Good teams find ways to win, and when you’re #1 in the country, the general consensus is that you’re good. Therefore, it is not surprising when that team finds a way.

Boston College did just that on Sunday afternoon against the Massachusetts Minutemen. The #1 Eagles defeated the visiting Minutemen, 3-2, on a third-period comeback. With the win, BC is 6-1 in both overall record and Hockey East play. It is the Eagles’ sixth win in a row, keeping them atop the conference. This is also the second time in two games between BC and UMass this season in which the Eagles have come back from a third-period deficit to win. Dating back to last season, Boston College has now won 25 of their last 26 games.

The Eagles were first to find the back of the net, and very early in the game at that. Just 1:23 into the first period, after Joel Hanley of UMass went to the box for hooking, Bill Arnold scored his third goal of the year on the power play, giving BC a 1-0 lead (assisted by Wey and Doherty). Boston College made that lead hold up for about nine minutes, but the Minutemen scored the equalizer just five seconds into a Patrick Wey slashing penalty. Steven Guzzo had the quick goal, his second of the year, tying the game at 1-1 (assisted by Hanley and Gracel).

Neither team scored in the second period, but the third featured the most excitement. At 1:42 into the final frame, Troy Power scored his first goal of the year (unassisted) to put UMass ahead, 2-1. The goal was reviewed but upheld, putting the home team in another late hole against the Minutemen. In the first meeting between these two teams, it was Johnny Gaudreau and Pat Mullane who led the comeback, but on Sunday, a few unsung heroes got the job done.

The first of those was star recruit Michael Matheson, who scored his first collegiate goal with 10:47 to go in regulation, tying the game, 2-2 (assisted by Whitney and Gaudreau). After some more steady offensive pressure from the Eagles and some great saves by goalie Parker Milner, Boston College broke through for good thanks to Patrick Brown. The fourth-line forward notched his first goal of the season, which could not have come at a better time: with 3:37 to go in the game. This gave the Eagles a 3-2 lead that they would not relinquish (assisted by Wey).

Things are going well from your hockey team when you can not only come back from third-period deficits, but do it with freshmen and fourth-liners coming up with the big goals. While we credit Matheson and Brown for their scores, it must also go to Parker Milner for holding UMass at just two goals on 31 shots. By that logic, UMass goalie Kevin Boyle also had a solid game with 28 saves, but he ultimately broke last.

Very few penalties were called in this contest, as each team was only hit with two. Both the Eagles and Minutemen scored on one of their two power plays.

The Eagles stay on their roll, and will look to stretch their win streak to seven against Notre Dame on Friday night.

It may keep getting worse before it gets better.

On Saturday afternoon in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, the Boston College Eagles fell to the Wake Forest Demon Deacons, 28-14. The loss drops the Eagles to 2-7, officially eliminating them from bowl contention for the second consecutive season with just three games left to play.

To open the game, it was all Wake Forest, who jumped out to a 14-0 lead in the first quarter on two touchdown passes from Tanner Price to Michael Campanaro. Late in the second, Boston College answered with a 16-yard touchdown pass from Chase Rettig to Alex Amidon. The problem is that the Eagles did what they normally do: allow points before the half. Rettig fumbled deep in BC territory, and Wake cashed in for a 21-7 lead with less than a minute to go in the second quarter.

Boston College opened the second half with a chance, going 67 yards in less than a minute on their second drive of the third quarter to score a touchdown on a trick play (Bobby Swigert touchdown pass to Chris Pantale). They appeared to have gained some further momentum after an interception of Tanner Price, but that was forfeited after a rare field goal miss by Nate Freese.

The Demon Deacons then took the resulting possession 74 yards for a touchdown, and that was a 28-14 lead that Wake would not relinquish. Neither team scored in the fourth quarter.

After finally giving up fewer than 400 yards against an FBS team last week against Maryland, the Eagles allowed 409 to the Demon Deacons. The most damning statistic, however, was Wake going 13-for-22 on third down conversions, with 13 tying the school record in a single game. Wake Forest’s offense held the ball for almost 35 minutes.

Boston College lost in part because they were -3 in turnovers, with BC losing four and gaining just one. Chase Rettig was on the hook for all of them (three interceptions, one fumble), as the quarterback is now up to 8 interceptions on the season.

The Eagles’ offense continued to struggle on third downs, going just 4-for-12 and rushing for only a total of 12 yards. Andre Williams was injured during the game, but despite having no veteran running backs remaining, Frank Spaziani refused to play the player he insisted was not in the doghouse, Rolandan Finch.

As in weeks past this season, BC remained largely unable to make tackles and could not establish any sort of rhythm. This game should have been a toss-up, but when one boils away everything else, Jim Grobe’s team was ready to play and Frank Spaziani’s was not. The Eagles had more than enough opportunities to make a real contest out of it, but whenever Boston College was in position to change the game, they made a mistake. That is why the Eagles are 2-7, because as the saying goes, bad teams find ways to lose.  After halftime, outside of a brief time in the third quarter, it never truly felt like the Eagles were in the game.

Now that the 2012 season is officially shot, there should be no more pretense about keeping Spaziani as coach and then making a “full evaluation” later. The results are in, and this team is not good.

All Boston College has left to play for is pride, and they’ll get a chance to score some next week at home against Notre Dame.

No matter where the Eagles go, the winning ways continue.

On Friday evening at Alfond Arena, a venue at which the national champion Boston College Eagles hockey team did not win last season, BC came away with a 4-2 victory over the hosting Maine Black Bears. With the win, the Eagles rise to 5-1 in both overall and Hockey East record, maintaining their grip on first place in the conference. Dating back to last season, Boston College has now won 24 of their last 25 games.

The first period featured plenty of action, but no scoring. Eagles goalie Parker Milner turned aside all 9 Maine shots, while Black Bears goalie Martin Ouellette stopped all 7 from BC. That deadlock was broken shortly after the start of the second period, however, as Kevin Hayes took advantage of a power play to score his fourth goal through the first six games of the season, giving the Eagles a 1-0 lead at the 54-second mark (assisted by Straight and Wey).

This middle frame would go back and forth between an Eagles lead and a tie a few times. Maine wasted little time answering Hayes’ goal, as less than a minute later (1:41), Will Merchant of the Black Bears got the puck past Parker Milner for his first goal of the season, tying the game at 1-1 (assisted by Shore and Lomberg). A long wait ensued, but the next strike came off of the stick of defenseman Isaac MacLeod. He scored his first of the season at 16:36 of the second period, putting Boston College back on top, 2-1 (assisted by Matheson and Arnold). As Maine did the first time, however, they would respond quickly again. At 17:03, just 27 seconds later, the Black Bears tied it up once more. Connor Leen did the honors for Maine, and the score was 2-2 thereafter (assisted by Swavely and Diamond).

What makes the Eagles’ hockey team so good is that they have leaders, and talent doesn’t hurt, either. Johnny Gaudreau again took the team on his back and did the damage, scoring a power play goal in the third period. This one came at the 4:52 mark and gave BC a 3-2 lead that they would not relinquish (assisted by Linell and Matheson). For a little added emphasis, following a Maine penalty for too many men on the ice, BC scored on the empty net while Maine needed the extra attacker for balance. Steven Whitney found it and iced the game for the Eagles at 4-2 with just seconds to play (assisted by Arnold).

Boston College did a good job on the power play, going 2-for-6 with the man-advantage, including Gaudreau’s game-winner. The Eagles, meanwhile, finished off all of Maine’s chances on the penalty kill, taking fewer penalties than in recent past games. Parker Milner faced 30 Black Bears shots and stopped 28 for the win, his fifth of the young season. Junior goalie Martin Ouellette saved just 19 shots en route to the loss, as Maine falls to a dismal 1-7 on the season so far.

Last year, a win in Maine would have been a very big deal. With the way they have played so far, it is perhaps less of one, but every win inches the Eagles closer to their goal. It also inches Jerry York closer to his, as the venerable head coach now stands at 918 wins, just 7 away from setting the all-time wins record.

Maine had a number of chances but Boston College held firm and picked up two more important points in Hockey East. They will look for two more on Sunday afternoon at Conte Forum as they host the UMass Minutemen.

For Boston College hockey, four-point weekends are the best ones, especially when facing a ranked team. That is precisely how it went for the #1 Eagles against UMass-Lowell between Friday and Sunday. Boston College defeated the River Hawks, 6-3, on Sunday afternoon, sweeping the home-and-home series with the #12 visitors and taking first place in Hockey East.

Contrary to Friday night’s game, which was a 1-0 shutout win for Parker Milner and the Eagles, this one featured plenty of scoring. The home team struck first, as Bill Arnold notched his second goal of the season just 4:23 into the game to give Boston College a 1-0 lead (assists by Doherty and Hayes). There would not be a quick second strike, but the Eagles did take advantage of a power play towards the end of the first period — which would be a theme for both teams in general. UML’s Joe Houk went to the box for roughing, and just 25 seconds into the power play, Kevin Hayes scored his second of the year to double BC’s advantage (assists by Doherty and Arnold).

In the next period, it was much the same story for Boston College and Hayes. Michael Colantone was hit with a tripping penalty for the River Hawks, after which Kevin Hayes netted his second power play goal of the game to make it 3-0 Eagles (assists by Arnold and Matheson). The second assist for freshman defenseman Mike Matheson was his first collegiate point.

UMass-Lowell did finally find an answer after the third BC score. Colantone, whose penalty led to a power play goal, got the River Hawks on the board at 7:40 to make it a 3-1 game (assisted by Holmstrom). It got a little scarier for Boston College when, at 11:14, Derek Arnold scored his first goal of the year for UML to drop BC’s advantage to 3-2. This was on a power play after Pat Mullane was called for tripping (assists by Houk and Ruhwedel).

It would not take long for the Eagles to respond to the River Hawks’ second score, and who else but Johnny Gaudreau would come up with the game-winner. Gaudreau’s third goal of the season came at 13:40 of the second (assisted by Matheson).

Boston College would have a potential fifth goal waved off on video review during the late stages of the second period because it was perceived to have been kicked in, but the Eagles would get the score, anyway. After Colantone went back to the penalty box for tripping, sophomore Destry Straight netted his second goal of the year at the 17-minute mark; this was BC’s third power play goal of the game and it restored the Eagles’ lead to 5-2 (assisted by Doherty and Dyroff).

Not to be outdone, there was one more power play goal to come. Following a Brooks Dyroff penalty for cross-checking, Scott Wilson of UMass-Lowell scored his first of the year to make it 5-3 BC (assisted by McGrath and Wallin). This would not be the final margin, however, as Pat Mullane scored the game’s final goal at 16:25 to give BC a 6-3 advantage (assisted by Whitney).

Parker Milner earned the win in-net for BC, saving 25 shots and allowing three, while his counterpart, Doug Carr, saved 23 and allowed six. The three stars of the game, as listed by Hockey East, were Hayes, Doherty, and UML’s Derek Arnold.

Three Eagles had three points on the afternoon: Doherty, Hayes, and Bill Arnold. In positive news for the BC offense, they scored an impressive three power play goals in their decisive win over the #12 team in the country. The less than good news is that they gave up two power play goals, though it was on nine penalties. The Eagles are still finding the box too much, yet not every penalty called against BC was regarded as being a good call.

The important thing here is that the Eagles won big, and swept the team picked second behind them in the Hockey East poll. BC’s eight points now gives they a two-point advantage over Boston University at this early stage in the season, with plenty of hockey left to play.

Dating back to last season, the Eagles have now won 23 of their last 24 games. Boston College will look to make it 24 of 25 on Friday night at Maine.

Boston College hockey knows how to throw a party.

On Saturday night at Conte Forum’s Kelley Rink, the #3 Boston College Eagles defeated the Northeastern Huskies, 3-0. It was goalie Parker Milner’s fifth career shutout victory on a night where Boston College welcomed back some old friends to help raise the 2012 national championship banner to the rafters.

A capacity crowd at Conte Forum saw the gold-clad Eagles strike first, middle, and last. Just 6:16 into the game, Kevin Hayes got into the goals-scored column by notching his first of the season on a power play to give BC a 1-0 lead (assisted by Doherty and Wey). Only seconds remained on Colton Saucerman’s cross-checking penalty at the time of Hayes’s score. The assist for freshman Teddy Doherty was his first career point.

One of the heroes from last night and the tournament run that made the banner ceremony possible, Johnny Gaudreau, wanted to ensure that he got in on the action. At 10:06 in the first period, Gaudreau scored his second goal of the season to double the Eagles’ lead (assisted by Mullane). In Friday’s comeback win over UMass, Gaudreau assisted on Pat Mullane’s game-tying goal, then Mullane assisted on Gaudreau’s game-winner, and now Mullane assisted on this one tonight.

The Eagles were quiet for most of the second period, despite the fact that both BC and Northeastern took a high number of shots on goal. Boston College took 14 and Northeastern shot 13, but the difference is that one of BC’s got in the net. That was at 18:32 of the second period, coming off of the stick of Steven Whitney during a 5-on-3. His second goal of the season put the icing on the proverbial cake, giving Boston College a 3-0 lead (assisted by Gaudreau). The point for Gaudreau is his fifth in the first three games of the year.

Neither team did any scoring in the final frame, with the only item of note being a Vinny Saponari ten-minute misconduct penalty for Northeastern.

Following their opening night loss to these same Huskies, Boston College has gotten better. Their win on Saturday night was a tidy, businesslike victory in which all phases of the game were working and BC did what they had to do. Boston College took a few too many penalties at eight, but their penalty kill remained outstanding in not allowing any goals. Offensively, the Eagles went 2-for-6 when they had the power play.

Shots on goal were virtually even at 27 to 26 in favor of Boston College. but Parker Milner stopped all that came his way. At Amherst on Friday night, Milner’s night was a little rough as he allowed four goals in their come-from-behind victory, but on Saturday, he bounced back to pitch a shutout. Chris Rawlings took the loss in-net for Northeastern.

The Eagles return to action on Friday night as they face UMass-Lowell in Lowell.

This is why they’re the national champions.

In a thrilling game on Friday night in Amherst, MA, the #3 Boston College Eagles defeated the Massachusetts Minutemen, 5-4 in overtime. It is BC’s first win of the season, and comes just a day before they raise their championship banner at Conte Forum.

The Minutemen went without Joel Hanley just minutes into the game because of a major penalty and a game misconduct, but they still struck first. UMass notched a goal at 8:46 of the first period from Rocco Carzo (assists Busillo and Yevenko). That held up throughout the first period, and got doubled in the second as Connor Allen slipped one past Parker Milner on the power play to give UMass a 2-0 lead at 3:43 (assists Power and Sheary).

UMass was not done there, scoring later in the middle frame to give the Minutemen a comfortable 3-0 lead. It was Carzo again at 13:20 for UMass in his second goal of the game (assisted by Guzzo). They rode that 3-goal lead into the final period.

Then came the Eagles.

Just 1:11 into the final period of regulation, Bill Arnold got the Eagles on the board with his first of the year to make it a 3-1 game (assisted by Hayes). It took about seven more minutes, but at 8:26, Boston College found the back of the net again as sophomore Destry Straight scored his first goal of the season (unassisted), and all of a sudden, it was a 3-2 contest.

Boston College’s fans were surely deflated at the 9:35 mark of the third, as UMass got that goal right back. Darren Rowe notched his second goal of the season to restore the Minutemen’s two-goal lead and give them much-needed breathing room (assisted by Czepiel).

The fans might have been deflated, but the team was not.

With only minutes to go on the clock, the defending champion Eagles woke up and tied the game in a flash of lightning. At 16:44, senior captain Pat Mullane scored his first goal of the season to make it a 4-3 game, keeping his team in it late (assisted by Alber). Then, like any good captain does, Mullane took the team on his back again and, at 17:54, scored the game-tying goal (assisted by Gaudreau). BC goalie Parker Milner and his counterpart, Steve Mastalerz, would both hold on for overtime.

This final period only lasts a maximum of five minutes, but with all of their forward momentum, the Eagles did not need all five. Sophomore sensation Johnny Gaudreau picked a fine time for his first goal of the year: at 3:37 of overtime (assisted by Mullane). The game-winner was reviewed for possible high-sticking but the goal was upheld, and Boston College was rewarded with a big comeback victory on the road.

BC can be proud of themselves tonight for a great win, one that looked pretty grim with a few minutes to go. Though Johnny Gaudreau scored the winner, major credit has to go to Pat Mullane, who was in on all of BC’s last three goals, either scoring them or assisting. If I got a vote, I’d make him my #1 star of the game. Give credit also to the Eagles as a whole, who remained resilient in the face of a 3-goal deficit in the third period. A team takes on the personality of its coach, and once again, a Jerry York-coached team stays focused in the face of adversity and finds a way to win.

It was not Parker Milner’s best night, as he saved just 20 of 24 UMass shots, but Boston College’s defense tightened up as the game went on. UMass shots on-goal went down from one period to the next, until BC outshot the Minutemen 16-5 in the game-changing third period. In overtime, the Eagles had a 5-1 shot advantage. UMass goalie Steve Mastalerz was under assault by BC, particularly as the game progressed. He managed 37 saves, but it’s the five he didn’t record that did the damage.

For Boston College, the most thrilling hockey usually comes in the later part of the schedule, but this was a nice October treat for the fans. The Eagles come home on Saturday night to raise their banner with Northeastern in the house.

It gets worse.

On Saturday evening in Tallahassee, Florida, the Boston College Eagles fell to the #12 Florida State Seminoles, 51-7. It was the first time BC had allowed 50 or more points in a game in 12 years, and it was the most lopsided loss against the Eagles in a very long time. Boston College falls to 1-5 (0-3) on the season and have now lost nine games in a row to ranked opposition.

The scoring plays of this game are irrelevant in this recap. Suffice it to say that each possession for these teams, save a few exceptions, went as follows: BC goes nowhere/gives up by calling draw plays, FSU has guys wide-open all over the field and breezes to points. Florida State was up 28-0 before BC cracked the scoreboard, despite the fact that the Eagles were on the one yard line in the first drive of the game and did not score.

BC’s defense is absolutely terrible, and that’s being kind. In total, they allowed FSU 649 yards and 30 first downs. Keep in mind that Florida State committed nearly 100 yards of penalties and went -1 in turnovers, and still scored 51 points. They also took their starters out of the game with plenty of time to spare. Make no mistake: BC could have easily given up 60 points and over 700 yards today if the Seminoles kept their foot on the gas. The defense wasn’t extraordinarily gassed, either, as BC had a slight edge in time of possession. It was simply a major gap in talent and coaching.

Chase Rettig and the offense had a predictably frustrated day. FSU’s defensive front seven is just too strong, and they let Rettig know they were there by hitting him on almost every other play. Taking him out of the game late was a no-brainer. The Eagles managed only 225 yards in their defeat.

The Army loss last week was bad in a different way than this game. Both were awful defeats, but while Army showed that BC can’t even beat bad teams anymore, this one demonstrated comprehensibly that the Eagles cannot compete with the top teams in their own conference.

These are the depths to which Frank Spaziani has taken us. Once more, this blog loudly and proudly calls for him to be fired immediately, and with cause. Saturday’s game was an embarrassment to my alma mater, and the coach showed again that he is an incompetent failure who is damaging my school every moment he draws a paycheck from it. Anyone still supporting this guy can’t be helped but should still consider professional therapy as an enhancing measure.

On a final note, I had been quiet about this (for the most part) for a few days, but for the first time I can remember, I need to make an example. Several players on the defense the other day were crowing about Florida State not respecting them. One even went so far as to suggest that the Seminoles were not mentally tough enough to bounce back from their loss last week and would fold it up for at least this game. You can see now, if you didn’t already, why these comments were ill-advised.

One must always respect their opponent, even if the opponent doesn’t respect them. If you’re going to say stuff like this, back it up. BC apparently did neither, and this is the result. Projecting quiet confidence is fine, even at 1-4 (now 1-5), but anything more conveys the wrong attitude. The players can’t be saying stuff like this to the media.

This team needs a fresh perspective and a coaching adjustment as their disaster season continues. Brad Bates got a full education today on this team, I assure you.

Greg M. Cooper-US PRESSWIRE

The Boston College Eagles debuted new football uniforms, but for the most part, it was the same defense inside them as before. The #17 Clemson Tigers went up to Boston College and beat the Eagles, 45-31. Boston College opens their season at 1-3 for the second-straight year, now dropping to 0-2 in ACC play. It will not get any easier for the Eagles in the conference, as a road date with Florida State is next (with a visit to Army in between). Boston College also falls to 0-7 against ranked competition under head coach Frank Spaziani.

The Tigers started the game with the ball, but the Eagles were able to get off the field quickly, something they showed an inability to do against Northwestern two weeks ago. Boston College then drew first blood, with Andre Williams breaking free for only the Eagles’ second rushing touchdown of the season. That came on a nine play, 84-yard drive.

Clemson, still smarting from their tough loss to Florida State last week and going on without Sammy Watkins, ended up scoring the next 17 points in a row. The first three came on a short Chandler Catanzaro field goal, the next seven on a Tajh Boyd rushing touchdown, and the last seven on a receiving touchdown by Sam Cooper.

Down 17-7 mid-way through the second quarter, Clemson got the ball back but Boyd threw a bad pass which got intercepted deep in Eagles territory by Sean Sylvia. The Eagles then proceeded to take the ball 92 yards down the field for a touchdown on the back of Chase Rettig, who capped off the long drive with a touchdown pass to Johnathan Coleman.

At 17-14, the Eagles defense held Clemson again, and Chase Rettig came up big once more. He found Alex Amidon for a 31-yard touchdown to give Boston College at 21-17 lead. Unfortunately for the Eagles, Clemson used much of the remainder of the first half to go 76 yards down the field for a touchdown of their own, taking a 24-21 lead going into the half.

The second half was decidedly more tilted towards the Tigers, who outscored BC 21-10 after halftime. Two more touchdowns were forthcoming for Clemson in the third quarter, both on short drives. Clemson only needed to go 57 yards for paydirt on the first, and turned a Chase Rettig interception into points on a 33-yard drive on the second. Giving some credit to the Eagles, they did answer back with a touchdown to cut the margin to 38-28 on the next drive, as Alex Amidon caught his second touchdown pass of the day. Even more credit to Clemson, because they answered that with a touchdown to take a 45-28 lead.

The Eagles only added one field goal from then on, despite being given several opportunities to take advantage of Clemson mistakes.

Boston College’s defense had its moments, but once again did not play a good game. The Eagles’ stand on fourth down at about 7 minutes to go was one of their highlights, but BC could not turn it into points. In total, the Tigers managed to gain 576 yards while converting 10-of-16 third downs. Clemson made a bunch of mistakes on offense in this contest, including turnovers and bad penalties, but for the most part, the Eagles could not take advantage of the opportunities they were afforded. The only time when BC did something impressive with an opportunity they were given was in going 92 yards down the field after Boyd’s interception.

The Eagles’ offense had its moments as well, amassing 420 yards and scoring 31 points. Despite throwing two interceptions, Chase Rettig still had a decent game and is clearly the only avenue by which the Eagles will have any offensive success. Rettig threw for 341 yards and three touchdowns, finding Alex Amidon for two of them. Even though Bobby Swigert is working his way back into the game, Rettig appears to have figured out who his favorite target is.

BC’s run game continues to be dreadful. Only one good run by Andre Williams came through, as BC had just 51 yards on 28 carries. The Eagles ran the ball entirely too much; their best prescription for success is having Rettig air the ball out more often, because it is being conclusively proven that they will accomplish nothing on the ground this year. There is always the risk of an interception, but it is far better to go that route and take the chance than rush for two yards or less on every play.

This was a hit or miss effort for both teams, though Clemson had the superior execution and offensive ability to earn their victory. For Boston College, it will be a fairly bitter pill to swallow, knowing that they had several chances to change the complexion of the game late and did nothing with them. They can take a few positives away from it, such as Alex Amidon’s tremendous performance and Chase Rettig continuing to throw the ball well, but probably little else.

The Eagles head to Orange County, New York next Saturday to face the Army Black Knights.

Jerry Lai-US PRESSWIRE

On Saturday afternoon in Evanston, Illinois, in one of the more important toss-up games Boston College football will play this year, the Eagles fell to the Northwestern Wildcats, 22-13. The loss drops BC to 1-2 (0-1), while Northwestern gets off to a hot 3-0 start for 2012.

For most of the contest, the two sides stuck to field goals, as Northwestern got on the board first, BC answered, and then Northwestern answered again. It was not until late in the first half that the Eagles finally found the end zone first, as Chase Rettig threw a strike to Johnathan Coleman for a 34-yard touchdown, putting BC ahead, 10-9. Northwestern closed out the half with another three, however, giving the Wildcats a 12-10 halftime lead.

Boston College would only manage three points in the second half as Northwestern drove for another field goal, but while the Eagles defense was out of gas, ran it in for the back-breaking, fourth-quarter touchdown to make it a 22-13 game.

The mistakes on both sides were numerous, but Boston College’s were more costly. One cannot go any further without pointing the finger at two particular areas: the defense and BC’s run game. Both were virtually non-existent in the Eagles’ defeat to the Wildcats. If one looks at the box score and sees how many points BC allowed, they might think it was a good effort, but it was not. Northwestern amassed 548 yards of offense against the Eagles and decimated BC on third downs, going 12-for-18.

Boston College’s defense could not get off the field until the Wildcats were in the red zone; for most of the game, they dinked and dunked their way into scoring position with ease. The Eagles got some pressure on Kain Colter and Trevor Siemian, but had trouble dealing with Northwestern’s rushing attack and shutting down the option that the Wildcats use so effectively. The two quarterbacks together completed over 75% of their passes on the afternoon, so their passing game was just as good.

It is officially time to worry about the defense, particularly the run defense, if you have not already. Yes, the Eagles made some plays down near the end zone to keep threes from becoming sevens, but the defense played soft everywhere else on the field and the result was Northwestern holding the ball for almost 36 minutes.

As for the BC running game, it was about as bad as we have seen it in a long time. The Eagles had 24 yards on 21 carries, with one lost fumble (on the Northwestern 5) and a thorough lack of run blocking. As decently as they have protected Chase Rettig so far, the offensive line cannot open running lanes and our running backs cannot hold onto the ball. BC’s rushing attack is a liability right now, when it used to be one of our few relative strengths in the past.

Chase Rettig played fine once again, though not without a few mistakes here and there. For much of the game he was poised and accurate, so he is the absolute last person to blame for this BC defeat. Like the rest of the offense, however, he does bear some responsibility, including the Eagles only going 2-for-11 on third downs.

Northwestern cannot be pleased with how they played, as with their massive yardage advantage they should have blown BC away, but they did not. They made a few turnovers and found themselves equally as incapable as BC in the red zone. The Wildcats put this game on a tee for BC to hit, but they couldn’t. To NU’s credit, they stuck to their nickel-and-dime offensive gameplan and it worked in carefully shredding BC’s defense apart.

This is now the third game in a row in which Boston College has been no better than average. Do not kid yourselves, and forget the final score: BC did not play well on Saturday. Against Miami, the Eagles were sub-par. With Maine last week, BC was at best ordinary. Today, against Northwestern, sub-par again. The defense came up far too small and BC was never able to establish any offensive consistency, due in part to the disastrous performance of the running game. Doug Martin made some nice play calls, but execution was lacking.

Once more, when you have a team beset by problems such as poor tackling and bad ball control, that is on coaching. This is three games now out of three in which BC has had major problems manifest themselves, and no sign that they are being corrected. Chase Rettig has taken his leap forward, but there are players regressing as well. To be blunt, the football program reeks of staleness and disappointment, and desperately needs a new coach to revitalize it.

The Eagles will have next week off, but come back on the 29th for a very tough game against Clemson.

Last week, the Eagles opened up their 2012 season with a blistering offensive attack which came down the field on Miami twice with ease. The start of the game was nowhere near awe-inspiring this weekend, however. Boston College was shut out in the first quarter as several of their drives stalled out, the Eagles fumbled several times, and some poor decisions were made on special teams. The Eagles got lucky on a few plays as well, the most notable of which was a drop by Maine which would have been a certain touchdown. Of the BC mistakes, those that stand out were a Tahj Kimble fumble into the end zone for a touchback, and a Rolandan Finch fumble inside the BC 20, from which Maine scored their only three points.

It took until about half-way through the second quarter before the Eagles finally started to limit their mistakes and get themselves into the game. The first of Chase Rettig’s three touchdown passes came with 7:09 left in the second quarter, caught by Spiffy Evans. Only a few minutes later, Maine fumbled deep in their own territory and BC turned it into a touchdown in two plays. There, Johnathan Coleman had his first career touchdown reception.

This was a 17-3 game at the half with Rettig making 50% of his passes and the Eagles at 229 yards of total offense (they finished with 385). In the third quarter, the game finally began to open up for the Eagles. Maine had the ball and drove it into BC territory, and it very well might have resulted in points, but the Black Bears had 1st & goal at the three come back on illegal motion, and they missed the subsequent field goal attempt.

Later on, Spiffy Evans, who had some rough instances earlier in the game as the punt returner, gave the Eagles their best return in years: a touchdown. This broke the game wide open, putting BC up 27-3. Moments later, BC intercepted Maine quarterback Marcus Wasilewski and needed only a brief drive to convert it into a touchdown to Alex Amidon. Most of the starters left the game in the fourth as Josh Bordner entered and BC ran out the clock, literally.

We probably did not learn much about Boston College today; the only lesson to take from it at all is the ever-present need for good fundamentals. Teams like Maine won’t be able to take advantage of mistakes like the ones BC made early, but better teams will. The Eagles need to cure their fumble-itis, because in most cases, it’s terminal if left untreated. Broadly speaking, Boston College played a first half that ranged from terrible to mediocre, but based largely upon the quality of the opposition and some later improvement, they were able to easily overcome those issues.

Chase Rettig’s stat line shows 16/32, 219 yards, and 3 touchdowns. Despite the low completion percentage, Rettig was fine. He came up well short of the gaudy numbers from the Miami game, but he was definitely good enough to win today and not bad overall. Another factor to take into account is that Maine may well have gotten more pressure on him than Miami did, if one can believe that. Rettig was officially sacked twice, but the Black Bears planted him on the ground a number of times. Still, when Rettig had time, he rarely made bad choices and threw the ball quite well. In general, the offense stalled out a lot more often against Maine than it did against the Hurricanes and didn’t play nearly as well this week, but it improved as the game went on.

We certainly did not learn much about the BC defense, aside from the fact that some guys need better hands to catch easy interceptions (this does not apply to Jim Noel, who had an excellent one in the second half). Boston College ultimately did what it needed to do on that side of the football, but it was not some smothering effort like they’re the Alabama defense. Simply put, Maine just isn’t that good on offense and it showed. Maine had a couple opportunities to do some damage but executed poorly almost every time. BC’s defense did not have to do much of anything spectacular to get by today.

Do yourselves a favor and don’t read too much into this game today. It could have been worse, but it could have been far better — though none of this matters now. The Eagles will not play a team as ineffective as Maine for the rest of the year, so take the win and turn your focus to the more crucial games on the schedule. A huge swing game comes next week at Northwestern.