The Tailgate: Virginia

Bostonians are a unique breed. We're known for our stubborn loyalty and intense pride as much as we're recognized for having a stereotypical cockiness or bravado. Visitors stick out like a sore thumb, but we'll welcome anyone willing to have a conversation over a bar or a cup of coffee. We're the centerpiece of the medical and academic world, but our town holds a blue collar heart built by generations of blood, sweat, and tears.

Boston is a city built on innovative greatness, but true success is derived from striving for the uppermost pinnacles. Simply being good isn't good enough, but people in this area celebrate the hardest working people regardless of their championship-caliber talent. In other words, it's okay to lose, but you better go down swinging before learning from those mistakes and coming back stronger than ever.

To a degree, that statement is especially true when it comes to the city's sports teams because people up here love teams that get dirty. Lunch pail athletes are among Boston's most beloved characters, and a mediocre team that fought its way to the finish is revered to a higher degree than a talented group of perceived underachievers.

Maybe that's why the 1-3 start isn't worth doubting this Boston College football team. The slow first quarter of the season hasn't been good enough, but the Eagles are the first to admit their faults and embrace the challenge for the next stage. Each week, they've attacked their own deficiencies and improved, but each opponent is unique in the challenges they've posed.

On Saturday afternoon, a team that knows it needs to do better is embracing that opportunity after spending a week reflecting and committing itself to changing the debate after last week's 56-28 loss to Louisville.

"That type of loss, it really does hurt," said defensive end Neto Okpala. "A lot of us were quiet when we came back to Boston. The bus ride, the plane, getting back on the bus [back to campus], I really feel it was a 24-hour type of thing. We took some time to really sit there and think about it, but as soon as that was done, we had to get rolling and focus on the next game, use that type of hurt and use that to impose our own will on another team. Me personally? [The loss] made me mad, so I want to use that type of anger against Virginia."

October itself is a crossroads month for the college football season, and its history is littered with the remains of fast-starting teams that couldn't sustain their greatness. Last year's Syracuse team is a prime example after the Orange won their first six games and rose to No. 14 in the national polls. They were flying high, but a loss to No. 5 Clemson kicked off a five-game losing streak that didn't end until the final game of the regular season. Even then, the 28-20 loss to Minnesota in the Pinstripe Bowl was a far cry from initial bowl projections and possible New Year's Six glory.

That's different from the 2018 Georgia Tech team that finished with seven wins after opening 1-3 with losses to South Florida and Pittsburgh. A win over Bowling Green ended late September, but the Yellow Jackets lost just once with wins over Louisville, Virginia Tech, North Carolina, Miami and Virginia before their year ended with a loss to Georgia in Clean, Old-Fashioned Hate and a Quick Lane Bowl loss to Minnesota.

"No matter what it is, you can't [get] down," Okpala said. "You just have to pick everybody up, no matter what the score is, no matter what the situation is. Even in a Louisville game, as we were going down, I tried my best to tell people that we still had a whole game to finish. We can't just give up. I don't really care what the score is; I just can't give up. That's just me personally, and we have a lot of guys who are like that too."

BC understands that the season isn't anywhere close to over, and its own history is built by a variety of risers and fallers. Teams that started hot ran into tough Octobers, but other teams rallied into the postseason by turning its gears into overdrive during the second calendar month of the season. This year's team hopes it's the latter, and it's out to prove that it can start turning things around with this week's game against Virginia.

Here's what to watch for when the Eagles return home for a matchup with a team as traditional as the ACC itself:

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Game Storylines (Shaq Edition)

We're focusing on the whole pie, not a slice. A slice is good, but it's not good enough to get you fat. We're trying to get fat.

BC very clearly played well in its first four games, but each result showcased some deficiency that the coaches and players had to address in practice during the next week's run-up. The procedural penalties from the Florida State game, for example, went away against Louisville, but the defensive effort lapsed, but the unsportsmanlike conduct penalties from the previous Holy Cross game were erased during the loss to the Seminoles.

The bottom line is that BC is a dangerous team if it puts everything together, but the Eagles know it and are finally seeking the total package on Saturday against the visiting Cavaliers.

"We had good talks amongst the team," said head coach Jeff Hafley, "and we watched the tape. We were critical, obviously, and we looked at ourselves first, but it's our job to make sure our guys are fresh and feel good. It's our players' job to make sure they're taking care of their bodies and doing everything they need to do to use recovery, and I think we have a really good plan going forward."

Boston College is at its best when the synergisms within the football team are clicking at full speed. Every phase of the game forces opponents to respond to a flow they don't dictate, and the offense puts a defense on its heels while the BC defense subsequently finds itself playing against a one-dimensional, desperate offense. Punts flip field position, and the overall time of possession falls in line with an inability to effectively penetrate into plus territory.

The Eagles nearly knocked off Florida State during a game in which they didn't have full synergy. They beat Holy Cross by overcoming the lack of synergy. They lost to NIU because they couldn't find flow and cohesion, and the Louisville game speaks for itself.

It goes without saying that finding the missing links changes the narrative, and this week is as good a time as any to flip the debate.

I'm a combination of the Terminator and Bambi.

Virginia's offense isn't one-dimensional, but question marks linger after true freshman Anthony Colandrea surprised onlookers in his starts against James Madison, Maryland and NC State by throwing for 923 yards. The raw talent was evident, but Tony Muskett's return from a shoulder injury thrust the position under the microscope in the days leading up to a weekend date with a defense seeking to silence the doubters.

"It wasn't like the numbers [of missed tackles] were staggering," Hafley said of last week's game, "but when we missed them, they went for big plays. It's because we didn't look as fast, so there weren't as many guys around the ball, or guys weren't in great position to make the tackles. They weren't [at the point of attack] fast enough."

Muskett was expected to start for the Cavaliers after leading Monmouth to 42 touchdowns against 14 interceptions over the 2021 and 2022 seasons, but the 4,000-yard career passer vanished to the medical report after going 9-for-17 against Tennessee. It's impossible to judge those numbers based on the Volunteers' stringent ability to limit offenses, but it's also hard to finger the pulse of an offense balancing its present against the future potential of Colandrea.

To that end, BC has an opportunity this week to silence the ever-growing doubt after last week's loss to Louisville, and the unit spent time recharging its physical batteries after watching the sluggishness from the trip to Kentucky. That means there's a lethal combination bubbling under the surface where a rejuvenated unit can find its mojo against an offense that hasn't reached 400 yards against a single opponent this season.

I am Superman. And the only thing that can kill Superman is Kryptonite. And Kryptonite doesn't exist.

Yes, Boston College has an exciting new offense with a dual-threat quarterback, and yes, the Eagles proved they could score quick strikes even in a game that got out of hand in the moments before and after halftime. It's equally true that Thomas Castellanos is unquestionably a new type of quarterback, and his command of the offense is growing on a weekly basis.

It's not true that BC can then abandon its reputation as a hard-nosed running team by turning into a video game offense with a quarterback running all over the field. There is still a need to control time of possession with a ground-based pounding attack, and with the theme of rejuvenation settling into Chestnut Hill this week, focus on Kye Robichaux's ability to get healthier and sharing the spotlight with a possible return from bruiserback Patrick Garwo.

"Kye kind of limped off at one point [against Louisville]," said Hafley. "He came into that game a little banged up with how hard he played against Florida State, but he should be good to go. Pat looked fresh, so we're going to need to get Pat the ball a little bit more. He came out of that game healthy."

BC is significantly better when Garwo is healthy and churning through defenses, and getting him to average over four yards per carry is a major advantage for an offense with a strong offensive line. His seven-yard average against Missouri in 2021 built a 175-yard, two-touchdown performance, and he later averaged around five yards per carry for the Louisville, Syracuse, and Wake Forest games with 15 or more touches in all of those games with the exception of the season finale loss to the Demon Deacons.

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Question Box

How does BC correct last week's mistakes?

I'm going to keep this short and sweet because there's an inherent trust from players who have unquestionably bought into Hafley's process. BC has risen to the occasion nearly every time there's been a visible issue on the field, so I believe the team will correct its tackling woes from last week. The key is to then avoid a whack-a-mole where something else pops up.

Can Virginia establish the running game?

Virginia hasn't had a 400-yard game this year, but the running game has more specifically struggled in two of the Cavaliers' four games. It can't seem to get over the 120-yard hump, and it's never a good thing to rely on the passing game to overcompensate for a lack of yards. That said, Anthony Colandrea successfully threw for 377 yards and two touchdowns against James Madison against 18 total rushing yards, but the one-point loss could've easily flipped if the backfield averaged another yard or two on a couple of different carries.

Is this a must-win game?

I positively despise calling any game "must-win" because I feel like every game is a must-win. No team prepares for an opponent by saying, "Hey, guys, we're going to lose this game," and it's disrespectful to any team to just assume a game is a win or loss. Every team prepares every week to beat every opponent, no matter how hard the game appears, and Saturday is no different.

That said, this game feels a bit critical for both teams' postseason hopes. Virginia's remaining schedule includes road trips to North Carolina, Miami, Louisville, and Duke, who is hosting Notre Dame in this week's edition of the ESPN College GameDay road show. Dropping to 0-4 means the road to postseason eligibility passes through four teams that are currently a combined 16-0.

BC's remaining schedule is more palatable at a surface level, but the majority is on the road. Next week's game at Army is a sneaky-tough road trip, and Georgia Tech and Syracuse are notoriously tough places to play. A mid-November game at Pittsburgh should have some nasty weather, and even though Virginia Tech is 1-3, the Hokies aren't exactly a pushover.

I know, I just did something I normally refuse to do, but I'll be the first one to tell everyone how the rest of the season is unknown. These undefeated teams could easily plow into a speed bump, and an 0-3 or 0-4 team could rip through a heater for the rest of the season. A bounce in any direction changes everything at a moment's notice. Anything before the word "but" is meaningless, and I just did that. I get it.

BUT (there I go again) it's also worth noting how probabilities and possibilities narrow over time. Every game is a must-win. This one just feels more must-win than others for both of these teams.

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Meteorology 101

I remember talking to my wife in July about cutting the lawn (because that's the riveting stuff married couples talk about when they're not talking about their kids or bills). We were in the middle of that disgusting, hot stretch of weather, and I purposely left more grass in the yard because I didn't want to cut it low and burn the whole thing out. We hadn't had any rain, and I thought about what we'd do if the kids couldn't go outside to play until winter.

Needless to say, September was a little bit different. That first, sun-soaked game against Northern Illinois feels like a lifetime ago, and the thunderstorms and hurricanes from Holy Cross and Florida State contributed to feeling like we lived in a cross between Tornado Alley and Seattle. I don't remember the last time I could sit outside at night without sticking my feet in standing water, though I won't complain too much about the 40-degree night from Wednesday.

That said, BC is returning home on Saturday, and it's another day with rain in the forecast. Temperatures are going to hit the mid-60s with wind gusts making things a little interesting for kickers, but the hope is that the rain hits a little bit earlier than usual, if at all.

I know crisp fall weather is around the corner, but I'm still getting tired of seeing clouds and raindrops whenever I check weather reports.

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BC-Virginia X Factor

Lewis Bond

The Boston College offense has never really been a haven for lights-out, explosive receivers, but the departure of first round draft pick Zay Flowers blew the lid off the Eagles' cabal of versatile, athletic pass catchers. Everyone, it seems, does something different, but few players electrified crowds over the first four games quite like Lewis Bond and his ability to gain separation in space.

"When you show the reliability that Lewis has showed," said Hafley, "I think that's very comforting. To a quarterback, Lewis isn't just a good player. He's a very smart player, and he's a guy that you can trust as a coach. You know where he's going to be, and he understands the defense. He's going to put himself in position to make the play."

Bond is listed at five feet, 11 inches, but he plays much bigger because he knows how to gain separation with his hands. He possesses a thick frame, which is why he can catch a ball and plant away from tacklers while gaining extra separation. His speed isn't taking the top off a defense, but he makes safeties overcommit to middle routes that he then turns into deep gains.

He knows how to make plays, and every week adds to a different highlight reel by showcasing how he makes defenders miss tackles by utilizing some form of raw strength. That means defenses have to counter him with a bit of heft, which for Virginia means Tayvonn Kyle or Jonas Sanker may need to keep eyes on Bond at all times. Both are safeties by nature, but each can play the SPUR, which is a safety-linebacker hybrid position, with added size. Kyle is listed as the top SPUR on the depth chart, and at 5-11, 181 pounds, the sixth-year player has bona fides capable of staying with the receiver over the 6-1, 210-pound Sanker, a true free safety.

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Around College Football

It's hard to replicate the gold rush of last week in football, but this week will at least bring some interesting prospecting steam to the national slate with a big-time matchup at Duke, where the No. 17 Blue Devils host ESPN's College GameDay for their game against No. 11 Notre Dame.

The biggest fish of a week where the rest of the ACC is relatively quiet. Clemson is at Syracuse at noon and Pittsburgh is at Virginia Tech at 8 p.m., but there aren't a ton of conference games to speak about within the league itself. BC's game against Virginia aside, Florida State, Miami, North Carolina, and a large contingent of teams sitting in the league's upper tier are all idle, and Louisville is at NC State on Friday night.

It's a similar theme to the rest of the nation, where three games, including Duke-Notre Dame, include two teams ranked inside the Top-25. The juiciest game is probably No. 24 Kansas's trip to No. 3 Texas largely because of the Jayhawks' well-documented struggles over history, but aside from a 6 p.m. kickoff between No. 13 LSU and No. 20 Ole Miss, there aren't many games involving the ranked sides.

That usually means something's bound to go haywire, right? Maybe it's in No. 1 Georgia's trip to Auburn or No. 2 Michigan's trip to Nebraska, but I'm strangely intrigued by Colorado's return home to play No. 8 USC. There's something about the Trojans having to play in the altitude in Boulder, and everyone should know how much I love Coach Prime at this point.

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Dan's Non-Sports Observation of the Week

My wife and I dropped our second daughter at daycare for the first time with her sister, and my dishwasher - the one that was installed literally last week - fell out of its slot in the kitchen. A closet door in my house fell off of its hinge, and at some point, I'm pretty sure I nuked a cabinet door by pushing it the wrong direction.

All of it fell to secondary status, though, because I got sick on Monday.

I'm going to speak in a direct way here for a second because you'd never believe that I never, ever, ever get sick. I don't know if it's because I basically ate dirt playing sports as a kid, but I went years without ever getting a fever. Exhaustion never made me susceptible to getting sick, and I never caught the flu. The big joke was that I could clear a 24-hour bug in less than eight hours, and even last winter, the flu ran through my house and nailed my wife dead-to-rights while I avoided anything resembling a sniffle.

All of that changed when I woke up on Monday with a loud cough and some really horrible congestion. This was completely different from anything I'd experienced, and the randomness of it all laid me up for a good three days of bad sleep and Nyquil.

I'm told that kids going to daycare is a big part of getting sick in adulthood, but I assumed I'd clear everything without an issue. My headache and stuffy nose said otherwise, and I spent most of this week longingly staring at my bed while avoiding my wife.

That said, I still found the energy to play with my kids because I'll always play with my kids. That's one of those things that makes sickness not feel so bad, and I credit my daughter's obsession with this party freeze dance song thing (and her ability to yell for Springsteen music) with getting me through the night on Thursday.

Bottom line, though? Getting sick is a 0/10. Would not recommend. It's the worst.

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Pregame Quote and Prediction

Was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor? Hell no! -Bluto Blutarsky, Animal House

Boston College is 1-3 on the season, and last week's game against Louisville left more meat on the bone than anyone wanted or expected. There's a feeling running through the popular football voodoo tree that the Eagles are already on their last legs for the season, and it's only a matter of time before a bowl game becomes a statistical impossibility.

There's still plenty of season left, though, and Saturday is the first step into a month known for its ability to leave carnage in its wake. This is a team that's ready to step out of the shadows and into a spotlight, but it needs to grab the proverbial center stage away from a team also hoping to do the same. Virginia is a good team that very easily could have been better than a three-win season last year, and the Cavaliers are better than their 0-4 record would indicate.

There's potential for both of these teams to play with their hair on fire this week, but the team that can dial up to Mach-2 is the one that likely finds a way to dictate the pace and walk out of Alumni Stadium with a win.

Boston College and Virginia kick off on Saturday at 2 p.m. from Alumni Stadium in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts. Television coverage is available on national television via the ACC's regional sports networks, now available on The CW. Radio broadcast is also available through the BC Learfield IMG Sports Network, which is on local radio in Boston via WEEI 93.7 FM, with satellite options available on SiriusXM channel 121 or 194 with streaming audio available through the Varsity Network.

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Players Mentioned

Lewis Bond

Thomas Castellanos

Zay Flowers

Neto Okpala

Kye Robichaux