Eagles in a sunshine state

It's another meeting with Hokies to decide ACC title

This week will be another game week for the Boston College football team. No big deal, unless one examines which Atlantic Coast Conference programs are not preparing to play Saturday.

Not Atlantic Division preseason favorites such as Wake Forest or Florida State. Not Miami or North Carolina, regarded as contenders in the Coastal Division.

It's coach Jeff Jagodzinski's Eagles who will be preparing for Saturday's ACC title game against Virginia Tech in Tampa, the Eagles set to get to work under their practice bubble.

The former Big East foes have become ACC partners as well.

"This will be the fourth time we have played them in the last 22 games," said BC defensive coordinator Frank Spaziani, referring to last year's meetings in the regular season and the ACC title game, and the Eagles' game against the Hokies earlier this season, a 28-23 BC win. "We are getting familiar with them and they are getting familiar with us."

Spaziani, who has put together a defense that helped win the regular-season games the last two years, although Virginia Tech won last year's title game, 30-16, spoke of the familiarity in a concerned way, feeling it may help the Hokies figure out what the Eagles are doing on defense.

In conference calls yesterday, Jagodzinski and Virginia Tech coach Frank Beamer expressed respect for their opponent, never stunning but remarkable considering the competitive nature of the last three games, which were not settled until the final minutes.

BC's offense, led by redshirt freshman quarterback Dominique Davis (who got his first start Saturday subbing for the injured Chris Crane) and freshman running back Montel Harris, has grown up rapidly the last two games, a come-from behind win against Wake Forest last week and a solid 28-21 triumph over Maryland Saturday.

The defense has been solid and at times spectacular, led by anchor linemen B.J. Raji and Ron Brace, an aggressive linebacking corps led by Mike McLaughlin, Mark Herzlich, and Robert Francois, and an ever improving secondary with young talent such as cornerbacks DeLeon Gause and Donnie Fletcher and veterans such as Paul Anderson and Marcellus Bowman.

There is some concern about the status of Brace, who suffered a toe injury against Maryland and left in the second half. His status will be a question mark during the week.

"We consider Virginia Tech a rival of ours," said Jagodzinski. "It's the fourth time in two years we have played them. We are very familiar with each other and our kids love to compete."

Beamer said, "What we know is that they are a hard team to beat. They are very, very good up front."

Jagodzinski said the message to both teams this week will be simple.

"We have the motivation of being in the championship game," said the coach who has done it twice in two years. "We have two good football teams going against each other. It's the way it should be."