Thursday, October 31, 2013

BC-Virginia Tech preview

Suddenly this season has a bit of pressure. Expectations were raised by the solid first six games. Last week's mess has people wondering if BC can get to bowl eligibility. In a way this Virginia Tech team is the perfect opponent now. They are favored and will still be a tough game, but their offense is so sluggish even a loss will probably be close and not crushing like last week.

What's on my mind (not totally related to this game)
Many professional circles feel like a "small world" but college coaching really is small. Take Virginia Tech Offensive Coordinator Scot Loeffler as an example. After working with Addazio at Florida, he took the OC job at Temple in 2011. The success he and Addazio had opened the door for him to be OC at Auburn. Addazio filled the Temple job with Ryan Day. While the 2012 season wasn't as successful for Temple as the prior year, Day's BC background did help Addazio and his transition to the BC job. Loeffler along with the other coordinators at Auburn was out of a job when Chizik was fired. Now he's coaching at VT and going against his old boss.

Three Simple Keys
1. Finish the drill against Logan. The Florida State game turned when we didn't wrap up Winston on his bomb before the half. Logan is like that...only bigger. I don't think he is a good QB, but he can capitalize on broken plays. BC needs to take him down when we get the chance.
2. Improve field position. Last week we didn't do the offense any favors by starting so many drives deep in our own territory. That needs to change this week. I don't expect Dudeck to break any big punts, but he needs to do little things to help the net punting. Willis also needs to come out strong on his KR.
3. Play action pass. It is the only way we are going to get them out of crowding the box. The guys are getting open. We just need Rettig to get them the ball and for them to hold on to it.

Gambling Notes
-- BC is 4-3 against the spread this season
-- Virginia Tech has won five in a row vs BC
-- Addazio is 3-1 at home this year.
The current line is BC+5


Factoid 
This will be the sixth BC Coach Frank Beamer has faced. With the way colleges churn their coaches, I doubt we will see another rival coach put in 25+ years against us.

Scoreboard Watching
From an ACC standpoint, the game is FSU-Miami. As a barometer of what BC faces, I think Wake-Syracuse is much more important. Wake has improved since we played them and the Orange are faltering.

I hope to see...
One of the younger guys step up. Spiffy is our first big injury of the year, but that should be an opportunity for one of the other player makers to fill his spot. Dudeck will probably get more passes his way, but why can't Jackson or Crimmins or one of the other guys make some plays?

BC is in trouble if...
Rettig doesn't get out of his malaise. By this I mean that he completes more than 50% of his passes, doesn't turn the ball over and doesn't take more than three sacks. That's a lot to ask against this defense, but it is the only way BC is going to win.

Bottom Line
It feels like the UNC loss emptied the bandwagon a bit. I realize we have serious problems, but I remain upbeat about this matchup. Despite their defense and talent, Virginia Tech has not played very well this year. I think it will be low scoring and BC will make fewer mistakes. I think Chase breaks out of his funk and we take the lead in the second half.
Final Score: BC20, Virginia Tech 13

6 comments:

Mr. Tambourine MAn said...

Losing Mehdi was probably the first big loss.

JBQ said...

Mehdi is 6 ft 5 and a significant loss from Montreal.

mod34b said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Big Jack Krack said...

What with the "Rolling Red Sox Celebration Parade" and present lowered expectations, I expect the stadium to be empty - literally empty - at kickoff.

Attendance was going to be light anyway - which is sad to say.

Go BC - capitalize on VT's shock at playing in front of 25,000 fans.

Big Jack Krack said...

Ryan Tranquill Day?

mod34b said...

Jack - I love it.

The Tranquill-Day Offense, or Dayquil, an ineffective remedy for anything!

Day cetainly is not very differnt that Tranquill. And that is a pity.