Boston College 2010 Statistics
(ACC) The Eagles play on artificial field (FieldTurf) at Alumni Stadium (seats 44,500)
- Frank Spaziani is in his 3rd year as head coach at Boston College. Last year they were 7-6 (their fewest wins in 10 years). As a reminder, Spaziani was the defensive coordinator for the Eagles from 1999-2008 and stayed even when BC chose to hire Jeff Jagodzinski over him in 2007. He replaced Jagodzinski, who was fired prior to the 2009 season because he interviewed with the NFL’s New York Jets (a violation of his contract).
RB Montel Harris
- The strength of the offense is at running back. Montel Harris and Andre Williams comprised a significant part of the total offense last year and both backs return. Harris had 1278 yards and 8 touchdowns, but missed the last two games of 2010 and underwent arthroscopic surgery for a torn left lateral meniscus in his knee in late November. The backs are good, but they
- RB Andre Williams
will need to have more opportunities to run and also will need to make up for the lack of quarterback mobility and the negative yardagefromsacks (all three quarterbacks finished with negative yards rushing for the season).
- Who is the Quarterback? The quarterback situation was a mess lastyear. Dave Shinskie won the job in late 2009, but lost it early in 2010 thanks to turnovers and lost opportunities. The job was given to true freshman Chase Retttig and he started, except when injured. Rettig’s numbers were about as poor as Shinskie’s though, both with abysmal completion percentages and both throwing more interceptions than touchdowns. This year the question somewhat remains: who is starting at quarterback? It looks like Chase Rettig came out of spring as the starter as he was taking the majority of the reps by the end in comparison to Dave Shinskie. This is important because BC’s passing numbers last year were among the worst in the nation.
- BC’s offensive line uses a zone blocking scheme and although it initially took some time for them to adjust to that scheme when they switched to it in 2007, they have improved over the last few years. But last year, their offensive productivity declined significantly (thanks in part to the quarterback situation). They allowed 31 sacks which was about 50% more than they’ve allowed in recent years. The additional obstacle this year is that they lose three starters, including first round draft pick Anthony Castonzo.
- The reason this team even had a winning season in 2010 (barely) was because of defense. And unfortunately, this team takes a huge hit in terms of leadership with the departure of Mark Herzlich (LB). As you may recall, Herzlich overcame bone cancer to come back and play his senior year last year after missing 2009. He is hoping to play in the NFL but was not drafted in April and due to the lockout had to wait until late July to finally get an opportunity. He signed with the New York Giants as soon as the lockout ended.
- Last year’s defense was incredible in that they were the hardest team to rush against in the nation. They ranked #1, allowed just 83 rushing yards per game. They have an equal amount of talent back this year, but the defensive line doesn’t have to replace two top draft picks like they had to do last year. And the secondary seems improved, which will be needed because the passing defense was not good last year.
- Click here for a look at Boston College’s schedule.
