2013 Boston College Football: Season Predictions

Greg M. Cooper-USA TODAY Sports

Here we are: the post that usually gets the editor of this site in a lot of trouble with the natives. At least, it has in past years when picking Boston College football to come away with a losing record. This year, I have lots of predicting company as my staff and I will make our picks here today.

We all know the story by now: this is an Eagles team with much of the same personnel we had last year, but with an almost entirely new coaching staff. With it comes a new aggressive mindset and, as Doug Flutie said to us a few weeks ago, guys “getting their edge back.” At the end of the day, we need to know whether or not that’s going to translate into wins.

The name of the game this year is not winning an ACC title or even coming away first in the ACC Atlantic, though either would be welcome accomplishments (if not extraordinarily difficult in our present state). Boston College’s objective is to get to six wins. If they do that, they’ll make a bowl game for the first time since 2010, and whether or not they win or lose, at least the seniors who suffered through the near-entirety of the Spaziani debacle will get to go out with one last special showcase. They practically deserve it.

Picking individual games is my job throughout the course of the season, though a few of my staffers have itemized their predictions. Nevertheless, it seems to me that there are three games it’s likely BC will win (Villanova, Army, and NM State), and probably three games it’s likely they’ll lose (the ranked teams). The remaining six aren’t necessarily toss-ups; rather, games where an outcome seems less certain than the first six. It’s up to Boston College to find wins in three of them, with all other games going as I expect them to go. Two of them seem like even odds and the Eagles can maybe poach one more.

The talent level is not where we would like it to be, particularly when it comes to depth. I refuse to believe, however, that the result this year will be just as bad as the one last year. That team reeked of defeatism (some of the players have publicly said it themselves), emanating mostly from the head coach, and never made adjustments. Everything coming from the locker room was negative and even though the team never gave up, the motivation and the game-planning were not there. This 2013 Eagles team is flowing with positive energy and has given indication that it will take chances and be opportunistic. That is the single largest element in BC’s favor this year, aside from the fact that everyone is underestimating them. Attitude counts for quite a bit in football. Talent and coaching count for most of the rest, and on those, I think the coaching looks promising and the first-string talent is adequate in most areas if it stays healthy. If it doesn’t, then yes, we’re in trouble.

Last year, I thought the Eagles were capable of five or six wins, but I gave them five. We know how that turned out. This year, I believe BC’s bowl-eligibility is going to come down to the wire. I think the Eagles are again capable of five or six wins, but in an incredible act of homerism and wishcasting, I will put them at 6-6.

See the rest of the staff’s predictions on the next page.