The lesson of the day is that the ACC is wide open again. I'll have second viewing thoughts and grades up late Sunday.
Saturday, September 11, 2010
Building block win
Far from a perfect game but it is another positive win. BC showed definite improvements from last week and definite improvements from the first half to the second half. I was a little alarmed by the offensive line breakdowns. It will be interesting when I watch back to see the causes of the problems upfront.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
27 comments:
Did anyone else find those "U" Eagles (and other mascots) incredibly disturbing?
Extrinsic!
Hilarious comment, Midnight L'jack.
Just Hilarious--now I can celebrate the Victory, however wacky it was, cuz it can't beat the "U" Eagle Mascot...or the "Extrinsic" or the way our "O Line U." guys played today...Are you listening, Gary Tranquill? Go Eagles! See y'all in a couple o' weeks when the Hokies visit the Hill.
Looks like it's gonna be Shinskie.
Is Gause really the best we have at returning kicks? Isn't Swigert supposed to be a stud returner?
Little early to start looking 1 year and 1 reconstructive surgery down the road but this receiving corps could be sick with Larmon in the mix.
Definitely won't help us this year, but UNC has a stable of 4 star Oline recruits we should try to poach given their "issues" over there.
Extrinsic! x2
Is "wide open" a nice euphemism for "terrible?"
Dan. Agree re gause. Gause Seems like a ticking time bomb. He is going to fumble at the exact wrong moment.
Our OL is a mystery. Why couldn't they handle Kent State's DL.???
I'm confused. We have an O line bigger than the Patriots, outweigh Kent State by 50 lbs, and can't move them off the line at all. That's not just not good. That's awful. O Line U? Just don't show them the Kent State tape.
There is no way that's a building block win. It's a home game against Kent freakin' State. Their QB was horrible. They were missing their best player. Their punt returners were abysmal. What if they don't muff those punts? That's 10 pts right there.
No pass rush against a MAC team? If you don't think this is another typical BC season, with maybe 8 wins at the end of the bowl season, you're crazy.
Oh, and by the way, Shinskie still looks pretty bad. Does the term "accuracy" mean anything to him? He consistently throws into coverage. Kent State should've picked off that pass at the goal line and returned it 100 yds. We got lucky.
Banner day for the ACC today. Our automatic berth for the ACCCG winner should be to the Meineke Car Care Bowl.
But other than that, where do I buy Orange Bowl tickets?
CT--just came back on to see what was buzzin', (as USC has probs with UVA and just tosssed a TD w/ 1 tic left in the half, to go up 14-7). Now they're saying the ACC is a force...okay? And what do I see but your astute vision of What Is. Here's another wrinkle: college FB this year maybe just sucks--what we like to call parity. ND's game vs. Michigan, BC and Kent State, VaTech losing to JM--almost everything else except 'Bama dropping Joe Pa's boys, is a calamity of Xtremes.
Our Defense was unchallenged by a weak offense w/o their major dude--and our guys looked good being in a home game mode with a team that looked like they were channeling Gary Tranquill's offense. At one point I thought they had our play book--but now I think we were just playing Kent the way they play against themselves in practice.
Where's the friggen' passion? The kid from Michigan, a QB/RB with no fear, has talent galore--and ND has great ref's--but I see our BC performance today as a waste of the same kind of great talent without focus. We ran Montel against a wall of guys today and he had no help. He could have been badly injured with all the blocking he had to do for himself. If Costanzo is an All-American I'll eat my BC National Champioship Hat. FACT: It always comes down to the line men. Our D is good because those guys upfront are tenacious and nuts. They hit people and bring it 100% for a full 8 seconds per play--Our O Line, however, plays the game like fat lawyers picking up a check in a class action suit in a Grisham novel. Spaz should have had this team ready--and they are NOT READY FOR PRIME TIME...THIS WASN'T A BUILDING BLOCK...It was a gut check, a revelation, a realistic assessment of where BC football is in September 2010: A load of talent that's laden with really uninspired game prep coaching,inconsistent execution, predictable and unimaginative play calling, and two great linebackers who deserve better co-stars...Coach Spaz deserves all the credit for this--a nice guy who better kick some butt pronto or we're going to end up in a minor bowl game in Indianapolis vs. UConn and they'll win.
Go Eagles! Wake-up and Bring It!
Jesus people we didn't wow anyone today but damn things could be worse. Can you imagine being a VT fan? You spend all offseason waiting to see your team and its over in 6 days. National Champ contender on Monday morning, national punchline by Saturday.
On the bright side, you know who did bring it today? The jersey numbers. I saw them all over the field this week. Great game guys!
Go Eagles!
I tend to be an optimist when it comes to BC football. I assumed last year that would win more than seven games, and I was happy to be right.
When it comes to this team, I'll take a win. I'll take a sloppy win as much as a clean win. Certainly, this team has flaws that need to be corrected. But this is Boston College football. This is a team of smart and dedicated football players. We don't reload. We play with consistency. What we have are the-stars-align-for-a-BC team, and I'm hoping that this is a stars-align kind of year.
Thoughts on today:
Everyone seems to agree on the o-line. For a school known for their O-line, we always seem to be sloppy the first few games of the season. We don't have the luxury of a new scheme of this year as an excuse. Better to see the flaws now, than as opposed to a situation like Clemson last year.
I'll give Shinkskie some credit. He's looking like a sophomore quarterback. He makes mistakes, but he's learning. His mobility needs work, but he's slowly becoming a smarter and more efficient quarterback, not just a physical specimen.
I was disappointed for Harris today. He did what he could. It proves that his accomplishments last year were not his alone.
Our receiving corps... damn I wish Matt Ryan had them.
Defense: Spaz is the new Frank Beamer... except he doesn't lose to JMU. (Unfair shot, but hey). We are defined by our consistency, and our consistency is our defense. We are competitive because our defense is solid year in and year out. With D-line picking up, it could be good year. (Herzlich making the flying tackle, while maybe being completely unnecessary, was awesome. We have the BEST linebacker corp
Special teams: It's comforting having an all-round special teams. Nothing explosive, but it looks to be reliable.
This year, we will always be competitive. It depends on how much we want it. For O-line, it's a group that has beaten K-State, handily, two times already. They most likely looked past this game. Shinskie is improving. He's not Matt Ryan, nor is he Chris Crane (who was looking really good by Wake Forest). But from last week to this week, he looked much better, and his attitude suggests he's willing to put forth the effort. I'd say give him some time.
Our S.o.S just dropped a few points after this weekend. Go ACC.... eff....?
Overall, it was another great weekend watching BC football. It'll suck having next week off, but if it means going 3-0, all right.
Go Eagles, and Semper Fi.
Oof, rough time posting. Anyways, I agree with mason. There was no passion from our O-line today. They were on autopilot.
Kent is pretty tough against the run. Last year, Kent State held Harris to 68 yards; this year he got 80.
BC avg'd 3.2 yards per rush last year; this year 2.8.
So yeah, the OL did not look good, but we should keep in mind that Kent has an excellent run defense (not as good as BC's run defense, but still very good)
Still I agree that the OL needs to get some nastiness back.
Our DL was great against the run (4 yards rushing is all Kent got). wow. They did force a few hurries, but not much sack- wise.
Keuchley was fun to watch. Herzy too. I did not see much of KPL except for one solid play (was it a tipped pass?) The secondary seemed improved too.
Shinskie had quite a few excellent passes against a decent secondary - a good sign. Poor Marsco. He was awful. That INT was really a bad one that will keep him benched. Marsco just was not ready for prime time even though he knew he was getting a shot to prove himself. It ain't so easy in real time Marsco, is it? Still a few more reps for Marsco were warranted given how ineffective Shinskie was up to that point.
I think the QB controversy is over (for now)
The radio broadcast mentioned Rettig was loosening and almost went out after Marsco was pulled (he started to run on the field, they said), but the coaches called him back and went with Shinskie. Wanted to see Rettig after the other two that half. But glad Shinskie seemed to pull it together. the Globe (FWIW) seemed pretty positive on Shinskie's second half.
I think maybe struggling against lesser teams will make the guys have more urgency against the big boys, but who knows. Last year we dominated our first two games and sucked our first real test.
That abysmal first half - and it was abysmal - was all on the O-line. The Marsco pick: on the O-line. He was absolutely pummeled as he released the ball. The receiver had the DB beat, but Mike couldn't get anything on the ball. Montel's struggles running the ball: on the O-line. Shinskie having no time to get off a decent pass: on the O-line. It was terrible.
I thought the defense was much better, though the pass rush is still bad. If they can force turnovers all year, we are going to be in business. I also thought Shinskie made some nice throws in the second half. He's still not an all-ACC QB, but he looks comfortable on boot-legs and has a strong arm. And remember, I'm about the most anti-Shinskie guy around here. At this point, Shinskie has to be the guy and Marsco has to be the back-up. There's no reason to burn Rettig's redshirt just to be the back-up QB.
Herz looked like he was trying to deliver another organ-rupturing tackle with that bodyslam.
OK, here is the potential upside on crappy O-line play:
A) they have two weeks to stew over it while B) VT takes out two losses worth of frustration on east carolina next week. By the time we meet them in 2 weeks, they are less motivated and our O-line is still pissed with something to prove...
Watch out for Va Tech. Remember a couple years back when they had two early losses? They rallied and played BC in the ACCCG. Va Tech still has a lot to play for and my biggest fear is that they lose to East Carolina this Saturday. Does anyone think a team with that much tradition and pride would allow themselves to slip to 0-4? No way. That is BC's worst nightmare.
Further, the one major weakness of BC's defense is they have never fared well with mobile QB's. Of all the linebackers, who has the most speed and can key on Taylor? Do we make Kuechly the spy? We have two weeks to figure it out and I think that will be the deciding factor in the game.
God watching Kiwanuka repeatedly obliterate Matt Moore today made me get all misty.
Speaking of which I sure hope Quinn is getting fired up to provide us a nice pass rush once his suspension is up.
Love your posts mmason. Extrinsic. You got the real vision. Not these pissy yuppies who think BC is so special. Please
Why even watch this bogus football team? I see BC as a Virginia or Duke in football (not academically, they blow us away). We belong in a league with MAC teams. Oh wait, we are in that kinda league.
If we are lucky, we will go 3-5 in the ACC, lose big time to ND (which also blows us away academicaly) and eek out a win against Syracuse. At 6-6, we will be bypassed by every bowl. But who can we beat in the ACC? maybe just Duke and UVA. So 5-7 looks like the deal this season with no bowl. Maybe be a wake up call for the high priests of Chestnut Hill.
CT: I've gotta disagree with you. What ACC teams on our schedule look any good? Wake, Duke, UVA, Maryland, and NC State all look mediocre at best. It's possible that none of those schools makes a bowl. I have no idea what to make of VT or FSU, but they still have lots of talent, as does Clemson. On top of that, Syracuse is stil bad and ND's defense really doesn't look that much better than last year. You see seven losses, CT? I wouldn't be surprised if we lost to the four best teams on our schedule, but where do you see THREE additional losses. The conference looks to be terrible this year.
Look, I'm not predicting 10 wins and I never expected that. This can still easily be an eight win team because the schedule is so dismal. Yes, it was not a good game, but it wasn't catastrophic. At least we didn't lose to JMU.
CT: Either you didn't go to BC or you did but really, really wish you hadn't been rejected by higher ranked schools. As a graduate of BC, Wharton (MBA) and Harvard (DBA), I can say that the academics at BC are on par with those schools - but of course you mean perception (i.e. USNews rankings). Maybe if you tried harder at life you wouldn't be so down on yourself and your school.
BC is a quality program. We have a solid D and good skill position players. Our D-line isn't the most athletic but our LB corps helps hide that to an extent. And our O-line has the ability to grind it and open holes, they just need to work on getting off the block faster. You'll watch game tape and see they are pretty slow on the attack and the D-line of the opposing team just gets that millisecond jump and the gaps are filled.
I see us with 8 wins. 9 if we can get by VaTech. Solid bowl game.
Uh, that last post wasn't me.
So, relax.
CT: glad to hear that. I was really confused. Didn't take you for the doom-and-gloom type.
i had a feeling it was an impostor...didn't have the CT ring to it
Post a Comment