You might not have noticed, but what was once a solid college football program (and what used to be the only Division 1 squad in New England) has become the biggest mess in Boston sports this side of the Red Sox and Revolution.
Boston College enters its fourth season under head coach Frank Spaziani (19-19 career record) and they have gotten progressively worse each year: 8-5 in 2009, 7-6 in 2010 and 4-8 in 2012. Most would say he is on the hot seat entering 2012, but that would imply that most people actually care.
It wasn’t always this way for the Eagles, this is the same team in recent years that has produced quality NFL players like Matt Hasselbeck, Dan Koppen, Matt Ryan, B.J. Raji, Mark Herzlich and Luke Kuechly. BC begins this season on Saturday (3:30 p.m., ABC) at Alumni Stadium, where ironically enough they host another team that is a shell of its former self, the Miami Hurricanes, albeit for different reasons (shady dealings with boosters).
BC’s move to the Atlantic Coast Conference in 2005 paid off immediately since the ACC is a better football league than the Big East (their old home). But the Eagles likely have no chance these days to compete with Florida State, Clemson, Georgia Tech, Virginia Tech and North Carolina State (who are all ranked in the preseason Top 25) on a consistent basis.
Don’t fret though, the Eagles won’t go winless in 2012 since they have padded their non-conference schedule with Maine (Sept.8 at Chestnut Hill) and at Army (Oct. 6). Still, it promises to be another long and mostly miserable season at the Heights since junior quarterback Chase Rettig has precious few weapons around him. Running back Montel Harris, the record-setting focal point of BC’s offense when he was healthy, transferred to Temple and Kuechly skipped his senior year to be a first-round pick last spring by the Carolina Panthers. It’s tough to blame Spaziani when you see the lack of talent on this team, but then you remember that he recruited them and helped put this disaster together.
Some good news for the Superfans is that three of BC’s best games are at home this season: Sept. 29 vs. Clemson, Nov. 10 vs. Notre Dame and November 17 vs. Virginia Tech. Showing how irrelevant the rest of the country thinks the Eagles have become, only four of their 12 games will be nationally broadcast and not a single one after Army.
2012 Boston College football schedule
Miami Saturday, 9/1 3:30 p.m., ABC/ESPN2
Maine Saturday, 9/8 1 p.m., ESPN3
at Northwestern Saturday, 9/15 3:30 p.m., Big Ten Net
Clemson Saturday, 9/29 TBA – time, TV
at Army Saturday, 10/6 noon, CBS Sports Network
at Florida State Saturday, 10/13 TBA – time, TV
at Georgia Tech Saturday, 10/20 TBA – time, TV
Maryland Saturday, 10/27 TBA – time, TV
at Wake Forest Saturday, 11/3 TBA – time, TV
Notre Dame Saturday, 11/10 TBA – time, TV
Virginia Tech Saturday, 11/17 TBA – time, TV
at NC State Saturday, 11/24 TBA – time, TV
