After seven years and 48 wins, head coach Tom O'Brien has built a rock-solid above-average college football program. You always know what you're going to get with Boston College: seven to nine wins, a bowl game, a bowl win, and a mid-tier finish in the Big East.
While the departure of Miami and Virginia Tech will help Eagle Big East title hopes, West Virginia and Pittsburgh are still in the league and have given BC just as many problems. If you want to add Syracuse to the mix, the Eagles are 4-8 against the "mid-tier" league teams over the last four years. Like the Mountaineers, Panthers and Orangemen, BC is planning on being front and center in the race for the BCS spot from the Big East in its new form.
This might be the team to do it. There are holes, but there are plenty of very good players in place to build around and enough talent to beat anyone on the schedule. In fact, there's not a team on the slate that absolutely, positively should beat the Eagles. The offense will be explosive if Jeff Ross and the running backs can produce, and the defense will be fine if the outside linebackers play well. It'll be a fun year, and it could finally be the season O'Brien gets his team to the next level.
The Schedule: This is a tougher schedule than it might first appear with very losable road games at Wake Forest and Notre Dame to go along with away dates with Pittsburgh and West Virginia. November will be the stretch in the Big East race with four league games in four weeks. No other league team has more than three.
Best Offensive Player: Senior QB Paul Peterson. He's technically neck and neck with Quinton Porter for the starting job, but he was strong at the end of last year. Now he's has to be the leader of the offense with several new running backs and some new faces on the offensive line.
Best Defensive Player: Junior DE Mathias Kiwanuka. Call this a salary drive as Kiwanuka can make himself a ton of money with another big season. The NFL tends to like athletic players who get to the quarterback with regularity.
Key player to a successful season: Derrick Knight finished his BC career as the schools all-time leading rusher tearing off a 1,721-yard, 11 touchdown senior season. Horace Dodd wasn't too bad a number two back with 442 yards and ten scores. Now it'll be up to sophomore Jeff Ross and redshirt freshmen L.V. Whitworth and Andre Callender to pick up the slack and make the running game go.
The season will be a success if ... BC wins the Big East. There's no reason to shoot for anything less, and it's time the very good program becomes great.
Key game: Nov. 13 at West Virginia. The Mountaineers appear ready to be the new champion now that Miami is gone, but Boston College isn't going to just hand them the title. If the Eagles want it, this is a must win..
2003 Fun Stats:
- First quarter scoring: Boston College 125 - Opponents 62
- Penalties: Boston College 105 for 837 yards - Opponents 81 for 644
- Field goal success against Boston College: 10 of 21
While the departure of Miami and Virginia Tech will help Eagle Big East title hopes, West Virginia and Pittsburgh are still in the league and have given BC just as many problems. If you want to add Syracuse to the mix, the Eagles are 4-8 against the "mid-tier" league teams over the last four years. Like the Mountaineers, Panthers and Orangemen, BC is planning on being front and center in the race for the BCS spot from the Big East in its new form.
This might be the team to do it. There are holes, but there are plenty of very good players in place to build around and enough talent to beat anyone on the schedule. In fact, there's not a team on the slate that absolutely, positively should beat the Eagles. The offense will be explosive if Jeff Ross and the running backs can produce, and the defense will be fine if the outside linebackers play well. It'll be a fun year, and it could finally be the season O'Brien gets his team to the next level.
The Schedule: This is a tougher schedule than it might first appear with very losable road games at Wake Forest and Notre Dame to go along with away dates with Pittsburgh and West Virginia. November will be the stretch in the Big East race with four league games in four weeks. No other league team has more than three.
Best Offensive Player: Senior QB Paul Peterson. He's technically neck and neck with Quinton Porter for the starting job, but he was strong at the end of last year. Now he's has to be the leader of the offense with several new running backs and some new faces on the offensive line.
Best Defensive Player: Junior DE Mathias Kiwanuka. Call this a salary drive as Kiwanuka can make himself a ton of money with another big season. The NFL tends to like athletic players who get to the quarterback with regularity.
Key player to a successful season: Derrick Knight finished his BC career as the schools all-time leading rusher tearing off a 1,721-yard, 11 touchdown senior season. Horace Dodd wasn't too bad a number two back with 442 yards and ten scores. Now it'll be up to sophomore Jeff Ross and redshirt freshmen L.V. Whitworth and Andre Callender to pick up the slack and make the running game go.
The season will be a success if ... BC wins the Big East. There's no reason to shoot for anything less, and it's time the very good program becomes great.
Key game: Nov. 13 at West Virginia. The Mountaineers appear ready to be the new champion now that Miami is gone, but Boston College isn't going to just hand them the title. If the Eagles want it, this is a must win..
2003 Fun Stats:
- First quarter scoring: Boston College 125 - Opponents 62
- Penalties: Boston College 105 for 837 yards - Opponents 81 for 644
- Field goal success against Boston College: 10 of 21
