Boston College Football: A Bit of 2013 Schedule Perspective

Rob Kinnan-USA TODAY Sports

Yesterday, we went out of our way not to speculate on what sort of record the Boston College Eagles football team might have in 2013. There will still be no guess ventured by this site in February when the season begins in late August because there are too many things we don’t know. All we have is a schedule, but we can learn a few things from that.

It’s not going to be easy, if the last few years are any indication. For example, the Eagles are going to have to travel to Los Angeles to face the USC Trojans in their building, they’ve also got to play division frontrunners Florida State and Clemson as always (the latter of which is at Death Valley). Finally, most of BC’s second half of the season is on the road, and we know how unkind it was to the Eagles last season. Boston College’s last road win was Miami in the 2011 season finale.

Still, it’s unwise to put a firm number on this schedule right now before spring practice even starts. If you do feel the need to do so, and it’s hard to begrudge bored BC fans this mental exercise, please keep the following things in mind:

• They went 2-10 last year. And 4-8 the year before that, with declining results each of the last four seasons.

• Just because Frank Spaziani is gone does not mean BC will rebound overnight. The damage done to the program is not a quick fix, nor should BC fans realistically expect it to be. Frankly — no pun intended — the team weren’t hard-luck ten-game losers last season: there was some legitimately bad football being played and that didn’t disappear when Spaz did. Steve Addazio, if he is to fix the program, is going to have to work exceptionally hard to get sharp improvements.

• Just because Chase Rettig is a senior does not mean BC will rebound overnight. We heard the same thing about Rettig being a junior equaling the team being much better. It wasn’t necessarily his fault things didn’t improve, mind you, but key players being 21 instead of 20 is not an iron-clad guarantee of anything.

• We don’t know what the Boston College Eagles are right now, because we’ve never seen this edition of them, so determining what they can and can’t do before they’ve even had a practice session will only drive you mad.

Is it possible that the Eagles will win more games than last season? One would hope it’s probable, actually. That said, it’s wise not to get too carried away here. For BC to go from 2-10 to a bowl game at all would be a solid achievement in and of itself, but a overall winning record would be stunning.

Hope does spring eternal before a new season, but for the sake of keeping some perspective, it wouldn’t hurt to wait until the Fall before you book your trips to the Belk Bowl. We have a very long way to go.