Sunday, October 08, 2017

Second viewing thoughts and grades: Virginia Tech

Addazio will spin this until his last breath, but there is no excuse for the continued issues this team has. So much of it is execution. And when you have continued problems with execution, it is because the coaching staff is not teaching and not adapting. This game was more of the same.

Offense: D

I know there were plenty of drops, but Brown is not accurate. He's behind on slants. His downfield stuff is a mixed bag. He is too quick to throw things away. I believe in his future but we are not using him well now. The only bright spot was he did run more. Those plays with his feet will open up other things.

Levy looked good catching the ball. Why not give him more touches? We need someone with a spark. It wasn't Hilliman's best game. He didn't have the holes, but he also didn't make people miss. Dillon was fine and didn't look slowed from last week.

It was a rough game for Sweeney. Drops and false starts. White had a good catch but also needs to pull in anything close. Thadd Smith ran the sweep well. I am so frustrated with Jeff Smith. How is he not better by now or at least have better hands? The other TEs are not even getting targeted.

Petrula got a bad holding call, but was okay. There was a time early when the ESPN crew blamed him for a broken play, but I think it was really Phillips' man who got through. Overall the line was not the problem.

The play calling and game plan was a mess. Start aggressive, go conservative and fall way behind, and then open things up again late. Even if you want to blame Addazio for stuff like that, Loeffler still hasn't managed around Addazio or developed Brown into anything like a starting ACC QB. As a reminder, VT's QB was also young. And you know things are bad when the ESPN crew questions how we use Brown and the touches Hilliman gets over the young guys.

Defense: B

Allen had another great game. I know I was critical of him early in the year, but he has really come on of late. And it is helping Landry too. Merritt was fine. Our DL did a good job of stuffing those dives and powers up the middle.

Schwab played well. Bletzer was put in some tough spots with coverage, but still played pretty well. Lamont struggled a bit and missed some tackles.

The DBs played well at times but also allowed too many big plays. There was some bad tackling and confusion at times. Yiadom's pick was a heads up play. Denis had plenty of tackles, but some misses too. Moore was fine. Harris had some stops and a few misses.

I think Reid put together a decent game plan. They gashed us for some big plays -- which is not new -- but we also contained them for many, many plays. Plus keeping it together when the Offense can't score and keeping them out of the endzone is admirable.

Special Teams: C

Is it time to worry about Lichtenberg? One of the misses could be blamed on awkward snap. Not the other. I hope there is a plan in place if he starts missing again.

Knoll punted well.

The punt and kick coverage was good. In fact, the punt coverage is one of the best units on the team.

Walker's returns were fine. VT wasn't as careless as Central Michigan.

Overall: C-

Do you want to capture Addazio's poor game management in a single play? When we go for it on 4th and 2, there is confusion with alignments. Brown and Sweeney seem to disagree on where Sweeney should be lined up. Now this drive is critical. We need points. It is 4th down. BC still has timeouts. As soon as Addazio sees the confusion, he should be calling timeout! He can't let this play fail and if the primary target is not in the right spot before the snap, it will probably fail. But the coach let's it roll. Brown rolls left and Sweeney is the target. It is sort of a rub route. The pass is a little off and Sweeney's footwork is a bit twisted. Incomplete. What is going on? Does he get lost in the moment? I don't know.

The other infuriating thing was BC's ultra conservative play calling on 3rd and long. Running plays. Dump offs. Short routes. I understand low risk, but you have to take some risk. How does he expect to win if he doesn't ever convert? 3 and out followed by 3 and out. He thinks this is beautiful? He thinks this is a player issue!

The guy will never be more than a 7-6 coach and much worse on down years. I don't expect a change midseason, but I hope Jarmond has seen enough. I know this team has enough talent to get to six wins. I also know that with the way Addazio is coaching them, it won't happen.

20 comments:

Unknown said...

AMEN ! AMEN!! AMEN !!!

HOW many ways can you say loser. This will be the second straight 0 for the ACC.

That's after 5 years.

Makes you wonder where Bates and Leahy's minds were extending this "HORROR"

theartfuldodger said...

Speaking of execution, coach John McKay of Tampa Bay Buccaneers said when questioned about his teams execution he said " I'm all for it "

NEDofSavinHill said...

Did anyone notice the coaches poll on Sunday? Of the top 27 teams six, seven if you include ND, are from the ACC. Only three of the top 27 come from the SEC. But the media will tell you the SEC is dominant. How does Ohio State get to be ranked ahead of ND? They had what appeared to be a two touchdown loss at home to a great Sooner team. Now that Sooner team isn't so great and they have no noteworthy wins. ND on the other hand has the best loss of the year by one point to a strong Georgia team. They also have a win on the road over a ranked MSU team. The Irish should be the top one loss team. OSU should be behind one loss Oklahoma.2.The QB play at BC the last three years has been poor. A good QB throws twice as many TDs as interceptions. Excluding Flutie, the QBs, Fadule, Smith , Towles and Brown have completed about 50% of their passes. They have 21 TDs and 21 ints. They are averaging just over 5 yards per attempt. Brown is averaging only 4.7 per attempt. The only quality QB play the last three years came from Flutie. He had 3 TDs to one int. An excellent ratio. Plus he averaged almost 8 yards per attempt. The best performing QB was turned into a WR and those that couldn't play took all the snaps. Brown is not accurate and he is not the future QB for BC.

Geezer eagle said...

Need,
Take a breath and use a paragraph every now and then.

knucklehead said...

Offense - F
Defense - A- The slant pass for a TD early was bad but they held up late and kept score respectable.
Punting - B
Field Goal Kicking - D
Returns - B

John said...

Just wondering where the students go when they all leave early. (The alums, families and friends leave early too.)

It's as though some student leader gives the signal and they all file out.

We were completely dominated by VT in 2007 until Matty Ice led us to two TDs in the last couple of minutes.

My point is, it was still theoretically possible to win that game, but all of the students filled out.

Of course we could have had 9 or more points on the board instead of 3, but when the players' own classmates abandon the field that early, I think now we can truthfully say we have hit rock bottom.

In fact, we are lower than whale sh€t, an that's on the bottom of the ocean.

Thanks Steve Addazio.

BCDisco said...

This current era of BC sports mediocrity (with the exception of hockey of course) can be laid at the feet of only one man: William Leahy. Any talk of improvements in AD performance, HC performance, facilities improvements, etc is completely meaningless as long as Leahy is still in charge. You want to improve BC athletics? Replace Leahy.

modest34b said...

BC defense gave up 433 yards. worth a "C"

BC last in ACC in total offense

BC 3rd to lat in ACC in total defense.

Daz starting falling apart at the end of his presser.

Matt said...

It has been a long slow slog suffering under Spaziano and Addazio. I knew year one he stunk. It's year five now and there is no chance he will ever be decent. Yet BC continues on with him with little concern about the apathy that has settled around a losing team. I used to never miss BC football game. Now I don't have any interest in it. When a college shows disdain for those interested in its sports by producing, year after year, losers you get what you now see - empty stadiums and even little interest on commenting on blog. BC has gone PC and should play in division 3 with a big rivalry wit Mass Maritime and the Coast Guard Academy. It can also add the Quantico Marines if they start playing again.

Eagle1331 said...

http://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/20970001/oregon-state-parts-ways-head-coach-gary-andersen

People should bombard the telephone message and email inboxes of Martin Jarmon, Father Leahy, and anyone on the board with this article.

I'm sure there was a buyout involved that they're not discussing, but the statements from both the school and (former) Coach should be straight up plagiarized by Boston College and Daz.

His coaching is hurting the school financially, from sponsors, to attendance, to donors.

It is hurting the Alumni base, from their relationship with the school, to Alumni event attendance, to our perception of the school going from "Ever to Excel" to "Never to Excel."

The national perception of the school, or at least a major part of it, is rapidly declining to "laughing stock" level, if not lower. Sports performance does actually affect national rankings.

Daz needs to go.

Jarmond either needs to pull the trigger or get out of the way.

Now there are other schools that are going to be the first to make those phone calls. Early bird gets the worm, not lame ducks.

Geezer eagle said...

Matt states it perfectly. At the current rate, BC is headed to the Patriot League. The collapse of a once proud program rests squarely at the feet of Leahy. He's a priest so I won't call him the names I'm thinking.

bceagle91 said...

Eagle1331, Oregon State promoted a coordinator to the interim position. Would you promote either of our coordinators to an interim role? I'm not sure I would. The last time we promoted a coordinator to the HC position, it was Spaz. I fully agree that Daz needs to go. I just think it will be within 24 hours of our last game of the season. Let's see who else gets let go and maybe there will be a good fit. Gosh, let's hope so.

It's hard to imagine any worse. Yes, I know we were 0-11 in 1978 but we're loading up on cupcakes and still struggling. 4-8 at best this year. At least there will be no question that Daz must go. I was really worried about a 6-6 season buying him one more year.

Fr. Leahy is 69. Most Jesuits retire at 70. And we have a new Board chair. Let's see what happens. He seems to care much more about how pretty the grounds are than athletics.

Big Ern said...

I just wonder what is going on in the university departments that we do not see on the national stage week in and week out. Athletics is the public face of the University. I am concerned that mismanagement is pervasive beyond athletics. If the athletic department symbolizes what is going on at BC overall I am very upset

Is the English department in the same disarray that the athletic department is in? Is the business school as poorly run as the football team? Are the physics and chemistry departments as apathetic and diastrous as the basketball team? The most recent college rankings are telling the same story for the university as a whole. I know what I see on national tv and read in the media. Both are letting me know that the current state of BC is atrocious.

bceagle91 said...

Ern, look at the MBA rankings over time. Try not to cringe.

Knucklehead said...

Section D,
You are a hypocrite and a loser.

Knucklehead said...

I have been adressing the overall stagnation at the University for months. Leahy has been spending money on infrastructure deals for decades but does not seem able to do more than one thing at a time because the undergrad rankings have plateaued, MBA is down and law school is down. The infrastructure deals are done so let's see what if anything he focuses on improving going forward.

Knucklehead said...

. . . Big Sports have obviously been a failure from the coach hiring perspective under his watch as well.

bceagle91 said...

Knucklehead, spot on. While our undergrad rankings have hit a plateau, that other school on Comm. Ave. has been moving on up. FT and PT MBA are down. The acceptance rate in the part-time program is about 90%. We still have a lot of construction remaining so I think infrastructure remains a work in progress and will be long after Fr. Leahy retires.

Geezer eagle said...

Anyway we can put Leahy and Dazoshit on the same one-way train out of town?

Knucklehead said...

Northeastern isn't goofing off anymore either.

I wonder if he is aware about what is going on or not. Does he know there is a school called Northeastern? Or that getting fewer points in football and basketball means that we lose?

I have my lighting proof hat and jacket going tonight so I don't get struck by lightning - for knocking a leader of my church/school.