Eschewing the traditional preview, we here at the 7th Floor are bringing you all the (mostly meaningless) things one needs to know prior to this week's match-up. The only rule? No game predictions. Today, we present you the Boston College Jesuits Eagles.
Matty Ice is not
Walking through that door, so grab
That towel and bite
¿Quien?
2011: 4-8 (3-5 in ACC)
Last year: Won 24-17 at Miami
Historically many of the games Boston College comes to Miami is right after Thanksgiving. Which makes sense given the tropical climate that time of the year. Kind of a mini-tradition to fans of both schools, at least once every 3-4 years. Last year BC came down to Miami Gardens, UNLEASHED THE KUECHLY, and that was that. Well, throw in 4 picks from Jacory Harris, then that was that.
The modern era apex season of the Boston College program was probably the Doug Flutie Heisman winning year in 1984, but the sustained successful period was undoubtedly the Tom O'Brien leading into the Matt Ryan years. The Eagles won over 10 games from 2006-08, peaking with two ACC title game losses to Va Tech, and won at least 9 games every year between 2004-09.
Miami lucked out this year getting to play up in the northeast before the weather turns cold, as they have had trouble in chilly climates in the recent past. Champs Sports Bowl, anyone? When you're huddling on the sidelines during 50 degree weather in Orlando, you have some mental midgets amongst your team. Of course, being in attendance and ridiculously under dressed, I could relate.
¿Donde?
Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts
Slightly less than 7 miles from downtown Boston. Driving will take you 20 minutes sans traffic, or you could be Eco-friendly and take the Green line, which will set you back over 50 minutes. Sorry, atmosphere. Global warming is a myth!
¿Cuando?
3:30 PM ET
TV: ABC or ESPN2 mirror coverage
¿Colors?
As a story in The Heights on those early years noted, "A college man going to the games had no striped tie to wear. Nor was there any armband of any significant color that might let the wide world know that the `fair' rooters, screeching so loudly at anything at all, were followers of the Boston College team."
A committee of students, led by the school-spirited T.J. Hurley (class of 1885 and composer of "Alma Mater" and "For Boston"), was appointed to determine which hue would best represent BC. After considering the colors of rival Jesuit institutions - Holy Cross's purple, Fordham's maroon, Georgetown's blue and gray - the committee selected two Papal colors: maroon and gold. The student body unanimously approved.
Fair rooters? Screeching so loudly? Unanimous, indeed.
¿Stadium?
Alumni Stadium. Capacity of 44,500. The Eagles played their home games at Fenway Park and Braves Field up until 1957, when the BC president said no mas and planned for the building of an on campus stadium. Being so close to downtown Boston, it's a much older city with presumably more construction obstacles to overcome, and definitely has many more colleges than south Florida. So go ahead and insert your Coral Gables building restrictions laws and lack of a on campus nearby less than 30 miles away Hurricane stadium joke here.
Their grass sounds pretty legit - AstroTurf Game Day Grass 3D60H. It has something called HorseShoe fiber, whose design allows for "mechanical memory" so the fiber remains upright longer. Grass that stays high? Someone call Brian Kelly.
¿Food and Nightlife?
You mean other than bangers and mash? As far as the drinking establishments to partake in, I've never been to Beantown, so I had to enlist some assistance from a friend, Big East aficionado and Syracuse alum Aaron Goldfarb. His thoughts are quoted below.
Drink
348 Congress St
Boston, MA 02228
Yes, it's actually called Drink. Less than a half mile from the South Station train stop, in a renovated warehouse district, through an Italian eatery door but in the basement, you'll find this little gem. A little pricey per capita, but you trekked all the way up there, start spending and get this economy turned around.
Aaron?
"Drink" is one of the best cocktail bars I've ever been to, total prick hipster (I NEVER use that word but true in this case) bartenders that work without a menu.
Eastern Standard Kitchen
528 Commonwealth Ave
Boston, MA 02215
Around the corner from Fenway, this joint is perhaps a more traditional bar in comparison to the above. Lets take the first Yelp review: "Has a really busy bustling feel of a "fridays" or "cheesecake factory" but a zillion times nicer. A Gazillion times nicer."
Aaron?
Eastern Standard is great too for beer, cocktails, and dumb sluts.
Four top table for one, please.
¿Last Minute Ticket Grab?
That's gonna cost ya...about the same as a corner deli sandwich. You can grab a $6 seat in the lower bowl of Alumni Stadium, corner end zone on the Hurricanes sideline. Not a bad deal for one of the premium games on BC's schedule this year. Ok, that's a great deal regardless, even to watch two rats fight over a piece of muenster cheese in the back of a '68 Thunderbird on 10th avenue in Hells Kitchen.
¿Returning Starters?
Offense - 10
Defense - 7
Specialists - 1
Returning 17 of the possible 22 starters sounds like a pretty good number. But when you were 4-8 last year and lose the ACC Defensive POTY, perhaps some perspective is in order. The injury bug has hit Boston College pretty hard as well.
TE Chris Pantale broke a bone in his foot, and last season's leading WR Bobby Swigert is out several weeks with a knee injury. Add in the off-season dismissal of RB Montel Harris, the school's career leading in rushing yards, and you can see the challenges returning starting QB Chase Rettig will have to work through this year. As BC Interruption states, the Eagles will be without their starting cornerback, tight end, and best receiver for the first 3-4 games of the season.
¿All-Time Record?
Miami leads 23-5, and is 8-3 up in the near Boston burbs. Miami won 14 in a row after a play that will not be named occurred sometime during the Reagan years. Even Larry Coker managed to beat a Matt Ryan led 10 win 2006 squad, as the walls were crumbling around him. Unfortunately, Randy Shannon let this "tradition" fall through the cracks, like so many other incidentals during his regime.
¿You Tube Clip of Glory?
Have to be honest here, it was kind of hard finding a clip of any significance in Boston College's football history. You'd think they have at least one memorable play we'd all remember, right? Something we could all look back on a couple dozen times a season, gratuitously? Anyways, if anyone knows of any, let me know. For now, all I could scrounge up is the Tom Coughlin led 1993 upset at Notre Dame, ruining their perfect season, which was also the last time the Domers were ranked #1.
For all your Boston College sports related needs, be sure to hit up BC Interruption.
Go Canes!