Everyone — myself included — is drinking the Kool-aid and believing the hype. I don’t know if it will last. I don’t know if it is real. But it is fun. And in the end, I think that’s what I want. There were moments of fun during the Spaz and Addazio days, but the flaws on the field and the flaws of those wearing the headsets felt so permanent, that it was hard to get too juiced up. Hafley lost to Northern Illinois this year, so I am not calling him the next Coughlin. But the way this win streak and season is coming together gives me hope he is figuring things out. In the meantime, let’s keep rolling and enjoy it while we can.
What’s on my mind (not totally related to this game)
Earlier this year when it looked like the Hafley era might be coming to a close, the typical internet speculation kicked in. Inevitably there were plenty of “this guy would never take that job” comments. I usually retort with “you’d be surprised about who would take what as there are only so many jobs.” A textbook case of guys looking for any job is Jim Mora at UConn. This is a long-time NFL coach and a guy who coached at UCLA. He had no connection to UConn or really the region. Yet here he was taking the UConn job. My point is these guys usually need to work for ego, financial and boredom reasons and there are only so many high-level jobs. Now would Nick Saban drop everything and take the UConn job? Of course not. But guys looking for their shot or a second chance or a salary north of $1 million will. And they will certainly listen to BC when our job opens up one day.
Three Simple Keys
1. Be conservative with new wrinkles and counters. I am not taking UConn for granted. But we shouldn’t have to do much other than just plow forward and run them over. I don’t want BC using any new looks or variations. Save those for the games where we are underdogs.
2. Be more aggressive with the punt returns. We’ve been letting too many punts roll and putting our Offense in bad starting field positions. We need to curtail that.
3. Continue to play aggressive man coverage. After we got burned against Louisville, I thought our DBs were terrible. They’ve looked better of late. I hope they continue to play more man this weekend as it helps the front and creates turnovers.
Gambling Notes
— BC leads the series 12-1-2
— UConn has never won or tied at Alumni
— UConn is 3-4 against the spread this year
The current line is BC-14
Factoid
This is UConn’s second visit to Alumni since their lawsuit against BC after the Big East split.
Scoreboard Watching
Duke-Louisville. On Sunday, some true believers started circulating a twitter post regarding what needs to happen for BC to make the ACC Championship Game. It’s a lot, but the fact that we are even entertaining a run is nice. Needless to say, we need both Duke and Louisville to lose some games down the stretch. Someone is getting a loss in this game.
BC is in trouble if…we can’t get the run going. I don’t see us as one-dimensional, but I don’t think this current roster lends itself to being pass heavy.
I hope to see…no one get hurt. Too often in these cupcake games we see a brutal, season changing injury.
Bottom Line
Last year was a nightmare and won’t happen again. I think BC plays smart and tough and UConn can’t keep up.
Final Score: BC 35, UConn 14