I’m more a college football fan than a professional one. I do watch the pros at times like yesterday watching the Patriots. One thing I’ve observed in the past which was confirmed yesterday was the bias the referees have against Patriot opponents.
How often do you get to see two offensive pass interference calls in a game? Rarely, I’d suggest. What about during one set of downs? That’s what happened in yesterday’s game. It sort of smoothered the comeback attempt. It wouldn’t be so bad if the officials called the action of the Patriot defenders as closely as their opponents but they don’t.
If any team doesn’t need the referee s carrying it then it’s the Patriots. A while ago I read that Kraft was on the owners committee that oversees the refs. Does that impact their calls?
Speaking of refs I planned to watch BC play Clemson Saturday night. To my great dismay it wasn’t on. How could it be the number 4 team Clemson wasn’t on national TV? It was on the ACC television network. My cable company Comcast with Xfinity doesn’t carry that network. I ended up watching the Notre Dame game.
At one point, believe it or not, Notre Dame had a chance. That was courtesy of a bum call of defensive pass interference against Michigan that kept a ND drive alive. The crowd continually showed their displeasure. Then came the make-up calls. To quiet the fans the refs called two pass interference against ND.
Not that any of that made a difference in this game. ND’s quarterback Ian Book, who hasn’t shown me much this year, really threw in the towel early. Was it the horrible weather? Both sides faced it so it had to be something else. One thing that was strange was ND coach said they never practiced in inclement weather.
I watched part of the TCU v Texas game. Max Duggan freshman quarterback was superb. ND was one of three places he considered. He settled on TCU. He would have made ND into a national champ.
Then there’s BC. The line on the game had Clemson winning by 35 points. If I’d known that and was a better I’d have loaded up on it. BC lost by over 50 points. Who ever would have thought? I’d have been a bit poorer.
But I am poorer in a different way being a BC fan. BC has settled on being forever mediocre. Year after year poor coaches produce poor teams. There was a time it was among the top teams. It hasn’t been since the Spaz-Daz years that seem endless. It is sad that BC accepts this. Perhaps it should get out of ACC and go where it can be competitive.
Although this year the ACC is rather pathetic so it was BC’s time to shine. Compare the ACC with the SEC. The ACC has Clemson in the top 20 and the SEC has 4 teams in the top ten including one and two. Two weeks from now the top two face off. In the interim Clemson faces some patsies. The SEC provides exciting football, the ACC muddles along.
Sometimes.I think Clemson should move to the SEC and the rest of the ACC merge with the Colonial League. It’d be nice to have the BC – Holy Cross rivalry again.
If the defensive backs are playing so far back they are closer to Savin Hill than Chestnut Hill, is it any wonder that the scores resemble basketball?
(Condolences to Jim C. on the loss of the last “Bob”.)
Hutch:
Yes, that was quite a blow to Jim to see Bobby Walsh, the last of the three Bob’s, die. Saw Bobby at the reunion and he looked good. You never know. Went to the wake of Ralphie Veranis a couple of weeks ago. The old gang is having a lot of guys falling out.
Speaking of the reunion one guy I wanted to see was Eddie Connolly the former submariner. Always liked to talk to him. Learned later he too had passed on. Yikes.
Numbers since 2014. Head to head the ACC vs. the SEC. ACC thirty wins. The SEC 28. This year they are 2-2. So much for the SEC’s strength. It’s all hype. FAKE NEWS
Great work by Trump and the special forces in getting Al Bahgdadi. You are right about the refs. Pro sports are entertainment and they want to give the home crowd a good show. It is modeled on Pro Wrestling The customers get what they want. The ACC is not pathetic. They are the best. Of the last six National Champs three are from the ACC. The PAC 12 and BIG 12 have none. The BIG 10 has only one. Great envy exists.Don’t fall for the media propaganda. Bama of the SEC beat Duke. Duke is not a top ACC team Clemson beat A&M of the SEC. UNC , a middle of the pack, ACC team beat S. Carolina of the SEC. S. Carolina beat Georgia, a top SEC team. Miami played Florida even Pitt played Penn St. even and then beat UCF, a good team. Clemson is 7-1 in their last eight games vs. the SEC( Bama 2-1, A&M 2-0 and S. Carolina 3-0). 2. If the SEC is so great how come they haven’t produced an NFL Defensive Player of the year in the last 20 years. The ACC has produced 8 and the BIG10 5. The SEC zero. 3. One can’t have a good baseball squad without pitching. Nor can football teams be good without QB play. If one looked at the starting QBs for NFL teams two weeks ago he saw 10 ACC QBs starting and only two from the bogus SEC. What the Fake News Sports media is worried about is one team dominating college football i.e. Clemson which crushed BAMA last year. 3. BC was good when they had a good coach. O’Brien was 6-0 vs. ND and 3-0 vs. Clemson. the dreadful DAZ is 0-7 vs. Clemson and 0-3 vs. ND. What a difference a coach makes.
Matt. Yes, the refs oftentimes seem to be pandering to the crowds or pandering to the favorite.
I, too, favor college football . . .and watch little of the pros.
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BC in 1984 was #4 in the country under Flutie and in 2007 #10 in the country under Ryan at QB. Under coaches Obrien-Jags they twice played for the ACC championship. Since they’re joined the ACC in 2005, they’ve been competitive, beating Clemson three times, and finishing generally around the middle of the pack.
The problem is the Spaz-Daz era. Remember, Clemson gained more offensive yards against BC (674) than any team in BC history. Three weeks before, Louisville gained 664 yards against BC, the second highest in history. These were the two worst defensive performances in B.C. football history . . .the worst ever . . . .you can only blame the coaches.
Even so, this year BC has beaten Virginia Tech and North Carolina State (two good ACC teams) and been competitive in its close losses to Wake Forest and Louisville.
Under the former defensive coordinator Coach Brown who is now with Michigan, BC was in the top five in the country in defense. Today they’re the worst in defense in the ACC and near the bottom in the country.
BC gets good talent. It’s success depends on good coaching.
BC should stay in the ACC and get better coaching, like Brown, O’Brien and Coughlin.
P.S. an expert just told me that in 2015 BC gave up about 16 points per game. So, far this year BC has given up 31 points per game.