Category Archives: Sports

Pardon the interruption

Posted on by

View this morning on BC Gasson quad webcam

Well. It’s been a while. Hope you all are well.

Many students are back on campus. Classes begin Monday, August 31. Classrooms have been sanitized and “de-densified” (coronaviruses beget new words). Everyone is to wear face masks.

You can see all sorts of information, including testing results, at Reopening Boston College.

Fall “Olympic” sports, i.e., non-revenue athletics, have been delayed ACC-wide and will start during the week of September 7-12. Football is due to begin the same week, with Miami opening against Alabama-Birmingham on Thursday, September 10, and a full slate on Saturday, September 12. Well, not exactly full. BC was to play Ohio University on September 12, but the Middle America Conference canceled play. An alternative was UMass, but it announced there would be no season for the Minutemen.

UPDATE: BC announced today it will play Texas State on September 26 at Alumni Stadium. The Bobcats are a Division 1 FBS team from the Sun Belt Conference. Unless BC finds another team in the next few days, the Eagles will open a 10-game, all-ACC, season at Duke on September 19. Here’s the full schedule, times TBA.

  • September 19 — @ Duke
  • September 26 — Texas State
  • October 3 — North Carolina
  • October 10 — Pitt
  • October 17 — @ VaTech
  • October 24 — Georgia Tech
  • October 31 — @ Clemson
  • November 7 — @ Syracuse
  • November 14 — Notre Dame
  • Friday, November 27 — Louisville
  • December 5 — @ Virginia

There has already been a reschedule in the ACC because of coronavirus testing results. N.C. State was to open the season on September 12 against Virginia Tech. Due to a cluster of positive test results at N.C. State, the Wolfpack will open on September 19 against Wake Forest and play the Hokies on September 26. 

There are no prospective schedules yet announced for BC hockey and basketball teams.

Anybody have any ideas about how we can do game watches on Zoom?

Stay tuned and be flexible.

‘Butts kicked’ by Bearcats

Posted on by

David Bailey (photo by Butch Dill/AP)

New football coach Jeff Hafley watched the 2019-20 Eagles get, as interim coach Rich Gunnell termed it, their “butts kicked” by #21 Cincinnati yesterday in the Birmingham (Ala.) Bowl. Final score 38-6. Hafley likely realized he had a lot of work ahead.

Scoring only on the return of a blocked field goal attempt when already down 24-0, BC gained 164 yards total offense, lowest total of the season. The Bearcats meanwhile amassed 459 yards, including 343 yards rushing. In attempting to gain a first down on 11 third-down opportunities, BC was unsuccessful each time.

The game featured a weird sense of deja vu. Last season, BC’s bowl game against Boise State was canceled because of lightning. Yesterday, the start of the game was delayed for 30 minutes because of lightning and then suspended for the same reason after only seven minutes and five seconds of play. The suspension lasted 90 minutes and, to the later dismay of some, the game resumed.

Star BC running back AJ Dillon had announced previously he was preparing for the NFL draft and did not play in the game. 

The Eagles ran 47 plays in the game, compared to 91 for Cincinnati, and possessed the ball for 18 minutes, 31 seconds, less than half the 41:29 possession time for the Bearcats. Running back David Bailey ran eight times for 28 yards, while freshman running back Pat Garwo, playing in his third game of the season, gained 24 yards on four carries. Two Bearcats, including quarterback Desmond Ridder, each gained 105 yards on 21 carries.

BC quarterback Dennis Grosel was 8-17 for 87 yards.

The Eagles finished the season 6-7. While there may be an ACC opponent on the schedule to open the 2020 season, scheduled for September are Holy Cross (September 5), Ohio University (September 12), at Kansas (September 19), and Purdue (September 26).

January bowl game!

Posted on by

BC’s bowl game is in January, the Eagles will be coached by someone other than Steve Addazio, and San Diego Eagles will convoke at a new gamewatch location.

BC will play the #21 Cincinnati Bearcats (10-3), who finished second in the American Athletic Conference, in the Birmingham (Ala.) Bowl at noon on January 2, 2020. The Bearcats had wins over UCLA, South Florida, and Houston, and their three losses were to Ohio State and twice to Memphis.

The Eagles (6-6) are coached on an interim basis by Rich Gunnell ’10, MS’14, who had served as wide receivers coach on the Addazio staff. BC had announced on December 1 that Addazio would be relieved of his duties as head coach, effective immediately. It also announced on December 14 that Jeff Hafley, co-defensive coordinator for Ohio State, would replace Addazio. Hafley will take over when the Buckeyes, competing in the national championship playoffs, finish their season.

A bowl game at midday on a weekday, the day after New Year’s Day, is not the most attractive possibility for San Diego Eagles, but those of us interested and able will gather at the Green Dragon Tavern and Museum in Carlsbad. Besides having been inspired by the Revolutionary War-era tavern of the same name in Boston and serving as a museum of artifacts of the time, the Green Dragon has an even more direct link to Boston College. The daughter of the Green Dragon’s owner is Brooke Bartlett Rodriquez ’00.