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The Eagles defeated the University of Central Florida Knights 34-7 Saturday afternoon despite trailing 7-3 at halftime.  While the score makes it look like a dominating effort from Boston College, there are still some lingering questions about this team.

Now-embattled starting quarterback Chris Crane piloted BC to four yards through the first two drives before being lifted for a series for Dominique Davis.  Davis drove BC down to the seven with a more dynamic offense, but Steve Aponavicius missed the chip shot that kept the game scoreless.  Coach Jeff Jagodzinski must not have been impressed with either quarterback as he alternated Crane and Davis for a couple more series, ultimately settling with Crane for the balance of the game, though Davis made a fourth quarter cameo.

With Crane struggling early with touch, decision-making, locking onto the primary receiever, and failure to show elusiveness, the coaching staff may have pulled him only to send him a message.  Each quarterback found mixed success during the game (Crane: 16/34, 206 yards, 1 TD passing, 2 TDs rushing, 3 INTs; Davis: 4/7, 30 yards, 1 TD passing, 0 INTs), but Jagodzinski definitely seemed more comfortable with Crane.

The crowd begged to differ as they booed Crane and cheered Davis’ appearances.  It is very rare to have a two quarterback system that works (2006 Florida National Championship team), so BC needs to decide whether Crane can be the player they need him to be or whether they should invest the experience in Davis since he will be with the program next year while Crane’s eligibility expires.

The strength of this Boston College team is in its defense, which will be relied upon especially early in the season while the offense gels (though that process appears to be taking longer than expected).  The defense was tested early in this game as the offense could not move the ball at all.  While they allowed some yards, they ultimately held UCF to punts or interceptions (BC collected four in all) throughout the first half.

With the offense sputtering, the defense was not getting very long breaks and appeared gassed toward the end of the first half.  With time winding down, UCF’s quarterback, Michael Greco (12-24, 92 yards, 3 INTs), broke through the defense for a 44-yard gain to the one.  BC held on first and second down, but UCF opted to take its final time out before third down and with time expiring, eschewed the field goal attempt, but scored the touchdown on a Greco rollout.

The second half was a completely different story.  Crane got the offense rolling with some deep throws that seemed to loosen up the Knights defense and the BC defense appeared refreshed.  The Eagles, missing starting running back Josh Haden, turned to a committee of Jeff Smith, James McCluskey, each of whom were ineffective, and freshman Montel Harris, who was lightning in a bottle for the team.  He was 14 for 126 yards and broke a number of huge runs.  Smith did have a 56 yard kickoff return to open the second half and help get BC rolling.

The offense’s effectiveness really made all the difference for the defense.  In the first half, UCF started drives in BC territory three times in their eight possessions.  By contrast, in the second half, with the offense moving the ball, they began in BC territory only once in seven possessions and five of the other six were begun no better than their own 30.

Outlook

I had BC at 7-5 before the season and with this win correctly picked, I will hold the line, however, the team is erratic right now and therefore tough to gauge.  Next week’s opponent, FCS Rhode Island, is also figured in as a win, and I see no reason to change that.  In what should be essentially a tune up, Chris Crane will probably be under center and looking for some continuity as the schedule will begin to ratchet up after that.

ACC Rewind

• NC State pulled off one of the early season’s big upsets, beating #15 East Carolina in overtime.
• #18 Wake Forest and #24 Florida State traded field goals in a key Atlantic battle, with Wake Forest coming out on top 12-3.
• Virginia Tech has the inside track to the Coastal, beating what is likely to be their primary competition North Carolina 20-17 in comeback fashion.
• Georgia Tech earned another ACC victory over the SEC as they rolled Mississippi State 38-7.
• Clemson is beginning to look like the team that was touted in the preseason, beating South Carolina State 54-0.
• Maryland, rebounding from a slow start to the season, beat Eastern Michigan 51-24.
• Miami used a balanced attack to beat Texas A&M 41-23.

ACC Fast Forward

• Maryland visits Clemson in what could be a shootout in an Atlantic matchup with Clemson more likely to win as the scores go higher.
• The Coastal has two games: Virginia at Duke and North Carolina at Miami.  Virginia is awful, so Duke should win a conference game and North Carolina should make it two victories for Tobacco Road on the afternoon.
• Colorado visits Florida State coming off their huge upset win, but expect FSU to get the home victory in a tight game.
• Wake Forest should not have any problems with Navy, but NC State faces its second consecutive ranked opponent, #12 South Florida, and do not expect another upset as USF should bring more than NC State can account for.
• Virginia Tech travels to Nebraska in a strength against strength matchup.  Nebraska has a high scoring offense, but Tech has a top rated defense.  Virginia Tech has a messy quarterback situation against an average Nebraska defense (they have allowed 347 YPG to three below average teams, but have scored five touchdowns).  Look for Tech’s defense to stifle the Nebraska offense enough to score the victory.

The ACC began the season with a lack of credibility, but next week could begin to earn the conference some respectability.

Top 10

1. USC: idle
2. Oklahoma: idle
3. Florida: no problems with Tennessee in SEC opener
4. LSU: escaped #10 Auburn with a huge SEC win
5. Georgia: solid all-around victory over Arizona State on the road
6. Missouri: Chase Daniel adds to Heisman resume, but team shows chinks in win over Buffalo
7. Texas: keeps rolling with victory over Rice
8. Wisconsin: idle
9. Alabama: defense keys win over Arkansas
10. Texas Tech: dominating win over FCS UMass should help them crack Top 10

UMass Watch

UMass (#9 FCS) visited FBS Texas Tech and while a win certainly would be constituted as a upset, the team really did not look very good.  UMass could not muster much scoring and their defense continued to look quite leaky in the game against Texas Tech, which is one of the most offensively gifted teams in the nation.

Graham Harrell looked unstoppable (27-34, 322 yards, 4 TDs).  Fellow Heisman candidate wide receiver Michael Crabtree had only five catches for 62 yards as Harrell got all of his pass catchers involved pretty evenly.  Liam Coen was 13 for 20 for 145 yards with an interception in the 56-14 loss.

Not a huge shock here as UMass’ defense has not been stopping anyone all season, but the offense was disappointing.  They will look to rebound in two weeks against #6 Delaware.

Tags: Boston College, Chris Crane, UMass