Although it may not have been an offensive spectacle, or a particularly enthralling game in any manner, BC did what we had to do and closed out the season with a victory over Maryland. Efficiency was the key on Saturday, as neither team turned the ball over all afternoon. Dave Shinskie, who had struggled mightily as of late, cured a few more of his road woes with his best game in a few weeks, tossing for 227 yards and a TD on 14/23 passing. This wasn’t an edge-of-your-seat performance by Shinskie by any means, but it is comforting to know that he showed improvement this week. As I mentioned in the preview, he is definitely not guaranteed the starting role next fall, and if he wants it he has to prove that he can improve. Well, this game was a small first step (albeit against Maryland), and hopefully in our bowl game he can take another step. Will a solid bowl game ensure Shinskie the 2010 starting job? Absolutely not, but it will help his chances.
Montel Harris continued to do what he does, totaling 172 all-purpose yards against a pretty porous Maryland defense. These numbers are a little gaudy, considering he did run the ball 41 (41!) times. But I liked the conservative gameplan that I had predicted Tranquil would call. Maryland had given up ridiculous rushing numbers all year long, so we went with what they would give us. Now, this never translated into something huge, as Montel’s longest run was only 15 yards, but it wore the Terrapins out and allowed Steve Aponavicius to see a lot of action.
The receiving corps had a pretty solid game. The highlight was obviously our lone touchdown of the day, when Shinskie found Colin Larmond on a short crossing route over the middle, and he took it 66 yards to the house. Rich Gunnell also had a solid final regular season game, amassing 42 yards on five catches. While I am a little apprehensive about next year’s receiving unit with Gunnell and Jarvis departing, having Larmond will make things a bit easier. His deep-play ability is always a weapon.
Keeping in mind that this was Maryland, our defense played very well. The Terrapin quarterback duo of Chris Turner and Jamarr Robinson passed for only 216 yards and a touchdown, and that TD came late in the game with 1:34 left. Our defense stuck to what they’ve done all year, containing and controlling. Hobbled Maryland running back Da’Rel Scott only gained 45 yards as our defensive line had a good day controlling the trenches. And again, Luke Kuechly capped off his stellar year with another fine game, flying around and filling the gaps all day long. Kuechly garnered another ACC defensive back of the week award for his efforts.
It was already known before the game, but Clemson will represent that Atlantic next weekend in the ACC Championship Game in Tampa Bay. While it is unfortunate that we won’t be returning, Clemson is the most deserving team from the Atlantic, and I wish them good luck. And although finishing second is a disappointment, it’s drastically better than what we were predicted to finish. Yet another year gone by, and yet another year we proved the critics wrong. But this year may be the most impressive in my opinion because of the unbelievable uncertainty that we entered the season with. Spaz was a rookie coach, we had a QB who hadn’t played football in 7 years, our best player was out for the year, and lots of other things. But we hung tough and battled it out for second place in the division. I am extremely proud of what we accomplished this season, and I think that we should improve next season.
At the beginning of the year I predicted a 7-5 finish for BC, so while I even had the hometown bias, the Eagles still proved me wrong. 8-4 is nothing to be ashamed of, and save for a few too many interceptions at Notre Dame, that could have easily been 9-3. All reports and indications seem to have us heading out to San Francisco for the Emerald Bowl later in December, but I will wait to report until I hear the final word. Until then, here’s to a successful regular season for our Eagles and hopefully a win in our upcoming bowl game.