The Tailgate: No. 14 SMU

The first two months of the 2024 college football season offered extremities at either end of the spectrum for a Boston College team that rose through September and slid backwards in October. The in-demand program very clearly entered the year as a team on the rise in the ultra-competitive and ever-expanding Atlantic Coast Conference, but returning to the national polls for the first time in six years resulted in a one-week stint that crescendoed in the aftermath of nearly eliminating a Missouri side once ranked inside the top-10.

The story exists throughout the entirety of college football, but the volume of boats finding themselves caught in stormy seas after racing out to early leads did little to vette or erase the memories of how BC looked like a team with the world in its oyster before October slammed the clam door shut.

Last week's win over Syracuse eradicated most of those negative feelings by delivering a crucial win at a critical juncture to BC's season, but Bill O'Brien's lack of satisfaction within the team's overall performance came to the forefront of public viewing this week when he shockingly delivered news that the Eagles would turn to Grayson James as their starting quarterback for the upcoming week's game against Southern Methodist.

"I brought both guys in on Sunday and talked to them about the position," said O'Brien about the quarterback situation. "I have to make decisions in the best interest of the football team. I look at the team and I try to do what's best for the team. I think what's best for the team right now is for Grayson James to be the starter."

Moving James into a spot occupied by Thomas Castellanos resulted in a fallout effect over Wednesday and Thursday, but questioning the situation doesn't change how BC intends to attack SMU on Saturday with a new starting QB. It's impossible to ignore, and won't likely quiet the microanalysis, surrounding every play or move on Saturday, but catapulting James into the position is a unique opportunity for the Eagles to finish their season with a different viewpoint compared to the first nine games of the 2024 season.

James, for his part, led the Eagles past Syracuse by performing admirably in the second half, but his performance is best exemplified by BC's win over Western Kentucky at the end of September. All of that said, not much changed about BC's preparation for SMU because the individual position groups still simply went about their business and focused on doing their respective job.

"It was the first thing coach said when he was in the team meeting right after the game," said tight end Jeremiah Franklin. "He addressed it and said that it's hard to coach [and] make tough decisions. He told Tommy first and then told us in the team meeting. We all understand that the coach made a decision, and it's just another game. Whoever it is [at quarterback], we're still going to go in like we have to win and play as hard as we can."

It sounds Belichickian, but the mantra of focusing internally or looking in the mirror is something that's been said more than once during the season. After each loss - and even after wins - players talked about looking in the mirror to ask about what they did well and what they needed to improve. Regardless of the decision, that still stands atop the list of items putting BC in the best possible position to win on Saturday.

Here's what to watch when BC heads to Texas to take on SMU for the first time as conference opponents:

****
Game Storylines (Wall Street Edition)

Lou: Man looks into the abyss, there's nothing staring back at him. At that moment, man finds his character, and that's what keeps him out of the abyss.

It's still strange to look at SMU as a conference opponent. Those of us who remember the old Southwest Conference still view the Mustangs as former members of a league centered around Texas, Texas A&M, Baylor, TCU, Rice, Houston and the greater Texas-Arkansas geographic footprint, and those of us who don't remember the SWC conceivably view SMU as a team that frequently lost during its days in the old WAC.

SMU listlessly spent better parts of four decades rebuilding its identity after the NCAA levied the so-called "death penalty" against the Mustangs and suspended the team for a 1987 season that extended into 1988 after the university voluntarily remained out of play. They spent the next 20-plus years losing games to the degree that they became a cautionary tale against ever utilizing the repeat offenders' violation ruling ever again, and it wasn't until they found a home in Conference USA that things stabilized into bowl eligibility. They eventually moved into the American Athletic Conference and won the conference championship last year, after which expansion found them returned to power conference status for the first time since the SWC folded.

"This is a very even league [in the Atlantic Coast Conference]," said head coach Bill O'Brien. "A lot of teams are evenly matched. I just think it's a great league. I've said it all along that the SEC is an excellent conference, but like the SEC and the Big Ten, the ACC isn't anybody's little brother. I don't see it that way. I think this is a really good league with a lot of great coaches and obviously great players. This league is very, very competitive."

Aligning SMU into the ACC sent the Mustangs into a league with little to no historical opponents, but where the majority of teams haven't played in Texas since the Nixon administration, BC ranks as a case study measuring the league against the Mustangs. The Eagles are the most recent ACC opponent before SMU joined this season thanks to last year's Wasabi Fenway Bowl, and BC is actually one of the few teams to play SMU as itself an ACC team because even Pittsburgh, the next most recent opponent, competed against the Mustangs in the 2012 BBVA Compass Bowl.

The bottom line brass? SMU is an important piece of the modern day ACC because it represents the league's truest extension away from its geographical footprint since bringing Boston College to the conference in 2005.

Gordon Gekko: We make the rules, pal. The news, war, peace, famine, upheaval, the price per paper clip. We pick that rabbit out of the hat while everybody sits out there wondering how we did it. Now you're not naive to think we're living in a democracy, are you buddy? It's the free market. And you're a part of it. You've got that killer instinct. Stick around, pal, I've still got a lot to teach you.

BC might be the only ACC team to play SMU as an actual ACC team prior to this season, but the Mustangs aren't a token addition to the conference. They enter Saturday with multiple avenues into the College Football Playoff, the first of which remains an undefeated opportunity to play in the ACC Championship, which would, in turn, qualify them for a potential top-4 spot as one of the highest ranked league champions.

Beyond winning the whole shebang in its first year, SMU really can't afford to lose anything else beyond the one game from earlier this season if it wants to seal a slot as an at-large team. As it turns out, a loss to Brigham Young isn't exactly costing anyone any votes this year, and even in that game, the Mustangs lost by three because they were able to punch the Cougars in the proverbial mouth with their defense.

"They're very strong up front," said O'Brien. "They do a really good job of moving the front. They have a really good pressure package that's hard to see. It's very well-disguised. They run a lot of different coverages. They make you think it's [one thing], and then at the snap of the ball, it's something else. They're one of the best teams we've played and one of the best-coached teams we've played."

BYU was one of four teams to break 100 yards on the ground against SMU, but each of those performances included either a lost turnover battle or a lower per-carry average to iron out exactly how the Mustangs surrendered those yards. Last week's win over Pittsburgh, for example, saw the Panthers gain 103 yards with a touchdown because they ran the ball 32 times - an average of just over three yards per carry. Similarly, the early season performance by Nevada failed to gain more than three-plus yards per carry to amass 148 yards, and even the lone loss to BYU is credited to a turnover battle that helped the Mustangs beat Louisville in their one-score decision.

Gordon Gekko: The point is, ladies and gentlemen, that greed, for lack of a better word, is good. Greed is right. Greed works. Greed clarifies, cuts through, and captures the essence of the evolutionary spirit. Greed, in all of its forms; greed for life, for money, for love, knowledge has marked upward surge of mankind.

We were never getting out of this movie without referencing its most iconic line, but it's obvious how greed can help fuel the vantage point looking out over the final three games of the season. It's too easy, in other words, to look at the last three games and identify how the Eagles advance to a bowl game with six wins when the team very clearly has an opportunity to win three additional games and finish above that ever-elusive seven-win glass ceiling that always rolls around at this time of year.

SMU precedes two final home games against North Carolina and Pittsburgh, both of which are winnable on home turf at a time when the ice cold weather is starting to hover over Massachusetts. From a pure football standpoint, making the switch and adjusting the game plan over these final weeks is all part of the evolution of how O'Brien is working towards the future, both from a bowl game standpoint and the eventual jump into the offseason with James potentially leading the offense. So making the change, while a gamble, indicates how BC is willing to make the gamble to see if it pays out with more wins during the stretch run.

"He's done a great job in practice," said O'Brien. "He gets half of the reps pretty much every day. He's done an excellent job in practice. Very smart guy, and he prepares himself to be the starter every week. Part of it is the game, but what he's done in practice, he's gotten better and better every week."

Most importantly, none of this is a knock against either quarterback. Castellanos, for his part, led BC to the Fenway Bowl championship last year and began the year as a beloved member of the entire BC community. None of this changes his legacy from last year and how he reinvented the program at a time when it searched for a new identity. Beyond him, even James understands the tenuous nature of a starting quarterback job because he once started for a different school, and he's now starting for a program that's lacked consistency at the position for the better part of 30 years. There's barely been more than a half dozen players who lasted an entire season as a starting quarterback without missing at least one appearance, and the last quarterback to start multiple years without missing a start dates back was Chase Rettig at a time when BC transitioned from Frank Spaziani to Steve Addazio. It's been six years since a quarterback started every game for BC and eight years since that quarterback didn't miss time due to injury.

Yet without that so-called stability, the Eagles still managed to keep themselves in the hunt for conference championships and elite bowl games. Regardless of anything else, that's kind of an interesting note because quarterbacks, much like any other position, are pliable according to which player is called upon to win in whichever situation is created.

"I think a big thing [about James], he was injured," added O'Brien. "He had surgery way back when and missed a lot of time, so it took him a while to get back into it. He's a good player."

*****
Question Box

Can we finally talk about the defense's ability to stop an opposing offense?

All this talk about BC's offense overlooks SMU quarterback Kevin Jennings and an offense averaging over 40 points per game on an 8-1 regular season record. He's reasonably familiar to BC after starting last year's Fenway Bowl, but he's since become one of the ACC's best quarterbacks by simply doing his job in Rhett Lashlee's offense. His five interceptions on the season include three from a single anomalous game against Duke, and four of his receivers are averaging 35 yards per game. One of those pass catchers - tight end RJ Maryland - is out for the season with a knee injury, but that shouldn't disrupt the offense's ability to attack a defense.

Is there a new Pony Express in town?

Jennings is a true dual threat and ranks among SMU's leading rushers, but while it historically presented a host of issues to BC's defense, the Eagles likely need to concern and familiarize themselves with Brashard Smith, who enters Saturday needing less than 100 yards to break the 1,000-yard mark for the season. He carved through Pittsburgh last week for 161 yards and two touchdowns and hasn't been held under 75 yards since Stanford limited him to 67 yards in the middle portion of the season.

That said, "limiting" is probably misleading since he still averaged eight yards per carry in that game.

Am I going to use this space just to remind people in Texas that the Celtics defeated the Mavs to win the NBA title?

I don't understand why you'd assume something like that, Mr. Italicized Question. Why would anyone who lives in a household that watches the NBA on a nightly basis ever bring up the five game series won by the 18-time NBA champions? Why would I ever want to discuss how a team that went 16-3 in the postseason returned virtually every piece from that roster? Who would do such a thing?

*****
Meteorology 101

I get queasy whenever I'm forced to discuss the weather in Dallas. I still remember sitting at my friend's condo after we planned a whole day around the First Responder Bowl, and I equally remember when we realized that the game's cancellation meant we were getting relegated to delivering Chinese food with whatever remained on television. The game itself is long struck from the record books, but I'll never forget AJ Dillon's touchdown and how, for one brief moment, I felt like we were gearing towards steak tips for dinner.

It's always amusing to look at the weather reports from other parts of the country at a time when 20-degree nights are creeping into Massachusetts, but aside from Miami, Dallas is probably the best spot to watch a college football game on a Saturday afternoon in November. Forecasts for Saturday are expected to reach into the mid-70s with sunshine aplenty over Gerald J. Ford Stadium, which I found out this week, is not named after President Ford.

I've been listening to a good chunk of Watergate podcasts and audio books lately.

*****
BC-SMU X Factor

It's not what you know. It's what you think you know. -Steve Martin

It doesn't take a degree in advanced chemical physics and astronomy - something I just made up right now, by the way - to look at this game and analyze it through BC's quarterback position. I'm pretty sure everyone is going to watch Grayson James intently on Saturday, and I'm equally positive that it's nothing more than any quarterback endures on a weekly basis.

When it comes to this game, I'm honestly more worried about seeing how each of these teams adapt to one another's ability to run the football. I noted last week how BC rarely produced similar leading rushers on a week-over-week basis this year, but the breakout win over Syracuse brought Kye Robichaux right back to the forefront of the offensive's consciousness. Looking deeper at BC's outburst against the Orange, the offensive line particularly found success in opening holes against a front seven that seldom rushed more than its defensive front, which in turn spread to bigger, more explosive gains because Syracuse refused to blitz and stack the box.

SMU has big bodies all over its defensive front, but I'm particularly interested in watching the ongoing battle between nose tackle Anthony Booker, Jr. and an interior offensive line that increasingly occupied and opened gaps between the guards. Even beyond a three-man front, the Mustangs possess a Bandit linebacker in six-foot, four-inch Jafari Harvey, and the speed from which he can attack is dangerous if the tackles can't contain edge rushers. Knowing Harvey can move within those different gaps means the line needs to open holes for Robichaux to avoid layering too much pressure on the passing game.

*****
Dan's Non-Football Observation of the Week

My desk at home sits directly next to one of those little square windows to the outside world. It's an idyllic setting when weather gets nice because the sliding pane enables me to catch the perfect breeze through a smaller slot that's contained to an area right next to my monitors. It's almost like I have this private little window and breezer for my workstation, which occasionally annoys my wife when she's sitting in another room with any combination of fans and air conditioners.

The one drawback to the window occurs between now and the end of daylight savings time because sunsets between 3 p.m. and 5 p.m. burn the sunshine right through the trees and into my eyeballs. There's no way to block it, and I'm now relegated to shrinking into my chair long enough for my monitor to block the glare. I can't see anything for a solid 45 minutes, and since the breeze and wind from fall gives me the perfect blanket weather right when it's on the way down, it's basically a waste of time and energy on my part.

Good news, though. I finally fixed up the garage, so anyone who remembers seeing me from Zoom meetings can now rest assured that I'll still work with circuit breakers behind me and a desktop in front of me.

*****
Pregame Quote and Prediction

By changing nothing, nothing changes. -Tony Robbins

I very much remember the days of watching ACC fans complain about traveling to Massachusetts. Boston College was an outlier to the rest of the geographic footprint, and the southern fans who remembered the league for its structure around North Carolina and Tobacco Road weren't ready for the bitter Northeast conditions or lunatic New England traffic and weather patterns. They adjusted, but BC remained an outsider to traditionalists who thought the ACC belonged to the South.

I never took that approach to SMU's addition because I'm pretty excited for the Mustangs to integrate into the ACC's newfound national expansion. Only in this world can Boston and Dallas matchup against one another in the same league. It's a sneaky huge game, and it's a big reason why the end of the 2024 season is teeming with major games between newfound rivals.

Boston College and No. 14-ranked Southern Methodist kick off on Saturday at noon from Gerald J. Ford Stadium in Dallas, Texas. Television coverage is set for ESPN with Bob Wischusen and Louis Riddick handling broadcast duties and Kris Budden reporting from the sideline.

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Jeremiah Franklin

Grayson James

Kye Robichaux