Army at Boston College: Opening Line and The Basics
By Joe Micik
Danny Wild-USA TODAY Sports
The Boston College Eagles may have just lost back to back games and fallen to 2-2 (1-1) on the young season, but most people are feeling alright about the maroon and gold today. That’s what tends to happen when the team plays better than expected against a top-ten opponent.
This week, the Eagles draw the Army Black Knights, a squad which last year delivered the most embarrassing loss of the Spaziani era at West Point. With a new coach and a new outlook, Boston College will attempt to exact some payback.
Army at Boston College: The Line
• Opening Favorite: BC -13.5
Army at Boston College: Us
• Head Coach Steve Addazio (1st; 2-2)
• Last game: defeated by Florida State, 48-34
• This season: 2-2 (1-1 ACC)
• Last win against Army in 2007 at Alumni Stadium
• 2-1 at home in 2013
Army at Boston College: Them
• Head Coach Rich Ellerson (5th; 19-34)
• Last game: defeated Louisiana Tech, 35-16
• This season: 2-3
• Snapped three-game losing streak on Saturday
• LA Tech: first win away from Michie Stadium since 2010
• Last true road win: Kent State, November 2010
Army at Boston College: The Game
• 38th all-time meeting between Eagles and Black Knights
• BC 24-13 all-time against Army
• BC 11-2 all-time against Army at home
• Last meeting: October 6, 2012 (Army 34, Boston College 31) – Eagles had won previous five meetings
• Saturday, October 5, 2013, 1pm ET
• “TV:” ESPN3
• Alumni Stadium, Chestnut Hill, MA
• Long-range Forecast: Partly cloudy, 79
• STG Preseason Difficulty Rank: 11th of 12
Army at Boston College: Initial Evaluation
It would be shocking if Boston College lost consecutive games to Army.
Now, you might be thinking “Harvard basketball,” but the situations are not analogous. Harvard basketball has improved markedly since Tommy Amaker became its coach and have been making NCAA Tournaments, which is to say they’re a decent team. At the end of the day, Army is still a service academy and they have struggled in recent history, which is to say they’re not a decent team. Furthermore, the Eagles had to have their worst season in 35 years to facilitate a narrow Black Knights victory at Michie Stadium.
What happened last October was a perfect storm of craptastic football and hideously bad coaching from the mustachioed one. Everything had to break Army’s way for them to win, and luckily for them, it did. Odds are that they won’t be that fortunate again but the Eagles cannot play down to their opponent. A performance like the one they had against Florida State would most likely be good enough, save for a few changes. (This also assumes Army will not light the Eagles up like Jameis Winston did.)