SPAZ, BROCK & THE GREAT STALL DRIVE

For some reason last night, I let my mind and remote control drift last night and I happened upon the replay of Saturday's beat down in Death Valley. My timing was, of course, absolutely terrible: I tuned in just to review the moment that I thought was the absolute worst of the entire day from a coaching standpoint. Now, I was in the stands the first time and swearing profusely about this drive because it also was the moment the ass-kicking went from "perceived" to "consensual." 

What I'm trying to say is our coaches gave up on trying to make it a game. Down 15 with a full quarter to play, there was a ton of time and, even if we have been underperforming this year, rolling over for an entire quarter is no way to convince kids not to abandon the blowout.

BC came into the fourth quarter having held Clemson to a 47-yard FG after scoring a touchdown on its own, on the ball and actually starting to move it a little. BC got buried deep on the first drive, ran once for a loss followed by two short swing passes to punt. The defense held tight on the next drive before Clemson's Andre Ellington took it to the house from the 35 of 4th and 1*.

*Please note Dabo's aggressive coaching style on this call. Chandler Catanzaro had just hit a kick four yards shorter the possession before and was now kicking with the wind. Instead of taking the three and giving BC a chance for two TDs and a field goal over the last 13 minutes, he went for the kill and it worked.

The next drive and BC's next possession started with a little more than 11 minutes on the clock. From here on out, we can call this The Great Stall Drive. 

After a nice run back to the 37 by Spiffy Evans on the ensuing kickoff, BC's first play call was a  Tahj Kimble rush. Then BC huddled, with the clock running. Rettig was sacked, and again BC huddled with the clock running. Then a long third down completion gave BC a fresh set of downs...and more clock to run off. Next plays: rush, incomplete, delay of game, long pass for fresh downs. Next set: sack, rush, rush (Rettig keeper) and an incomplete pass to end the drive. All told: 10 plays, nearly six minutes off the clock - and a grand total of 32 yards.

This is what the play calling of a team milking the clock with the lead would look like. It was embarrassing to not give the team the chance to even try to find pay dirt again. Unless Spaz and Brock were trying to keep up the"scoring less than 20 point" streak or found a reason to keep the game at a 22-point margin of victory for the Tigers, there are so few excuses to what happened. Swigert was getting loose over the middle all half, and Larmond was getting single coverage on first and often second downs. There were better options than run, swing pass, pass - especially when losing. Everyone knows that.

It is one thing to lose.

It is another thing to lose without even fighting back.

WILL BC BE A TEENY SPEED BUMP ON CLEMSON'S ROAD TO THE BCS?

Over the years, I have defended the BCS many, many times. I find it really enjoyable that week one of the season really can make or break a team's chances, and that out of conference games are high-risk, high-reward for teams going into conference slates. You know, except Boise State, a team whom I really, really like to troll for their crappy schedule.

Right now, we actually have one hell of a logjam up top in the various polls, and the next two months of the season are going to be an awesome roshambo of do or die football. Now, we are still two weeks out from the first official BCS poll (which will come in mid-October), but reading the tea-leaves, it isn't crazy to believe that - if all teams hold serve over the next few weeks - the rankings won't be too far off from where the USA Today poll currently stands.

The last few years have given us the inevitable undefeated SEC champion as one of the contenders in the BCS National Championship game. There's just as good a chance that it happens again this year, but the challenger may be cut from a different conference cloth than in years past. Believe it or not, Clemson may be in the driver's seat to get to New Orleans in January (you know, assuming we don't knock them off this weekend #LaughingAndCrying).

Here's a conference breakdown of undefeated teams in the top #25 (with Coaches Poll rankings, since those factor in to BCS ranks):

Big 12: #1 Oklahoma 4-0; #7 Oklahoma State 4-0; #10 Texas 4-0; #21 Kansas State 4-0
SEC: #2 LSU 5-0; #3 Alabama 5-0;
Pac-12: #4 Stanford 4-0
B1G: #5 Wisconsin 5-0; #11 Michigan 5-0; #16 Illinois 5-0;
[I Forget Which Conference This Week]: #6 Boise State 4-0
ACC: #8 Clemson 5-0; #13 Georgia Tech 5-0

At this point of the season, there are so many new and creative ways each of these schools could lose. LSU and 'Bama match up on November 5th, and only one will get to the SEC title game to earn another valuable win over whomever the SEC East can offer up - which of course is always as good a team that really could shock either the Tigers or the Tide. SOklahoma has the Red River Shootout on the schedule, and the Sooners have to go to Stillwater that last weekend as the de facto Big 12 title match.

That's not the only factor for the top two spots as strength of schedule comes into play. Wisconsin's path may be too easy given that they already have their signature win of the season over Nebraska and the Badgers miss Michigan in the regular season since they are a part of separate divisions* (plus, travelling to Illinois is really not as bad as it seems since the Illini have Arizona State and Northwestern as its real wins). Even facing the Wolverines in the first ever B1G title game may not be enough. Stanford faces Oregon at home in early November, but they will likely be so untested in the rest of their Pac-12 state, the case could certainly be made that they'll stall out at #5 - without the chance of a title game rematch.

*I did have to look up the divisions for the B1G Ten. We always do.

Clemson, a nation hoping for surprising BCSNC competitors turns its lonely eyes to you. Three touchdown favorites against our Eagles this weekend, an honor earned not just because BC is horrible, but also because of back-to-back-to-back wins against Auburn, Florida State and Virginia Tech (the latter in a rain-soaked Blacksburg). Outside of the late October trip to Atlanta and the Palmetto State Showdown with USCe, the Tigers won't really be tested until the ACCCG and a likely rematch with 19-time-defending-ACC-champion VaTech.

With all those ranked teams - many of whom have seen top ten action already this season - if they go undefeated, you'd have to imagine them no worse than third behind the winner of LSU/Bama and Wisconsin, but of all these teams, they may have the best road from here on out. The biggest test left is likely the team they already beat by 20 points on the road if they can avoid a trap from the Yellow Jackets.

New Orleans may need to prepare for an infusion of $2 bills and IPTAY shirts.

Is this post an elaborate jinx on the Tigers? You'll never know. But all I know is we have two really exciting months of football ahead of us, across every conference, every corner of the country.

BC Football and Pessimism: Has it Been a Good Run or is There Something Left?

It's been, what, five days since BC lost a game by going against everything in the past few years that's kept the football team competitive...and there is definitely a tremor in the force among BC faithful by way of it. Stay away from the message boards unless you want to see pessimism at its finest - believe me, even pre-season the term "Henningesque" was being thrown around (never a good thing). Stay away from Twitter unless you are looking for others with whom to discuss Firing Spaz. While this is the vocal set, it does begin to feel that the question of doom is floating over the program, "Is this the year where BC's decade of football relevance ends?"

I bring this up now because September is the bright spot on the Eagles' tough ACC slate this year - and a loss in Orlando this Saturday means that the Eagles are at best looking at 3-2 heading into three straight away games in Clemson, Blacksburg and College Park. The bowl streak is important to the diehards, and losing that this year would certainly hurt, especially because it will take an act of God to get GDF to swallow his pride and part ways with Spaz over performance.

Not everyone is driving the car off the cliff. ATL Eagle positively discussed how BC has a relative track record bouncing back from opening season losses (most recently, coming off a similarly poorly-managed and uncharacteristic home opener against Wake Forest in 2003). Going into Happy Valley - and this is not meant as a slight to UCF fans - is a slightly more daunting task than Orlando at night in September. A win Saturday may not be enough for everyone, but at least the good vibes could get turn again to get to 4-1 going down to visit the Tigers in October. 

So what say you - has the train already left the station or is there something left in the BC football program?