Sunday, September 10, 2017

Second viewing thoughts and grades: Wake Forest

Watching this game back was sort of like watching it for the first time. As I tweeted and wrote on Saturday, my experience with this internet game was bad. At this point I don't mind the lower production values. That's not the problem it once was. In fact, the picture quality is pretty good. The problem was the delays, buffering and audio inconsistency. Based on feedback, it doesn't seems like I was the only one with a problem and it also doesn't seem like it was just an AT&T problem. The real ACC Network can't get here soon enough.

Offense: F

I am not ready to give up on Anthony Brown, but that was a rough performance. He made bad decisions and bad throws. Ironically, some of the INTs were just bad luck (tipped) but he missed so many wide open guys. He also threw the ball away too many times. He got worse and wasn't really setting himself as the game wore on. All of it is fixable. Let's hope he can shake it off. Wade missed wide open men too. I hoped for a spark, but he did nothing to make any of us think he is the answer.

The OLine looked a little better on the rewatch. They actually opened more holes than they did against NIU. They were also dealing with a crowded box. Petrula had a few snapping issues and got overwhelmed at times, but he had some moments too. Compared to Baker's struggles in the first game, it wasn't a dramatic drop off. Lazard looked rough again. The left side of the line looked better in general than the right. That was where a few of the big runs came.

Jeff Smith dropped a TD pass. A few other passes were okay. We need him to breakoff after the catch. White was good. Sweeney had a drop too. Thadd Smith on the sweeps might be our best chance for a big play and it keeps the opponent honest.

Hilliman still struggled in the run game. There were still too many steps at times. I am also concerned about his pass blocking. His TD catch was nice. Dillon looked good early but then was slowed late as Wake just crowded things. Levy and Jones were used too late.

Scot Loeffler has a reputation as a QB guru. Yet neither QB looked ready to function in this offense. He's had two years to work with both guys, yet it feels like he doesn't know what plays to give them. Or what type of passes would be productive. Wake was daring us to throw and yet we couldn't move the ball with any sort of consistency. When your opponent is going all out in one aspect of the game, it is on the OC to develop a counter.


Defense: C

Landry is getting a lot of attention and it is impacting his game. He really doesn't have as much space to get to the QB. Even as BC moves him around, he is not getting time. Also, I don't love how they are having him read and wait more this year. Allen was better than last week but still needs to do more with his one on ones. Merritt played well. So did Ray.

A few of those long Wolford runs were really on the LBs bad tackling or bad positioning. Richardson had some nice tackles. Schwab was fine. Strachan was more active than last week.

Last week I liked the DB play. This week was a step back. Some bad coverage and poor tackling. As I mentioned in the post-game Periscope, there was one play where Wolford chucked a rainbow, yet our guys were playing so far off it was still a Wake completion.

This was another blowout under Jim Reid's watch. I know some of that was the Offense putting the D in a bad spot, but some of it was due to big plays. I also don't like how we are shifting more and more away from our aggressiveness. Is some of that necessary because of the changing pace of the O? Sure. But this D needs to be aggressive. We are still not scoring big, so we can't afford to let teams march down the field.

Special Teams: B

The punting and punt coverage was good.

Walker tried to make something happen on the returns and looked good.

Lichtenberg converted his chances.

The only real problem was the one kickoff that went out of bounds.

Overall: D


As I have stated, this team is not well managed prior to or during games. That's on the Head Coach. But beyond that, Addazio's postgame press conference pushed buttons among the fanbase. He is either oblivious to his own mistakes or is just rationalizing all the problems away. It is frustrating and doesn't give me hope for a turnaround.

For him to trot out the growing pains cliche in Year 5 is pathetic. This roster is now entirely his. The depth chart is his. The coordinators are his. Injuries happen. Teams have to play young QBs. Those sorts of challenges are not unique to BC. It is Addazio's job to manage those issues. And if you have concerns about your QB's readiness, then perhaps you don't have him throw 40 times a game. If you don't want a true freshman playing Center, then perhaps don't make him the backup. Get someone else ready earlier.

Doubling down on frustration, was his spin on statistics. Is he dumb or does he think we are? "The game was even....blah blah blah." Sure, we might have had similar yardage, but that is because they played off of short fields, returned a TD and were ahead. If you didn't look at the stats, you would not say the game was even. They made fewer mistakes and executed better. That's why they won by 24 points.

Bad games happen. Team's can turn things around. BC did just that last year. I hope he does it again this year. I also hope he stops digging his own holes in the first place.

48 comments:

Unknown said...

Addazio was calling dive plays late in the third quarter while they were down by 21, it's an absolute joke. I feel like BC was let into the ACC to be a door mat to the rest of the league. They paid hundreds of millions of dollars to upgrade their facilities; it's time to pay up for an elite coach. If you're not willing to take the ACC seriously, then why is BC even in it? They could hire a great coach, why are they so cheap? I don't want to hear the academics excuse, they can put the football players into easy majors.

Geezer eagle said...

ATL, are you finally coming around to the realization that Daz is a bum and needs to go? It's about time.

BCAlum2000 said...

I cant believe I am back again making the same point I have now been making for over three years. Adazzio is a great hype guy and would make a decent assistant coach at almost any school. However, he is not head coach material. Is he really making the youth excuse in year five of his tenure? When will this nonsense stop? To have an offense as bad as ours, for this long (going on three full seasons), is beyond unfathomable. It actually takes effort to be this inept for this long. When will we ever find a QB who can actually see over the line, read a defense, and make a good, accurate pass? This used to be something BC fans took for granted with guys like Hasselbeck, St. Pierre, Peterson, Ryan, shoot even Mutryn, Porter and the little Haseelbeck. When will be ever learn that the "dual-threat" QB will not work at BC as we just cant recruit that kid to come here? When will we return to big, tough, NFL ready offensive lines that simply wear opponents down by the 3rd and 4th quarter? This has gotten beyond embarrassing. How the eff do you lose at home to Wake Forest by 24 points? Imagine that scenario a decade ago? 15 years ago?

Geezer eagle said...

Totally agree with both comments. Where is our next pro-style pocket QB with a bunch of high quality big uglies to block for him? That's BC football.

Unknown said...

I'm tired of hearing people call BC just a stepping stone for an aspiring coach; they play in the ACC for crying out loud!!! The ACC is the furthest thing from "stepping stone". If BC was in the MAC or in the AAC (Junk confidence of what's left of the Big East), then yes I would agree that BC would be a stepping stone. I agree that the fan base isn't as passionate as the truly elite college football programs however that can be changed by WINNING! BC could be an elite program if they decided to invest in a great coach, it's really their choice.

ObserverCollege said...

Look, who hosted the current seniors when they visited campus? That's right, the Spaziani players.

Who taught those seniors and juniors how to be college football players when they were freshmen and sophomores? That's right, the Spaziani upperclassmen.

It's a myth to think it takes five years to turn over a program. It's really eight. You need to clear out not just the previous coach's driftwood, but also the guys who come to your school because they were in the previous coach's recruiting database.

Yet with all those hurdles, Coach Addazio has taken BC to three bowl games in four years. He's finally gotten a real QB based on his own recruiting database. The problem is the kid is a freshman. You just can't win with a freshman QB.

When he's a senior in Year 8, with this year's talented freshmen being the senior leaders, Coach Addazio will send BC above its ceiling to the Continental Tire Bowl. But you can't waste this progress by starting over all over again. Coach Addazio has three years left on his contract. Extend him another three years, and then after Year 8 he'll be ready to move on to ESPN. But get rid of him now, and he's stuck doing Sun Belt conference games on Sportschannel Alabama.

You can't penalize him when he's in the middle of the rebuild. That's just not fair.

JBQ said...

I think with BJK that McDonald is a possible big time qb to build around. His daddy was a star at USC. That would mean a coaching change and a change in recruiting perspective.---Father Leahy does not want that because he is committed to political correctness which Addazio is giving him. To the model of social justice envisioned on the 28 campuses of the Jesuit system, the Dazzler is doing everything right. Recently there was an editorial in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch on Saint Louis University where Leahy has his original degrees. All of their athletic teams failed to qualify for the NCAA. Not a single team qualified for the entire school year last. Their Athletic Director, Christopher May, stated that was a good thing because they were fulfilling the Jesuit ideal of "service to society".

BCAlum2000 said...

Didnt Adazzio's mentor Urban Meyer, just bash one of his proteges (Herman at Texas) for using the BS "these are not my players" line after their opening week embarrassment? And that was in regards to a guy in his first game as coach of his new team. Adazzio, in year five, is still making similar excuses.

Just get rid of him already. If we are spending $2mm on this guy, why the hell can we not spend $3mm+ to go get Les Miles? Or Brian Kelly after ND does something stupid and fires him?

This really needs to stop. How can a once proud program have fallen this far? Worse, there is acceptance of this with no plan at all to remedy it.

BCAlum2000 said...

Im not sure that is "political correctness" versus a different perspective on the mission. While I am not here to say what is right or wrong for any particular institution, I do know BC has balanced these ideals for a very, very long time. There is no one who can tell me that "service to others" means your athletics teams need to suck.

John said...

Matt McDonald should get a strong look.

John said...

Once again OC cracks us up. Thank you, because we have enough depressing news re: our football team.

It's good to poke some fun at the the Addazio Reign.

John said...

Exactly. It's as though Fr. Leahy wants us to suck!

There - I said it.

So, Fr. Leahy - it's quite okay for you to retire. Our next President could not possibly have a more adverse impact on our Athletic programs than you.

Fr. Leahy, a pretty good president in the view of many, but,..........

I'm solidly in the "but" camp.

What a shame, Fr. Leahy - what a shame, sir.

notfadeaway said...

I would fire this man right now. It is not possible to be worse off. I'm embarrassed at this point. At least I"m free on Saturdays now. I don't care to watch Addazio shame my Alma Mater any longer. Shame.

CvegasEagle said...

I take alot of weight when a coach's previous team's fanbase has negative things to say about the coach. Temple and Florida fans both hated Addazio and were happy to see him leave. That says alot to me. VT fans say the same things about Loeffler.

NEDofSavinHill said...

Great post by OC. If the AD sees it that way our nightmare will extend to 2025. If Don Brown came back as HC our D would be tops in the land. All BC would have to di is hire the Sooners QB coach. Make him OC and put in a quality offense. 2. Maybe Brown was just nervous in his home opener and that accounted for his sloppy play. Let him throw it 50 times. Throw every first down. Find out if he can deliver. Don't expect anything out of the Clemson game. Their D is too good. ND at home will tell us alot. They have to score north of twenty. 3. The coach that loses this weekend won't be at the helm of ND or BC next year.

knucklehead said...

The problem is the o-line. Root cause. Cannot say it enough. We have average skill players who would be good if we had a good line.

Dillion should be the RB not bigfoot Hilliman.

Edward Taylor said...

Addazio needs to go now. Year 5 of his regime and he is still citing growing pains and a young quarterback. This is his team, his players and his coaches. The man cannot coach. And have you noticed his sideline demeanor? He looks absolutely apoplectic on the sidelines when things are not going well (which is most of the game). How do players respond to this? I was at a practice in late August. The team was practicing kickoff returns. Michael Walker was deep for the kickoff and was supposed to run right on the return. Instead, he ran left. Addazio went ballistic and got in Walker's face screaming and cursing at him. I am not naive and know that hardass coaching is not atypical at this level But he would not let it go. Fifteen minutes later he is still screaming at Walker. To me this instance is a microcosm of Addazio's tenure.

After 4 years of Spaz and 5 years of Addazio, I have had enough. I left my house at 8:30 am on Saturday and got home at 7:30 pm that night. The tailgate was fun and it was great to be with family and friends. But I am tired of wasting my time, money and energy supporting such a pathetic product on the field. I hope Martin Jarmond reads this and the other comments. My patience has run out. I am embarrassed and quite frankly sad at the state of our football program. I love Boston College as much as anything in my life but this cannot continue.

That said, I am still so proud to be an Eagle. And yes, it is still a great day to be an Eagle!

Unknown said...

Fire him any time before the season ends. We are not well coached and have never been with him. Its nothing personal, the proof is in the results and we are getting blown out at home multiple times per year. Humor me and my simple math, we get an exciting coach that puts 10,000 more seats in the stands. multiple that by $40 per ticket, by 6 games. That's 2.4 million, plus concessions and other things. Why not? Its beyond frustrating that this is acceptable

modest34b said...

i agree the O-line needs work, and played awful for most of the game. But they actually did their job in fine fashion on occasion that play should have lead to points and more time of possession.

consider all the missed throws by Brown and Wade. It each instance, 1) the play call was good; (2) the receiver was good and got open and 3) the OL provided enough protection so the pass could be thrown.

The problem is the QBs are not accurate. It is almost as if they learned accuracy from Towles. Missing open receives is just awful

I truly fear the results vs ND, FSU, Lv, VT, Clemson and even NCSU. All bigger, quicker better. BC won't be getting time to throw or open receivers vs the big boys. 3-out will be the usual result.

As for Daz, he acted like the problem was ONLY turnovers. hardly.

knucklehead said...

If someone thinks that the line did their job at any point in the Wake game then they have the same problem that Dazzler has, they are delusional.

You have the worst line in Power 5 football and one of the worst teams in Power 5 football if not the worst. No two ways about it.

ND could shut us out and score 50+. They will hold back offensively because Kelly has respect for BC.

The real embrassment will come when the comparable opponents Virginia, NC State and Syracuse destroy us(let alone Clemson, VT and Louisville).

knucklehead said...

Wonder if Pasqualoni would take over for Dazzler if offered the opportunity? Knowing BC they would offer the interim to Justin Frye.

BCAlum2000 said...

The fact that we are discussing the OL as a root cause in the poor performances for going on 2+ years is damning in and of itself. This is a university that was known as OLine U, where every single year they would place at least one lineman in the NFL, often times higher up in the draft. This has complete disappeared. The QB play is just as abysmal. It is clear that Adazzio and his coaches simply cannot coach up players. They take mediocre to poor recruits and do not improve them at all. Historically, BC took mediocre recruits and coached them to be solid if not great. There is clearly something broken in the entire structure of the organization from teaching to game management.

BCAlum2000 said...

Do you guys remember that Virginia game more than a decade ago? The one where the UVA OL took that cheap shot at Kiwanuka's knees? I remember right after that play, the entire team gathered on the sideline and you could see the anger, especially the OL. After that play, the OL, led by Kiwi's highschool teammate Jeremy Trueblood, literally just kicked the shit out of the UVA defense. It was like watching a bunch of angry adults beat down children. If something similar happened today, the OL would simply not be capable of doing the same (i.e. retaliating on the field and destroying the opponent). This is how far we have fallen on the line.

Eagle Esquire said...

Definitely remember the cheap shot. Immediately thereafter Kiwi's teammate punched the guy's sternum.

John said...

I don't recall past QBs missing open receivers to the degree we are seeing now. Whether as true freshmen (Flutie, Foley) or sophomores (same as red shirt freshmen) add in Ryan and I'm sure others - these guys would miss, sure, but more often than not their passes we're on the mark.

I was very surprised about our poor passing (total body of work) against WF.

Brown just has to shake it off and come back slinging it.

If there is truly a problem with accuracy, rather than one game jitters, we are totally screwed this year.

Knowing Addazio and Loeffler, they will dumb down the playbook even more (because we have a young QB [who struggled] in his first home game) instead of progressively expanding it.

If it's #32 up the middle all day, I will finally write that letter I have been contemplating - so that I can at least have closure.

Wishing my school the best, but due to factors beyond my control, expecting the more likely scenario - getting "the worst". Sad.

Let's go BC - let's go players. Let it all hang out.

Eddie - I never liked or had any respect for coaches who yelled at players (talking about more than a couple of seconds now and then).

Teddy - your math makes too much sense for the Leahy mentality.

CvegasEagle said...

Brad Butler out of Lynchburg VA provided the cheapshot

John said...

Knucklehead - if we had a better O-Line coach, would our guys perform better?

It seems that not only recruiting but basic coaching is so bad that a change is certainly in order now for the Offensive Line

BCAlum2000 said...

"Definitely remember the cheap shot. Immediately thereafter Kiwi's teammate punched the guy's sternum."

That was now coach Al Washington btw ...

Unknown said...

Father needs to realize Notre Dame , Stanford , Duke ,Northwestern all doing quite well
athletically are all RATED ABOVE BC ACADEMICALLY.
Those unaware what the name Leahy once met at BC should go back 75 years or so and see
the degradation the name has now fallen to. He was responsible for the Jim O'Brien disaster.
Brown as head coach a great idea if Ryan Day is the offensive coordinator.
Long past time to Once again "MAKE the ECHOES RING AGAIN "FOR BOSTON"
Also long past time to Bring Chet Gladchuk home to run things.

BCAlum2000 said...

Because of Chet's association with the gambling scandal, its hard to imagine he can come back to BC. Fair or not, I dont know. As for Don Brown as head coach, thats a bad idea. He is a great defensive coordinator, but so was Frank Spaziani. We need either a proven leader (Les Miles, Brian Kelly), or a new, young, ambitious coach (like Brian Kelly was a decade ago). Unfortunately, I just dont see it with Leahy. Maybe the hiring of <40 Jarmond is a signal that things are changing. We can only hope ...

knucklehead said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
knucklehead said...

John,
A good coach would have been able to make Lazard and Baker into something. The injury to Baker is tough but not unforeseen(hurt last year). Not sure how they have the guy they do as backup center. The tactical part of the coaching is one thing the other is the talent itself. Dazzler/Frye have recruited 0 line talent up to this point. The recruits from Lawrence Academy and Dallas are highly regarded but that is 2 years out.

The line has been a failure for 4 years. It is the key to football in general and has been especially important to BC. Not sure how it continues to be overlooked.

We need to recruit people who are football players first and students second. Notice I am not ignoring academics. The priority needs to be football. That is why 85% of them got in there in the first place.

eagleboston said...

I was just thinking this the other day. TOB was able to recruit very good QBs through his entire tenure. He put 4 in the NFL. And we can't even find a qb that can compete in n the ACC? That is 100% on Addazio

BCnewnan said...

Addazio is 100% of the problem we have watched 5 years of this impersonator!
Florida wanted him out.... Temple was glad to see him go
Talks like Tony the Tiger ... coaches like Daffy Duck!


Geezer eagle said...

Everyone wants dazoshit out, but yet the mental midget is still here.

downtown_resident said...

So much for the five-year rebuild. With the loss, Daz dropped to 2-15 in the ACC since 2015 (10-22 lifetime). BC suffered just two losses by more than 21 points in Daz's first three seasons and have now taken five in 2016 and 2017 (after just two games!) alone. The team seems to be getting worse under his watch, not better.

I do expect a dead-cat bounce for Daz this weekend against Notre Dame. Not saying BC will win-- though it wouldn't shock me-- but I think they'll play a lot better. However, the losses will continue to pile up for Daz over the rest of the season and there is no way Jarmond can avoid making a change.

AlbanyEagle said...

I am fully in the "fire Daz now" camp.

Regarding the original post (last paragraph), I really don't think it's right to say that BC "turned things around" last year. Yes, they beat Maryland in the first half of the bowl game (then barely hung on to win the game). And yes, they beat NC State and squeaked by Wake, the other weakest links in the division. Daz has not beaten a quality opponent in years.

If Jarmond really has the power he should have, which is questionable, he should can Daz now and let Coach P take over for the rest of the season. It can't get worse. What is the reason not to?

Send the message to the world that this will not be tolerated at BC any longer or ever again.

Let the coaching world know that this job is open, and that it will pay well.

Pay this loser off with the increased $ from an exciting new coach (as suggested above).

Don't worry about losing recruits. Anybody worth a damn that Daz has collected so far will recognize a better coach. Can you imagine what was going through the minds of recruits on the sidelines for that debacle on Saturday? Terrible coaching. Empty stadium. Etc, etc.

I really hope, as some have suggested, that Jarmond was wise and ballsy enough to demand assurances of decision-making power and funding to succeed before signing on. If not he is doomed.

TGS said...

The Daz has now been a head coach since 2011, 6+ seasons. He is now 38-39 all time with one (USC) significant win.
Btw, always be suspicious of a coach in his mid 50s getting his first crack as a HC. Something is usually missing.

TGS said...

New AD seems like a place setter, but he has a chance to make an impact if he fires this clown immediatly after the upcoming shellacking by ND.

TGS said...

Is Khead the Daz's ghost writer? This is really dumb stuff.

"We have to continue to work on the exactness of everyone in the throw game." #Addazio
12:13 PM · Sep 11, 2017


AlbanyEagle said...

From a Yahoo Sports article (Pat Forde) about potential landing spots for Chip Kelly if/when he takes another college coaching job:

"Boston College. Current status: 1-1, with a shaky victory over Northern Illinois and a blowout home loss to Wake Forest – in other words, the current status is bad. Chances of a coaching change: Rather strong. Steve Addazio is 25-28 at BC, and it’s hard to see him pushing that record above .500 this season. Why fans believe Chip would be interested: He’s a New England guy, having lived and/or coached in the northeast most of his life. Why he might not be interested: Unless he has a soft spot for lost causes, why sign up for this when there will be much better options?"

:(

modest34b said...

Daz had decent OL in his first and second year. Most from Spaz and two Florida transferred Daz engineered

So he a two year cushion to recruit and develop new OL. But He just sucked at recruiting. And never developed his own OL guys.


But despite saying this, there were a few decent series where there was pass protection and some holes we made. Not enough. But there were a few bright spots.

knucklehead said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
knucklehead said...

Zero insights and zero contribution. Another TGS post.

EL MIZ said...

Addazio is 25-28 (47.1%) at BC, but more importantly is 10-23 (30.3%) in the ACC.

in 4 years Spaz was 21-29 (42%) and (40.6%) in the ACC. Amazingly, Spaz won 10% more of his inner conference games than Daz! just remarkable ineptitude from Addazio.

Jarmond should be doing his homework on Chip Kelly and Joe Moorhead and whoever else, and i'd be ready to make the decision on 11/18 after the UCONN game. get a head start on other schools who are firing their coaches by canning Daz before the Thanksgiving game against Cuse, let Pasqualoni coach that one against his former team and be pursuing your #1 target during the last week of the regular season.

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nceaglefan said...

Answer to your most important question "Is he dumb" YESSSSSSSSS! It begins and ends there, the guy is a moron.

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