Offense: B-
Ryan made some mistakes but did do enough to keep us in the game. Not his best effort for sure. He made some really good reads and some great throws. He ran the hurry-up offense well. After getting rushed early, he did a much better job of reacting to the pressure as the game progressed. All that said both INTs were terrible reads. The first you could sort of excuse but it led to seven points. The second one was inexcusable. Even if the Safety doesn’t roll over and make the play, that is a really tough throw to make. Sometimes checking down is the right move (and he had Callender on that throw).
AC’s numbers were good. He ran hard. I wish we didn’t have to move away from the run, but the score dictated it. McCluskey proved to be a serviceable short down back. Glad he’s back. LV…this offense is just not made for him. He still cannot read the holes or the flow of the line. The guys in general all did fairly well in pass protection.
Ryan Purvis was excellent. He’s one of the reasons I think the offense might be serviceable next year after Ryan graduates. Purvis is sure handed and finds the spots in the middle and can make a play when things breakdown. Robinson is another bright spot. In fairness, Purvis and Robinson both dropped catchable drive killing balls in the fourth, but both played very well. Kevin Challenger finally made an appearance. He’s also had a play or two that he could have made but didn’t. Rich Gunnell had a good game. Jarvis and Megwa had killer drops. Loyte had a crucial drop too.
The offensive line looked rough early, started playing well towards the middle and then started falling apart at the end. Tennant another solid game. He did muff one snap, but played well. Ramsey got beat a few times, but in general held it together. They subbed Hall and Anevski in and out. Neither played all that well. Cherilus was better than his VT disaster but still made crucial mistakes. Castonzo had some pass protection issues, but did a good job in run blocking. At the end of the day, the line is just getting by. Not dominating for a full game. Mediocre is what I expect at this point.
How do the Logan critics feel about this game? 35 points. No head scratching calls. Nice redzone plays. Good short yardage. Still not much running, but effective push when we did run the ball. Logan is a very good OC and had a good game.
Defense: D
Before I get into the positions, let me hit my main point. When talking about this game with three different people the same question arose: are the defensive problems coaching or personnel? In my opinion it is both, however, ultimately the responsibility falls on the DC to make lemonade out of his lemons.
The problems started at the defensive line. Brace was inconsistent and got beat up front late in the game when Maryland needed to kill clock. Brady Smith also got swallowed up too often. I expected more because these guys were going up against Maryland’s third stringers. Albright played well. He saved a touchdown before the half and is our only defensive lineman with any closing speed. Ramella, who has been playing well of late, was a nonfactor. Larkin had tons of issues. He couldn’t get to the QB, he had trouble in pass coverage and he got run over during the run plays. Willette played well in limited time. Giles, nonfactor and didn’t see the field much. Where was Scafe? Where was Allan Smith? Where was Rossi? (I’ll get to this issue when I talk about Spaz later.)
The linebackers weren’t great, but played ok considering the depth issues. Against the run McLaughlin played well. Herzy had trouble in pass coverage, but still made a ton of plays. Francois was very tough against the run but also got confused and/or had communication issues with the corners in pass coverage. Akins made a few plays, but also got burned in pass coverage and took a ton of bad angles on some run plays (and he cannot even get near the QB anymore). Worst of all, Akins kept tipping his blitzes.
Outside of Silva and the barely used Rollins and Gause, the DBs were terrible. Tribble – what’s happened to this guy? His tackling has declined. He’s losing guys in coverage. He’s getting beat by guys he should absolutely own. Terrible game. Anderson was equally bad in pass coverage. There were two separate deep balls the Turner badly underthrew yet Anderson couldn’t get there to break up the pass. Morris’ side kept getting beat on the passes to the flats. I don’t know how much was due to his mistakes or the LB’s, but he’s the more experienced. He needs to lead and communicate. Silva was trying to do it all. He did a good job stopping the run and made a few plays in pass coverage.
I was really torn about what to say or where to begin with Spaz. I do think that his presence and continuity were a major factor in our start. So when things looked bad last week and got worse Saturday, I asked myself if I am being too judgmental? Am I lacking perspective? Or worse, am I being one of those folks that yo-yos on his opinion too quickly? When in doubt go back to what I said when it was clear that Spaziani was staying on as DC [I added the italics this time around to make my points.]
Defensive Coordinator: Frank Spaziani
What he brings to the table: Consistency. Transitions are always messy. BC’s should be better than most, because one half of the field will not be facing significant changes.
Connection to Jags: Worked under Jags on TOB’s first BC staff
Connection to BC: Longest current tenure among the coaches.
Question mark: Spaz has not been beyond reproach as DC. Soon we’ll find out if some of the problems were controlled by TOB or Spaz. Also, how well will he work with the new guys?
Overall assessment: I can live with Spaziani coming back. Initially I wasn’t thrilled. The idea has grown on me. At least I know what we can expect from the D next year. But I still hope that Spaziani starts to make long overdue adjustments to offenses like Wake Forest.
This was a classic Spaz game in that he made a mediocre QB look like Peyton Manning. We cannot create pressure on the QB and our DBs keep everyone in front of them. Therefore if a QB gets in a rhythm they can begin to pick us apart. Worse, our previously reliable run defense got run over. I have three major issues with what happened that I am putting on Spaz:
1. Blitzing that doesn’t work. Some people say Spaz doesn’t blitz or do anything creative. They’re wrong (unfortunately). We actually blitzed quite a bit and used a lot of three man fronts and stunts. Yet we cannot get to the QB. I think part of it is the players lack closing speed, but then maybe Spaz should NOT Blitz. Or figure something out. Anything. Our corner blitzes are way, way too late. Akins and Francois could have held up big signs saying “I’m coming” with the way they were tipping their blitzes. We are ten games into the season and a 30-year-vet cannot come up with some new wrinkle or trick to create confusion!
2. Where are the second teamers? In my opinion, Spaz’s best season was 2005. I don’t know where the decision came from or if he and TOB finally felt they had depth, but we rotated guys in and out of the game all game every game. And many second teamers (Dunbar, Silva, and Raji) stepped it up in big ways and became first teamers. Rotating keeps guys fresh and sometimes if things aren’t working, may provide a spark. Yet Saturday we had our first teamers getting pushed around and gassed while serviceable guys like Rossi, Scafe, Allan Smith, sat on the bench. Giles, who had his moments last year, has barely been on the field. Rollins and Gause have looked good. Why aren’t they getting on the field when Tribble is lollygagging? Anderson was hustling on run plays but getting badly beat in pass coverage. Would it have killed us to put Sanni out there a little more? Sanni made a huge play at FSU last year. Davis is down for the year and now Bowman -- give Sanni some snaps. What the heck? It’s not like we are getting the other team off the field.
3. In-game adjustments. Two big, glaring issues from Saturday. We are ten games in. Everyone has seen everything on tape. By now a good OC like Friedgen can see that when BC goes with 3-down lineman, we are highly likely to blitz. So they went to their hot reads and burned us. It wasn’t until late in the fourth quarter that we used some three down lineman and didn’t send five guys. Of course it confused Maryland. Why not use this twist much earlier in the game? The zone blitz had poor Larkin in pass coverage. Maryland exploited it early. A sharp coordinator would say “that’s not working.” Not ours. We kept using it and Maryland went to town.
One game is not a fireable offense. But the next two games and bowl game will be huge for Spaz.
Special teams: C
None of the special teams were special, so instead of my usual good and bad, I’ll go with the ok and ugly.
OK: The kickoffs were better, but the coverage was mixed. Can’t say much about the punt returns, because Maryland didn’t punt much and Tribble made the right calls when they did punt. Ayers was good. The kick returns were not game breakers but were enough (although Smith is letting it roll too much).
Ugly: Aponavicius is not a super fan anymore. He is a scholarship kicker in a BCS conference. He needs to make that field goal. The onsides was terrible.
Overall: C+
My only gripe with Jags was the punt on 4th and 15 late in the fourth. I can understand it since it is such a low percentage play. I guess at that point I didn’t have much faith in our D to make a stop. They did get the ball back but only after allowing another first down. We obviously had the right schemes on one side of the ball but not on the other. Hence the grade.
Tough loss. Much more upsetting than last week. Let’s hope things turn around.
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9 comments:
SERENITY NOW!
I was at this game. Miserable. A much tougher loss than FSU to swallow. I'm also heading to Clemson this weekend. It might take all week for me to get up for next week's game. The recovery time is going to me much slower and painful.
BC #18 in both polls and the BCS. Clemson #15/16 this week. Don't think anyone really thinks we are going to win on Sat.
Go BC!
I agree with the critique of the D/Spaz. Though I watch hours of football every weekend, I never played a lick of organized football... Basically the definition of an armchair quarterback. But watching the last two losses, I find it easier to read BC's defensive schemes than any team I've ever watched. If I can tell where the opposing QB should throw it before the ball is snapped, it's a given that D1 guys (even average ones) like Weatherford and Turner, who look at film all week, can do the same. Maybe I'm overly critical, but it's so predictable it drives me nuts. Possibly the most ineffective corner blitzes I've ever seen.
I agree Spaz uses some creativity/stunts, but it's still brutal. The "creativity" criticism would be a non-issue if the front 4 could generate some pressure in standard schemes. I like Larkin, but man does he get swallowed up but mediocre lineman.
DB's have to stop being so paranoid about getting burned deep. We can't concede 15 yard completions all day, especially when the tackling is that poor. Tribble has fallen off the face of the earth.
Despite the picks, 35 points should be more than enough to beat Maryland. The O did enough.
With a QB as good as Matty, we should throw a lot. With such a passing offense, I can deal with an interception every once in a while (see the past decades of Bret Favre film). But what happened to OUR D forcing turnovers? It's just one more illustration of the lack of aggressiveness the D seems to be playing with (besides Silva).
If we lose the turnover battle against Clemson, we're in big big trouble.
That said... I still have faith. Jolonn will be a welcome sight.
GO EAGLES
Also, the rankings for the next game couldn't be less relevant. If BC needs extra motivation as an "underdog" for this game, they don't understand the implications.
BC is going to need a lot more than underdog extra motivation to win on Saturday.
Mentally, I have prepared myself for a loss, so at least I will be calm during the game. If BC wins, it's a great bonus and the rest of my weekend will be great. If they lose, oh well.
I have no clue how you can say that BC blitzes. In a technical sense that might be the case considering they usually rush their 3 down linemen plus one linebacker, but let me reiterate that a 4 man rush is not a blitz. A blitz usually consists of at least 5 and more likely 6 or even 7 rushers. Look at all those 3rd down and long conversions Va Tech and Maryland got against BC. BC rushed 3 and dropped everyone else back in coverage and they got burned repeatedly. And when BC does actually rush 5 or 6 people (which is rare), they usually generate pressure on the QB and make him at least throw the ball away. Some of Spaz's blitzes do not work as you pointed out because he loves the delayed blitzes of linebackers and the slow-developing corner blitzes. But a majority of the time when BC rushes 6 people, the opposing QB has been toast. It's really sad when the announcers catch on to the zone coverage and advise that BC needs to generate more pressure though blitzes. On the other hand, your analysis about Logan is correct. BC is a passing team with a Heismanish QB. BC should play to those strengths and pass the ball often. A 5 yard completion is just as good as a run. It gains a nice chunk of yardage and keeps the clock moving. Plus, in the second half, the score did dictate the passing game. I think Logan did a good job making adjustments (notice how he used McCluskey inside the 5 instead of running Callender or Whitworth to the outside which resulted in holding penalties against Va Tech). Just answer me this: why did he go away from the crossing routes? It seemed that when BC actually did run crossing routes, its receivers were wide open for big gains.
Bravesbill, I only count blitzes when we send more than 5. By my count we blitzed 12 times Saturday. With the 3 man front we blitzed 4 times.
I've always liked Spaz, but there's nothing good to take away from that game. It was really painful to watch. And, frankly, BC would have been better off going for it on every single fourth down and on-siding every kick. There's no way that would have made the score worse.
I don't think it's possible to overestimate the impact of Dunbar going down. I thought the defensive schemes were horrible...but at least 3 (if not more) of the TDs were caused by total breakdowns in coverage. Breakdowns of the type we had not been seeing with our 5th-year-senior captain MLB on the field.
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