Thursday, November 12, 2015

Looking at Baylor and other links

This isn't specifically BC-related, but I recommend this Wall Street Journal article on Baylor's offense. The beauty of college football is that you can have above average success by being totally unconventional (see Navy, Baylor, the Mike Leach teams, etc). Is it hard to win championships like that? Perhaps, but good unconventional schools often outperform their talents and limitations. The other reason I look to places like Baylor when we struggle is that I feel at times that our offensive approach is broken. Injuries happen, but if you have a consistent approach and an emphasis on certain aspects of offense (Baylor it is big plays, Oregon it is tempo) you can score points. In Addazio's first two years, our approaches were also pretty simplistic. This year we clearly lacked identity, direction and execution. Those are fixable. I am not saying become Baylor, but look to their approach and figure out what BC can be. (HT to AR for the article).

The Globe had a nice feature on Eli Carter. So much of this season depends on how much he can carry this young team.

(I am leery to post this because it is not really sports, but it is a hot college topic...please be thoughtful in the comments section.) BC students held a "blackout" in a show of solidarity with Mizzou students and other college campuses dealing with speech and race issues. There were a very similar series of protests when I was a student at BC in the '90s. My issue then and now remains, that these issues and topics are very real and very serious. They deserve discussion and debate and solutions. But in the '90s and now, college kids are not always the best ones to lead the debate. They clearly have the passion, but too often lack the perspective, appreciation or the ability to articulate real change.

29 comments:

Hoib said...

I think Daz's approach offensively is to be an outlier by going w/ a throwback offense. It worked pretty well the first 2 years and was horrendous this year. I think far more important than the concept are the players. Daz will sink or swim on the quality of player he brings in. He has a good many top players on D and none on O. That's what he has to fix. Last year Greg Popovich won his 1000 game. He was asked by a reporter after the game how he did it, he said "I had good players"' very straightforwardly. It really is that simple. The O OSU runs isn't all that different than Daz's, they just have much better players running it.

mod34b said...

sure talent is #1, but #1a is coaching.

Daz cannot coach his 2015 OL to run block or hold a pass block for more than 2 seconds.

pretty much sums up his lack of ability as HC.

mod34b said...

as for the politics, i hope this blog is not going down that road..... we have a younger generation of victims and whiners...pathetic.

bc1900 said...

Are you a person of color mod, I presume not so you have no idea what these students go through. Keep your mouth shut. You are the pathetic one for having to take a shot at these students.

Napolean Bonaparte said...

In all seriousness bc1900 - I have no idea either. What do these students go through which is so pervasive and awful?

Napolean Bonaparte said...

Probably not a good topic for this board. Having said that - telling someone who does not share your point of view to "keep your mouth shut" and that they are "pathetic" is totally non productive (and just as offensive and ignorant as you find their opinion to be) compared to an honest attempt to enlighten them and win them over. A reasoned response sharing some of your knowledge (which you presumably have) or citing to some analysis backing your point would be a little more effective. The name of the game is to persuade and be thought provoking - not to further alienate and fail.

Anyway - who do you think should start at quarterback this week?

mod34b said...

NapoleanB. - that guy is a troll who 100% lacks sincerity

Knucklehead said...

I am offended by the use of the term "blackout." It is racist.

Hoib said...

Back to football

At least we share one characteristic w/ Baylor, we schedule like they do. Another aside. I remember a game against them early in the TOB era. Late in the game they scored what seemed to be the tying TD, but they missed the PAT!, and we won, can u imagine?

mod34b said...

"'We will be wearing Black for all the injustices students of color face on this campus'" and the article cites to but one "example" - one assinine comment shouted by some unknown seemingly drunk, rude person (not even known to be a BC student) near a Mod.

What exactly are "all the injustices"? Any evidence of injustice at BC?

200 attended out of a campus of some 15,000 students, grad students, profs, staff etc. = 1.3% of campus.

NEDofSavinHill said...

Interesting that BC lacks talent on offense and is 128 out of 128 in total offense in the country. Yet the same team is overflowing with talent on defense where they are top five in the country. Mod is correct the difference is coaching. Brown is very good and Daz isn't. Would this team be better off if Daz's power were reduced? He could stay as head coach, be in charge of recruiting and be the spokesman. He would not be on the sidelines during the game. He would be up in the booth. He could control his emotions better. Brown would run the team. Either Golden or Edsall would be OC. They would run a pro style offense. Daz's single wing doesn't work. All the o-linemen would be introduced to Wujiak who came to BC as a 250 pound DE then added over 40 pounds of bulk. Daz's zone blocking scheme is easily defeated. They should jettison his bend, base, balance and burst nonsense and replace it with mass, power and bulk. 2. When TOB was here BC beat ND six straight. BC beat Clemson three straight. They beat FSU and won eight straight bowl games. A Daz coached team couldn't do that in a century. If next year is similar to this one the entire staff could be gone. Better to make corrections now than see the whole thing collapse in the future.

Hoib said...

Ned

What you suggest has never been done before.

You'll just have to stick this out one more year. If Daz is as inept as you say, he'll be gone after another year like this. I don't agree w/ your assessment of him, but if you're right one year isn't too long to wait. He's earned that much based upon what he did his first two years. I don't recall if you had much to say about Brown before this year, but in general allot of posters were on his case. Myself I couldn't form much of an opinion because it was obvious to me he didn't have enough quality players to work w/. Now he does, and it's obvious he knew what he wanted to do all along, he just needed the horses. Allot can change in a year.

CT said...

The Gestapo makes an appearance at 12:21.

I'm avoiding all talk about the cottage industry that is the oppression movement at a $60,000 a year university. I don't blame Henry Ford for drunk drivers or Zuckerberg for narcissism, but I do blame the parents for fostering a sense of entitlement. All of this is a sham.

Grow. A. Spine.

Better yet. Join the military.

The biggest injustice on campus is BC's offensive line. Can we all hold hands to fix that problem?

mod34b said...

Ned - good points.

here is one more. If upon reading this, the reader is not convinced that Daz is terrible OC (and HC), nothing will convinve such a person (e.g., Hoib)

BC's total offense against FBS opponets is 9.1 points per game.

That is the lowest in the nation of all 128 FBS teams.

It is the lowest scoring offense when compared (via CFB stats) for all 128 teams for seasons: 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011, 2010, 2009, 2008 and 2007 (end of records) (worst over 9 year period)

So Daz has produced THE WORST scoring offense over 9 year period that would include season results from over a 1,150 teams (e.g. Michigan, 2007, Michigan 2008 etc.)(8 seasons x ~ 128)

What more needs to be known: BC 2015 is the worst offense over a 1,150 teams.

Wait 'til next year? Hu? really?

THis is WHAT DAZ did at Alumni in 2015

Hoib said...

Well, I was going to stay out of this, but. I'm white,and therefore impossible to know what it's like to be black, but I remember a radio interview w/ Arthur Ash, the great tennis player, for you younger folks. He was close to death w/ aids, which he got from a bad blood transfusion, when the interview took place. The interviewer said it must be hard to suffer so. His response was that the hardest thing he ever had to do was be a black man in America. This was a long time ago, and I never forgot it. Maybe a bit of the old Indian proverb is in order?

EL MIZ said...

Mod - those are some startling numbers, and there is really no excuse for a coach in his 3rd year to have that type of performance. worst in past 9 years is truly a disaster.

years 1 and 2 buy him some time, we did set a school rushing record in year 1 and an ACC QB rushing record in year 2. i fear those accolades were more the product of Day than Addazio.

i am also opposed to what was offered up earlier - find a legit OC and let him be the guy on offense. Daz should be the rah rah cheerleader for recruiting, raising money for facilities, and yelling at refs on Saturdays. in terms of offensive play calling or time management (where he legit has a deer in headlights look each time and looks as if he's slowly doing mental math in his head), that should be delegated to an assistant.

years 1+2 buy Daz a year 4, but a repeat of year 3 in year 4 means we will be looking for yet another head coach a year from now.

Bravesbill said...

I guess on the bright side, BC wasn't as bad as Yale or now UMass-Amherst.

Knucklehead said...

Hoib,
it is tough to be anything today. Everyone thinks that they have value and they deserve something. I mean everyone.

Lenny Sienko said...

I suppose it would seem inconsistent to suggest letting this generation of students alone to work through their political and socio-economic problems, just as those before them have, while still presuming to criticize the administration's handling of athletics.

We here should avoid political discussions at all costs, lest we reveal how little we have in common these days.

***

Like a dog with a bone, I can't let go of the arrogance of the hiring process which resulted in DAZ being here. Calling together an advisory panel of various shareholders from the BC community to participate in the process and then ignoring them ---no, worse than that, actually doing the exact opposite of what they recommended by hiring DAZ, started the DAZ era on a strange footing.

Discovering Andre Williams' talent kept us distracted form 7-6 mediocrity. Darius Wade's heroics, likewise, continued to keep us from looking behind the curtain...with more 7-6 disappointment and a botched bowl game.

The distractions and heroics are not available this year and the Knute Rockne knockoff act has worn thin. We are back to SPAZ-like results with DAZ and his offense. The folks at Florida warned us; but the administration was more taken with images of young men in blazers at Mass before the game, than by a lack of imagination on offense.

The possibility that any authority at BC would ever admit they made a mistake not listening to the advisory group and terminating DAZ early is nearly non-existent. One aspect of alma mater that is unchanging is BC's inability to admit fault. DAZ will be with us way longer than we can imagine.

BTW the single wing was mentioned as what DAZ is doing. I am old enough to remember watching Princeton run the single wing (the last major college team to do so). Let me say that the single wing required skill, timing, blocking, ball handling, the likes of which are uncommon these days. I wouldn't mind seeing a single wing offense, it would be an improvement on what we have from DAZ.

John said...

Think you meant Tyler Murphy, Lenny.

Of course we could easily be 5 and 5 right now, except for coaching decisions and philosophy at Duke and running out the clock on ourselves at home versus Wake Forest. Unbelievable that we didn't at least kick the tying field goal.

Boston College should have won that WF game - but it was botched.

Against Duke in the 4th Quarter, we were moving the ball from our own 27 on an 8 play, 50 yard drive. I don't remember exactly, but at some point (there were probably 3 minutes to go in the game), Addazio deliberately played for the field goal. Unfortunately I think we lost a few yards, and he put in the true freshman for a 45 yard attempt. This really irritated me, because I really felt as though we could have at least gotten another first down or two if we were playing to win, not to position for the FGA.

Boston College should have won that Duke game - but it was botched.

Perhaps the heat wouldn't be quite so intense on Addazio if he showed what it takes to win those two games. As badly as we played, Louisville was winnable as well.

This is why everyone is so concerned. The complete disaster didn't have to happen, but it has happened. Our tolerance for this type of B.S. is zero, because anything after Spazadufus would be an improvement - but now we are right back down to lower than whale shit - and that's on the bottom of the ocean.

Will there be MARKED improvement next year? Who knows. If so, it will be because of our self-motivated players. And like a pitcher peering in at the catcher, feel free to shake off the sign (offensive play signals), and check off to your own.

John said...

I do think we have some really good players, and any half-decent offensive coaching staff would be able to design game plans that give these guys a chance to win. Instead, I liken it to a boxer fighting with one hand tied behind his back.

So the big question, coach - why?

Hoib said...

Lenny

I remember Princeton too. Cozmo Yacavazi. The tailback needs to know how to kick too. How about going both ways? But at the end of the day it still comes down to blocking and tackling. We can do one but not the other.

Lenny Sienko said...

John:

Right...thanks...mixing up my dual threat quarter backs....Tyler Murphy provided the heroics...Wade was scheduled to.

Hoib:

I loved the Princeton tiger stripe circles on the sleeves...now those were "old school" unis.

bc1900 said...

Awww, I made all the white males over 45 angry on here. This place is full of angry old timers, no wonder BCI is the go to website. I bet most of you use Hotmail and AOL too.

mod34b said...

bc1900.. i luv it when a jr weasel like you loses it... and then u turn into a mini-me trump ... hysterical...

enjoy BCI.....run ! they are waiting for you. I think tonight they have some really fun articles on the hockey team, women's field hockey and a review of Jeff Smith QB.

what are you doing here??? get going kid.. come back after you have your first prostate exam...

JBQ said...

@bc1900: What a pathetic comment. "mod34b" is entitled to his opinion. A "blackout", how clever. It is all about a rebellion of the entitled. I have taken courses on the U of Missouri campus. It is nothing like the Heights. There is a ghetto near the campus where gangs and drugs and pimps rule the roost. The point has been made by the author that there is the necessity of dialogue. You cannot impose your opinion on others. So, you want to bring the trash to BC?

Knucklehead said...

bc1900,
You are a hypocrite ageist. Gotcha douchebag.

@timstwrt said...

this is a real Algonquin Round Table here.

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