In the most recent edition of Stewart Mandell's mailbag column, a Boston College fan asked, "As a Boston College alum, I don't understand the love for Florida State over BC in ACC predictions. The Seminoles are no more "talented" than they were the last five years when they were mediocre, most notably on defense. Meanwhile, BC returns 16 starters from a team that beat FSU last year and won more games. That does not even count any possible contributions from Mark Herzlich. Is the media overrating FSU and underrating BC, the same way they do every year?"

You can go to find the column to read Mandell's response, which seems to try to be PC and not totally hurt anyone's feelings.

How would you, as a Seminole fan answer the question yourself though?   I would not take the home field advantage angle in the argument based on the last few years.  FSU comes into the game after facing Miami.  BC comes in after playing NC State, so neither is going to come in after a warm up.  What I would do is point to all the recent changes to FSU's defense.  There are definitely changes going on, but none of us know for sure how quickly they will improve the defense.  I would argue though, by game seven, when the two teams go head to head, there will definitely have been enough time for the defense to have improved enough versus, what as I perceive (though I admit not knowing tons about BC) the less likely fact that their offense will improve at the same rate. I would also argue (though it would probably sound like sour grapes to any BC fans) that FSU's offense had was not clicking early against BC last year and they got somewhat lucky.  While their defense deserves some credit for causing some of the FSU offensive breakdowns early on, much of it was self inflicted.  The chances that BC will face a slow starting FSU offense two years in a row is not likely, and FSU returns even more experienced depth on that side of the ball. 

Thoughts?

I have no problem with FSU getting guys that went to prepatory school, guys that FSU wanted out of high school.  I am glad FSU does not load up on JUCO players though, like some schools.  Though rankings for high school kids can sometimes be a crap shoot, it seems they are often better than rankings for JUCO players.  I am still hopeful for Marcus White, but it wuold not totally surprise me if he never puts out at this level.  I just do not think Pressley will get the chances to do much due to the RB depth chart.  Who knows how good Surrency would have been.  Besides the guessing game as far as how good JUCO guys are though, my main concern is some of these guys are 1 - 2 years then done.  Unless its getting one or two peices that could make the difference in a national title run I would rather a team have to start freshmen, like Jacobbi McDaniel though.  Some schools would have went out and rented one or two defensive tackles for a year or two from Junior College, then they would have been in that same hole the following year.  What do you guys think?

I know, its best to focus on the future not the past, but I still cannot help, but wonder with how weak the interior of the offensive line was last year, what if Guion had returned? I know he would not have been available for the Wake Forrest game, but in the GT game and BC game when the team was getting gashed up the middle, I kept wishing he had come back.  I also think he would have helped himself.  It does not look like he got much playing time for the Vikings last year.