Boston College 2013-14 Year in Review, Part I: Football

2013 Boston College Football: October

When Boston College football made it into October, they had a chance to right a wrong. In 2012, Boston College went to Michie Stadium and lost, a shameful testament to the horrors of the Spaziani years. In 2013, when they were due to host the Army Black Knights (Game 5), winning was the only option.

That’s exactly what they did, coming away with a big 48-27 win. Army caused groans amongst the faithful as they were able to hurt the Eagles defense several times, ultimately racking up 427 yards of offense and having pulling to within four early in the third quarter. By no means did this game become a blowout until late, and who else could be thanked for that than Andre Williams (and his offensive line)?

By this point, almost half-way into the season, we knew that Andre would carry the load and that Rettig would take more of a “game manager” role in the Addazio-Ryan Day offense. He established himself again in a big way on October 5, coming a yard short of tying Montel Harris‘s record of 264 single-game rushing yards, all while tying Montel’s record of five touchdowns in a game. At this point, Williams had a grand total of 768 rushing yards, or 153.6 per game, even including the collective egg laid by the team in Los Angeles.

The Eagles had a chance to be a “trap game” the following week for the Clemson Tigers (Game 6) down in Death Valley. It almost happened, too: despite Clemson far outgaining the Eagles, Boston College scared many in orange and purple when Chase Rettig hit Alex Amidon for a 69-yard touchdown bomb late in the third quarter, only 19 seconds after big strike for six from Clemson.

Myles Willis had opened the scoring with a first-quarter 38-yard touchdown run, but Clemson would get the last two scores on touchdowns about a minute apart in the fourth quarter. Mistakes cost Boston College heavily in this game, as the Tigers were able to put the contest away on a Vic Beasley scoop and score after a Rettig fumble.

Boston College’s defense could claim some achievements in this game, holding a high-powered Clemson offense to only 17 points (the last 7 were obviously not their fault) while holding the Tigers to single-digits on the scoreboard in the first half. That was the first time it had happened in two years. Despite the loss to drop Boston College to 3-3, the game was fun and the team gained confidence from it as they hit the bye week.

Unfortunately, that team spirit would not follow the Eagles to Chapel Hill, where they took on the North Carolina Tar Heels (Game 7). In one of the ugliest games they would play all season, Boston College dropped a 34-10 decision to fall below .500 for the first time all year. Andre Williams put 172 yards on the board to cross the 1,000 mark (1,010 to be exact) against what was statistically a weak North Carolina defense, but the Eagles had very little to show for it.

Whether it was Bryn Renner or Marquise Williams running the offense, the Heels were effective in moving the ball on the Eagles defense while not turning it over at all. This extremely boring affair brought down the mood considerably as Boston College prepared for November, but after back-to-back losses, things were about to change for the better.

Next page: November