Boston College Football Banter: Could BC Win the ACC?

Laura: How are we feeling about heading back into ACC play after the bye week?

Will: I will stand by what i have said, even with Dennis Grosel BC can win the ACC. It will just won’t be easy and there are a lot of games we can lose just as easily as we can win.

Arthur: Which goes to show how bad the ACC is this year. One thing that’s painfully obvious from the Clemson game is that Grosel, certainly on his own, is not the ticket to the promised land.

Will: Which goes to show how bad the ACC is this year. One thing that’s painfully obvious from the Clemson game is that Grosel, certainly on his own, is not the ticket to the promised land. It will likely be a nail-biter each and every game from here on out.

Curtis: NC State is a good all-around team that will prove a healthy challenge as BC gets back into it. It should be a good game, and even better with an atmosphere under the lights at Alumni. In short, I’m excited to dive back in! Every week is going to be a journey with this squad.

Grant: Alright, I’ll be the Debbie Downer... I think we’re getting too far into the realm of the crazy thinking we can win the ACC. We should probably win, you know, an ACC game first. The problem right now is that our best win isn’t that impressive and the loss to Clemson was not a good showing for how we’re going to need Grosel to play against decent competition. Because even though the ACC is bad... well, we’re ACC too.

Arthur: I mean, I’m going to push back on that a little bit. There is a lot to let go of the Clemson game. The defense played pretty well, they were able to hold Clemson to minimal offense of production. Certainly Clemson‘s office did the job in the end, but the reason that BC lost wasn’t because the defense. Also the run game appears to be really good for BC right now.
I think what is going to hold BC back is the fact that BC is still insisting upon having Dennis Grosel throw deep balls, a feat that he has proved himself incapable of doing. This has been a problem ever since he took over, and the reality is that he doesn’t have that ability, and BC is still insisting that he do it, possibly because they haven’t wanted to change the playbook from what the previous plans were, and the reality is Dennis Grosel is not the same quarterback. Therefore, the system needs to change, otherwise you’re going to see a lot of the frustration that we’ve been seeing out of the team the past few weeks.

Will: The success in the running game could set up the passing game really well, particularly the short to medium passing game. Imagine if BC got the play action game going. That would give Grosel some chances to make plays with his legs and not ask him to throw deep.

Grant: That’s fine, but like... they have been asking him to throw deep anyway... Lol

Arthur: Yeah that’s the problem! It’s very clearly part of the game plan and that’s bad.

Curtis: Are we inspired at all by the defensive performance against Clemson? Or did that say more about Clemson’s poor O than our improving D?

Grant: I do like that. I’m somewhere between “bad for Clemson is still good” and “boy they were really bad though.” But more toward the former.

Will: Clemson still has the better athletes. Clemson is not the powerhouse they were but they should still be able to score on us, especially with the defense being in a kind of rebuilding year. The defense is playing much better than I expected. Now, is it a top ACC defense? No. Not even close. They still need to force turnovers in order to get consistent stops. I wouldn’t rely on them to win a game any more than I would rely on Grosel to win a game.

Grant: Funny thing is they almost just did haha

Will: On a week in week out basis though? If they can keep making the big plays when BC needs it, for sure.

Grant: The Grosel iteration of this BC team feels like a .500 ACC team. I can be persuaded otherwise this weekend, though, if the defense steps up again and the offense stops with the stupid play calling.

Niraj: Current “projections” have us at 8 wins still I think and I’ll go out and agree with that. It’s a whole lot of toss-ups, and we’ve seen a mixed bag from much of the rest of the conference. Very excited for our second ACC game.

Grant: Well... That would be .500 in the ACC, right? I have to agree, right now that feels right.

Curtis: I’d have to agree with Grant that I think .500 from here on out (AKA 7-5 or 8-4) sounds about right. But if either or both sides of the ball begin to show significant improvement then sure, this team can compete for the division. But that’s a BIG “if.”

Will: I am very on board with the idea that every game from here on out is a coin toss but in the words of the great Jim Carrey, “so you’re saying there’s a chance?!” I honestly think that should be the tagline for this entire season.

Laura: Final predictions for this weekend?

Grant: This one is all kinds of close. For some reason my gut says we eke out a loss. I’ll say 24-23 NCSU.

Will: Wolfpack have a stronger QB but I’m going to say a hungry home crowd gives us an edge, 24-21.

Arthur: Any game that is going to favor a more defensive minded approach is going to favor the Eagles, and I’m looking at the weather forecast and I am anticipating a very rainy cold sloppy game and that is exactly where BC eats. Give me 24-17 Eagles.

Curtis: 3 weeks in a row I’m betting against BC, but give me the Wolfpack 28-24.