Boston College Bye Week: Weekly Kickoff

Each week, we talk about football storylines. We break down the previous week's performance, speculate on what went right, what went wrong, and how it might impact the next week's game. Anticipation and discussion is especially thick during rivalry weeks, higher profile games, things of that nature.

Every year, though, BC plays a repeat opponent multiple times without much fanfare. It's especially impressive when you consider that they're completely undefeated against the opponent, even emerging victorious during the Frank Spaziani era. Throughout all the trials and tribulations, BC has never lost during Bye Week.

We never notice Bye Week. We never pay attention to it. We schedule items around Saturday and don't even make an attempt to get to The Heights. Heck, some of us (cough cough) are getting married during Bye Week. It's a completely different dynamic, and it's probably the one area where BC consistently excels and has never disappointed.

BC lost to Louisville in a weird game that could've been closer but could've also been a lot worse. So now they enter their second Bye Week, the final one before Florida State. Here's hoping they remain undefeated and don't look past the Byes at Florida State.

Weekly Storylines (Weird Al Yankovic Edition)

Dare To Be Stupid. Given how BC's never lost during Bye Week, I'd love to see the Eagles trot out an offense unlike anything they've seen all year. Let it all hang out and really design it up using a vibrating football board. Ryan Day's shackled this offense for too damn long, so I say let Tyler Murphy air it out! In fact, I'd have Sherm Alston come on a fly sweep, take the ball and throw a home run throw back like a flea flicker to Murphy and either let him take off or air it out to an eligible offensive lineman playing tight end. I don't see how any of this could go wrong. Or let the offensive lineman throw a pass. It worked in Varsity Blues. I'd even let Darius Wade start since he played at the end of the game, and if you remember at the beginning of the season, there was a substantial clamoring to bench Murphy after the Pitt game.

And more kicking game. We need to kick field goals and extra points AS MUCH AS HUMANLY POSSIBLE.

Let yourself go, Ryan Day. Either that or be banished to unemployment forever!

(Coincidentally, I could've held off with Dare To Be Stupid until next week and just given that to Jameis Winston. Since I'm not around for the Florida State game, prepare for me to just completely make fun of him for the majority of the week while I'm here)

Eat It. This is one of those weeks where you really have to play strong defensively. I think BC's defense will do a great job of pressuring the quarterback and even preventing the deep ball. That said, it's still up to them to make sure they're stuffing anything that tries to cross the line. They've got to stay hungry, and they've got to make sure they show some different look on defense.

I'd like to see the middle of the defensive line protect against the five yard pass and let the cornerbacks blitz a little more. I mean, we don't normally blitz at all, right? There's something to be said for blitzing more.

If it doesn't work, just fire Ryan Day.

Bonus song: Beverly Hillbillies. I completely forgot how talented Weird Al was. Maybe his shtick jumped the shark at some point, but back in the days when MTV actually showed music videos, I remember growing up listening to Weird Al parodies. Every time albums would come out, it was a thrill to wait for Weird Al to completely lampoon them. UHF remains a personal favorite movie. Doing this week totally brought me back to my childhood.

Weekly Matchup

School Name: Bye State College
Nickname: The Fightin' Byes

Founded: No records kept, so nobody knows
All-Time Record: Still better than UMass in the FBS
Claimed National Championships: 1 (USC vacated a championship in 2004 and nobody claimed it, so the Fightin' Byes decided if nobody wanted it, they had space in their trophy case for it)
Bowl Games: 0 (They believe all bowl games to be beneath them anyways, so they would absolutely refuse invitations like Notre Dame)
Posteason Record: n/a

Head Coach: No official head coach, but waiting on Jimbo Fisher becoming available after the NCAA vacates every Jameis Winston win in like four years

Head-to-Head With BC

All-Time Series (since 2005): BC leads, 20-0
Streak: BC, 20
Last BC Win: October 4, 2014
Last Byes Win: None
First Meeting: unknown, records not kept until 2005