Best week of the year. Seems like it has lost its luster but a lot at stake this year.

tOSU vs Michigan. Traditionally I like Michigan growing up. Hate tOSU. But I think I’m pulling for the fighting Days today.

UK vs Ville. Pulling for the Cards here. I think they are underrated by the polls but they need to get by a sound UK team.

UMass vs UConn: Donny Brown has done a solid job all year improving the Minutemen. Go Zoo!

aTm vs LSU: a bit of a fake rivalry here.

No chance this is true.

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Boston College would clearly defeat Georgia by 7 points if a meeting on the gridiron could be arranged.

Good opportunity for BC to climb in Pairwise.

Defensive backs and secondary are supposed to this clown coach's bread and butter.

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Kieran Corr has a lot of offers, but chose Harvard. I wish he committed to BC, but I guess I see his point about kicking: "Kieran Coor feels 'the only thing the NFL is evaluating is kicking the ball through the uprights. It doesn't matter if I go to Alabama and kick a 40-yard field goal. A field goal there is the same as a field goal at Harvard.'" Anyone disagree?​

Corr gives Winchester a leg up

WINCHESTER — There is still a ways to go, but Winchester High football team could have a future NFL kicker on its roster when it takes on Woburn this Thursday.

homenewshere.com

Corr gives Winchester a leg up​

• By MARK NADEAU
• Nov 21, 2023 Updated Nov 21, 2023

Kieran Coor feels "the only thing the NFL is evaluating is kicking the ball through the uprights. It doesn't matter if I go to Alabama and kick a 40-yard field goal. A field goal there is the same as a field goal at Harvard."


WINCHESTER — There is still a ways to go, but Winchester High football team could have a future NFL kicker on its roster when it takes on Woburn this Thursday.
Senior Kieran Corr, who matched the state record of 53 yards on a field goal against Reading, won a kicking competition over the summer that earned him recognition as the top high school kicking prospect in the country, this year.
Corr, who has committed to Harvard, has certainly made an impact for the Red & Black unlike any other in their recent history. His kickoffs into and out of the end zone, which occurs most of the time, have helped Winchester's defense in terms of field position to start a half, or after a score, while his unusually long range, coupled with a new High School Federation rule where field-goal attempts that reach the end zone are considered touchbacks, has given the offense another option besides going for it on fourth down.


"When we score or when we miss a field goal and it goes into the end zone, the other team starts on the 20," said Winchester coach Wally Dembowski, noting the new rule. "So it's really hard for high school teams to go 80 yards on a consistent basis and score. That helped our defense and it puts our offense in better position when our defense stops some guys."
The other two parts of the field goal unit include senior Dillon Keough, the long-snapper, who has become so proficient at his job, he has gotten offers from Bucknell, UNH, URI and possibly an Ivy League school. Senior captain Jack Centurelli has also worked hard to make sure he gets the snap down as the holder.
Growing up in Winchester, Corr started playing soccer at a young age, but his parents wanted him to take advantage of what the town had to offer, and had him try every other sport that was available. He took up football in third or fourth grade, and he got his first chance at kicking then because he was the only player with a soccer background. While he enjoyed it, he did not have immediate success and it was not a big part of the youth game. He enjoyed playing all the positions.
In middle school he stopped playing football to concentrate more on soccer, and it was not until freshman year, when the pandemic year made it possible to play both sports, did he go back to football, when it took place during March and April, that spring.
"Freshman year I would come to the field with my friends and just practice kicking," said Corr, on what led up to him taking kicking more seriously. "I could probably make a 30- or 35-yarder, and was still mainly focused on soccer. But when football was announced in the spring, I started kicking a lot more. I went to a kicking camp in April of my freshman year and I made a 50-yarder. At that point I was like: ‘wow, maybe I should really focus on this.’"

Corr still opted to play soccer in the fall of his sophomore year, while kicking on his own on weekends. On the soccer team, Corr was a striker and outside midfielder, and he still plays for his club soccer team in the spring.
Also in his sophomore year, Corr went to the Kohl's Eastern Showcase camp, where his performance earned him a ranking of 42 in the country.
"I was like maybe I really have a shot at playing this in college and helping our team do well at our high school," said Corr. "After my sophomore year, I went to some college camps in the summer and I won the Boston College camp. I knew I definitely had to play football."
Corr's name was all around the league, last year, but he never really got to show what he could do, as the process of getting the snap to the holder and getting the ball down to be kicked, and for Corr to get down his timing added up to just an OK season.
"Junior year our whole operation was still kind of beginning, because I had just come back, and they (football coaches) weren't really expecting me to come back," he said. "Our long snapper was not really focused on snapping, he was focused on being a receiver, and then we had to find a holder."
During the last offseason, the trio of Corr, Keough and Centurelli put a lot of work into getting right, this time around, and it has paid off for this season.
Keough would go to the gym and snap hundreds of balls, and worked on it a lot, which has earned him attention from Div. 1 colleges. Centurelli mastered his role of getting the ball down, and Winchester linemen worked on their blocking assignments. The whole unit was ready to be a weapon this year for the Red & Black.

This summer, Corr continued to dominate at the kicking camps, while the attention began flowing in from college football teams.

"He kept me informed (via texts) of how his summer sessions were going," said Dembowski. "We had some coaches come in during the springtime from Boston College, Ohio State, some big-time schools coming in to talk to the young man."
This year, Corr has had at least one field goal in every game, except Lexington, because the offense scored touchdowns on all four first-half drives.
He kicked a go-ahead 49-yard field goal, early in the fourth quarter, in the 17-7 playoff win over North Andover.
Opponents are actually putting in practice time trying to put maximum pressure on him. Reading blocked the next one after he kicked his 53-yard record-tying field goal, and top seed King Philip got a hand on his first attempt in the last game. He did make his second attempt to break the shutout in a 31-3 loss.
"It feels really good to be able to contribute to the team, and actually see us win," said Corr. "Last season, I was contributing a bit, but I didn't have nearly as many points, and I wasn't kicking off into the end zone, and my punts were not nearly as good. This year we have really improved as a team. We are 8-2 now, which is a drastic improvement from last year."
Also during the summer, Corr went on some college visits, including South Carolina, Boston College and Duke, getting offers from all. Instead of going to the big time football power schools, Corr opted for Harvard, instead.
"It really came down to what is best for me, and my family," he said. "I thought of it from the perspective that, as a field goal kicker, the only thing the NFL is evaluating is kicking the ball through the uprights. It doesn't matter if I go to Alabama and kick a 40-yard field goal. A field goal there is the same as a field goal at Harvard.

“There's a good quote that I like that says 'If you're good enough, and kick it long enough, they will find you,' so it doesn't really matter where you go to college. And if the NFL doesn't work out for me, I still have a great degree to fall back on."
Corr does not know where his focus on studying will end up, but he will enter Harvard this fall focusing on economics, with an eye on finance or corporate real estate, but he knows he still has a lot of time to decide. He also has to keep focusing on his craft.
"He's got to keep working because, guess what, the other kickers on his team are not going to give him the job," said Dembowski. "He has to keep working and get stronger and be a better technician to be the guy. You look at the NFL, how many guys miss a kick, and the next day they are gone. In that world, it's highly competitive and a what-have-you-done-for-me-lately kind of job. He's got to learn all those emotional ebbs and flows."
Corr's high school career does not end on Thursday. He was invited to the national scholarship camp in Tennessee for Kohl's Kicking, which was in association with ESPN. There, over 900 specialists were whittled down to a group of seven. This group went to a final competition where the candidates had to kick field goals from 60 yards and beyond, in one yard increments. Corr kicked one from 65 yards and earned one of the two spots in the Under Armor All-American game, which will be broadcast Jan. 3 on ESPN.
Corr is most looking forward to meeting the other players, many of whom will be headed to careers in the NFL.

"It's going to be awesome, it's going to be a real fun week down in Orlando, Florida," he said. "The really cool thing is I get to meet all these guys from all over the country, from Alabama, from California, from everywhere that are going to be playing at all different Power 5, Div. 1, FCS, any big-time school you can imagine."
As far as Thanksgiving, Corr knows Winchester's lead in the series hangs by a precarious thread, and he wants to do his part to help the Red & Black stay ahead.
"We are just trying to get the job done," said Corr. "I think we are leading the rivalry, 55-54, right now, we really want to push that ahead to two, and not let them tie it up. We've come a long way this year, and I'm focused on what I can do to help us win, and if I can do what I can do, I'll be happy."

More bowl eligible teams than bowl berths available. Could BC be left without a berth? Would be fascinating to see.

Dabo Swinney to A&M?

I will first apologize for writing a novel. Today should be the deciding game for Hafley. A must win. Finishing 6-6 should be the final game for Hafley at BC. Thanks to his contract thru 2026 it most certainly won’t be. This season couldn’t have lined up any better for him to go 8-4 and get some momentum going forward. They should be 4-0 in non conference and 4-4 in the ACC with this schedule. Ive read a report that BC has the easiest schedule in the ACC and the P5 this season. The home loss to NIU to begin was inexcusable. The back to back ugly losses to VTech and Pitt were crushing. You needed a split in those two and failed. One other thing not talked about enough is Hafley was given leeway by the school to load up on his roster this past season to produce a winning team. He was able to bring back numerous graduate players and he had over a dozen transfers on the team this year. Somehow, someway he was able to do all this and keep his scholarships at 85. Scholarships are back to being hard capped at 85 but there were well over 85 players on this 2023 team who were on scholarship at one time. By some means the school and perhaps NIL funding for some veteran players got it done for Hafley and gave him the means to achieve. I don’t think there was 10-2 talent on the roster but certainly 8-4 is not a reach the way the schedule played out. If BC finishes 6-6 today then please don’t tell us it is progress in the works. 2024 recruiting is currently below average and the 2024 schedule is no cream puff. And I’m not sold at all with his on field strategy. Under Hafley the BC offense and roster was geared toward a pro style attack albeit with the “scatbacks”. Suddenly in game 1 he changed styles with QB Castellanos. But yet even at that time BC was recruiting pro style QB’s for the future. So is the future now going with a dual threat QB, recruiting for that style offense, and adjusting away from pro style permanently? And how about recruiting some RB’s with size. On defense I think we have all seen enough of the turning safeties into LB’s but then not having LB’s and safeties covering the middle of the field the past few years that can execute the strategy consistently. I’m not naive enough to think the next coach will be a savior but I’ve seen enough of the overall Hafley mediocrity to want to try the next guy if he loses another game today. I want to have a coach that we can see progress in building something. I just am not seeing the Hafley progression.

To accept Texas A&M head coaching position at halftime of today's Michigan - Ohio State game?

Not good.

him -let’s hear the reasons please

15 more fundamentally unsound practices under this coach and his staff of jesters.

I forgot one too...the penalty numbers went down, but the stupidity and lack of discipline under Hafley for 4 years is pretty wild. Again, the volume went down which is obviously good, but the targeting play last week and the Hala play today just scream "I won't get in trouble for this'

Anyways thanks for following along this year, I enjoy covering this team for everyone since there's not many outlets to pump out college football content around here

Sounds like he might have had a few too many….

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Email reminder says lots open at 8.

As we all know the transfer portal recruiting is extremely important this off season. In my estimation BC has a hit rate of 50% this season of transfers really helping the team for the full season.

-Rooks DL +
-Banks DT +
-Jones DL out injured for the season
-Washington DB left team
-Johnson DB below average impact
-Nelson DB below average impact
-Pupel DB below average impact
-Castellanos QB +
-Robichaux RB +
-Hergel OG +
-Taylor OT +
-O’Keefe WR played 5 games injured
-Tomlin WR +
-Takacs TE below average impact

Now I’m not even sure 50% hit rate for transfers is a bad number. It very well could be the norm. BC seemed to really hit on offense but the defensive transfers have mostly not been up to needed ACC standards.

I just feel that if 2024 is going to be a success with a winning record BC needs to have a much higher hit rate to fill all the gaps we are seeing on the roster for upper level ACC type players. Especially on defense the talent gap is really showing as injuries/departures increase.

Still works in football. Congratulations to the Iowa Hawkeyes in winning the B1G West.

Style points to hell. Winning football is what matters.

Something to consider when BC (The Iowa of the East?) hires their next football coach.

Completely forgot to post this in the forum after putting it up postgame, following 16 teams on a Saturday is way too much...

1. Gross

I can't believe I thought they were better than this. The lack of talent is glaring (injuries in the secondary certainly don't help), but this is embarrassing at this point. Miami out-gained the 269-132 in the first 30 minutes and BC punted 4 times after the impressive opening drive

2. Castellanos is simply a runner playing QB

I did think the early runs he looked as good as he had all year, but the short hop, back foot throw to Dino on the sideline is just a glaring example of how he's just not a good passer. Needs to be a huge point of emphasis this offseason. Or, maybe offer HC's Matt Sluka in the portal? Better and bigger in my opinion.

3. The lack of talent at LB and DL is also glaring

So much for "letting them loose" after the UVA game. Zero pass rush regularly throughout the year. Obviously missing Steele really hurt the LB's, but man watching Miami carve them up both on the ground and through the air is tough.

4. Playing for Fenway now

Hope everyone is pumped for an 11 AM kick off 10 minutes down the road on a random Thursday. Winning this game probably would have put BC in the Pinstripe Bowl according to a few sources pregame. Now, not to much.

It’s for all the marbles. Let’s go boys!

It would be a nice game to win but I doubt it.

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Little late to the party (we covered 14 high school and college football games yesterday) but the Eagles are 4-0 for the 1st time since I was a sophomore in college. Is this year really going to be different after all?