I'll have more thoughts on rejuvenated offense, the young defense and the interesting game management.
Saturday, September 26, 2009
Something finally gave!
Once again the winner of the BC-Wake Forest game was the team that had luck break their way. We haven't had much luck in 2009 so it is about time that the ball bounced our way. We've now improved to 3-1 and earned an ACC win. The most important takeaway though is that we can move the ball and can compete. Who knows how the rest of the season will play out, but we now know we have a chance.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
24 comments:
Good point ATL. BC deserved to finally get a break after the toughest stretch of luck for BC football since the mid-90's.
It is unlikely BC will win the next 2 games but how likely is it to get a fumble with Wake driving for the sudden death touchdown from the 3????
Karma is back!
True enough, ATL & EagleB--we deserve a break and rarely--like the Hope Diamond Rarely--ever get one. The Kids Are Alright for this one--but we have issues, as always. Can't wait to hear the feedback, ATL--and EagleBoston--this one's for you, salt on the rim, fresh lime in time and rock solid cold. Big Win for a young Eagle team in flux with lots of possibilities. What's Not To Love?
Go BC! I hope this one makes Domers nervous--they should be...
Didn't get to see the game. Live in LA and don't get ESPN360. How did Shinskie look and did Tuggle even play? Not sure how you can fumble on the 3 in that situation, so hopefully they'll archive this game somewhere on ESPN360 so other fans can watch. Big game after a tough loss last weekend.
Eagle in LA,
Shinskie earned the starting spot in my opinion. He engineered several good drives and was on target with the deep ball. That is important as he can stretch defenses if they load up to stop H squared. Many of his passes were too high so I hope the QB coach works on his mechanics. He stood in the pocket well and took several hits before delivering the ball. He is only going to get better as weeks go on.
I believe Tuggle was in for 1-2 plays. If I recall right, 1 was out of the Wildcat.
Mmason, I'm having my virtual celebration margarita right now. Thanks!
"Not sure how you can fumble on the 3 in that situation"
The RB took two steps the wrong way on the snap and wasn't there for the handoff. As Skinner was pulling it in to scramble it got stripped.
Shinksie was improved but had all day to throw, so I wouldn't read into it too much. I think Tuggle would have had similar success with that amount of time, but he got one snap all afternoon.
The D generated zero pass rush and was fortunate to have a number of Wake drives stalled by penalties. They did a good job against the run save for one big play (76 yd TD scamper) Then they completely turtled in the fourth quarter and let Wake back in the game. The amount of yards they allowed was unacceptable.
This was a feel-bad win. Feel bad that we're stuck with a couple of eunuchs running the team, and feel bad that we have an AD that prefers to hire these types because they won't make him jealous by flirting with other women.
William,
Are you really friends with those Eagle Outsider kids after what they did to you? I've never seen more negative people in my life. After a win that they didn't even think we would have they still complain. The problem with our fans are people like them. WE WON!!!!! Be happy!!! Seriously!
Joe Bags,
What the F is your problem?
who knew first that Shinskie was a winner?
Leave your kudos
Where is that matthew guy now!
My problem is that BC is not going to get lucky every week. My problem is coaches who coach not-to-lose instead of coaching to win. My problem is coaches who throw their players under the bus.
Explain to me how going into clock-kill playcalling mode with 8:00 left in a 2 possession game against a team that had racked up 350+ yards of offense is good coaching. Explain to me how not blitzing in the 4th quarter when Skinner had picked apart the D whenever he had time all afternoon is good coaching.
I'm all about the players and I will go to these games and support them no matter what, but I have no problem trashing a coaching staff that is getting abused by other coaches in this conference.
Joe Bags-
I was at the game today and can assure you it was definitely not a "feel-bad" win for those of us there. The O was clicking -- O Line problems mostly resolved and Shinskie looked markedly better than previously. Yes, there were problem: No way we should have let Wake back into it in the 4th quarter -- but that's definitely the sort of problem that can be corrected. I'm sure the coaching staff and team learned from that. So, all in all, the feeling in Alumni among 44K fans was definitely "feel-good"! Nice W for the program and for Spaz.
I was there. I live in Watertown, I go to all the home games. ACC Championships and other away games, too.
It was an exciting finish, which might have given you and many of the other 40K in attendance a momentary high, but these correctable problems you cite largely fall on the two guys talking to each other over headsets, and I don't think two veteran coaches in their 60s are about to change their philosophies. Call me crazy.
I agree with Joe Bags.
A "feel bad" win.
Listen, at this point, any win is a good win and I celebrated with too much red wine and a headache.
The positive: Shinskie looked promising, if we remember it was his first start as a freshman. His third TD pass was ridiculous.
The negative: the defense, against a mediocre Wake team, was porous. The play-calling in the 4th was suspicious. Too many stupid penalties. The Oline is on-again, off-again. The pass rush is beyond non-existent, were there such a thing.
We got lucky. Cool. I'm all for it. Go BC.
But, come on. Big picture. With that young defense, we're playing for 2010. And that's okay.
It was Wake Forest. At home.
mod34b --
I won't shy away... Shinskie played better than I thought he could. My point was that I though Tuggle was the best answer as the starting QB, and one game does not prove otherwise. Shinskie definitely made some good plays, but he also missed some throws as well. It remains to be seen how good he will actually be.
My gut tells me he is not our QB for the next 4 years. But I will admit he played a little better today than I thought he was capable of. We shall see whether he can handle the reigns for the long haul --- I hope that he can, as we are all rooting for the same result here. And as long as BC wins, I don't care who is the QB.
Let's keep this in perspective, as Wake is not a particularly good team. I still like what Tuggle brings more to the table, but for whatever reason, it looks like DS has the support of the coaching staff to make this his team. Let's hope we can upset FSU next weekend... no matter what the line is, we are surely the underdog.
There is no way the coaches can't take heat for the last 8 minutes. It was ridiculous defense. On the second dirve they have no time outs and we let them throw out patterns to receivers. You have to take away the sidelines and let them catch anything inside. We dropped nine into coverage on one play and they still got out of bounds. You have to get pressure on the QB and make him throw quick passes. Our D line was gassed on the second drive and just couldn't get there.
Still it was a gutsy win and I'll take it.
Shinskie showed a lot that he hadn't previously showed. Pretty surprise by his improvement, actually. I assume the staff will take this as reason to start him going forward and I'm ok with that: they need to give the offense an identity.
I think he needs to speed up in certain areas still. When he threw to the flat, he was too deliberate and the entire D knew where to go by the time it got there. Someone else also said he needs to learn when to throw the ball away. I think most young QBs have that problem.
I like the idea of the Tuggle package. I don't like bringing it out in the red zone on the first drive after Shinskie and Harris are moving the ball well.
I also question the staff's decision to kill clock with 8 minutes to go. You do that against a good QB like Skinner and he'll get them back into the game.
This was as good a turn-around game for BC as anyone had any right to expect (although I think most expected much less, myself included). Shinskie made more plays than he missed, the O-line delivered (with huge assists from Hayden and Harris), receivers rebounded from all the drops last week, and McLaughlin played (not 100%, but getting there). Oh yeah, and we won!
But ... we saw a return to TOB-style prevent offense and defense with 8 minutes to play (Joe Bags nailed it). The offensive play-calling for BC's last two possessions nearly cost us the game. One first down in either of those and we win in regulation. Playing scared against any ACC team is just not going to get it done.
Gang, we're seeing a lot of criticism about the clock-killing strategy. Do you know how many Top 10 teams Hayden Fry beat in the 80's using the exact same strategy? Just a few weeks ago, Charlie Weiss was ripped for throwing on 2nd and 3rd down. If Shinskie went aggressive, passed and missed, Wake would have even more time on the clock. This is Sunday morning quarterbacking at its best.
I don't blame the coaches, I blame the players. There were 2 blatant penalties on the INT return that backed the offense into a deep hole. Would you rather Shinskie throw a pick 6? Further, the defensive back should never have caught the ball in the first place. It was 4th and 25. BC could have started its possession in Wake territory where they could be more aggressive. The players need to be more aware of game situation.
The players also did not appear to me to be in the best shape. I don't know if they have been hit by the flu bug or if the conditioning program is not as solid during the season, but I have not seen a BC team get out-muscled like that in a long time.
Give the coaches some credit for turning the offense around so quickly. Now they need to work on the young defense, which was without BOTH corners on the final drive.
I'll have to watch the replay to be sure, but it seemed to me that BC ran "dive right" five or six consecutive times - no traps, counters, just straight ahead into the pile. And not just in the final three or four minutes, but starting near the eight-minute mark. If the O-line had demonstrated that it can simply dominate the line of scrimmage, against anyone better than Northeastern, I'd say run dive right every down. That's clearly not the case with this crew. I can't believe we can't be more creative in the ground game.
eagleboston - Weiss was ripped for sending the receivers deep on 2nd and 3rd down against Michigan, not for calling a pass play. Shinskie had a good thing going with the TEs, and Wake was putting 8 in the box. You have to use play-action there.
Scafe and Harris made some bad decisions down the stretch, but they are in no way responsible for letting Wake back in the game.
So much negativity. With the way the team played last week, you would think any win would be a "feel good" win. It's not like we don't know the defense has talent: we saw that performance against Clemson last week. Not to mention that Riley Skinner is one of the best QB's in the ACC...by no means "mediocre." But inconsistency is something we are going to get with a young team. Speaking of inconsistency, FSU comes into town next week. They had just 19 rushing yards against USF at home on Saturday, not to mention their secondary has been atrocious all season (not just in one game like ours was yesterday). As Lou Holtz described it yesterday, the FSU secondary was treating the USF receivers like they had swine flu or something. Let's hope the FSU team that played Jax State and USF shows up at Alumni next week.
I do agree with everyone that the clock management was too conservative at the end of the game, but at the same time, if Shinskie had sailed a ball over someone's head and got picked or had a pass tipped and picked, everyone would be questioning Tranq's play calling as well. So it's hard to have it both ways. We saw this too often with the inexperienced Crane and Davis last year, so I can understand being conservative to a degree. But up two scores with 8 minutes to go, you shouldn't shy away from the passing game.
I don't think Shinskie looked as good as people think. A lot of his completions were due to good catches by our receivers on over or under thrown ball, the McMichael TD was all him, on a bad throw....but, he engineered a win, so I'll take it.
On a more positive note, Hayden, I thought, looked great. He was making some really good cuts and I am excited to see how our running game progresses throughout the season.
a great game
but so much negativity here .... havea little faith in the boys . . . it's college football, not pro . . . shinskie is a breath of fresh air and there s renewed reason to have some confidence in BC football 2009
Post a Comment