Thursday, October 20, 2016

BC-Syracuse preview

The season is halfway over, but I don't even feel like it has ever started. Our first game had an exhibition like feel from Ireland. The three wins all felt like scrimmages and the two losses were lopsided jokes. Yet there are only six games left. On paper this should be a nice solid conference win. But it is never that simple.

What's on my mind (not totally related to this game)
I've written and said a lot about Daz's future. One thing that I learned in the process is that his job status is totally independent of Bates' status. Bates can't save him and firing/not renewing Bates won't impede BC's decision on Addazio. He has to win this season (six games) and might not even get that far if the losses continue to be so one-sided.

Three Simple Keys
1. Sack Dungey a lot. BC had two weeks to prepare for the Orange's gimmick offense. The last time we faced such a unique attack -- Georgia Tech -- the D was really well prepared. I am hoping that BC created some new looks and brings plenty of pressure.
2. Play to Syracuse's speed. Steve Logan had a really simple premise about tempo and time of possession. If you believe you have more talent, play fast. It increases possessions for both sides and with more possessions, the talented team is more likely to prevail. Conversely he believed if you had less talent, you want to slow the game down. Limit their opportunity to score and hopefully pull off an upset. Neither coach on Saturday believes in that. Syracuse wants to go fast regardless of who they are playing. We want to sit on the ball regardless. I think we have more talent than Syracuse. We need to play close to their pace. Force them into mistakes and hopefully get some of our own points on the board.
3. Turn short passes into long TDs. I've never seen a team miss tackles like this Syracuse one. If we want to win, we have to take advantage of those misses and get real yards after the catch.

Gambling Notes
-- Addazio is 1-2 against Syracuse
-- Syracuse leads the series 19-30
-- Babers is 10-5 on the road as an FBS head coach
The current line is BC-4.5

Factoid
The last time Syracuse won a game at Alumni was our final game in the Big East, when their third string running back ran all over us and cost BC a trip to the Fiesta Bowl. So there's that.

Scoreboard Watching
We are at the point where scoreboard watching doesn't matter. The only score that matters is this one. So instead of putting a game in this space, I am going to link to a coaching bio. If Syracuse goes up by 21, pull out your phone and click on this link to Pete Carmichael, Jr's biography. Bates didn't give him the time of day last go around. Hopefully Pete earns at least an interview if we make a change this season.

I hope to see...
The OLine dominate. As mentioned, Syracuse's D is not good. We have yet to put together one clean game with the OLine. This is supposed to be Addazio's specialty. Now in our time of need, we need the OLine to be great

BC is in trouble if...
We get down by 14. I don't know if our Offense can make up that sort of deficit. I also fear many of our players might check out.

Overall
BC should win this weekend. The odds say it. The computers say it. I want to believe. I hope we win. I just don't know if Addazio will push the right buttons this week. But I am telling myself he can, the D has a great game and the Offense makes some huge plays.
Final Score: BC 31, Syracuse 21

12 comments:

Big Jack Krack said...

I hope the OLine holds its own. We have to walk before we run.

Speaking of that, if the OLine can hold its own, we can have a balanced attack - and wouldn't that be nice!

If we score 31 points against anyone in the ACC, it will be fantastic.

If that happens on Saturday, we might win.

I think we average 7 points per game in the league.

Pitiful.

Another bad performance against Syracuse, and they'll be passing out the paper grocery bags for fans to wear over their heads for the next home game. Seriously.

Go BC Players - beat Syracuse.

Knucklehead said...

31?, 31?, Practice, We are talking about practice, 31?

Knucklehead said...

BC will allow Dungey to have the game of his career, making him look like Major Harris(non of you suckers even know who that is) in typical BC fashion.

dixieagle said...

I remember Major Harris well; dual threat QB at WVU, late 80s.

Sadly, I don't expect much this weekend. I hope I'm really, really wrong.

mod34b said...

Jack - BC averages 8.0 per game in conference play. Last in ACC and second to last in the nation (just above woeful Rutgers).

So hard to envision BC putting up 31 points.

I must root for BC to win, but maybe a blowout loss is better for BC's future - I'd still be rooting for BC, but in a different way..... nah, I can't do it, but I'll be happy to see Daz go.

ATL say 31-21 BC

I say 31- 12 Syr

downtown_resident said...

So Daz could get fired by someone above Bates? I guess that tells us everything we need to know about Brad Bates's future at BC.

Geezer eagle said...

I share mods thinking on this. Root for BC to get blown out so we can finally get rid of the dual threat bums - BB & Dazoshit and start over.

blist said...

It amazes when fans want to see their team get blown out. Honestly, how can you call yourself one? I think we can both have a nice BC victory tomorrow and have Daz gone at year's end.

Geezer eagle said...

Blister, mod and I are thinking long term - short term misery followed by long term success. Knowing this administration, if dazoshit goes 6-6 he will keep his job at least another year, maybe longer. That would be catastrophic for the long term health of the program.

Big Jack Krack said...

All of my high school, college and adult life I have looked forward to a BC Football game.

For those of us who are older, the Syracuse game was always a big deal.

It's just not happening anymore and that's sad to me. It's like when you and a long time friend go your separate ways or lose contact for whatever reason. There's a void there and you either recapture it somehow - or move on.

You'd like to see your team improve throughout the course of the year. I haven't seen it yet with our guys, but Syracuse sure seems to be getting better.

They are the last team we have defeated in the ACC - 2 seasons ago.

This is a big game. I wish I could get up for it.

Go BC Players - beat The Orange.

mod34b said...

i said; "I must root for BC to win, but maybe a blowout loss is better for BC's future - I'd still be rooting for BC, but in a different way..... nah, I can't do it, but I'll be happy to see Daz go."

JBQ said...

Oh my goodness!