Boston College Athletics
Return of a Rivalry
November 24, 2014 | Football
"We all know that we have a big week ahead of us: rival week against Syracuse."
Boston College head football coach Steve Addazio opened his weekly press conference rather matter-of-factly on Monday, getting out the most important piece of information right off the top.
On the off chance those in attendance didn't already know.
"It's a really important game for us," Addazio continued. "We're attacking a really good Syracuse team. They play hard; they play tough. They've got really good players. You play these games, and to me, you throw the records out. We've got two good teams here. It will be a real Northeast, nose-to-nose, physical knockdown contest."
The Eagles (6-5, 3-4 ACC) enter Saturday's game at Alumni Stadium (12:30 p.m. TV: NESN/RSN. Radio: WEEI 93.7FM) against Syracuse (3-8, 1-6 ACC) as the favorites ... on paper. BC has more wins, is headed to a bowl game and sits several spots higher in the ACC Atlantic Division than its long-time rival.
But the key word in that: rival.
As Addazio says, you throw the records out when rivals play. All across the United States this weekend, rivals will meet. There will be predictable wins and shocking upsets. It's what happens when rivals play.
Although Syracuse is only in their second ACC season, Saturday's meeting will be the 48th all-time meeting between the teams.
Boston College met the Orange - like clockwork - every season between 1971 and 2004. After the Eagles moved to the Atlantic Coast Conference, the teams met once - in 2010. Now with both schools back together in the ACC, the BC-Syracuse match is the highlight of the Northeast's college football slate.
"This game is THE game - which is a rival game and really important," Addazio said. "[Our] football team has overcome and battled through a lot of losses in terms of personnel from last year. We've done tremendous things."
The 2013 meeting - which saw the official renewal of the BC-Syracuse rivalry on an annual basis - saw the Orange take a 34-31 win at the Carrier Dome after `Cuse scored with eight seconds left in the teams' regular-season finale.
But heading in to Saturday, Addazio has one message. One clear thought. One clear goal for his Eagles.
"My message is: We're going to win this game because that's what we do. We are going to go into this game and we want to beat our rivals."
