BC-Kent State preview

I am not scared about this game nor am I building up an opponent like Lou Holtz might, but this is easily the best Kent State team we've faced. They have a good mix of returning starters, a solid defense and showed signs of life in their passing game last week. BC should control, but it will require a little more focus and intensity than playing Weber State did.

Narrative talking point that you’ll tire of by the end of the game. "Eugene Jarvis is only playing with one kidney..." First let me state that I am not making light of Jarvis's toughness nor the seriousness of his injury. I just fear that since it was BC that knocked him out of his Senior season, and it was that injury that led to the discovery of his single kidney, that we will be hearing a lot about the sixth-year Senior's story. Jarvis is one of the toughest 5'5 running backs you will ever see, but he is not the key to this game. BC has proved as much in the past two Kent State games.

Three Simple Keys
1. Give Spencer Keith multiple looks. We were fairly vanilla on defense last week. I don't expect Spaz to show all his cards with Virginia Tech looming but we do need to mix things up with Keith. He is efficient and accurate and will move the ball if we just play base D with our standard zone. A few blitzes, dropping more guys into coverage, or something to keep him guessing.
2. Move Shinskie out of the pocket. Shinskie is not Michael Vick, but he moves better than most recent BC QBs and he seems pretty comfortable rolling out. A few bootlegs or other designed plays to get him on the move might create some easy plays and help improve the offense and his efficiency.
3. Improve kickoff coverage. We finally have a kicker who can actually generate a touchback. But on the returned kicks we looked a little slow and out of position in a few spots. It must be tighter for this game.

Gambling Notes
-- Kent State is 3-29-1 in their first road games of the year.
-- Doug Martin is 1-12 vs BCS teams
-- Spaz is now 7-1 at home

The current line is BC-17.5

Factoid
After this game, BC is not scheduled to play another MAC team until 2015. Our last MAC-less season was 2001.

Scoreboard Watching
Miami takes on Ohio State and Florida State plays Oklahoma. For better or worse, how these two play will determine the national perception of the ACC. If we ever hope to get two ACC teams into the BCS, we need both to win convincingly.

I hope to see...
A better defensive effort. I know it was the first game and I know most of the yardage came after the game was no longer in doubt, but I really want to see a better effort from our defense. They have enough talent to be dominant and need to establish that mentality early in the season.

BC is in trouble if…
Shinskie has another rough day. I am not harping on his mistakes. I actually thought he did some nice things. But if he puts up similar numbers against Kent State, it doesn't mean we will lose, but it probably means we will have a tough time with good defenses.

Bottom Line
We didn't learn much from last week. This week will be a better indicator of what's ahead. I still believe in this team's potential for greatness, so I am expecting a very, very good performance. I think Shinskie will be better and the defense will be intense for 60 minutes. BC controls and gives us hope for Virginia Tech.

Final Score: BC 31, Kent State 6