Inching closer to football season

OK, so it's summer but the football season isn't that far away. As the pre-season college magazines and NFL fantasy previews start to trickle out into bookstores and news shops, it seems an appropriate time to start to examine what's in store for the 2007 BC football team.

And already the expectations are high for BC. Rivals.com placed the Eagles at No. 16 in their pre-season top-50. While not too surprising, it shows that there is a feeling among the media that Coach Jags's West Coast/pro-style offense and his ability to recruit well will yield some success for BC.

While Matt Ryan is regarded as among the best quarterbacks in the league, the strength of this team will be if the running game can match its production of the past combined with a strong set of receivers and suitable to excellent DBs. More to come on this team as we draw closer to Opening Day on Sept. 1 against Wake Forest.

SI.com gave some ink to Flutie's Hail Mary as part of its "SI reporters write about their favorite sporting events they have attended" series. Ian Thomsen, who worked for The Globe in 1984, gave his version of covering the Miracle in Miami. Interesting fact I never knew, according to Thomsen, BC had already accepted a bid to the Cotton Bowl. That's interesting since, going into the Miami game, the Eagles still had a game at Holy Cross to finish the season. So, a 7-2 team was invited to -- what was at the time -- one of the more prestigious bowl games? Interesting. Like today, I imagine the Cotton Bowl committee was interested in money and selling tickets, and asked BC to participate because the Eagles were (1) out of the national title hunt and -- even it they finished at 7-4 (which was unlikely because we had Holy Cross at our last game) -- (2) knew Flutie and the potent BC offence would be a draw. It didn't hurt that BC was a great team and deserved to be in a top-notch bowl.

With the exception of smaller programs or 6-win teams, today most schools do not accept bowl bids until their season ends -- and for sure BCS-caliber teams wait until the selection show. It's amazing that 23 years ago it was a major bowl making a commitment to a team with two games left to be played.