Revisited: The 2014 Boston College Football Predictions
By Joe Micik
With the regular season now sadly over, it’s time to look into the past to see how we did with our 2014 Boston College football predictions.
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We all know what most of the media thought about this football team heading into the season. Rhetorical questions they asked themselves included “What is Boston College going to do without Andre Williams?, “How can Boston College throw passes if Alex Amidon is not there to catch them?, and “No, seriously, what is Boston College going to do without Andre Williams?
Those questions have all been answered. Though they could have ultimately been better, the Eagles wrapped up another 7-5 season on Saturday and have long since dismissed their doubters who claimed they could not get to another bowl game.
The irony is that the talking heads who claimed the Eagles would have a losing season in 2014 because they lost all those Spaziani players also claimed Boston College would not make a bowl in 2013 because of those Spaziani players.
Let’s see what we said of this team over the summer:
2014 Boston College Football Predictions: The ACC Poll
The ACC media picked Boston College sixth in the Atlantic Division this season. The Eagles came in fourth. Syracuse and NC State were slotted in front of us. Nice try, guys.
2014 Boston College Football Predictions: The Outside Media
Paul Myerberg acknowledged that it was “entirely possible” Boston College would patch together six or seven wins, but he did not think it was going to happen and put the Eagles at 5-7. “Too much to replace” was the reason for no bowl this year. (College Football Countdown | No. 81: Boston College)
In his 2014 preview book, Phil Steele tipped his proverbial cap to Steve Addazio and admitted the Eagles “could be favored in as many as six games,” but termed 2014 as a rebuilding year.
Athlon Sports/Steven Lassan gave the Eagles a fifth-place finish in the Atlantic at 6-6. If there’s one thing that seems like a common thread in these predictions, it was underrating the Eagles while massively overrating Syracuse. Yes, the Orange lost their quarterback mid-season, but they were not destined for great things even with him. (ACC Football 2014 Predictions)
Kevin McGuire of CollegeFootballTalk gave the Eagles a fifth-place finish in the Atlantic and was one of many to lament the loss of Andre Williams (CFT 2014 Preseason Preview: ACC)
SportsChatPlace/Randy Chambers blew it:
"Considering Williams was pretty much the only reason Boston College accomplished anything last year, the Eagles enter this season a big question mark. With no quarterback and a defense that gave opponents whatever they wanted, this season could get ugly for Eagles’ fans. … Barring a miracle, don’t expect this program to return to a bowl game this season.College Football Preview: The 2014 Boston College Eagles"
It was wrong in June, and it’s wrong now.
2014 Boston College Football Predictions: Soaring to Glory
I came up a win short in the predictions, but I had felt consistently throughout the summer that the Eagles would make another bowl. The media had overrated the loss of Andre Williams and subsequently underrated the stable of running backs we did have.
Andrew went a win over, but could have easily been right, while Kyle Egan nailed it at 7-5 (4-4) with an accurate synopsis of the season. Your blogger bucks are in the mail.
2014 Boston College Football Predictions: The Fans
A plurality of Boston College fans correctly picked a 7-5 season for the Eagles. Just over a three-quarters majority correctly had this team as bowl-eligible.