Already a must win situation for BC
(An outsiders musings about what's going on at Boston College aka The Heights)
In the grand scheme of things, Boston College's opening game of the season in Dublin, Ireland against Georgia Tech is a mere footnote: a season opening Atlantic Coast Conference game between a pair of teams who were 3-9 last season.
For Boston College, it might be the most important regular season game since facing Syracuse in 2004 when a win would have given BC a spot in the Fiesta Bowl. The Eagles, playing their final game in the Big East, went belly up in a 43-17 home loss and wound up playing in the Continental Tire Bowl in Charlotte against North Carolina.
No BCS bowl slot is at stake in Ireland, but in terms of direction of the program under fourth year coach Steve Addazio, beating Tech is crucial.[membership level="0"] The rest of this article is available to subscribers only - to become a subscriber click here.[/membership] [membership]
Here's why: BC has not won an ACC football game sine November of 2014. It hasn't won an ACC game in football or basketball since March of 2014. The 0-26 ACC streak needs to be discarded sooner rather than later.
The problem is that after Tech, the Eagles next two ACC games are on the road against Virginia Tech and at home against Clemson. The Eagles will not be favored in either of those games.
Addazio has gone through summer camp with a revamped coaching staff and a focus which suggests that he understands BC football is at a cross roads. So his career at The Heights.
There are also other rumblings at BC which suggests something could happen, going right from the future of Addazio and athletic director Brad Bates to BC President Father William Leahy. Chatter on campus hints Bates, in the final year of his contract could be gone by next June.
There has also been speculation that Father Leahy may be headed towards retirement.
Addazio and men's basketball coach Jim Christian, coming off an 0-18 ACC season and in the third year of his contract, are not dealing from a position of power, although there was some head scratching when BC announced that Christian had been given a year's extension on a contract which still had 3 seasons remaining.
But at BC nothing seems too strange.
The lynch pin in this is Father Leahy, who just finished his 20th year at BC. The first part of his tenure, BC athletics went well and even thrived as the Eagles went from the Big East to the ACC and competed for conference and even national championships (for a few weeks at least) in football and basketball, which are the two bench marks that determine academic success.
For the past several years, however, BC athletics have tumbled from good to bad to mediocre, with the Eagles falling into the dreaded irrelevant category.
A group of younger and more vocal BC boosters and backers are getting more impatient and feel that a change--from the top on down--could be the best solution.
How, this plays out at BC is anyone's guess since the BC method is to mask such moves if possible, so a Father Leahy farewell tour into retirement might be part of the game plan. But then again, he might stay at BC for another 10 years.
At Boston College, there are no sure things.
But what seems more certain is the way the BC season could turn with a win-or a loss.
Beat Georgia Tech, and games against UMass, Virginia Tech, Wagner and Buffalo could morph into a 4-1 start, which would put the Eagles only 2 wins away from the six win bowl eligible status.
But a loss to Georgia Tech has a more ominous feeling. The ACC losing streak will be extended. The Eagles will be coming off a tough defeat and a long trip home and could face a UMass team that can make its season by beating the Eagles.
Add that with a potential road loss at Virginia Tech and you have an 0-3 start that could make the rest of the season a scramble in terms of both W's and the leadership roles in BC athletics.
So if you are a BC fan, enjoy the final lazy crazy days of summer.
Starting next Saturday in a ""home"" game 3,000 miles from The Heights, BC will begin another journey in what could be much more turbulent conditions.[/membership]