Steve Mitchell-US PRESSWIRE

If there was any unit on Boston College football last season that picked the whole team up, it had to be the defense. Towards the end of the year, they gained some traction and made it possible again for BC to win the only sorts of games they’ve been taking the last few years: close, low-scoring contests. The Miami game to end last season was no different, as the Eagles won largely on the strength of their defense, and the ineffectiveness of Miami’s offense (especially their now-departed quarterback).

In 2012, there has been some definite turnover on the Hurricane offense. As aforementioned, Jacory Harris, former Miami quarterback whose final game in green and orange was a complete disaster, is gone. So is running back Lamar Miller, who didn’t have to go far away to play for the Dolphins. The latter will hurt the Hurricanes, but the former won’t, if the last matchup between these two teams is any indication.

Now, Miami has Stephen Morris as quarterback, and they could be better off for it. In his only start last season against Maryland in the first game of the year, Morris threw two interceptions (Jacory Harris was suspended just a few days before the season began, giving Morris relatively little time to prepare), but didn’t see much time in relief for the rest of the year. Morris was regarded to have had a great summer training camp following back surgery and definitely earned his job. The starting running back will be Mike James, who has played in every game of his first three years but only started a few.

There is quite a bit of uncertainty surrounding the Hurricanes at several key offensive positions, and not just at quarterback and running back. Former Hurricanes Tommy Streeter (WR), Travis Benjamin (WR), and Brandon Washington (OG), for example, are all gone now.

As for the Eagles, no preview of the new defense can go without mentioning someone who is no longer here: linebacker Luke Kuechly. The linebacking corps he leaves behind is still good and probably the deepest unit on the team, but there is another area of the defense which lacks it: the secondary. Cornerback Al Louis-Jean is out for several weeks, and as a result, BC has suffered a critical loss in a unit that needs the help. The Eagles’ secondary is top-heavy, with solid players Manny Asprilla and Jim Noel still active around here, but a growing amount of inexperience as one goes down the list. With depth being suspect in the backfield, the starters are going to have to (a) stay healthy at all costs and (b) raise their games. It wouldn’t hurt if BC tried blitzing, either, as the Eagles pass rush has been totally ineffective (and that’s being very charitable).

The defensive line for Boston College looks alright, with Kaleb Ramsey and Dominic Appiah up the middle and Kasim Edebali and Brian Mihalik on the edges. BC will have to work a little harder in 2012 to bring its run defense back up to par, which fell from 1st in the nation in 2010 to just 59th last season. Putting both Ramsey and Appiah at the tackles should help.

Boston College can get the better of this matchup if they get production from their key players, though it is of course too soon to know for sure. Still a toss-up, you know.

Robert Mayer-US PRESSWIRE

The weekly preview series continues on with an in-depth look at the unit matchups; this time, it’s the Boston College offense and the Miami defense. Both have seen some amount of turnover coming into 2012, and there is no data from this season to consider yet, so we’re going to have to extrapolate.

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, literally or figuratively, for the previous three years, you would know that this Eagles offense has been under intense scrutiny. Last season, BC was 112th in both total offense and scoring offense (in other words, only eight teams in FBS were worse in each category). Boston College had an extraordinary amount of difficulty scoring points, and there are a number of reasons for it. Quarterback play, offense line, extremely predictable schemes, et al. It’s nothing that hasn’t been said on this site or elsewhere a hundred times before, but here’s a chart to refresh your memory on the way things have been:

There’s no apologizing for it or sugar-coating it: this team has stunk offensively in recent years. Can new offensive coordinator Doug Martin fix it? It’s way too early to tell. I was optimistic about Kevin Rogers, but we know how that went, so exercising a little patience might be in order.

Boston College’s season comes down to Chase Rettig and whichever five guys are in front of him. The offensive line is so critical to everything this team tries to accomplish in moving the football, and anyone who has watched football for more than a few games knew that already. If those five step up, then so must Rettig. This is going to be his year to sink or swim and he needs to find a way to have more than just flashes of poise and accuracy (his O-line keeping Miami’s defensive ends out of his face would also help).

Touching on the tight end situation: when Doug Martin came to BC, there was renewed promise that he would use the tight ends as more than just blockers. Unfortunately, the top two the Eagles have, Chris Pantale and Mike Naples, are injured. BC’s depth chart here is CJ Parsons (converted DE), Dave Bowen (OL), and Liam Porter (OL). It’s doubtful that these three have a great deal of prowess catching the football, but they can block, so setting the depth chart like this is basically an admission that the tight end position is not going to be targeted in the passing game, at least not against Miami. If you want to put a positive spin on it, that will mean a sixth blocker up front who can maybe help buy Chase Rettig the time he needs.

The defense this team will face was decent last season, though they are now short a few guys. DE Olivier Vernon was drafted in the third round, as was LB Sean Spence, to name a few who are no longer on the team. Miami’s defense held up alright against the Eagles in the season finale last year, even though you wouldn’t realize it with the way the game went. Jacory Harris made his defense’s job much harder by throwing four picks and helping the Eagles to good starting field position. Then, of course, Luke Kuechly’s pick-six was the difference in the contest. Neglecting that, the Miami defense was only responsible for 17 points.

I spent a sizable chunk of my summer learning all the names on BC’s roster, not Miami’s, so not all of the names on their new depth chart are familiar to me. They are, however, starting seven upperclassmen in their defense, and some are faces we do remember. LB Denzel Perryman, for example, had 14 tackles against the Eagles in that last contest and is starting at Mike linebacker on Saturday.

This game is a toss-up right now, and not just because we can’t figure out what each team is capable of: we’re not even sure what individual units are capable of right now. The matchup between the Eagles offense and Hurricanes defense looks like it should favor Miami slightly on paper, but they’ve had some changes, and so has BC. It’s enigmatic to say the least and we’ll all find out together which is better this weekend.

Sam Sharpe-US PRESSWIRE

Yesterday, 2012 Boston College football was met by the ACC media corps with general preemptive disdain, as those gathered in Greensboro for the ACC Media Days selected the Eagles 5th in the ACC Atlantic. The full standings from first to last were Florida State, Clemson, NC State, Wake Forest, BC, and Maryland.

We are where we probably deserve to be at this stage. That does not mean Boston College is going to finish fifth; it just means that the bar is not set very high. This is a reaction by the media folk to where BC finished last year, and they’re essentially saying to us “if you’re better than this, prove it.”

If anyone is going apoplectic over these, don’t. For some historical reference, BC was picked fourth in the division last year with two first place votes and an ACC championship vote. Florida State was also crowned before the season started, and we all know how both of those turned out. The Seminoles lead the league in being hysterically overrated every year, but unfortunately for the boys in Tallahassee, you don’t get a trophy for winning the preseason. The good news for Boston College is that you also don’t have to throw up the white flag if you get picked near the basement of your conference in July.

The overall point we’re building to is this: these guys with votes can put BC wherever they want. Right now, they think we’re about the same as last year, and that’s their opinion. Based off of where we were, I can’t say I’d put us too much higher. Expectations aren’t high, and that’s a fact. It is incumbent upon the Eagles to prove them wrong.

Howard Smith-US PRESSWIRE

The 2012 NFL Draft gets underway tomorrow night at Radio City, but Luke Kuechly won’t be there. Indeed, the Boy Wonder will be at home watching the draft on his sports network of choice while waiting for his cell phone to ring. It will, that much we know, but what we don’t is who will be on the other end of the line.

We can guess, though. Who calls Kuechly, and will Donnie Fletcher or the others get one of their own?

Luke Kuechly | Linebacker

Prediction: Round 1, Pick 12: Seattle Seahawks

I went back and forth on this one. It seems fairly clear to me now that Kuechly is going to either Kansas City or Seattle, but the reason I went with the Seahawks is because defensive tackle is an area of desperate need for the Chiefs, and if Dontari Poe of Memphis is there, I suspect they will take him.

If Kansas City passes on Kuechly, Seattle will not. That is a team that does certainly need linebackers and with Luke being the best on the board, he goes no lower than #12. Some new mocks (as we will see tomorrow) have him sinking into the 20s, which would be practically insulting to me as a BC fan when he’s 7th or 8th on most big boards.

Buffalo is a wild card here, but I think they will go offense in the first round.

Donnie Fletcher | Cornerback

Prediction: Round 6, Pick 183-193

The late rounds are much more unpredictable and hard to nail down, so a ten-pick range is as narrow as you’ll get from me. Despite some full mocks taking Fletcher in the fifth round, I think he’ll sink deeper into the draft. Every now and then, it happens with late-round projected BC draft picks that they are expected to get taken but either don’t or go later than we figured. It happened last year with Mark Herzlich, who despite having special circumstances, was still considered to be a sure thing for the late rounds but he went unselected.

Fletcher had an unmemorable senior year and was spotty in the postseason exhibitions. His Senior Bowl performance was regarded as forgettable, he wasn’t invited to the Combine, and he has a recent injury history. To his credit, he reportedly performed admirably on BC’s pro day. I believe he’ll be taken, but there are teams that will pass on him and he’ll fall back.

All others

Prediction: Undrafted

Other Boston College Eagles in the draft are Max Holloway, Ifeanyi Momah, Nate Richman and Mark Spinney. The only one of those four that has gotten any attention whatsoever is Holloway, but as it stands right now, his odds are slim. As for the others, unfortunately, they will not be selected.

Tonight, #1 Boston College men’s hockey has a date with destiny.

Specifically, the encounter involves Ferris State at the 2012 National Championship Game. The winning team is the last one standing in the 2011-12 college hockey season, while the defeated gets to be the first-place loser.

To reach the title game, Boston College vanquished Air Force (2-0), Minnesota-Duluth (4-0), and Minnesota (6-1) and have won a Jerry York-best eighteen games in a row, still not having lost since their disastrous January weekend in Maine. As for Ferris State, previewed here, they defeated Denver (2-1), Cornell (2-1), and Union (3-1) to clear their path.

A more detailed comparison of Boston College and Ferris State:

Ferris State is very much a defensive team, and as their results from this tournament suggest so far, they’re more likely to win a low-scoring game with strong goaltending and blue-line play. The Bulldogs are a very good team, but the problem for them is that they are facing a team that has still managed to be better than them in every major metric available to us this season. Everything Ferris State has done, Boston College has done better. The Eagles have also managed not only to beat some excellent teams in the process, but blow them out of the water.

Still, what matters is not who has been the best of these two teams all season; if that were the question, with all due respect to Ferris State, the answer would have to be BC. The only important thing is being the better team on Saturday night.

Both of these teams are exceptional, or they wouldn’t be here. We know what Boston College brings to the table, including a Jerry York-best 17-game win streak, and we know that Minnesota is a strong offensive team that can ride big waves of momentum if they get hot.

How do these two teams compare head-to-head? See for yourself:

It is somewhat amazing that as good as Minnesota has been this year in a variety of categories, Boston College has been even better in most.

All of this adds up to an exceptional battle between two very good teams.

May the best team (BC) win.

2012 Boston College football is nowhere near around the corner — some may regard this as a bad thing; others, no — but the spring season is in full swing. On Saturday afternoon, sans Family Fun Day, the Eagles will face themselves in the 20th Annual Jay McGillis Spring Game.

The scoring is weird, the stadium will be mostly empty, and few will have any idea what’s going on, but it is still a chance to evaluate what BC has at this stage, and for whom or what fans should look when the real season comes around. A few things to watch:

Quarterback
Is Bordner the backup going forward?

I don’t believe anyone can make a serious case that Chase Rettig is not, or should not be, the starting quarterback of this team on September 1. Furthermore, there is probably nothing that will happen on Saturday, short of a truly catastrophic injury or other freak accident mustered by malevolent supernatural powers, which will cause him to lose said #1 spot.

The focus, therefore, is on the backup position. Frank Spaziani and his erstwhile offensive coordinator(s) last year became partial to Josh Bordner as Chase Rettig’s second-in-line. Thing is, they used him mostly in very, very obvious situations where he would simply take the option of running it himself. Can he throw it? We may find out.

There are other quarterbacks on the team, as Eagles fans are doubtlessly aware, and we will probably see them all. Look for Bordner, who is #2 on the spring depth chart as it is, to emerge as the probable leader in the clubhouse.

Offense
Is it really going to “open up?”

This is the million-dollar question. Doug Martin has come in to a decent amount of fanfare as BC’s new offensive coordinator, but he is also the fourth offensive coordinator in the last four years. Coaches have come and gone, and nothing really changed offensively for the Eagles. Will we see any signs of improvement?

Even if we do, maintain the perspective that it is the spring game. Boston College is playing against itself and will not see real game action for another five months. Still, even if there is more of a vertical passing game as those in spring camp have recounted, then it is possible this will already be evident.

Linebackers
What does life after Kuechly look like?

With the depth that Boston College apparently has at linebacker, it should be alright. Nevertheless, it will still be a strange sight for Eagles fans to see a defensive unit without Kuechly present.

Sean Duggan is the heir apparent at middle linebacker as he currently resides atop the two-deep. Backing him up at this position will be Nick Lifka.

Duggan is a fine player, but like being the Yankees first baseman right after Don Mattingly or the Broncos quarterback just after John Elway left, no BC player should truly be envied for having to be “the guy who has to fill Luke Kuechly’s shoes.” We may begin to see how he does as the successor on Saturday.

The spring game gets underway at 1pm Eastern. The updated forecast for zip 02467 calls for an awful wet-snowy mess.

Boston College’s next game is either going to be in about two weeks or seven months.

Two weeks sounds far preferable.

The #1 Eagles can make that possible by advancing to the Frozen Four on Sunday night; the team standing in their way is the Minnesota-Duluth Bulldogs, the defending national champions. The last two teams to hoist the trophy will face off in the Northeast Regional Final at 8pm Eastern. Boston College and Minnesota-Duluth last met on October 10, 2003 in a game which was tied, 2-2.

In semifinal action on Saturday, Boston College defeated Air Force, 2-0. Chris Kreider was responsible for both of the Eagles’ goals while Parker Milner continued his personal hot streak by pitching a shutout. The Eagles did not appear to struggle per se, but they were met by a respectable effort from their opponent; BC found a way to win in spite of the Falcons giving the Eagles their best whack.

Boston College will need to find more ways to persevere against the Bulldogs, who erased Maine in their semifinal, 5-2, and prevented a Hockey East title game rematch. Jake Hendrickson led Minnesota-Duluth on Saturday night with two goals while also getting a strong performance by, amongst others, captain Jack Connolly. The Bulldogs were able to wipe out a 2-0 Black Bears advantage and pull away at the end.

Upon a cursory glance of what Minnesota-Duluth has accomplished in their 2011-12 season, one is immediately drawn to the list of national scoring leaders. Two Bulldogs (Connolly and Travis Oleksuk) are in the top five; Connolly is second in the nation with 60 points (20 g, 40 a) while Oleksuk is tied for fourth with 53 (21 g, 32 a). On moving down the list, one will see the Bulldogs’ JT Brown (47 pts — 24 g, 23 a) before reaching the Eagles’ points leader, Kreider, with 44 (23 g, 21 a).

What works for the Eagles is that they have a very slight advantage in goal with Parker Milner. Including Saturday’s shutout win over the Falcons, Milner now has a 1.76 GAA and a .933 save percentage; the former is fifth-best in college hockey and the latter is tied for third. Minnesota-Duluth’s goalie, Kenny Reiter, has also had a very good season, but statistically not as good as Milner’s. Reiter has a 2.39 GAA and a .913 save percentage, neither of which touch the top 20 in the nation. To Reiter’s credit, however, he has played the sixth-most minutes of any player in Division I this year and has well over 900 saves under his belt, so he is not to be taken lightly.

Minnesota-Duluth and Boston College are similar in terms of goals scored per game, but the Bulldogs have the most potent offense in the nation with 3.67; the Eagles are a little behind on 3.49. By all accounts, Minnesota-Duluth is a very, very good team, but they do have one Achilles heel: the penalty kill. The Bulldogs kill off only 77.7% of opposing penalties, which puts them in the bottom-third of Division I’s 59 teams, while the Eagles burn 87.6% of penalties, good for third-best in the nation. If BC can get on the power play a few times during the contest, they may be able to do some damage.

The Bulldogs and Eagles are two strong teams and promise to compete to the best of their ability. Even if Boston College is to win, this is sure to be a difficult test against a team that just last year proved it can scale the mountain. Win or lose, it has been a tremendous season for BC, but some fun in Tampa would make it sweeter.

It begins.

#1 Boston College’s march to a national championship starts this afternoon at the DCU Center in Worcester, Massachusetts. The best team in the land did not have to go very far to get there, and will play host to the Air Force Falcons for a chance to move to the regional final on Sunday.

The Falcons enter the tournament as the champions of the Atlantic Hockey Association (AHA), having taken down RIT in the championship game one week ago. It’s not exactly a power conference, and as such, Air Force are the lowest-ranked team in the field of sixteen.

Boston College, on the other hand, are the Hockey East champions for the third-straight year and fifth year out of the last six. They streaked to their title by having won their last fifteen consecutive games, making for the longest win streak since Jerry York became Eagles coach in 1994. It is one that BC hopes it can ride from here all the way into next season, with a trophy hoisting in Tampa in between.

Air Force has won their last three games in a row and five of their last six, thanks mainly to a 4-1 winning record in the AHA Tournament. Interestingly enough, they have played games in Worcester already this season (though at Holy Cross’s Hart Center, not the DCU Center). Their road trip did not go quite so well, however, as Air Force went 0-1-1 that series against the Crusaders.

The Falcons are led by Kyle DeLaurell, who is tops on the Falcons with 38 points this season (15 g, 23 a). Air Force’s top goal-scorer is John Kruse, who notched sixteen coming into the regional semifinal. Otherwise, only Tim Kirby also has more than ten goals (12) for Air Force this season. All of this might lead one to believe that the Falcons are not a potent offensive team, but they do score 3.13 per game, which is 14th-best in the country. Boston College, for purposes of comparison, score 3.52 per game and are ranked 5th in the nation.

The Eagles top three point leaders, in order, are Chris Kreider, Johnny Gaudreau, and Barry Almeida. Kreider tops the rest of the team with 41 points (20 g, 21 a), but senior Almeida is going out with a bang, leading Boston College with 22 goals on the season. BC has gotten some big offensive production, and as such, six players (Whitney, Arnold, and Carey in addition to the aforementioned three) all have double-digit goals on the year.

Boston College will be spearheaded in-net by Parker Milner, a man who has had a personal rejuvenation, which in turn helped light a fire under his team and propel them to a massive win streak. Milner, once benched for a freshman and a longtime backup, returned to the net in late January and the Eagles have not lost since. Along with a 25-5 record, he sports a 1.82 GAA and a .931 save percentage, the latter of which is tied for sixth-best in the nation.

Air Force’s goalie will be Jason Torf, who missed quite a bit of time early in the season after suffering a groin strain. Considering that he has only started 18 games, his five shutouts are impressive. His .928 save percentage and 1.72 GAA are also quite admirable. He will give the Eagles all they can handle and try his best to keep his team in it.

Air Force is not a bad team, but there is a reason they’re #16 and BC is #1. The Eagles have the better offense, the better coach, the practically-home location, and the much hotter win streak. Boston College also has the better power play (.216; AFA: .173) and penalty kill (.875; AFA: .812), for that matter. Air Force’s goalie, Torf, will be absolutely crucial to their chances as he is the Falcons’ key strength. Nevertheless, a loss here for the Eagles would be an upset of catastrophic proportions and make the Colorado College loss look more reasonable.

Fortunately, odds are that won’t happen, but games aren’t played on paper, so you never know. This game will, however, be played on ESPNU at 4pm.

There’s no sense in trying to bring up other topics now — Jaryd Rudolph, basketball players from other schools transferring, spring sports, and so forth can all wait until the next lull in the action. None of it matters now. The 2012 NCAA Hockey Tournament begins today, and tomorrow, the Eagles’ march to a national championship gets underway. All hands on deck.

To make your life easier, this is a chronological listing of the games to be played between Friday and Sunday. Viewing information is included. Enjoy, and may we stick around longer than we did last year (a lot longer, in fact).

Friday, March 23

(1) Union vs. (4) Michigan State
East Regional Semifinal; Bridgeport, CT
3pm ET, ESPNU

(2) Ferris State vs. (3) Denver
Midwest Regional Semifinal; Green Bay, WI
5:30pm ET, ESPN3

(2) Miami-Ohio vs. (3) UMass-Lowell
East Regional Semifinal; Bridgeport, CT
Appx. 6:30pm ET, ESPNU

(1) Michigan vs. (4) Cornell
Midwest Regional Semifinal; Green Bay, WI
Appx. 9pm ET, ESPNU

Saturday, March 24

(1) North Dakota vs. (4) Western Michigan
West Regional Semifinal; St. Paul, MN
1:30pm ET, ESPN3

(1) BOSTON COLLEGE vs. (4) Air Force
Northeast Regional Semifinal; Worcester, MA
4pm ET, ESPNU

(2) Minnesota vs. (3) Boston University
West Regional Semifinal; St. Paul, MN
Appx. 5pm ET, ESPN3

Union/Michigan State vs. Miami/UMass-Lowell
East Regional Final; Bridgeport, CT
6:30pm ET, ESPNU

(2) Minnesota-Duluth vs. (3) Maine
Northeast Regional Semifinal; Worcester, MA
Appx. 7:30pm ET, ESPN3

Michigan/Cornell vs. Ferris State/Denver
Midwest Regional Final; Green Bay, WI
9pm ET, ESPNU

Sunday, March 25

North Dakota/Western Michigan vs. Minnesota/Boston University
West Regional Final; St. Paul, MN
5:30pm ET, ESPNU

BOSTON COLLEGE/Air Force vs. Minnesota-Duluth/Maine
Northeast Regional Final; Worcester, MA
8pm ET, ESPNU