This wasn't a game we gave away with bad clock management or a missed kick. It obviously didn't come down to one play. But it was frustrating watching it back, because UNC did not play that well. Not as well as the score indicates. Instead BC kept shooting itself in the foot. This echos what Addazio said after the game, but when he watches it back, I imagine he will have steam coming out of his ears. There were that many plays -- fumbles, bad sacks, defensive players falling down, bad punt returns, etc. -- that added up to a big loss.
Offense: D+
We have plenty of issues on offense but Rettig is getting most of the blame. In this case it was justified. He is now holding the ball way too long. There were some positives in relation to his pocket awareness. He was willing to tuck and run more than he has all year. And most of the runs were net positives. But too many throws were late or not thrown at all. Talk of making a QB change is very premature. If we are going to make a bowl, it will be with Rettig's arm.
I was wrong about Rettig prior to the season. I was really wrong about Andre Williams. He's gotten so much better as the season goes on. The touchdown was nice, but he had a huge hole. However, he had a series of runs between the tackles where he ran hard and moved through traffic. For many years Williams was bad between the tackles. If he didn't have space, he wasn't able to adjust. Now he can weave a bit and is still very hard to take down. The only real issue with Williams was the early fumbled exchange. Rouse got a few snaps in garbage time. Willis was on the field more, but didn't get involved in the offense.
The offensive line was good. They got good push on running plays and at different points everyone was asked to pull or run. The pass blocking was also good for the most part. They gave Rettig time on most throws. Patchan allowed a sack, but was good for the most part (despite his penalties). Gallik also let in some rushers. Williams and White both played well.
Amidon had a few nice catches but could do much after the catch. He also dropped a catchable third down. But we need to get him more touches. What happened to using him on end arounds? Naples had a nice catch early. Jackson and Evans both had chances to catch balls but the throws weren't great. I blame it a little on them and on Rettig. A better QB-WR connection would have them coming back to the ball. Dudeck missed his one chance at a catchable ball.
I don't know what to make of Day's gameplan against UNC. We ran the ball well enough, but couldn't build on the passing game. A big problem in my opinion was passing on passing downs. If we run, run and leave us in a passing 3rd down, the defense knows what's coming. We are at our best when we can pass off of play action or rollouts on first and second down. It worked somewhat early. Why move away from it? Why not use some of the shotgun with short crosses that Rettig and Amidon like early in a possession? Get them in rhythm. Teams are flatout challenging BC now. It is going to be on Day to salvage our passing attack. It wasn't effective this week.
Defense: C+
The defensive line was probably the best part of the D. Ramsey played well and brought pressure. Appiah made plays for the first time in a long time. Mihalik made some good plays early. Edebali did well closing.
Steven Daniels is so much better than he was at the start of the year. We knew he was a big hitter, but he's doing a better job covering a lot of space. Divitto had a better game. He's not getting tackles for a loss, but is tackling well. KPL made some plays early but wasn't as active late. Little had a huge play in his debut.
Sylvia was the first BC player to get tossed for targeting and I am okay with that. The replay looked like he was slowing down a bit, but he still led with his head/shoulders without using his arms. If you are really going to break up a touchdown, you need to wrap up or reach in. A knock out hit might get the WR to drop the ball, but that is no longer legal. It will be interesting to see how he adjusts from here. The rest of the DBs had a similar situation from other weeks. They were decent tackling but not great in coverage. Asprilla got burned early turning the wrong way. Williams fell down on a touchdown.
The defense wasn't the real problem but the results weren't great. It didn't feel like a Don Brown day. BC certainly brought pressure and generated some huge drive-killing sacks, but most of the time their QBs were given way too much time. Our multiple looks and guys faking the blitz didn't seem to bother either of their QBs. Like I said with Day, teams now know a bit more what to expect. Brown needs to keep mixing things up or just blitz even more. The blitzes were what worked best.
Special Teams: C
Freese's punts were fine and our punt coverage was fine. Freese also had a solid kick off and made his FG.
Willis handled all the KRs and was fine. He didn't get a big break on any but made good decisions and ran hard.
Spiffy had some issues on the punts. He let one sail way over his head and then had some questionable decisions on returns. Dudeck was fine on his one punt return.
Overall: C-
The offense couldn't score. The defense allowed long, multi-play drives and the special teams didn't do anything special. Our gameplan was to get control early and grind it out. That was the problem. We didn't have a Plan B. Or at least a Plan B we could execute. We adjusted a little on D by bringing more pressure. On offense we couldn't come up with anything.
I appreciate Addazio's candor. UNC probably has more talent, but they didn't overwhelm us like USC did. BC made too many mistakes to win. That happens to all coaching staffs. The key is how Addazio regroups and gets the team to play better.
I know there is a lot of focus on Rettig. I've been blogging enough to see plenty of QBs struggle. This is not a Porter-Ryan or even a Shinskie-Rettig. I think this is more like Crane-Davis, where your backups are not the answer. So now the offensive staff needs to find something that works. It is triage time. If they don't, we will have many more games like this.
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I disagree. I don't think that Rettig is anywhere near the problem. He has talent. It is the coaching. Amidon is very good in a Wesley Walker scenario. Day is building around Williams and then Amidon. Rettig appears to have been told to focus in on Amidon and no one else. There are no progressions. It is one receiver. Where is Spiffy and where is Willis? You have to have a diversified offense. There is none. As the "Soup Nazi" on Seinfeld would say, "no bowl for you".
Rettig was terrible. Who told him to focus on Amidon? Who told you that? He has always been terrible at progressions. He makes poor decisions. No coaching is going to make his talent and temperament better. The receivers were out there, but Rettig never saw them. Only his primary, Amidon.
It is on both Day and Rettig. There have been games this year when BC came out with a creative, balanced attack that had the defense on their heels (first quarter FSU game, at time sgainst Clemson). There was nothing this week. Where were the wheels routes, end arounds, screens,? That lack of creativity is on Day. As for rettig, I am sorry, he just isn't very good. He looked no better on his 40th start than he did on his 10th.
Anyway, if you want to see soem refreshing candor, check out Dazz in post game presser:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j-0h8CdOKlo
I have a hard time blaming Rettig just because he has had a different OC and game plan every year for 5 years. Maybe he has become dependent on Amidon, but he's been his only consistent option all along and always the focus of the passing game. I will say, Chase has looked really bad the last 2 weeks though.
That being said, I agree with Eddie, and reiterate what I've been saying since the USC game. Ryan Day is the biggest handcuff on this team. His game planning is terrible. His play calling puts the opposing defenses in a position to know what's coming (run, run, pass). The pass plays are often little screens or dinks and dents. We don't try to spread the D. He doesn't adapt during the game; when we fall behind he sticks with the run, run, pass.
Day has ridden his reputation as "one of the brightest young minds in college football" to this position and with each passing week it is obvious why he fell off the Chip Kelly coaching tree and hasn't gotten so much as a sniff as a HC elsewhere or as an assistant to Kelly. He has proven nothing through his career as to how he got that reputation. Maybe he is a great recruiter or in practice, or a good X's and O's guy, but it doesn't translate to Saturday results and that is the ultimate measure in sports. A good coach makes his players better and even Spaz's band of merry old men had Chase looking great last year.
Rettig led BC to one Div. 1 win last year. No road wins in the last two years. Rettig looked great last year?? The only stat that matters is wins and losses. In the three road games this year BC is averaging ten points a game. You can't win many with that kind of output. 2. The good news is the team is averaging over thirty at home. Let's hope they can score against VT. They've played seven games. Five have been well executed and only two were duds. BC was in that UNC contest until the 4th quarter. 3. Three of the top eight teams in the BCS are ACC. Not bad two thirds the way through the year. CBS reported the top ten ( eleven because of a tie) schools with the best graduation rates. Five were ACC. ND, BC, Duke, Wake and Miami. One came from the PAC 12 Stanford. One the BIG 10 Northwestern. The SEC and BIG 12 were shutout in this category. Army, Rice, Airforce and Boise St. also made it. Should Congress require the Conde Rice Playoff panel include graduation rates in their criteria for playoff eligibility? It might help the ACC.
ATL, you do not "know what to make of Day's gameplan against UNC."
really?
Well, BC had 21 first down plays (before scrubs brought in). 13 were handoffs to Andre Williams. 61% of our first down plays were to Williams.
That's pretty unimaginative. And completely ineffective. We all saw that.
How does Day-ball fare in the ACC? Passing BC is 13/14 in attempts per game (only non-passing GT is lower). We are 13/14 in yards per game. Our offense is rotten. Day-ball is bad football.
Defense is plain awful too. Don Brown likes to bring pressure. Great we got some good highlight reel material. But it is not working.
BC defense in ACC?
13/14 total defense
13/14 yards allowed per play
14/14 yards allowed per pass attempt
14/14 is QB rating allowed to opponent
Dazz is bringing a new attitude. Terrific. But I guess there is only so much they can do with the Spaz recruits.
good points Eddierock, Jospeh, JBQ and eagle1331
I have no problem with Brown blitzing all the time simply because that's the only way BC can stop an opponent. If they drop back in coverage, it will be like last year. QBs will have tons of time to shred the BC secondary. Until BC can get better athletes in the secondary who can actually cover people, Brown doesn't really have much of an option at this point. The more glaring problem with the defense was its inability to stop UNC's rushing game, which was ranked last (or close to it) in the ACC prior to the game.
Just got a call from Daz. he's looking for replacements for Day. Main requirement is to have the ability to be able to run effective pass routes and quickly find open receivers, pass accurately,catch anything thrown even close, then run like Williams after the catch. He can be reached at BC all afternoon.
Also, must have ability to take advice from Sunday morning QBs and plan accordingly.
Joseph, I am curious about your perspective.
Why, in your Josephian view, do people come to blogs and write comments about sports strategy, players' plays and coaches' coaching? Why do people call into sports shows and criticize coaches and players and even take shots at owners and atheltic directors? Why are people tweeting about the upcoming games or the just-played game?
What on earth are all these people doing? Is praise and gratitude the only valid thing (in a Josephian world) that shoud be uttered by said people?
Rettig's confidence seems shot. He looks like he is afraid to throw. Rettig is playing not to make mistakes--not to win. His o-line protection is not that bad. He's holding on to the ball way too long.
I am not criticizing his effort. Rettig endangered himself several time with runs, desperately trying to get a first down. He took a lot of lumps out there.
I have noticed a downward trend in Rettig's performance since Daz read him out on the sidelines a couple of weeks ago. Kids can't play "walking on eggshells". A college qb has to have a "short memory"-even more so his coach.
BC is at the point where Rettig may have to come out if he can't speed up his release and throw without a conscience.
M34B, has very good questions. Can he supply the answers.
I have been very critical of Rettig's talent /temperament, so I have no idea about your thinking that it is all glowing praise. It is only about posters like you and several others that second guess everything an experienced professional ever does. You like to dump on the coaches/managers. You act like they know nothing and you have all the answers. You post about the cupboard being bare, but then don't want to admit that maybe, just maybe, that has something to do with the play. If in three years BC is still foundering in BB and FB, you can then start to make sense by damning the recruiting and coaching. If it turns you on to make like the big jock who has all the answers, fine. have fun, but don't expect that we all really go along with the ill-considered crap.
Joseph - Were you educuated by nuns?
You sound positively frightened to criticize authority figures (comrade, we must wait 3 years to speak! NYET to "second guess everything an experienced professional" does).
Yet, you love to mischaracterize comments and then criticize fellow commenters (big jock and crap)!.
Interesting psychological stew you present. In another realm, you would have made a good snitch or rat.
M34b I'm glad that you don't criticize Day, or Spaz or Donahue or Daz. No one. Ever.
Get a life and go back to watching the mindless BS on SC for twelve hours a day. They love to be the big jocks and show the pros that they always are better.
Nothing as silly as an ignorant person who thinks they are smarter than those that really know. (not me). Call me when the Patriots hire you as head coach.
Is Joseph really Blauds of "A jersey guy" blog and former Globe stooge?
Did someone mention this before.
yes, eagle1331 made this same point a month ago about our resident tool, "Joseph"
Oh I get it. "Joseph" is really Blauds. Makes so much more sense now. I should have realized it with the insults, jump to conclusion map, and fact-less commentary from the start.
Excellent point. I have been unmasked. Forget the head coach job. chief detective would be much better.
By the way, if Rettig had been able to complete 60% of his passes, would you be saying that Day had a great game plan. He would have produced a couple of hundred yards and the run game even more than it did.
Hmmmmm!!!
Joseph/blauds. Recall the eagle1331 comment about your 'fact-less' comments.
now you suggest Rettig is not throwing at a 60% completion rate. ("if Rettig had been able to complete 60% of his passes")
You didn't bother checking the facts before you opened your mouth
Rettig throw at over 62% . . . . and Day-ball is still bad football
Jeez, And I though that you knew that we were talking about the NC game. He was 10/20 against NC. Fact, not M34b mouth
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