Editor's Note: I initially wrote this blog after BC's week 1 loss to Northern Illinois that was just bad all around - besides the fact that they did find their QB of the future in Tommy Castellanos. Upon reading it back, there are still a lot of good ideas in here, so I'd like to share with the good people of Chestnut Hill and my former neighbor/radio collaborator B-Rider to advocate and hopefully implement some of them. And they are relevant not just to football, but basketball as well. You are collectively welcome. If you see anything in italics it means present day, not back in September upon original writing.*
When one thinks Massachusetts, college football is not the first item that jumps to mind. One may think of the Revolutionary War and the creation of America as we know it, the New England Patriots and their six Super Bowl rings, great cinema such as 'The Town' and 'Good Will Hunting', townie culture, or some combination of world class medical facilities, educational institutions, and/or professional sports teams in general, but likely not college football.
With over 100 different institutions of higher learning scattered across the Commonwealth, the topography and distribution of students is not that of say Alabama, or Mississippi, or Texas for that matter - but there was one school who had the vision to corner the big time college football market in, more or less, all of New England after the Heisman run of Natick legend Doug Flutie in 1984 - I suppose B-Rider has his reasons not to like Mr. Flutie, but without that run, it's not nearly as likely for BC to be playing in Big 5 (Big 4? RIP PAC-12, let's go MWC!) college football - they'd likely be playing at the similar level to their once big time rival Holy Cross (prayers up for a win this weekend).
When the school moved to the ACC in 2005, this was huge news for the future of the program - strategic move, had leverage/likely saw the writing on the wall with the soon to be undoing of the Big East, and made it out the other side ahead of the curve. And after getting as high as #2 ranked in the nation in 2007, the Eagles had significant momentum headed into the future. Flash forward to opening day of the football season 16 years later, and having the team lose to the MAC after (allegedly) paying $1.1 million for them to come to town and take your lunch in front of a lackluster crowd at Alumni Stadium while essentially playing for their respect and place in a season that has significant pressure on it with massive potential changes happening for universities at the conference level was not particularly fun, even for a casual fan like myself.
As a non-alumnus, I believe my casual fanhood comes from a multitude of places - perhaps it's the many nights out in Chestnut Hill from 2012-2014, or the time I played catch with Dave Shinskie and Chase Rettig at the Mods on Marathon Monday 2013, or seeing Herzlich come back in that night game in 2010 and meeting Mike Mayock after the game, or perhaps it was that appearance I made on the @BCmakeouts Twitter (sadly no longer a proper account) back in that similar timeframe that I still put on my resume. But I believe the main reason why I am interested in writing about this topic at the moment is because I simply hurt for my friend, fellow radio host, and former employee who infamously demanded a new contract after writing essentially two blogs on a site that is barely getting double digit daily viewers (all-time) Brett Rider - as he has essentially staked most of, if not his entire existence, on the well-being of Boston College athletics, and football is the king. Let's look at an old picture then get into the Daniel Dials improvement plan:
*One of the great photos these eyes have been a part of from 2013, Ccliff dominating on the right, my Masters headband on the left. We did get kicked out for hitting on the cheerleaders a bit too hard if I recall as well as bringing in nips, chugging them, and throwing them onto the field then stealing water bottles from said cheerleading staff when we ran out of booze/needed to increase hydration. Still threw for 250 and 2 TDs on that field against Newton North in '09.
*Sad...
First off, let's talk about the casual fan experience - hint: it's not the best. According to the internet, Alumni Stadium holds 44,500 max capacity. This ain't the Big House, but it's a big stadium, and BC does not have a massive student body at about 10,000 undergrads total. So let's say that close to 100% of the student body shows up (ambitious but doable for big games), you've still got another close to 35,000 seats to fill. Compare that to other big time schools rate of undergrad students to seats in stadium:
University of Texas at Austin - 2.5 seats/1 undergrad student (100k/40k)
TX A&M - 1.9 seats/1 undergraduate (102k/57k)
Florida State - 2.4 seats/undergrad (80K/33.5k)
BC - 4.5 seats/undergrad (45k/10k)
Alright I know BC isn't Texas, but having almost 2x the ratio of seats/undergrads is some big coverage to fill. So here is idea 1:
Find a way to invest in some damn parking - getting to BC games is not easy, best case you can just get dropped off by someone near the stadium, and I guess MA has Uber now, but there is very little parking around that stadium, and the city of Chestnut Hill has banded together against the plebes coming into town on gamedays. Football stadiums and parking go together like PB+J - basketball, baseball, hockey, you want to be on the train - football you want to be in the car on the road there, no matter if it's college, pro, or high school. How is a local family getting to the game right now? There is that one spot you can drive on the road off of route 9 I'm just remembering and I believe you can shuttle or walk over... but still, some sort of improved parking that makes it easier for folks would go a long way. Where is that lot going to go? Beats me... that's for the smarter folks than myself to figure out.
Bring in a new coach, bring in a new state of the art practice field, it's all just noise... a wise man once said it's about the program and I hope my friends at Boston College can get out of their comfort zone and try some new tactics moving forward. Rooting for 'em against Holy Cross and praying for 'em in the Red Bandana game... FSU looks like they could be a playoff contender this year - also how is that not a night game?! - this turned out to be a solid prediction from me, huge!
Rooting for my friend B-Rider for big time college football in New England in my lifetime... alright, I'll go back to wearing suits and making reels now, you are welcome for saving you Eagles fans. San Francisco, you now have my attention once again.
I foresee a 10 win season with BC after their Fenway Bowl win this December and a full offseason with QB in place, and this blog will be a big part of it, credit to me.*
P.S. All time BC QB Rankings:
Social Media
