It’s a game that head coach Randy Edsall wanted to see on the schedule every year, beginning as far back as 2003. The matchup between old Big East foes UConn and Boston College resumes on Saturday at Fenway Park, a UConn ‘home game’ in the backyard of the Eagles campus. On Monday’s radio show, BC head coach Steve Addazio made some comments that just may add a little muster to this week’s game, when asked how important a game like this is on the recruiting front, given that both of these school’s reside so close to one another.

“Nah,” Addazio responded. “We’re in the ACC. If you’re a good player, you want to play at the highest level of football. We don’t recruit against UConn.”

Daz went on to thank the UConn administration for moving the game from The Rent to Fenway, which is located just 3.6 miles from Alumni Stadium on BC’s campus.

“Hey, it’s UConn’s home game,” he said. “It’s their home game, but we’re playing in our own backyard, I’m good. We could have travelled down to Storrs, CT, but who would want to do that. Or we can drive a mile down, if it’s even a mile, down the street. Thank you very much, we’re good.”

Addazio is in his fifth-year as the head coach of the Eagles, accumulating an overall record of 29-32, while taking BC to three bowl games in his first four years. A win on Saturday or in their season finale against Syracuse would see them become bowl eligible once again. Daz was born and raised in Connecticut and because of that, despite some of the comments above, has a lot of respect for the state and specifically the UConn program.

“They are doing a great job there,” he said. “You know I have a huge amount of respect for Randy Edsall. I think he’s a great football coach. I’m really proud being born and raised in Connecticut, always dreamed that they would have a Division 1 football program. They have that, they are doing a great job and this will be a tough, tough football game.”

“I’m proud that I’m a northeast guy,” he added during his press conference on Monday. “I’m proud that I’m from the state of Connecticut, but my career, I aspired to get to where I am right now, at Boston College and grateful to be here. Happy for them that they are moving that thing forward. My dad had 6-or-7 degrees from the University of Connecticut. I’ve known Randy Edsall for a long time, truly I think one of the great coaches out there in the country. He’s a first-class guy that does everything right with high integrity. What he’s doing there is fantastic. But for me, I have one thing on my mind and one thing only, winning Saturday.”

QUARTERBACK ISSUES THE STORY OF THE DAY

On Monday, Boston College released news that starting quarterback Anthony Brown would miss the remainder of the season following what head coach Steve Addazio called a ‘lower leg injury.’ It’s a major loss for the Eagles who at first glance, would likely turn to senior Darius Wade as the starter heading into Fenway Park, but that actually may not be the case. Addazio was very transparent on Monday in revealing that he held conversations with true freshman E.J. Perry and his family about using his redshirt year over the final two games and potentially a bowl appearance.

“As I already stated in my press conference, we met with E.J. Perry and his family, everyone is on board, everyone is on the same page,” Addazio said on his weekly radio show on Monday night. “We are going to maximize everyone to put the most healthy players on that field.”

It’s clear Daz is impressed with Perry not just as a player, but as a person, as he expanded upon what he could bring to the table on Saturday at Fenway.

“EJ is an incredible competitor, a gym rat who has elite athleticism,” he said. “He has bonafide big-time speed, explosive leaping ability, a great rocket arm. He just hasn’t played at this level. He’s a student of the game and it’s so unbelievably important to him.”

If it is Wade, he is a quarterback that has played in a lot of games over the years.

“Darius has had great game experience, been in big-time games and he is equally as talented,” Addazio said. “We still have very capable guys. We’ll be just fine. Whoever is playing at QB needs to rally and everyone needs to play big-boy ball right now. That’s what we do, it’s a team. Guys are going to be in a game for the first time or haven’t been in a lot, other guys need to pick their game up to support that.”

In what may add to the urgency of using up Perry’s redshirt, the Eagles head coach also mentioned that Wade is ‘a little nicked up’ and would need to see where he is on Tuesday before making a decision on who will actually get the start.

“This is a huge game we are playing against a team that is getting better and is very capable,” Addazio said. “This will be a big atmosphere at Fenway, a regional game, all those earmarkings. We just need to focus, as I told our guys, our mentality is we are playing in the Super Bowl right now. Everyone in the program going 100-miles an hour, giving everything they have.”

Despite the change at quarterback, Addazio reiterated they will not be overhauling what they do offensively.

“We built an offense that has multiplicity to it,” he said. “We aren’t changing what we are doing, we don’t need to. Darius has been in this from the very get-go and just as easily could have been the starting quarterback. What happens sometimes when guys aren’t getting the reps, you try to trim things down and focus down as they don’t have the benefit of the complete body of work that the starter has. What we need to do is make good decisions on how much we carry and exactly what we want to carry because we can’t carry everything, especially in the throw game. I’m not worried about the run game, it’s the throw game. There’s a lot of precision there and if you’re off just a little bit, that’s where turnovers happen. But we aren’t going to go into the game with a ‘manage’ mentality.”

BC WILL DRESS ON CAMPUS AND BUS OVER TO FENWAY

In a similar instance than when they played Notre Dame at Fenway in 2015, Boston College will get dressed at Alumni Stadium, their normal home venue, before making their way to Fenway.

“Partially,” Addazio confirmed. “When you’re the visiting team at Fenway, the locker room situation is a little tight. We will partially dress here at Alumni. We’ll get over there and play the game. Both teams are on the same sideline. It’s weird. You don’t have the same run with your box. When it gets down to the other end where their team is, it gets a little bizarre. I guess you could start screaming at each other over there pretty easily.”

MATT SCHONVISKY / SITE CREATOR