Jagodzinski more relaxed this season

Boston College football coach Jeff Jagodzinski says that he is much more relaxed before this season's opening game against Kent State than he was before last year's opener against Wake Forest.

"This time' said Jagodzinski with a laugh before the Eagles practice this afternoon. ""I know what I have. I know what to expect. Last year, I really didn't.

Last year, of course, was Jagodzinski's first season as the head coach of a team which had great expectations. Nothing less than a division crown was expected by a veteran Eagle team led by quarterback Matt Ryan and a fifth year senior class which was on its way to winning the most games of any class in BC history.

The Eagles fell short of their ultimate goal of winning the ACC title and a Bowl Championship Series bid. But they did win 11 games, more than BC team in more than 60 years and they won their eighth straight bowl game, which is the longest active winning streak in college football.

Jagodzinski says that before last year's opener against Wake Forest, he sought out the advice of veteran BC hockey coach Jerry York about how to know what to expect. ""He said, "You don't. I said, good advice Jerry,'' said Jagodzinski with a laugh. "I know the difference between this year and last year is night and day. Last year I was anxious because I wasn't really sure what we had. I knew we had a good run defense and we moved the ball ok on offense, but I hadn't seen it yet in a game

When Wake Forest came out of the gate and took a quick 14-0, Jagodzinski was stunned. "The way the game started, I wanted to crawl into a hole. I said to myself, this isn't the way its supposed to work.''

But the Eagles had Ryan running the offense, and he eventually led the Eagles to a going away 38-28 victory.

The issue that most people are anxious about is the unknown,'' said Jagodzinski. "Now I've been through all the game stuff with these guys, I never was last year. I had no idea how they were going to react. But (when the Eagles trailed 14-0) when I walked among those guys, there wasn't one person panicking. I said, "There you go, let's go play and we did.''

On Saturday night, the Eagles will go play again and Jagodzinski is more sure of what he has than he was a year ago in most areas, but less sure at QB, where fifth year senior Chris Crane will be making his second career start.

"The unknown for me is my QB,'' said Jagodzinski. "That's my biggest unknown. I knew how Matty performed last year in practice. I said I think we'll be Ok. Now I;m not sure because its a different style''

Jagodzinski says he has total confidence in what Crane can do, but he is also not going to ask him to do more than he is ready to handle until he feels he can handle it.

"My players have no doubt about what their role is,'' said Jagodzinski.l "Every single one of them know. I told Chris your job is to manage the game. No heroics You don't have to be Matt. You just have to manage the game for us. If they (players) do what they are supposed to do, we'll win.''
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Eagles went through a light workout today and will have an even lighter workout tommorrow before flying to Cleveland for Saturday's opener. Jagodzinski said that former BC wide receiver Dominick Magazu, who left school earlier this summer had transferred to Appalachian State, which as a FCS school means he can play immediately. Appalachian State opens on Satuday at LSU...Jagodzinski gave Magazu's scholarship to sophomore lineacker Mike Morrissey...Eagles have no serious injuries for Saturday and everyone is expected to play.