Second viewing thoughts and grade report: Maine

I didn't get the warm fuzzies watching this game back. There was a lack of crispness and no sense of urgency in the team's play. I know we won comfortably, but it shouldn't have been so sluggish. Many of the big plays weren't about our guys dominating but about their guys making mistakes.

Offense: B-

Rettig wasn't as crisp as last week, but I thought he still played well. The completion percentage doesn't tell the story either. Many of the incomplete passes were long, downfield stuff that is hard to complete Plus there were some drops. I liked his touch on some plays and his decision to gun it on others. He's the best thing about our offense right now. Bordner played but didn't drop back to pass once. I don't advocate running up the score, but it would have been nice to give him some meaningful snaps once the game was in hand.

The running backs were rightfully slammed for their play on the message boards. They all had big issues or mistakes. Kimble looked good early but didn't get much action after the fumble. I know what he was trying to do at the goalline but at this point he needs it drilled into his head to hold onto the ball. The same could be said of Finch. He did respond and looked fine after. Williams was ok. He still didn't get out into space much and had hands of steel on the pass that came his way. Sinkovec was blocking well until he got hurt.

I liked how Coleman played. He made some catches in traffic and showed good hands. I didn't love his throw. They've clearly been working on it, but the pass was way off. Amidon was fine. Evans looked decent.  Other than Parsons, none of the other TEs were even thrown to.

The offensive line was not as crisp. We were solid in pass protection (although the sacks allowed seemed like blown assignments). I was surprised we didn't dominate the run more. Clearly that was the gameplan but we didn't get the push we needed or open up some of the huge holes you would expect against an FCS team. The left side was better than the right side.

I loved the game Martin called last week. This game wasn't as pretty. I understand keeping it vanilla against an undermatched opponent, but I felt BC should have opened it up much earlier. I also think we should've given Bordner more to do.


Defense: B-

I'm really disappointed in the defensive line so far this season. I predicted big things and thought they would surprise, but other than Ramsey, they are all regressing from how they finished 2011. Ramsey made some nice plays again. Appiah got more playing time but didn't make a big impact. Quinn was fine. Rudolph was fine. Abdesmad looked better. Edebali was ok. I liked the activity from Wujciak. Mihalik needs to get more pressure on the QB.

A few people are criticizing Clancy but in my opinion his only crime is not being Luechly. I thought he played well Saturday in coverage and tackling. Teams keep attacking Divitto's side. He played better though. KPL had a quiet game.

ESPN was critical of Asprilla on Maine's missed bomb, but I think they were wrong. He wasn't beat. I think he was expecting Safety help, but the safeties bit on the play action. He got better throughout the game too. I liked what I saw from Richardson. Jones struggled (to put it lightly). Corners in our defense need to make lots of tackles and hopefully he will improve. Sylvia was fine but not involved in as many plays. Noel was also away from a lot of the action.

McGovern used a lot of basic, base defense. Unlike my critique of Martin, I don't have a problem with him not mixing it up more or bringing more pressure. Maine never sustained much and their only threats were early. In the second half it was clear that we were in control, so there was no need to do anything unusual or tip your hand for future opponents.

Special Teams: B

Evans' punt return was great. He got under it, controlled and then took off into daylight. It made up for some of his kick return. I'll take the questionable kick returns if he keeps breaking others. The aggressiveness has been missing from BC special teams for a few years.

Levano was fine and really only had one clankish punt.

Freese was solid.

One other note about Special Teams...McCaffery has been all over the place on Special Teams through two games. Since I've been doing these rewatches, that's been a great sign of things to come from that player. I don't know if the pattern will hold or if he'll earn more playing time, but keep a note of it.


Overall: B-

A win always earns a decent grade. So does a blowout. But as I stated in the introduction, this was as lifeless a 31 point win as I remember. That lack of intensity and letting Maine hang around for 20 minutes is on Spaz. The fumbles and drops keep happening. That's on Spaz too. I do appreciate that he finally used his timeouts correctly and got a score before the half. I also appreciate that the special teams are improving. But overall it wasn't a shining example of BC Football.

I guess we won't know what any of this means until next week.