Boston College at Florida State: Best and Worst-Case Scenarios

I think we can dispense with the Friday pick article – I’ll include my very obvious selection in tomorrow’s ACC picks. On Friday, I’ll give you a hockey article, which is much better than an extra day per week of “BC football sucks.”

Anyway, around these here parts, many BC fans are under the impression that things on Saturday could get very, very nasty for the Eagles in Tallahassee. They would be correct. I was curious, however, about just how bad it could get, and similarly, what BC’s ceiling looks like in this game. I came up with the following:

Best-case scenario
The Boston College Eagles, hoping to avoid a fourth loss in a row, head down to Doak. Florida State, fresh off of their big win in Miami which got them ranked once again, settle in for what they think will be an easy afternoon and another crucial ACC win.

The Seminoles offense doesn’t click at first, and BC’s defense shows some spark. Luke Kuechly has almost ten tackles before halftime, and the score is reasonably close, but in Florida State’s favor. In the second half, however, Christian Ponder throws a few touchdown passes to regain FSU’s mojo.

Boston College’s offense is led once again by Chase Rettig, who is still shaking off rust and getting back to business following his ankle injury. He is not largely inhibited by it, and shows some nice zip on his passes, but Rettig’s offensive line collapses around him like a cardboard box in a rainstorm and his receivers drop several of those balls. Rettig and some other playmakers look OK, but BC fails to move the football effectively, and Gary Tranquill makes few, if any, adjustments.

Florida State wins the game 31-17, in a closer contest than they expected. Coach Spaziani holds a postgame press conference where he is proud of how the team played their butts off.

Worst-case scenario
The Boston College Eagles, hoping to avoid a fourth loss in a row, head down to Doak. Florida State, fresh off of their big win in Miami which got them ranked once again, prepare for what they think will be an easy afternoon and another crucial ACC win; the Seminoles smell blood in the water.

Florida State’s offense clicks right away, and the home team is up 17-0 at the end of the first quarter. Boston College, at that same point, has 18 yards of total offense. Chase Rettig does the best he can, but the offensive line continues to stink, Gary Tranquill takes a nap during the game, and Chase is still a freshman, after all. Rettig has a rough day against Florida State’s stout defense and narrowly avoids re-injuring his ankle when he is sacked for the third time. The Boston College offense ends up with less than 200 total yards of offense, about half of which were compiled in garbage time.

Christian Ponder throws a season-high five touchdown passes, the ‘Noles run for two more from short range, and kick some field goals en route to a 55-10 stomping of Boston College. Coach Spaziani holds a postgame press conference where he is proud of how the team played their butts off.