Monday, November 23, 2015

Second viewing thoughts and grades: Notre Dame

That didn't feel like a three-point loss. Did any BC fan trust us to comeback once the Irish got up? Watching the game back just reinforced the point. The energy, the playcalling and even Notre Dame's reaction never turned. As frustrated as we are, I can only guess what some players are thinking.

Offense: C-

Fadule was ok. He's a fighter and looks good at times, but this was the first game where he seemed confused. There were clearly some runs (Williams was downfield blocking, as was Callinan) where Fadule dropped back to pass. He also had clock issues and timing the snap on the jet sweep. Addazio also got on him for some run pass/decisions. His passing wasn't particularly crisp and had trouble with blitzes. Smith looked good and ran with more purpose. His passing was good too. My only real issue was that he screwed up a snap again.

Rouse was fine but better receiving than rushing. Willis ran hard but did not break anything big. Same sort of feel from Wilson. What they all did though was help the play action and the Smith runs later.

This is a different game without the drop from Thadd Smith and less so with the Robinson drop. Those mistakes are killers, but also lead me to wonder why we didn't throw more. I know the QBs are not great passers, but there were open plays out there. Callinan had some really nice catches, including the TD. Sweeney's one grab was nice. Dudeck was fine as the emergency outlet, but when is he ever going to break a tackle? Addazio struggled blocking again.

Although Flutie got on them, the OLine wasn't their worst. Bowen did not play well and Williams struggled a bit, but I thought Baker looked good and moved well. Monteiro played well.

Put aside who is making the QB call for a moment and just look at some of the unintended byproducts. Snap issues. Wasted timeouts. General execution issues with regards to blocking and catching. Timing issues on timing plays (the sweep). This is happening in Week 11. I also don't understand why there wasn't more passing. Plenty of big plays were there. But Notre Dame knew if they stopped the run, they would stop BC. But even with a focus on stopping the run, BC got good run productivity from the QBs.

Defense: B

One of the reasons ND was able to move the ball was the Defensive Line. Each guy had some big plays, but in general they weren't at their best. Abdesmad made the most plays. Wujciak was contained for the most part. Landry missed big on an option. Kavalec was ok. Gutapel helped tip on of the INTs.

If the DLine was not their best, the LBs were. The most impressive play was Strachan and Milano blowing up ND's read option. Daniels also made some nice plays. He was very disruptive in the backfield. Strachan also did well when forced into coverage.

Simmons had a heck of a game. He made heads up plays all over the field. He tackled well too. McClary was tested the most and did ok -- despite the penalty. Johnson played well. Harris looked okay, but he missed a few tackles.

I thought we would blitz more against ND. But we didn't and that allowed them to pass a lot. We were fortunate that we turned the ball over so often. So Brown doesn't get a thumbs up for the scheme, but the players stripping the ball is all part of the package.

Special Teams: C

Lots of Special Teams mistakes to ruin the good stuff. Alston muffed a critical punt and we were lucky the D got the ball back. The penalty on the blocked kick was also bad. Sailing a kick off out of bounds was also bad.

Walker looked good. The punt coverage was good. And we made a field goal!!!

I didn't mind the fake punt. I just wish it had been executed better.

Overall: C+

Addazio said the plan was to play both Quarterbacks. That's fine, but the timing and the in and out still seemed so haphazard. As mentioned above, the rotation seemed to impact execution again. Addazio also deserves a little scorn for the unsportsmanlike penalty. This is a guy who preaches smart football and avoiding mistakes. Yet here he goes getting a 15-yard penalty when we are behind? If a player did that, he would be livid. Beyond the game, this is dumb because it was an ACC crew. Do you think Addazio is getting a reputation among officials? How is that going to pay off in the future?

We lost a close game against a top team. That is not the end of the world. But he gets a C+ because he's ineffective at fixing our issues in-season and keeps making the same mistakes.

10 comments:

JERZeagle said...

addazio overachieved with spaz's players. and is completely inept with his own players.

can't wait to get stuffed over and over and over and over again through 2020... truly, an exciting brand of football.

SaturdaysOnShea said...

Mercifully, the season will be over by this time next week and we can begin our analysis of what went wrong and what we can expect in 2016.

I get the sense that everyone, fans, coaches, players, are ready for the season to end.

The mantra for 2016 needs to be "player development." Daz has set expectations high for next year, himself touting how good he expects the O-Line to be in 2016-17. We will need to see that progression.

Beat Syracuse on Saturday for some momentum going into the spring.

EL MIZ said...

finally some scorn from ATL for Addazio. an exciting day.

we lose three players of relevance - Wujciak, Simmons and Daniels. all of the other guys graduating either didnt play, or played poorly when they did. will be happy to see Lou Addazio (who is truly terrible), Harris Williams and Bowen all graduate - thank you for your contributions but lets see what someone else has at those positions.

next year is put up or shut up time for Coach Addazio.

EL MIZ said...

this is a funny image of Addazio and co.:

http://cdn0.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/w5oPpshxgQIDYDZbd1otdwLgw10=/0x0:3029x2019/709x473/filters:format(webp)/cdn0.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/47702755/usa-today-8839861.0.jpg

to ATL's point, Addazio probably would've benched a player for life if he got a 15 yarder for incessant cry baby antics and whining at the ref. can he please shape up and start acting like a professional? in the above picture he is literally being restrained by three separate coaches. grow up, coach!

projected depth chart next year (with next year's class). needless to say we will be a lot deeper with the zillion guys we redshirted plus next year's class:

LT: Monteiro (So), Schmal (R-So)
LG: Stevens (So), Cashman (Sr)
C: Baker (Jr), Taylor (Sr)
RG: Lindstrom (So), Ragan (Fr)
RT: Hendren (R-So), Pallozolo (R-Fr)
TE: Sweeney (R-So), Harrington (Fr) or Marten (Fr)
WR: Smith (JR), Callinan (Jr) are the two established guys. then pick 4 out of: Borgersen (R-Fr), Pankey (R-Fr), Garrison (R-Fr), Glines (R-Fr), Walker (SO), Alston (Jr), Gray (Fr), White (Fr)
QB: Wade (R-Jr), Smith (So), Brown (Fr)
RB: Hilliman (R-So), Willis (Sr), Rouse (Sr)
FB: Wolford (Sr), Wilson (R-So)


Defense:
DE: Landry (Jr), Allen (So)
DT: Gutapfel (Sr), Smith (So)
DE: Kavalec (Jr), Moore (Sr), Ray (So)
SLB: Milano (Sr), Grice (So)
MLB: Strachan (Jr), Richardson (Fr)
WLB: Schwab (Jr), Tucky (Fr)
CBs: Yiadom (Jr), Kam Moore (Jr), Denis (So), Torres (So)
Safeties: Johnson (Sr), Harris (Jr), Ntantang (Jr)

Hoib said...

I think Wojack will be the hardest to replace. Gutapfel is the only big guy we have there coming back. On one of the blitzs I noticed Dudeck continue down the field even though he saw the blitzer headed right to the QB un blocked. Doesn't he have the ability to read the situation and pull up, so the QB has a hot read option? W/ a young QB we are constantly facing the blitz, shouldn't there be an in play adjustment?

eagleboston said...

The stunning fact about the 2015 season - Our 7 game losing streak is the longest since the 0-11 1978 team. Not even Spaz lost 7 in a row!

Big Jack Krack said...

Hoib - I never could figure out why #26 got so much playing time - especially since #10 seemed to be healthy and available. If #10 left the team (don't know what the story is there) it's not surprising. Seems like terrible mismanagement. Other WRs should have gotten playing time over #26 as well.

In terms of interior DL - we have young guys coming up who will get bigger - don't know which ones will emerge to play beside Gutapfel - Joe Vitiello, RSF 6'4" 262; Kevin Cohee, RSF 6'2" 257; Noa Merritt, So 6'0" 268 (what happened to him?); Ray Smith, FR 6'1" 264 (who has been playing this year) and Jack Kenny, So, 6'3" 257. Maybe Coach Brown will have to poach an offensive lineman, I don't know.

Also, Malachi Moore, Jr. might be able to play interior at 6'7" 273.

Hoib said...

BJK

Maybe he doesn't have the authority to alter the route? I hope he would though. W/ a young QB we face a steady dose of blitzes, so the WRS have to adjust on the fly so the QB has a target to go to quickly. All the guys you mention at tackle would really need to beef up to do what Connor does. He's a big key to the success of the D, and literally leaves big shoes to fill.

As to 26, although not very athletic he's one of the few guys we have who can actually catch the ball. If he shows decent hands I think that spot would ultimately be a good place for Jeff Smith. He could still play some QB as a wrinkle, like Lville does. I don't know if you remember, but 2 years ago they beat us pretty good at Alumni, one of the QBS was a Frosh. Who ran in a couple of TDS on us. This year they moved him to Slot receiver, they used him on sweeps, as well as pass plays. He also took some snaps at QB to show us a different look. I think we could do that w/ Smith. Make use of his speed, but limit his touches. As an every down running QB, I just don't think he's built to take the pounding.

Hope you're watching our young hoop team. It's been a breath of fresh air so far. Happy Thanksgiving!

mod10aeagle said...

I realize this is like pointing out a stain on the cushion of a deck chair on the Titanic, but what happened to the jet sweep? Once upon a time it was really effective as both yard-gainer and decoy, and it's a big part of what made Alston seem like a "game-changer" kind of player. This year, when they have run it, they seem to have introduced a new self-defeating wrinkle -- the stutter step, just before the hand-off (or fake). At first I thought it was just screwed up timing, but then it happened every time they ran the damned play. So, either it's designed, or these guys are seriously rhythm-deficient. Anyway, I just needed to get that off my chest.

Hoib said...

Mod10

It's a counter play. So it needs to be set up by establishing a successful read option look by the QB. Last year we had Murph who ran so well the D would over react to him, leaving the backside vulnerable to the JET. Pretty much all our struggles come back to the same thing. Rotten Oline play, never allowed us to establish the run. W/o that the counters don't work, as well as the play action pass. No offense works if the upfront isn't there.