Random Thoughts (December 2, 2008)

If you had told me this summer -- hell, a month ago -- that the BC football team would be back in the ACC Championship Game following the graduation of NFL first round draft picks Matt Ryan and Gosder Cherilus, I would have laughed in your face. Funny, here we are, in the first week of December and BC is the now the two-time defending ACC Atlantic division champions and they return to the ACC title game for a rematch with Virginia Tech, whom the Eagles lost to in the championship game last year. BC defeated Virginia Tech by a 28-23 score in the 2008 regular season. If BC wins on Saturday, they would reach the prestigious Orange Bowl. It would be BC's first trip to a major bowl game since Doug Flutie led the Eagles to the 1985 Cotton Bowl. I wrote a few weeks ago that Jeff Jagodzinski should be considered a favorite for national coach of the year and I stand by that statement. Jagodzinski came into the year with a veteran defense that has dominated but his offense had unproven fifth-year senior Chris Crane at quarterback replacing Ryan and after Crane went down for the season at Wake Forest two weeks ago, redshirt freshman Dominique Davis has taken control under center. BC's top two running backs, Montel Harris and Josh Haden, are both true freshman. In spite of the inexperience at quarterback and running back, Jagodzinski and offensive coordinator Steve Logan found a way to put up enough points to win a championship... Now that Lane Kiffin is locked up at Tennessee, Syracuse has absolutely no reason not to hire Oregon offensive coordinator Chip Kelley as the new head coach of the Orange. If hired, Kelley will win more games in Syracuse than Kiffin will in Knoxville... Their lack of a bench (IMO) still scares me in a seven-game playoff series but as of right now, there is no better team in the NBA than the 17-2 Celtics... It's time for the Baseball Writers of America to do the right thing and elect Jim Rice to the Hall of Fame... Enjoy Duke-Purdue tonight...