Week 1 game preview - Fordham
It’s so nice to actually talk about real football.
Unfortunately, this won’t be a big ‘scouting report’ kind of week on my end. Fordham went 2-10 last season in the Patriot League and I haven’t found a single site that actually has odds on this game. Either way, this week is all about the Eagles and working out any early kinks that may come up.
Here are four things I’m most interested in watching early on:
How quick does in-game chemistry develop between Lonergan & WRs?
It looked good in camp for the most part, but it’s the real thing now. How soon does that chemistry develop between Lonergan, Lewis Bond, Jaedn Skeete, Reed Harris and others? The QBs and wide receivers have worked every day after practice together for about 10-15 minutes, so I’d like to think it’s there early and often. But, it’s hard to replicate chaning routes at the scrimmage or communicating in the middle of a pre-snap diagnosis until they’re actually in the situation.
You all know I’m very, very high on this offense, but it’ll be nice to actually see the passing game finally in action on Saturday.
Do the young kids have an impact early?
There’s a bunch guys that could have a legitimate impact early. VJ Wilkins, Dawson Pough, Ned Boldin Jr., Vaughn Pemberton, Syair Torrence, Omar Thornton, Jason Hewlett Jr. and Bo MacCormack all come to mind immediately as names fans should get to know early. While it might be tough for the younger players to make a big stamp on the road at Michigan State, this matchup with Fordham is the perfect spot for the youth on the roster to not only get their feet wet, but make a few big plays too.
Pass rush
Obviously, replacing what Donovan Ezeiruaku brought to the table won’t be easy. Favor Bate was a huge presence early in camp but faded a little bit down the stretch. Between Bate, Q Hutchins, a guy like Josiah Griffin and maybe a couple others, BC should be ok in the pass rush department. Again, this is the perfect day for a bunch of guys to get a crack at taking down the QB to build some confidence early on.
Special teams
This might be the most important thing any of us watch all day. It just absolutely, positively can’t be any worse than last year. Whether it’s Shamus Florio or Andy Quinn punting and whoever gets that first field goal attempt (Lombardo and then Connor, but who knows that could change in pregame), this unit HAS to be better in 2025. The Eagles shouldn’t need to play the field position game against Fordham (uh oh if they do…, but it would be nice to see positive developments from the third phase of the game to give us all some confidence moving forward.
Prediction
I think this is about as perfect of an opener as it gets. From the wonderful 2:00 start time, to the weather, to the performance on the field. Everything goes smoothly, the team gets contributions from all the names we’ve talked about at great length for a month now and BC wins in blowout fashion. Grayson James gets the third quarter with the Eagles up 35-0 at the half. Enzo Arjona even gets some action in the fourth quarter.
Final score: 53-3.
