The Dawgs Ramblings

The pain of being a fan

Losses hurt. Some more than others. After the BC loss Saturday night, I have gone on hiatus from all things college football. Usually Monday and Tuesday are reserved for reading through tons of college football articles and analysis from all over the country. But this past BC loss was worse than previous ones. A lot was at stake and with an ESPN2 production in the house, the entire country beared witness to yet another collpase by the BC football program. For the 3rd time in 3 years, BC had a manageable road to the BCS or to the ACC title game.

In 2004, they got blitzed by Syracuse who ended up losing by 50 in their next game, a bowl game against Georgia Tech. That was a Syracuse team that was starting a safety at tailback and ended up destroying BC. That was a Syracuse team that went on to a one win season the following year with the lone victory being over a hapless Buffalo.

In 2005, BC lost to North Carolina in Chapel Hill. In this era of bowl expansion, North Carolina was not even good enough to go to a bowl that year. The fate of this game held in the suspect QB play of Quinton Porter. It would be easy to blame Porter but its not his fault. Everyone knew his confidence was gone and that his favorite pass was the 5 yard out. He had started to play in a 'not to turn it over' mode instead of coming out and playing like a 5th year senior should. He should have never seen the field that day.

And then there is the debacle of this past Saturday night. Now, Wake is a solid team but injuries have continued to haunt them and in this game they were down to their third string tailback. Their offensive output was limited to say the least. Yet, they still managed to use enough misdirection to put up 21 points on BC. The only way Wake scores at all in this game is through keeping the defense off-balance and taking advantage of BC miscues. They succeeded on both accounts.

Three games against three inferior opponents with a lot at stake and the end result of each is a BC loss. The constant variable in this equation is coaching. The players have changed but Tom O'Brien and company have stayed. Is it enough to agree with the plethora of columnists that say O'Brien has done a great job? Every other week, the talking heads at ESPN agree to this assertion. But what has been accomplished?

BC has put the gambling scandal behind. They have won more games than they lost. They have won 6 consecutive bowl games including over such powers as Toledo, Colorado St and Arizona St. All to be applauded but is this the pinnacle of what BC football can achieve?

The road to a BCS bowl has never been more open to BC than in the past few years. This is the time when a program capitilizes on the off years of the Miami's and Florida St's. This is when special coaches figure out ways to win games when there is a talent disparity. Too bad those coaches are the jobless Paul Pasqualoni, the soon to be jobless John Bunting and the soon to be 'hot commodity' - Jim Grobe.

BC football has come a long way. BC football competes and puts a good product on the field. But BC football does not appear to be able to take the next step up the ladder of college football programs. Of course, as one friend said to me, "BC will find a way to back into Jacksonville." Maybe, but this season should have been so much more. This season should still be brimming with anticipation for the Maryland game. This season should have been looking into flight tickets to Miami for New Year's. This season should not be how in the name of recruiting could I long for the days of Cedric Washington.

posted by oceanjay @ 3:15 PM