Boston College 2011-12 in Review, Part I: Football

A bit of pride was restored the following week when Boston College beat Tom O’Brien and NC State, 14-10, to earn just their third win of the season. The offense racked up only 190 yards and was still rather useless, but the defense was stout and made the big stops it needed to win. One could see that even though there were many issues with this Boston College team, the players were still giving it their best shot. Nobody wants to lose, and the Eagles players showed that Senior Day that they still cared.

The next weekend at Notre Dame, the defense played hard again, but the offense continued sputtering as they lost, 16-14. Boston College was now mired in a 3-8 season with one game to go, losing to their hated rivals from South Bend for the third year in a row. Most knew how this game would turn out when quarterback Chase Rettig started looking sharp at the end of the first half and took BC down the field for a touchdown — then with possession again, over a minute to go, and two timeouts, the coaches took the ball away from the offense and kneeled out the half. At 3-8, it’s not like BC had anything to lose (aside from the game, which they did), but following one of Rettig’s best drives of the season, they didn’t try their luck again.

In the final week, on the road against Miami, most of us had a strong feeling that Luke Kuechly was on his way out. What better way than to send him out with a win? Fortunately for him and the team, they got that win, 24-17. Kuechly did a lot of that work himself, with the difference-making score being a pick-six by the current Carolina Panther himself. Miami, for their part, was on a self-imposed bowl probation, playing in a mostly-empty stadium and clearly not concerned with the final outcome. BC, to their credit, took advantage and looked alright.

By then, however, a certain level of outrage had been built within the fanbase, and more than a few (including myself) called for change at the top after BC’s first losing season in over a decade and several years of diminishing returns. Our athletic director, however, had other ideas, not only telling us that Spaziani would come back, but that he was the “best coach we’ve had in the 15 years that I’ve been here,” clearly giving a verbal middle finger to the fans while insulting their intelligence at the same time.