Boston College Football Bye Week: Weekly Kickoff

If you asked me on Friday what you would read this morning, I probably would've said a fun, quirky look at the bye week. We would preview against the "Fightin' Byes" and their futile record of never winning. I would've mentioned a couple of fun names, made up jokes about the Boston College running game and the need to pass against this week's opponent. I probably would've kept poking fun at everything.

That's why they play the games.

Colorado State did everything they needed to win on Saturday, coming away with a 24-21 win over Boston College at Alumni Stadium. We tip our hats to the Rams, wish them well on a season out in the Mountain West Conference, and move forward. We move forward with extreme trepidation, with discontent in our hearts, with unanswered questions about what went wrong. We try like hell to rationalize or figure out what went wrong. Fact of the matter is this: BC lost. It's time to move on.

I'm strictly an X's and O's kind of guy in football. You may loudly or silently agree or disagree with me. You may believe what you believe about football philosophy. It may be different from me. I don't begrudge that. What I will say is this: I look at game film, and I break it down. I look at the film and discover some of the tendencies of teams within their personnel. I don't look at the numbers as much as at who fills those numbers. It's one of those things I've been taught how to do, and I recognize everybody differs in their view on it.

So if you disagree with anything that's said, that's fine. But I ask you to look at the next couple of weeks with an open mind and not a stubborn heart. Look at this as an opportunity for Steve Addazio and his coaching staff to continue to improve this program. Many of us claimed the season would be 5-7 or 6-6. BC is currently 3-2. Is where we want to be? No. Is it where we need to be? Maybe not. Is it where we should be? I think we all agree that's not true. But is it where we were? Emphatically, no.

This is going to be a gristly week or two. We will argue and we will discuss. We will talk about what BC needs to do to fix their scheme. We'll talk about what went wrong against Colorado State and spend the next couple of weeks wondering aloud about this team's future. This is not going to be easy, and it might not even be fun for some of us. But we do it, and we move on. You're never as bad as when you're bad. You're never as good as when you're good.

Weekly Storylines (Man Movie Edition)

Under Siege. This week is not going to be fun. We're all going to tear open the bandaids and bleed out the problems with the Boston College football team. We're going to analyze and overanalyze. But there's no doubting that the loss to CSU puts a target on the Eagles. As high as we flew after the win against USC, the loss to Colorado State feels mind-numbingly painful. Everything we came to expect about this BC team went away--tough, physical football; strong tackling; stingy, stout defense; getting it going in the second half. Nobody is going to be left unturned in this, which makes everyone under siege. The kicking game, the defense, even the fans--everyone is going to be taken to task for Saturday's performance. That said, any chance to mention Gary Busey in drag is well worth it.

Universal Soldier. BC fans everywhere are looking for an alchemist's method to create the perfect athlete. We all have differing ideas of what BC should be doing on offense, should be doing on defense. One thing we're not doing is discussing the science going into it. I read comments about moving Marcus Outlow to wide receiver, about needing to throw more to a tight end, about needing do this or needing to do that. That whole "we got people" adage that our resident humble genius uses--it doesn't work. We don't have all the people we need. I think this is proving that. Remember that BC entered this season with nothing more than a bunch of chewing gum and lint for athletes. We're all forgetting about the lack of depth and talent. We're all calling for these guys to be super athletes, and we're reverse-engineering our expectations to put this team in an impossible situation. We all need to take this week to reset expectations and review our thoughts about the strengths and weaknesses of this roster.

The Expendables. One thing that really bothers me is the notion that the coaches are bad and deserve to be fired. Ryan Day's been great this season in utilizing the team's strengths on offense, devising option plays and building around Tyler Murphy and the running backs. At times, the Don Brown defense trends into the dominant area. Losses fall on the coaches, but it's not entirely their fault. They aren't without sin, and they certainly are going to make mistakes. But execution is more the problem than anything else. If your game plan works against USC and doesn't against Colorado State, is that a fault of the coach or is that a fault of the execution? Honestly, it's a little bit of both. To sit here and exclusively blame one group or the other is wrong. This loss wasn't entirely the coaching staff's fault.

Special Bonus Film - Road House. If anyone forgets, two years ago, this team was 2-10 and hapless. They had no drive, and they had no guts. In two years, they've gone to a bowl game and beaten a top 10 team. Yes, they lost to a team they probably should've beaten. Nobody is denying that. But the lesson, as always, is to keep moving forward. Pain don't hurt. This one is painful, but pain don't hurt. Steve Addazio is still our Dalton-type. This isn't going to be without bumps along the way.