Ranking the 2011 BC football schedule by difficulty, 12th-7th
By Joe Micik
Unranked.) at Miami
November 25, 2011 | Week 13 | Miami Gardens, FL
Initially, I had the Hurricanes as seventh on this list; today, they are a big, fat question mark. The rationale is solely that we do not know what is going to happen to this team over the next three months. With the allegations against them looking very damning, possibly the worst allegations leveled against a collegiate program since SMU got the “death penalty,” there is a potential for ramifications during this season which, at this time, we cannot quantify. (If the NCAA wants to be taken seriously again, and I admit I have my difficulty with it already, then as a matter of right and wrong, Miami has to be punished at some point.) That could mean player suspensions or dismissals from the team, or worse. We just don’t know, so I have unranked this game.
If this game were early in the year, I might not have edited this article, but with this being the regular season finale, I think there is a chance Miami will have been on the receiving end of some form of reprimand by late in the season. Again, it is unclear what, if anything, the NCAA will do to Miami football this season.
Otherwise, if nothing comes of their scandal repercussions this season, Miami was a team that last year looked a lot like us: so-so record, some deflating losses, decent defense, and very inconsistent play at quarterback. Quarterback Jacory Harris (implicated in the scandal) is an interception machine, which will play to the Eagles favor (if he makes it three seasons in a row of such play), but that also doesn’t change the fact that the Eagles haven’t won down there since Doug Flutie found Gerald Phelan in the end zone in 1984. Miami is not the toughest team BC will face this season, but they do historically have trouble with them. In fact, on the road against Miami, BC has a habit of getting dismantled.
Then there’s the Al Golden angle – there’s one guy who cannot be pleased with his situation. I suspect by this game, seeing as how it’s the last game of the regular season, we’ll know how Golden’s first year went (and as of August, we already know it’s not going well). If he’s got this team playing well, then this game will get a lot tougher.