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| | Sunday, September 3 Eagles rather run than take to the air | |||||
| By Bill Doherty Special to ESPN.com Boston College Eagles 1999 record: 8-4 (4-3 Big East) Coach: Tom O'Brien Returning starters: 12 (7 offense, 5 defense) Outlook The Eagles were 8-4 and went bowling last season and they should battle Syracuse tooth-and-nail for third place in the Big East this season. This team is loaded at running back, where senior-to-be Cedric Washington (1,122 yards last season) did a pretty fair Mike Cloud imitation last year and sophomore William Green (251 yards) is a future star himself. Senior quarterback Tim Hasselbeck underwent off-season groin/abdominal surgery and is expected to be A-OK to start the season. The defense has holes, especially a forward wall which was decimated by graduation (key loss: All-American tackle Chris Hovan is now a Minnesota Viking). As a result, the offense will have to carry an inexperienced defense for the first couple weeks of the 2000 season. Keep an eye on ... Senior LB Ryan Burch. Last season, the 6-4, 239-pound Burch was the team's starting fullback. This year, he moves to middle linebacker, where he'll attempt to fill the run-stopping role that second-team all-leaguer Frank Chamberlain (125 tackles in 1999) performed so well last year. It's a good season if ... The Eagles can somehow survive an eight games in eight weeks stretch which begins September 23 against Navy and ends November 11th at Notre Dame. O'Brien's last two recruiting classes have been stellar, but this team still lacks quality depth overall. This eight-week marathon will no doubt test their resolve. Bill Doherty covers Big East football for ESPN.com |
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