Sunday, September 25, 2016

Second viewing thoughts and grades: Wagner

I've always handed out grades in these recaps, but now I am trying something different: Pass/Fail. This game sort of felt like one of those pass/fail classes from back in the day. All BC had to do was avoid a major screwup. They did, so they get a Pass. I will still nitpick a bit, but how can you judge the OLine in a game like this? How can you judge the play calling when running base stuff dominated? There was little to learn from any of this. I am just glad no one got hurt.

Offense: PASS

I don't think Towles played all that well (considering the circumstances) and was very surprised by how critical the broadcast crew was of his performance. It was true that he missed wide open guys and many of his passes were not crisp. But even with those problems, I see why he is starting. His deep throws are effortless and he's pretty athletic for a big guy. If we can figure out what works, he can help us win games. Wade looked really good. He made quick, accurate throws. Even though it was only garbage time, I feel better about him as a backup.

Other than Wade, Davon Jones benefited the most from this game. Is there any reason to think he can't do that against a real opponent? Maybe he should be getting more touches. Hilliman had a lot of stats, but I thought he was just okay.

Walker made some tough catches. Smith's TD was nice. We should be stretching the field with him more often.

The OL...there isn't much I can say. No glaring errors or consistent problems. They opened holes and gave Towles time.

As Addazio promised, things were simpler. That was primarily because of the opponent, but maybe it benefited the OLine and the QB.

Defense: PASS

Landry had a big game and was just too fast for any of the guys in front of him. Kavalec was also pretty active early. The DTs weren't as disruptive.

The only problem I had with the Linebackers were on Wagner's only TD. All got sucked in and not one waited for the cutback. Plus no one ran him down. That was disappointing. The rest of the time they weren't really in the action. We didn't blitz with any and they were more patient the few times Wagner ran.

The DBs were fine. They played off and tackled well. Nothing stupid nor anything that you can really complain about.

I give Reid another Pass. Once again the one score was off of a broken play. I don't know how you address that, but I am sure they will. We didn't do anything exotic or bring all that much pressure.

Special Teams: PASS

Rouse looked really good. As in, he might be the best punt returner we've had in a decade. He's looked reliable and he's been aggressive. If this continues, he might be a real weapon.

Knoll's punts were fine.

Other than their one long run, the kick coverage was fine.

Overall: PASS

The one awkward thing that stood out to me was the announcing crew sharing a comment that Addazio wanted to play "fast." What does fast mean to Addazio? We rarely play up tempo. He loves to huddle. The clock has been an issue. I don't know. I would love to see BC play faster, but I don't know if Addazio defines it the same way I do.

BC came out a bit flat. I don't know if it was the opponent or lack of crowd, but it wasn't good. Addazio should have had them fired up. In the end it didn't matter. The team rallied and won. We will see if he can build on this.

17 comments:

mod34b said...

Scheduling Wagner: FAIL

Daz's renewed confidence: FAIL. Once the pressure is on in ACC play, pathetic Daz will return

Attendence: PASS. The crowds did not show. They know the game was worthless

TV viewers : PASS (same as above)

Punting: WTF. Knoll avg 30 yards a punt. Huh? I did not catch game. What that about?

Geezer eagle said...

Good old Mod. Tells it like it is. ATL tends to sugar coat reality.

mod34b said...

g.e., di you see the game? I did not.

Knoll had punts of 26 yards, 24, yds, 20 yds, 41yds and 40 yds?

He had 3 punts that went 20 ish yard? that is some of the worst punting around.

Daz has a got a 5th year grad student on the bench who averaged over 40 yards a punt last year.

John said...

I did not go and my season tix are still unopened. After Va Tech, I could not go and cheer for a team beating up on Wagner.

mod34b said...

***** NEWS FLASH ***

that grad transfer Punter I mentioned was Satchel Ziffer.

He is no longer on the roster? is he gone?

Geezer eagle said...

Mod. You couldn't pay me to watch that scrimmage.

Geezer eagle said...

Any report on attendance?

mod34b said...

reported attendance 22.7k - lower than Howard last year. BC fans know when BB is gaming the schedule for his and baldies benefit

As for the missing punter, he tweeted Saturday morning that he was at Old Dominion (that means not in Chestnut Hill)

"Love being back at the alma mater for a game #GoMonarchs"

BCMike said...

Strongly prefer the old grading system, FWIW.

I thought Davon Jones was woefully unimpressive and, as I said on Twitter, has less break-away speed than any BC RB in recent memory.

Knucklehead said...

The school sold 22k. The stadium was not half full.

There were 15k. The day was a 9/10 weather-wise.

Mod,
Oline was 8/10. I did not see pancakes or the like. I would expect a few against Wagner. Agression is not there or maybe it is quickness?

To the previous comment. The running backs had alot of openings that they got through, where they were caught at 2nd level, that would have been TD's with faster backs. Addazio is playing "his" backs. Willis was barely used - he is the best back we have.

mod34b said...

8/10?? I looked the play-by-play seemed to be aot of runs of no yards or lost yards.

Was our OL at least pushing FCS Wagner off the ball? Seems like they were not on many occasion - just judging by the stats. Guess in person it seemed better if you are giving an 8/10

AlbanyEagle said...

8/10 on OL play is very generous. They were not impressive at all.
Towles seemed to be scrambling around a lot more than he should have had to (then tucking and running a lot more than he should have).
All in all, as someone tweeted earlier today, this game was, "the least impressive 42-10 win I've ever seen. Expected much more." Couldn't agree more except that while I'd hoped for more, I didn't really expect much more.

Big Jack Krack said...

In the best tradition of Observer College - Hey, we're 2 and 2 and the Fighting Irish are 1 and 3, having just fired their defensive coordinator.

Bates was correct in scheduling Wagner - and next Buffalo, so that Boston College would be 3 and 2 readying for Clemson's invasion. Bates and Addazio were hoping for 4 and 1, or even 5 and 0, but the "meat grinder" imposed by the ACC made that impossible.

Still, BC will look like a worthy opponent on national TV at kickoff. Even though we are 0-2 in ACC play and 0-10 in our last 10 ACC games, the general public won't know that, and we will look good on paper. That's what counts - not that we are down to 15,000 fans per game, 100,000 less than TN and Ohio State.

We got the W's.

Blah, blah, blah.

I agree with Knucklehead:

Addazio plays favorites and sticks with them.

Did he play Lindstrom for very long? If so, that's unbelievable, because the player is nursing 2 bad ankles and we didn't need him against such an inferior team as Wagner - and this would have been a great opportunity to rest him. Or put it this way - if we needed a limping true sophomore against Wagner, we are in Deep Kimchee.

Clemson will kill us for sure and Scot Loeffler's offensive game plan is a disgrace, as far as I'm concerned. Look at Virginia Tech, scoring 49 on us and 58 against East Carolina, a team that beat NC State. Do you think they're happy that Loeffler is gone?

Gary Tranquill = Scot Loeffler - you can't make this stuff up.

Geezer eagle said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Knucklehead said...

They were a B- against Wagner. They didn't pancake anyone or seem aggressive. If you want me to tell you what I think that will translate into against Clemson then ask. . . .

D. F if the QB gets knocked out and misses games. That is MY PASS(D)/FAIL(F) criteria for the rest of this season.

mod34b said...

so as to Clemson? crushed I a sure

marcos said...

Punts were awful! What game were you watching, ATL?

Agreed with the comment that it was the least impressive 42-10 win ever

Gonna be a looooong year

Bring back Tom Coughlin!