Boston College at NC State: Opening Line & The Basics

Rob Kinnan-US PRESSWIRE

"Welcome to Fenway Park, home of the Boston Poindexters, where the Mets close out a season that’ll rank among Mankind’s most awful crimes."

(Bob Uecker’s Head, Futurama)

It’s not the 31st Century and Bob Uecker’s body is still fully constituted, but like the New New York Mets of Futurama, Boston College football is about to end a season that will end up being one of the worst in its history. Not a moment too soon, either, as Coach Frank Spaziani is almost certain to be fired within 72 hours of the final snap. Before the long and difficult rebuilding of our once-proud program can begin, there is one more game to play against North Carolina State.

It is fitting that it has to end this way for Spaziani. He faces his former boss, Tom O’Brien, in gridiron battle one more time. One could playfully suggest that the loser of this game gets fired, but the joke’s on the coaches, because both are probably finished at their respective schools. In spite of that, the student in this case never surpassed the master, not that the master was a miracle worker in his own right. Nevertheless, when these 60 minutes are up on Saturday evening, it’s likely that two big roots from the George Welsh coaching tree will be cut. Whatever essence there is of a “Frank Spaziani coaching tree,” God forbid its very existence, will also be decimated in the proverbial wood chipper of progress.

O’Brien’s problems are different from Spaziani’s, though both coaching tenures might end the same way, at the same time. “TOB” has made bowls and won some games in Raleigh, but not nearly enough to satisfy the fans and the inner circle. They were promised a restoration where the “sky was the limit,” but instead, NC State has been annually mediocre. Meanwhile, Frank Spaziani’s Eagles have lost more games each season and the program has been quite appallingly reduced to rubble.

NC State opens this week as a 14-point favorite over Boston College, as the Eagles look to avoid their first 10-loss season since they went 0-11 in 1978. This is already BC’s worst campaign since a 2-9 finish in 1989, but it could potentially be the worst BC football season in 34 years if they lose on Saturday.

As a wise man once said, “let’s get this over with.”