Boston College Football W2WF: Temple

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The 2004 Big East football season is forever remembered for Syracuse’s win at Boston College. It capped a chaotic year centered around BC’s departure from the league in order to join Miami and Virginia Tech in the Atlantic Coast Conference, and it ultimately eliminated the Eagles from an opportunity to play in the Bowl Championship Series and in the Fiesta Bowl.

Realignment hung over that entire season, but it impacted more than just the BC game and which team qualified for the Fiesta Bowl. It was also Temple’s last season in the Big East, the result of a 2001 vote to dismiss the program from the conference. A negotiated agreement housed the Owls until 2004, but the BC game was their final game before they ventured into independence.

Temple never competed for a conference championship, but the Owls managed to dramatically and dynamically impact the entire race after they unexpectedly defeated Syracuse in their penultimate league game. They dropped the Orange into a two-loss tie with Pittsburgh, which in turn handed Boston College the inside track to the Bowl Championship Series berth after the Eagles defeated West Virginia.

Had it won, Syracuse would have instead entered its bye week with one league loss to set up a potential winner-take-all with Boston College in the season’s final game, but the loss to Temple instead meant the Orange could only play a spoiler’s role. Temple, meanwhile, finished its Big East campaign the next weekend at home against BC in a game largely viewed as a dress rehearsal to that game in Chestnut Hill.

As expected, BC handled Temple, 34-17, but the Eagles drew unexpected adversity in the first half when quarterback Paul Peterson fractured his hand in a short-yardage sack.

“Something was funny,” Peterson said after the game. “I’d been hit a bunch of times on the hand. You get these little bumps, the little risers, and it didn’t feel right. It didn’t feel like one of those. I couldn’t spread my hands out very well, so I knew something was up.”

It made the game an unexpected cog in the wildest Big East finish in conference history. One-loss West Virginia, which lost to BC, lost its annual Backyard Brawl game to Pittsburgh, and the Panthers, who already had two losses after losing to both Connecticut and Syracuse, clinched the automatic bid when the Diamond Ferri Game created a four-way tie atop the league.

All of it ultimately happened because of Temple’s games against both Boston College and Syracuse. The parting gift sent the Owls into the world of independence for the next two years before they landed in the Mid-American Conference, and they rebuilt their program as a mid-major conference champion-caliber within the next two years. After Al Golden led a nine-win team to a division championship in 2009, Temple rejoined the Big East during another realignment shakeup before an internal split resulted in the creation of the American Athletic Conference in 2013.

Temple now stands as the only team in the AAC with ties to the old Big East, and the Owls outright won the conference championship game, a previously unthinkable accomplishment, in 2016. The program that once lost 80 of its 94 league games became the standard-bearer, and on Saturday, the halcyon days of the old Big East blend with the new era of a conference attempting to gain footing as a power-type league.

Here’s what to watch for when BC hunts for victory cheesesteaks in Philadelphia:

(Quote reprinted from The Boston Globe on November 21, 2004.)
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Weekly Storylines (Rocky Edition)

Mickey: Your nose is broken.
Rocky: How does it look?
Mickey: Ah, it’s an improvement.

This entire week focused a white-hot spotlight on the Boston College quarterback situation after Phil Jurkovec underwent wrist surgery on Monday. His injury, which came at an unknown point during the Eagles’ first drive at UMass last week, thrust Dennis Grosel back into the spotlight of another season after another injury sidelined another starting quarterback.

It was obviously a tense moment for a team expected to compete for a top spot in the Atlantic Coast Conference and for a potential future first-round pick in particular, but all signs indicate a full recovery for Jurkovec once his wrist heals. He has not been ruled out for the entire season, but it more likely means he will look towards next year as an additional season to prove himself on the college gridiron.

“I had a great talk with him before the surgery and after the surgery,” Jeff Hafley said, “and I told him to think about it. You can beat yourself up about it, but what’s it going to do for you, and I told him that next year, we’ll probably look back and say we are glad, for some reason, that it happened because something great is going to come out of it. And that’s how he has to think, and that’s how he has to believe. He just has to go forward now.”

Jurkovec’s prolonged absence likely removed him from the draft boards of the experts, but this is a time for Grosel to shine as a possible underrated superstar. Players like Spencer Rattler and Sam Howell will likely headline the class, but other long-term college players like Pittsburgh’s Kenny Pickett will dot teams’ boards as the season advances.

Grosel isn’t currently listed by any draft expert, but he has an entire season to amass film and offer a team an underrated prospect. He has a bigger physical profile than Kellen Moore had during his time at Boise State and contains some of the same measurables as Kevin Kolb possessed at Houston. They both entered the NFL, and Kolb became a starter while Moore eventually retired to coach (he’s now the Dallas Cowboys offensive coordinator).

A more intriguing comparison, though, is Case Keenum, who, like Grosel, is a six-foot, one-inch quarterback who nobody considered among the pro prospects. He followed Kolb at Houston and flourished in an air raid offense, and he threw for 5,000 yards before going undrafted. The fact that he was so good in college didn’t seem to matter to the professional scouts, but his numbers and performances, particularly in the last season, made him a player worth a shot.

He eventually became a starting quarterback for the St. Louis Rams and later moved to the Minnesota Vikings and Denver Broncos with later stints in Washington and Cleveland. Now in his ninth year in the NFL, he’s a valuable commodity because of his intelligence and overall presence more so than his eye-popping NFL Combine stats.

Rocky: You stop this fight, I’ll kill ya.

There is no expectation for Boston College to change its offense with Grosel at quarterback, but he also needs to prove he can engineer drives with the same lethal efficiency as Phil Jurkovec. He excelled last year in small doses, but the backup quarterback who infamously holds one of two 500-yard games in program history is still more regarded as a dual-threat quarterback instead of the pure pocket passer capable of running the football.

“Dennis is a lot faster than people think he is,” Jeff Hafley said, “especially when you see him in person. We’ve seen some big runs from him, even in the Colgate game and going back to last year, so if it works out schematically where we think the quarterback run is going to help us, then we will use it.”

Grosel earned that reputation in an older offense at a time when he was a younger quarterback, and he rushed for at least 20 yards in six of his nine appearances that season. He rushed almost as often as he completed passes and scored touchdowns against Florida State and Notre Dame, which is why he’s viewed as a running quarterback over a pocket passer.

Frank Cignetti‘s offense will require him to dip into that reserve, but last week showed Grosel can still command an offense from a passer’s perspective. He spent the last two years growing into a pocket passer capable of making presnap reads and check downs to secondary receivers. He found a handful of receivers even after Zay Flowers was unexpectedly and temporarily sidelined, and he utilized tight end, Trae Barry, when the Minutemen defense failed to stop the big target over the middle.

“Any time you can get a big body like that, and he’s able to run, you try to go to him as much as possible,” Grosel said. “He’s a big body over the middle. You don’t really see it walking around, but when you stand up next to [him], that guy’s a big target. You can throw it up and toss it up and hope it comes down in his arms.”

Rocky: All I wanna do is go the distance. Nobody’s ever gone the distance with Creed.

The added attention on Grosel completely overlooks two main components of the Boston College game plan. One is the defensive side of the ball and its ability to stop Temple in its tracks, but the other is BC’s running game and the added performance of an offensive line that gashed UMass last week.

Pat Garwo obliterated the UMass defense for 160 yards and averaged more than 10 yards per carry. He didn’t find the end zone, but Travis Levy, Alec Sinkfield, and Dennis Grosel did as part of a balanced attack previously unseen during Jeff Hafley‘s first year-plus as the BC head coach. It was almost a throwback performance, and it reminded people of the strength of the BC offense when its horsepower kicks into overdrive.

“We’ve always wanted to get the running game going,” Garwo said. “We got a lot of good backs, and we trust our O-line, and the O-line trusts [the backs]. We’ve been trying to establish it. We started slowly but surely, but we’re taking off.”

Sustaining the running game for an entire season would completely alter the perception of a BC offense currently seen as a pass-happy, air assault unit. It would add a clock control synergy to the already-established throw game and allow the Eagles to move the chains for sustained drives. It wouldn’t erase the passing game but would instead ensure an opposing offense stays off the field as long as possible while softening the defensive front for the inevitable pass from Grosel to one of any number of targets.

“With all the reps I’ve been taking, my confidence level is at an all-time high,” Garwo said. “We have a great o-line and a great team that comes together. I know they trust me, and I know we all trust each other in the running back room. It makes us play comfortable and fearless on the field. Our line takes pride in that. You can really feel when it gives us more of a boost to just keep going and finish plays to get off the field faster.”

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Countdown to Kickoff

10…Ten Temple alumni have been selected to the NFL’s Pro Bowl, but only one occurred in the 21st century (Muhammad Wilkerson, in 2015, with the New York Jets).
9…Temple’s win over Akron marked nine out of nine seasons with an FBS non-conference win since the Owls rejoined the Big East in 2012.
8…Number of touchdown drives by BC lasting two minutes or longer through two games.
7…BC enters Saturday as the No. 7 scoring offense in the nation at 48 points per game.
6…Number of 300-yard passing games under Jeff Hafley after BC posted seven between 2010-2019 and three between 2013-2019.
5…BC’s combined quarterbacks are the fifth-most efficient passers in the nation with a 199.82 rating. Army leads the nation with a 326.0 rating – on 8-of-10 passing through two games.
4…Number of passing touchdowns thrown by Boston College through its first two games.
3…BC holds both the third-best third-down defense and third-down offense in the nation.
2…Number of ties between BC and Temple in their 38 previous meetings, accomplished in consecutive years in 1937 (0-0) and 1938 (26-26); Temple also beat BC twice during the Big East era, both in Philadelphia.
1…Prior meetings as non-conference foes since both teams left the Big East; BC won, 45-35, in 2018.

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BC-Temple X Factor

Rattle the nest

Attention this week rightfully centered on the extended future absence of Phil Jurkovec. There is no easy way for a team to lose its starting quarterback, but the prospect of playing the rest of the season without a potential first-round draft pick and arguably the best quarterback in the ACC isn’t something anyone predicted at the start of the season. Still, the presence of Dennis Grosel should be enough to continue the offensive momentum gathered through the first two weeks.

It’s more imperative for BC’s defense to continue its momentum from the first two games against a high-flying offense capable of both running and throwing the football. Brady Olson threw for 214 yards and three touchdowns, but 56 yards of that came on one outlier pass play to Rico Arnold. Removing that play and its busted coverage left Olson with about 150 yards in short-yardage throws against a defense that picked him off twice and scored a touchdown off a third-quarter fumble recovery.

The yardage and the penalties made the defense an easy target for anyone looking for a negative within last Saturday’s performance and turned a potential blowout into a more manageable 45-28 result for UMass, but Temple is a team capable of jumping on gifted opportunities.

That was evident last weekend when Justin Lynch jumped all over Akron in the second and third quarters. He was 14-for-19 for 160 yards and a touchdown against the Zips in those two quarters and separately torched the defense for 91 yards and a touchdown in the third. He utilized the explosive play and managed the game with a maturity usually unseen by a freshman, and it was obvious that the stagnant play from the first quarter against Rutgers evaporated by the time the wheels chugged forward against Akron.

Lynch’s performance obviously comes with a number of caveats. It’s impossible to judge Temple from one game against a mid-major program when BC is supposed to possess a defense capable of stopping some of the best in the nation, but it’s also equally difficult to discount any time a team plays well. Temple’s history of success in the last decade isn’t an indicator of what could happen on Saturday, but BC’s elite levels came against both Colgate and UMass – and still could have been better if not for a busted play or two.

It’s the one matchup for Saturday that’s too close or difficult to predict. Rod Carey is an offensive wizard who led Northern Illinois to the 13th best offense in the nation in 2012. He won more than 50 games with the Huskies and won eight games in Philadelphia in his first year with the Owls. Jeff Hafley, meanwhile, is a defensive wizard with a reputation for maximizing his team’s performances, especially in a week when there were points of emphasis coming out of the previous game.

*****
Dan’s Non-Sports Observation of the Week

I officially have a weed issue in my yard, and I don’t know how it happened.

I’m not exactly the best gardener in the world, but I enjoy cutting the grass on a Saturday morning. I find it relaxing with the right podcast, and it bridges the gap into my afternoon after spending time watching the Premier League. I don’t have any flowers or overgrowing plants or anything, but cutting the grass and pulling weeds at least makes me feel like my house looks half normal.

That’s why I was so shocked this week when a six-foot weed plant grew out of the rose bush that I definitely haven’t trimmed in the four years of living in my house. This thing is huge, and my usual brute strength pull to get rid of it didn’t work. It’s really rooted in the mulch bed, and I have no idea how to get it out.

I don’t know if I just straight missed it all those weeks cutting the lawn or if it sprouted overnight, but it’s annoyed me for the better part of the last week. I have tried at least once every other day to yank it out of the ground, and I resorted to clippers to at least trim it this week. My weed killer didn’t kill it, and at this point, I think it’s more of a battle for personal pride than it is an actual fight against weeds.

I’m open to all suggestions here, but I threatened to set my yard on fire on Tuesday when I attempted to pull it again. I think my neighbors heard me, which means I’m officially getting the weird side-eye from them since I’m now the guy who yells at weeds in his front lawn.

That weed issue came on the tail end of one of those days where everything that could go wrong inevitably failed. One enraged fight with a weed later, I was pretty happy to move onto Wednesday in hopes the week would improve.

Except for the weed. That’s still there.

*****
Scoreboard Watching

Anyone remember the scene from The Untouchables when Kevin Costner’s Eliot Ness is supposed to bust a bootlegger’s warehouse? He stands on the snowplow and yells to the men, “Let’s do some good!” right before the raid fails horrifically.

That’s about the way I felt in the first two weeks of the season after I steamrolled into Week One on top of the ACC’s snowplow. I fully prepared to celebrate the league’s takedown of either Alabama or Georgia or both and readied myself for the prospect of a resurgence against the SEC. It was going to set the tone, and I stood right on that truck, telling the rest of the league to do some good.

Needless to say, it hasn’t gone well for either the ACC or for me after two weeks. The revelry of Florida State’s near-win over Notre Dame preceded the emotional letdown against Jacksonville State, and Appalachian State matched Miami nearly yard-for-yard in a 25-23 win. At least the rest of the league handled its business short of a couple of letdowns against other power conference teams.

I referenced those games in Sunday’s breakdown of the BC-UMass game because the Eagles struggled to their own degree in the win over the Minutemen, but I also wanted to continually reinforce how early season performances aren’t a true indicator of a team’s future. The standings, more specifically, are a telling sign here because the only conference game played was Virginia Tech’s win over North Carolina, and there is simply no way to write off any team – not UNC, not Miami, not Clemson, not NC State and certainly not Florida State after even a loss to an FCS team.

This is why this week is always the most critical set of games, and it starts early with Miami clinging to its national ranking for its noon kickoff against Michigan State on ABC. It kicks off opposite both Syracuse’s game against Albany on the ACC Network, Pittsburgh’s game and Western Michigan on ESPN’s online platform, and the BC-Temple game on ESPNU.

It’s the appetizer to two ACC openers in the mid-afternoon slate when Clemson and Wake Forest host Georgia Tech and Florida State at 3:30 p.m. That FSU game especially intrigues me, largely because I believe the Seminoles are vastly better than an 0-2 record indicates.

It all leads to the night games in North Carolina, where UNC hosts Virginia and NC State hosts Furman. The Tar Heels are still ranked, but this one feels plenty like the first week of the season where UNC is facing an opponent trying to prove itself against a team that needs to feel a sense of urgency to establish itself within the Coastal Division.

Nationally, we’re starting to venture into games carrying impactful weight to the College Football Playoff race. In Columbus, No. 9 Ohio State is looking to bounce back from its loss to Oregon last week, but the Buckeyes are hosting Tulsa, a team that gave Oklahoma State all it could handle but lost in Week One to UC-Davis. No. 12 Notre Dame, meanwhile, hosts undefeated Purdue. At night, No. 2 Georgia hosts a South Carolina team gaining momentum from last week’s win at East Carolina.

There is some serious potential in those matchups even though they serve as the undercard to the main event of top-25 matchups. The biggest of those involve No. 1 Alabama and No. 11 Florida kicking off at 3:30 p.m. on CBS and No. 10 Penn State hosting No. 22 Auburn at 7:30 p.m. on ABC.

And when the baby won’t let me sleep for some weird reason, I’ll be tuned into the 12:30 a.m. kickoff between San Jose State and Hawaii and reveling in the work of the folks covering that game for those of us on the East Coast.

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Around the Sports World

Two weeks remain in the Major League Baseball season, and I still can’t believe how tight the races are in either league for the final playoff spot. That includes my beloved Boston Red Sox, who after a topsy-turvy season remain a factor in the race for both the first and second American League slots.

The Sox are in a dogfight against both the Yankees and the Toronto Blue Jays, the latter of which is a hardened team forced to play home games in both Florida and Buffalo before finally returning home to Canada. I love Vlad Guerrero, Jr. as a power hitter, and I completely underestimated the pitching staff. I thought the Jays were a year away from being a true contender in the division, but apparently, I was wrong.

Their emergence means the next week is huge for Boston’s postseason hopes. The Red Sox have to pull a three-game series win out of this weekend against Baltimore and should either split or sweep the Mets in the two-game set. That should at least pave the road for an epic three-game series against the Yankees before a season-ending trip back to Baltimore to play the Orioles.

I love that the second wild card exists because two of the three teams in the AL East will likely earn their way into another one-game playoff against one another. The thought of an elimination game between the Red Sox and Yankees in the regular season only to earn another shot between the two in either Boston or the Bronx is enough to make the baseball gods drool, and the consolation prize is a trip to Toronto to play one of the hottest teams in the second half of the season. The winner of that game then draws Tampa Bay, which is always a delight for an extra divisional matchup.

And none of this is somehow tied to the playoff race in the National League, where the Dodgers are probably winding up as the home wild card team behind the San Francisco Giants. Los Angeles could finish something like 18 games clear of the next best wild card team, and without the second wild-card spot, the race for the postseason would effectively be over. Instead, we’re seeing more meaningful games in the NL East and NL Central in the last two weeks of the season.

I’m a noted seamhead, but the juicy possibilities have my eyes trained to the diamond during the week and could steal some more ratings from me as the last push to the postseason really kicks into a high gear.

*****
Pregame Quote and Prediction

Well done is better than well said. -Ben Franklin

I never wanted to feel like my early season caution was vindicated by an injury to a Boston College player, but losing Phil Jurkovec – and Aaron Boumerhi – is why I threw a little bit of cold water on the grandiose preseason predictions. I thought Boston College had tons of potential for the upcoming season, but I also recognized the challenge of going through an entire season, from training camp through the last game, without having something weird or downright strange happen.

That cautious finger wag also goes in multiple finger wags, and I’ll likewise stand the line to tell people that the preseason predictions aren’t dead or over because of a surreal week at Boston College. It’s fair to try and recalibrate expectations, but I disagree with the assessments of worry.

There are still 10 games left with an entire ACC slate to write the season’s storyline, and I’m leaning into my comment from the first two weeks. Every game is its own mini-season with its own preparation and unique areas of emphasis. No team can use the same game plan to prepare for any team at any point. The season is too finite for that.

This season is only just starting, and what happens on the field is ultimately how this Boston College team is going to be remembered. I’m excited to see what happens even as it’s not exactly what I expected from the start of the season. I can be sad for how that storyline derails, but I can also look forward. I don’t want to get too high, but I don’t want to get too low.

Boston College’s game against Temple will tell everyone a good amount about this Eagles’ team. Toe to leather, let’s watch some football.

Boston College and Temple will kick off at 12 p.m. from Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia, Pa. The game can be seen on national television on ESPNU with online streaming available via the ESPN family of online platforms. Radio broadcast is also available via the Boston College Sports Network from Learfield, locally in Boston on WEEI 850 AM. Satellite radio coverage is available on Sirius channel 99, XM channel 203, and Online channel 966.