BC Prepares for Embattled Syracuse, Historic Northeast Rivalry
Andy Backstrom
Staff Writer
Jeff Hafley grew up in New Jersey and remembers watching Donovan McNabb quarterback the Orange to a trio of nine-win seasons and an Orange Bowl berth. He coached against Syracuse, too—first when he was at Pittsburgh and then during his lone season at Rutgers.
Hafley has a lot of stories from the Carrier Dome. Coaching from the press box as a defensive assistant came with some baggage. One fan threw a beer at him. Others banged on the glass. He even recalls one guy holding up a pizza box that obstructed his line of vision.
“It got loud,” Hafley said after Monday’s practice. “I remember that dome rocking.”
“The Loud House” won’t have any fans on Saturday when Boston College travels to play its second consecutive road game. It’ll be the latest change in an evolving 96-year-old rivalry between the old Big East foes. But the regional bragging rights are still on the line.
"I know back in the day there was a big moment of pride to be the dominating team in the Northeast,” redshirt senior defensive end Brandon Barlow said. “You wanted to be the team that came out on top. That's something that's carried on to today."
Barlow, who’s been with the Eagles since 2016, said that it’s a mindset former BC defensive line coach Paul Pasqualoni hammered home when he was with the program. Pasqualoni famously coached Syracuse for 14 years and finished with the second-most wins in school history. While under Steve Addazio, the longtime Big East coach emphasized the BC-Syracuse rivalry’s implications on recruiting and fandom in the Northeast.
The game has added meaning for Barlow, a Cohoes, N.Y. native.
“This is always a fun one for me,” he said. “To be able to match up [against Syracuse], and the fact that we get to take a trip back to my home state, especially in the times that we’re living in now—I haven’t been able to go back to New York since I’ve come to Boston. So it’ll be nice to breathe in some cold, brisk New York air and go attack these guys on Saturday.”
Despite their historical and geographical ties, the teams couldn’t be more different right now. In fact, they’re trending in complete opposite directions. Exceeding expectations in year one of the Hafley era, the Eagles are coming off a head-turning, one-score loss to No. 1 Clemson. Meanwhile, Syracuse—hampered by injuries and opt-outs—is sitting at one win, making the program’s 10-win 2018 campaign look more and more like a fluke.
Hafley told reporters Monday that he respects fifth-year Orange head coach Dino Babers and all that he’s done to navigate what Hafley called a “a really hard year.”
“If you look at what he’s done, and then you look at what he did against Clemson the other week, they’re driving with two minutes left in the third quarter to go up, and they fumble the ball,” Hafley said. “I told the team today, this is a good football team.”
The 2020 season was messy for Syracuse before it started. In August, players voiced their concerns about the program’s COVID-19 testing protocol, at one point sitting out three practices in the span of eight days.
Syracuse’s top-two returning running backs (Abdul Adams and Jarveon Howard) opted out in the summer, as did linebacker Tyrell Richards and defensive lineman Cooper Dawson. Preseason First-Team AP All-American safety Andre Cisco, who suffered a season-ending, lower-body injury before Syracuse’s game against Georgia Tech, declared for the 2021 NFL Draft in mid-October. The Orange also lost starting quarterback Tommy DeVito for the year with an ankle injury against Duke on Oct. 10.
The list goes on.
Running back Jawhar Jordan is out for extended time with a lower-body injury, and fellow tailback Sean Tucker was sidelined for last week’s game against Wake Forest. Cooper Lutz, who played wideout the last two seasons, took over in the backfield. By mid-October, the O-Line had only eight scholarship players, according to syracuse.com, including Chris Elmore, a converted fullback who hadn’t played up front since middle school.
Traditionally, during Babers’ time in Central New York, Syracuse’s offense has operated at a high-octane pace. In fact, each of the past four seasons, the Orange ranked inside the top 10 nationally in plays per game. This year, however, the team has plummeted to 88th in that category.
Hafley noted, though, that offensive coordinator Sterlin Gilbert and Babers can crank up the tempo when they want to, and the rookie head coach stressed the need for quick and effective substitutions on Saturday. He said that his defense is fit for this kind of matchup.
“We pride ourselves on getting lined up and playing with fundamentals and technique,” Hafley said. “We have a bunch of calls where we can do that pretty quickly. It’s something that I thought about last year when I came back to college football.”
Not much has been working offensively for the Orange this season. Syracuse is averaging 266.6 yards per game, the fourth fewest in the FBS, and 4.34 yards per play. Without DeVito, veteran signal caller Rex Culpepper has taken the reins, and it hasn’t been pretty. Culpepper has completed just 46.4% of his total pass attempts this year and only 51.5% of his throws from a clean pocket, according to Pro Football Focus. His 6:7 touchdown-to-interception ratio has raised questions as well, particularly since he’s combined for five picks in the last two games.
True freshman gunslinger JaCobian Morgan finished out the game this past weekend against Wake Forest and was 7-of-7 for 57 yards and a score.
Babers has stuck with Culpepper for weeks, but he hasn’t signaled which way he’s going for Saturday’s contest versus BC. Hafley said Monday that, regardless of who’s under center, the Eagles’ approach won’t change. After all, Tem Lukabu’s unit is defending scheme, first and foremost.
“It’s not like they’re going to come out with a whole new offense,” Hafley said. “Fundamentals and technique are all we talk about. What do we look like pre-snap or post-snap? What do they look like?”
Hafley touched on Culpepper’s ability to throw downfield and complimented the Orange’s wide receiving corps, even saying that Nykeim Johnson “can fly like Zay” Flowers. Taj Harris leads the room with 446 yards on a team-high 29 catches. Johnson follows with 243 yards, averaging 16.2 yards per reception.
“Combined, their wide receiver group is as explosive as any group we’ve played, and whatever quarterback they have can throw them up the ball,” Hafley said. “They're all recruited. They're all on scholarship.”
Syracuse doesn’t have much to fight for at this point, except pride. That’ll be on the table this week against BC, which could be primed for its third straight blowout victory in the Dome.
Andy Backstrom
Staff Writer
Jeff Hafley grew up in New Jersey and remembers watching Donovan McNabb quarterback the Orange to a trio of nine-win seasons and an Orange Bowl berth. He coached against Syracuse, too—first when he was at Pittsburgh and then during his lone season at Rutgers.
Hafley has a lot of stories from the Carrier Dome. Coaching from the press box as a defensive assistant came with some baggage. One fan threw a beer at him. Others banged on the glass. He even recalls one guy holding up a pizza box that obstructed his line of vision.
“It got loud,” Hafley said after Monday’s practice. “I remember that dome rocking.”
“The Loud House” won’t have any fans on Saturday when Boston College travels to play its second consecutive road game. It’ll be the latest change in an evolving 96-year-old rivalry between the old Big East foes. But the regional bragging rights are still on the line.
"I know back in the day there was a big moment of pride to be the dominating team in the Northeast,” redshirt senior defensive end Brandon Barlow said. “You wanted to be the team that came out on top. That's something that's carried on to today."
Barlow, who’s been with the Eagles since 2016, said that it’s a mindset former BC defensive line coach Paul Pasqualoni hammered home when he was with the program. Pasqualoni famously coached Syracuse for 14 years and finished with the second-most wins in school history. While under Steve Addazio, the longtime Big East coach emphasized the BC-Syracuse rivalry’s implications on recruiting and fandom in the Northeast.
The game has added meaning for Barlow, a Cohoes, N.Y. native.
“This is always a fun one for me,” he said. “To be able to match up [against Syracuse], and the fact that we get to take a trip back to my home state, especially in the times that we’re living in now—I haven’t been able to go back to New York since I’ve come to Boston. So it’ll be nice to breathe in some cold, brisk New York air and go attack these guys on Saturday.”
Despite their historical and geographical ties, the teams couldn’t be more different right now. In fact, they’re trending in complete opposite directions. Exceeding expectations in year one of the Hafley era, the Eagles are coming off a head-turning, one-score loss to No. 1 Clemson. Meanwhile, Syracuse—hampered by injuries and opt-outs—is sitting at one win, making the program’s 10-win 2018 campaign look more and more like a fluke.
Hafley told reporters Monday that he respects fifth-year Orange head coach Dino Babers and all that he’s done to navigate what Hafley called a “a really hard year.”
“If you look at what he’s done, and then you look at what he did against Clemson the other week, they’re driving with two minutes left in the third quarter to go up, and they fumble the ball,” Hafley said. “I told the team today, this is a good football team.”
The 2020 season was messy for Syracuse before it started. In August, players voiced their concerns about the program’s COVID-19 testing protocol, at one point sitting out three practices in the span of eight days.
Syracuse’s top-two returning running backs (Abdul Adams and Jarveon Howard) opted out in the summer, as did linebacker Tyrell Richards and defensive lineman Cooper Dawson. Preseason First-Team AP All-American safety Andre Cisco, who suffered a season-ending, lower-body injury before Syracuse’s game against Georgia Tech, declared for the 2021 NFL Draft in mid-October. The Orange also lost starting quarterback Tommy DeVito for the year with an ankle injury against Duke on Oct. 10.
The list goes on.
Running back Jawhar Jordan is out for extended time with a lower-body injury, and fellow tailback Sean Tucker was sidelined for last week’s game against Wake Forest. Cooper Lutz, who played wideout the last two seasons, took over in the backfield. By mid-October, the O-Line had only eight scholarship players, according to syracuse.com, including Chris Elmore, a converted fullback who hadn’t played up front since middle school.
Traditionally, during Babers’ time in Central New York, Syracuse’s offense has operated at a high-octane pace. In fact, each of the past four seasons, the Orange ranked inside the top 10 nationally in plays per game. This year, however, the team has plummeted to 88th in that category.
Hafley noted, though, that offensive coordinator Sterlin Gilbert and Babers can crank up the tempo when they want to, and the rookie head coach stressed the need for quick and effective substitutions on Saturday. He said that his defense is fit for this kind of matchup.
“We pride ourselves on getting lined up and playing with fundamentals and technique,” Hafley said. “We have a bunch of calls where we can do that pretty quickly. It’s something that I thought about last year when I came back to college football.”
Not much has been working offensively for the Orange this season. Syracuse is averaging 266.6 yards per game, the fourth fewest in the FBS, and 4.34 yards per play. Without DeVito, veteran signal caller Rex Culpepper has taken the reins, and it hasn’t been pretty. Culpepper has completed just 46.4% of his total pass attempts this year and only 51.5% of his throws from a clean pocket, according to Pro Football Focus. His 6:7 touchdown-to-interception ratio has raised questions as well, particularly since he’s combined for five picks in the last two games.
True freshman gunslinger JaCobian Morgan finished out the game this past weekend against Wake Forest and was 7-of-7 for 57 yards and a score.
Babers has stuck with Culpepper for weeks, but he hasn’t signaled which way he’s going for Saturday’s contest versus BC. Hafley said Monday that, regardless of who’s under center, the Eagles’ approach won’t change. After all, Tem Lukabu’s unit is defending scheme, first and foremost.
“It’s not like they’re going to come out with a whole new offense,” Hafley said. “Fundamentals and technique are all we talk about. What do we look like pre-snap or post-snap? What do they look like?”
Hafley touched on Culpepper’s ability to throw downfield and complimented the Orange’s wide receiving corps, even saying that Nykeim Johnson “can fly like Zay” Flowers. Taj Harris leads the room with 446 yards on a team-high 29 catches. Johnson follows with 243 yards, averaging 16.2 yards per reception.
“Combined, their wide receiver group is as explosive as any group we’ve played, and whatever quarterback they have can throw them up the ball,” Hafley said. “They're all recruited. They're all on scholarship.”
Syracuse doesn’t have much to fight for at this point, except pride. That’ll be on the table this week against BC, which could be primed for its third straight blowout victory in the Dome.
