on adjusting to the new hand check rule, being more physical on defense, and preventing easy buckets. Maybe if that happened, BC would have pulled off some of the closer losses (UConn/PC) and prevented the more embarrassing blow outs (UMass/Harvard) from being so bad. If that happens, and BC is competing, are we still calling for Donahue's job? - AJ Black