Thursday, Nov. 05, 2009

CC football notes: Gunnell closing in on BC catch mark

BOSTON -- Former NFL tight end Pete Mitchell stopped by Boston College practice this week to play a little defense.

"He told me to slow down a little bit," said Eagles receiver Rich Gunnell, who is closing in on Mitchell's school record for receiving yards. "That's the only thing he's got going for him."

Mitchell, who played at BC from 1991-94 and then spent eight years in the pros, holds the all-time BC receiving record with 2,388 yards. Gunnell is 236 yards shy of the mark, but he said he wasn't aware he was getting close until football operations director Barry Gallup called him at practice and told him, "This is the guy you're chasing for the records."

"I knew he was head and shoulders above everybody with records, but that was the first time I met him," said Gunnell, who leads all active Atlantic Coast Conference players with 161 receptions, 2,152 receiving yards and 16 touchdowns. "It would be a great honor. But the biggest honor for me would be to win an ACC championship."

BC, which is off this week, can do that if it wins the rest of its games and Clemson loses once more.

Duke needs 7

It turns out that Duke (5-3) will need two more wins to qualify for its first bowl since 1994.

The quirk in the Blue Devils' standard for bowl eligibility centers on its two games against Football Championship Subdivision teams. Bowl Subdivision schools may count only one FCS victory per season toward the six necessary to make the postseason.

For Duke, which opened with a loss to Richmond, the win over North Carolina Central wound up not counting toward that bowl total. N.C. Central is considered a transitional program by the NCAA, having started the five-year move to Division I in 2007 and doesn't yet have the required number of scholarships.

The game with N.C. Central was scheduled in part to bridge the gap between the crosstown schools located 5 miles apart.

Talkin' Dabo

C.J. Spiller learned quite a bit about Clemson coach Dabo Swinney before ever stepping foot on the Tigers' campus.

Clemson's star runner recalled a two-hour car ride from the Atlanta airport after Swinney picked him up for his official visit a few years back.

"That's when I really realized that 'Hey, that guy can talk,' "Spiller said Tuesday.

Swinney's pitch must have worked since Spiller surprised coaches and recruiting analysts by picking Clemson over schools like Southern Cal, Florida, Miami and Florida State.

Did Swinney, then Clemson receivers coach, allow his future Heisman Trophy candidate to get a couple of words in?

"That's all he let me get in," Spiller said with a grin. "He was excited about me coming up, talking about his family. It made me excited to want to meet them."

Spiller has run his way into Heisman Trophy talk after his school-record 310 all-purpose yards in a 40-37 overtime victory over Miami Oct. 24 that kept the Tigers in line for a berth in the ACC title game. He's had a play of 60 yards or more in seven of Clemson's eight games this year.

The Tigers (5-3, 3-2 ACC) take on Florida State (4-4, 2-3) on Saturday night.---