Tuesday, Dec. 26

Boston College Interim Head Coach Frank Spaziani:

Kind of filling in for one game here?
Yeah, it’s a one game deal. It’s like a substitute teacher. What everybody’s had to do is juggle and try to focus in on Navy. And to our kid’s credit, I think they’re doing as well as can be expected.

Talk a little about Navy?
Well, this is as good a Navy team as I’ve seen in a long while. Certainly on offense, they’re very efficient. They know their offense better that most people know their defense. And they have eight returners on defense, so they just haven’t been winning on offense. They’re a good football team all around. We got our hands full.

How did the guys look in practice today?
As you would expect, I mean they’re coming off the break, everyone’s flying in, coming out, going right out to the field. But I think they are working hard and they understand what they have to do.

Are you glad to be in a bowl game this year?
Oh, absolutely, You know, people say that all the time, where you project yourself. We go to bowls, alright. That’s our goal. We know that sometimes it’s not in our hands which bowl we go to. We’re happy to be here, the kids are happy to be playing, the program is happy. We just hope to show it in our performance.

Would you consider this a down year for the ACC?
I wouldn’t say it was a down year. People like to say that because some of the quote name teams might have fallen off a little bit. But there’s some up and coming programs and I think the league is only getting stronger.

Boston College Quarterback Matt Ryan

How is it coming off the break back in practice?
Well, anytime you play in a bowl game it’s tough to deal with the time off. But it allows for everybody to get healthy and fresh. We’ve had some really good bowl practices so we’re excited about the opportunity to go out and play Saturday.

Have you sat down as a team and said forget the distractions?
We’ve sat down as a team and everybody’s kind of gotten on the same page. You know, it’s all about the players, and the guys on the team and the guys in the locker room. We’ve bonded together really well all year. We’re playing for each other right now and I think that’s gonna work out for us.

Talk about what this Navy defense brings
They’re a tough defense. They stop the run really well, they load a lot of guys into the box and force you to pass the ball. We’re going to have to throw the ball well this week, but at the same time we’re going to have to run the ball well against them too. So we’re up for a great challenge on Saturday, but I think we’ll be o.k.

Are you going to find yourself catching a peak at this Navy offense and this wing three formation?
You see a lot of it in high school, and you don’t see so much of it at the college level. So it’ll be fun to watch and go out there and see what they do. But at the same time, you’ve really got to focus in on trying to execute on offense and learning how to scheme the guys we’re going against. I’ll watch a little bit, but not too much.