W2WF: Battle Lines Drawn As 617 Meets 413 in the 508

Few places in the country match the parochial pride of people from Massachusetts.

While Boston serves as its heartbeat, the state's spirit comes from surrounding towns and cities. It isn't I-95 as much as it is Route 128, and it's the Southeast Expressway more than it's I-93. I-90 is the Mass Pike, unless you reach the point where it's the Ted Williams Tunnel. The identity - the general feel - stems from where you're born and where you're raised.

With it comes rivalries. Malden-Medford. Needham-Wellesley. Boston Latin-Boston English. Winchester-Woburn. Beverly-Salem. St. John's Prep-Xaverian. Everyone's history is steeped with some yin's yang, another identity that is the polar opposite of your own.

On its surface level, Saturday's football game between Boston College and UMass doesn't feel like a true rivalry. It lacks history, and for the most part, it's lopsided. After playing annually between 1966 and 1982, the Division I-AA/FCS Minutemen didn't play the Eagles again until 2004. BC hasn't lost since 1978, a string of eight straight victories for the Maroon and Gold. They've won the last four, all in the 21st century, by an aggregate 128-45 score. Even with UMass reclassifying to the FBS, it's going to take a lot more to create a heated New England-based rivalry.

It won't lack, however, parochialism and pride. That'll be on display on Saturday. UMass, the flagship campus of the state's public university, resides in Amherst, approximately 100 miles away from Boston. BC resides in the state's capital. That makes the setting, Gillette Stadium, as the home of the New England Patriots in Foxborough, feel a little bit like neutral ground, even though it's one of the Minutemen's home stadiums. It's a little bit of the 617 against the 413 in the 508 in what will hopefully be a fun day for everyone at the home of Super Bowl champions.

Best of You

Despite the overarching theme of the in-state matchup, this is still a game where both teams are looking inward to break out from what's been holding them back after suffering defeats last week.

For Boston College, that means correcting the mistakes made and progressing forward as a team. On offense, it means fixing some of the issues plaguing them in Ireland before putting them on display against a Minutemen defense who had success against Florida. It's not necessarily about expanding a playbook or putting on razzle-dazzle plays; it's simply about executing what needs to be done to win a game.

On defense, it means finally being able to play within their game. After playing more containment style against Georgia Tech, the Eagles will be able to pin their ears back and put pressure on the opposing offense.

"I think on offense we made tremendous strides (against Georgia Tech)," said head coach Steve Addazio. "We had complete balance rushing for 176, passing for 176, 352 yards on nine possessions. Usually you get 12 possessions. We were able to throw the ball, move the ball around, utilizing the different players we have. I think we've come a long way on offense.

"I think we've really developed a lot fundamentally on defense," he continued. "We'll continue to grow. Our team is developing very, very well, and we're continuing to improve in the areas that we needed to improve in."

Learn To Fly

At face value, the term "pressure" defines a defense as blitz-heavy, sending extra attackers at a quarterback in hopes that he'll panic, get happy feet, make bad decisions, and wind up having a rough day at the office. While that's true, the deeper meaning reveals that pressure can come from different areas.

Even if a defensive front seven doesn't rush everyone at the QB, there's different ways to pressure an offense. It could mean dropping linebackers into coverage for double-teams or it could represent how safeties attack deep threats.

"We want to improve in those situations on long down and distance, to be able to get underneath coverage or underneath our safeties deeper," said Addazio. "(It's) just some of the things that we're continuing to work on to become a well-rounded defense. The ability not just to pressure, but to be able to play some zone and to be able to still stop the run in zone coverage. We've worked really hard defensively. We have good personnel, and I think we're going to continue to grow."

My Hero

The local flavor of this game isn't confined to the stands; the number of coaches appearing in this game who are somehow connected to each other is staggering. It's a truly underrated storyline, one that should shine brightly on the New England region.

UMass head coach Mark Whipple played and coached at several levels of New England college football. A member of the 1976 Ivy League champions, he served as a two-year starting quarterback at Brown in 1977 and 1978. Ten years later, he became head coach at Division II New Haven, leading the Chargers to two DII national tournaments. He then went back to Providence as head coach of his alma mater, laying the groundwork for the 1999 Ivy League championship team. Though he never coached Brown to an Ivy title (they won it two years after he left), he did win a national championship in 1998 with UMass in his first year at the helm.

Whipple's defensive coordinator would lead UMass to another national title game appearance in 2006. That man? Don Brown, who would come to BC with Steve Addazio, helping to build last year's No. 1-ranked defense. Brown's successor at BC, Jim Reid, started his coaching career as a graduate assistant at UMass in 1973, working his way up to head coach before departing in 1991. In 1994, he was the defensive coordinator of Boston College for a year before leaving for Richmond. He wound up as the defensive coordinator at Syracuse, working for head coach Paul Pasqualoni in the mid-2000s. In 2008 and 2009, he was the outside linebackers coach when Pasqualoni was defensive coordinator of the Miami Dolphins. That's the same Paul Pasqualoni who is now the defensive line coach for the Eagles. Speaking of Pasqualoni, Brown was his defensive coordinator at UConn for two years before coming to Chestnut Hill. That's not including UMass defensive coordinator Tom Masella, who replaced Brown in 2002 when he left Amherst to become the head coach at Northeastern. Masella, notably the last head coach in Boston University history, served in that role for two seasons before Brown replaced Whipple as head coach in 2004. That same year, Masella became the head coach at Central Connecticut - Addazio's alma mater.

If by now you've still attempted to draw the family tree of coaching staffs, I suggest just giving up.

Instead, go to the game on Saturday. BC and UMass kick off at noon at Gillette Stadium. The Battle of the Bay State is truly on.

Boston College Athletics

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