- There were so many missed opportunities that could have swung the game in BC's direction. This article touches on a few of them, but the Bordner drop, the under-thrown pass off the reverse, and the Rouse drop are the top 3 in my mind. Of course we all want to see BC make PATs, but those others hurt more. When you play very good teams (and Clemson is one of them), you have to take advantage of the opportunities you create for yourself. If BC had executed on any one of those three plays, we would have had a much better chance of winning. If we had hit two of them, the chances of winning would have jumped exponentially.
- It's nice to see Clemson travel in such strong numbers, but Alumni was embarrassingly filled with orange yesterday. There were giant blocks of the upper sideline section closer to the reservoir filled with Clemson fans. I think it may have been the loudest & largest Clemson fan base I've seen at Alumni. Clemson fans are incredibly friendly, and it's great to see them come to Boston in the numbers that they do, but it'd be really nice to see much more maroon and gold than orange in the upper sections at kickoff.
- Overall the defense played well, and it's hard to be critical of a group that allowed just 17 points, but we gave up too many 3rd down conversions. Case in point - the series when BC had Clemson starting on their own 9. After 2 plays netting negative one yard, Clemson had a 3rd and 11. They ran for 13 and got to their 21. BC held the next 2 downs, and on 3rd and 4 Clemson gained 16 to their 43. BC stopped Clemson on the next set of downs, and they ended up punting....which BC received on their own 6. To recap - that was a drive that started on Clemson's 9, and BC gave up two big plays on 3rd down which allowed Clemson to get to a place to pin BC within our 10. It completely shifted the field position game and put a lot of pressure on the offense to move the ball.
- BC's offense (understandably) didn't put up the big numbers like in other games this season, but it was nice to see Day & crew keep installing new looks/formations/plays. The Bordner pass off the reverse was one, but the Sherman Alston TD reception was another - lining him up in the backfield, pulling a guard to make it look like a run....nice to see new wrinkles develop in our offensive attack each week.
- Steven Daniels is coming on strong. He had a good game stopping the run and lead BC with 11 tackles.
- Murphy's 43-yard run with the game on the line was something special.
Sunday, October 19, 2014
Will's thoughts on the Clemson game
Just a few quick thoughts about the game. More will be posted later on.
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At least it's nice to have people in the stands, no matter who they cheer for. I watched Pitt Va Tech and the place was empty, pretty dreary.
Steven (not Stephen) Daniels
http://www.bceagles.com/sports/m-footbl/mtt/steven_daniels_807884.html
I was at the game and although there were plenty of Clemson fans, there were also plenty of BC faithful. The student sections were just about filled and once BC started to move the ball the crowd was loud. It was one of the best games I have attended in the past 4 years. We should have won this one but I think the future is looking up.
Murphy has shown great strides with his passing mechanics. They were great on short to medium. Now, he needs to work on the long one without rushing it. That was what happened on the last pass down the middle to Phillips. It was there but the execution was off. A great "pat on the back" to Murphy for working hard. This obviously set up his big run. BC did everything but win. It was a shame but it happens. They just have to take a big breath and go on. Florida State sure won't feel sorry for them. Burt Reynolds and the bois will be waiting with plenty of hatchets and spears. Maybe, they can catch the Seminoles gloating a bit. With FSU that works for a half. BC better have adjustments ready at half time. Steady the course. All is well. A few holes here and there but the ship still floats.
@BCDoubleEagle thanks. I've corrected that.
the intentional grounding in the end zone that wasn't called was also a key moment. never heard that explained but we had Stoudt in the end zone and he just threw it about 5 yards to nobody, and nothing was called.
BC needs to re-group and roll Wake next week, and then figure out how to win that 6th game.
Not to be a contrarian, but...
I disagree with your observation on wrinkles, Will. We waited far too long to bring them out in the game, and right after we did, we went back to run the ball in to the line for the next two or three handfuls of plays. Cronan even pointed this out on the radio broadcast, saying it is "bang your head against the wall" play calling and labeling the "wrinkles" as risking being "too cute" rather than good game planning. You could hear the frustration in Metes and his voices as they went back to describing the same run for negative yardage over and over again.
In the end, this game was very winnable, but I'm on the opposite end of the spectrum as you (respectably) on Ryan Day. He again showed us again he had 1 game plan. Chip Kelly was on the sideline to watch his disciple fail at executing a balanced office when he needed to. Chip rose the ranks because his teams adapted... he still had QBs that could execute runs and passes. At the end of the day, we could have won the game, but it was by executing good passing plays. When push came to shove, the team couldn't execute those plays - whether it is a drop, a scramble, a block, an errant throw - and that is because they are not conditioned to perform those plays. If the game plan is run, run, run, pass to be cute, run, run, run, run pass when we're down with a minute left... that just won't work, and we've seen it twice now.
At the end of the day, Daz has said it himself... you can practice all you want, but game action is a completely different thing. No, the coaches can't catch that ball for Bordner, but if the team doesn't reliably run these plays during a game when it isn't crunch time, how can we expect them to execute with the game on the line? That is on the coaches, not the players. That is on Ryan Day, squarely.
.... sorry all, I needed to vent... in summary, I think Ryan Day is a terrible OC.
Eagle 1331 - While i do not think Ryan Day is terrible, he is not that good, and very,very over-rated. Everyone will forget about Pitt, forget about CSU, and forget about Clemson, because he did call a great game against USC.
We knew we were playing the mighty Clemson D, the best we will see this year. Time to get imaginative early. Our first 5 series were misearble and all resulted in PUNTS. 4 of the 5 first series were 3-and-out. (7 of first 10 series were 3-and-out) What's the point with that kind of play calling???
I would like to have seen more short passing. All the movement of RBs and QB in our backfield, does create "time" to throw off of some play-action. Short balls 8-15 yards. I did not see much of that.
As for Chip Kelly, what was he doing at a BC game? Maybe on his bye week, he was back in NH to see Mom.
Miz is correct about the safety call. Had the QB been throwing when hit it would have been a good call. The QB was hit before he dumped the ball five yards forward 20 yards short of the WR. It was grounding and should have been a safety. Another sequence had Landry tackle a Clemson RB for a two yard loss. The announcers pointed out Wujiak was being held. No call. On that same series on third down Clemson was stopped a half yard short of the yellow line. The official came in moved the ball ahead to the marker and a first down was awarded.( Where had we seen that before?) A pass was completed for five yards to a Clemson WR. Two BC DBs hit him as he was falling he grimaced in pain and dropped the ball before he hit the ground. BC recovered. The refs marked him down and gave Clemson the ball. Why no review? Ten years ago a dishonest officiating crew from the Big East worked the BC-Pitt game. Pitt had a first and ten from it's 20 in the second half. BC held and forced a punt. Grant Adams blocked the punt. The Pitt punter picked it up and ran to the Pitt 29 where he was tackled. The official came in picked up the ball and moved it to the 30 giving Pitt a first down. It was an egregious cheat job. The Big East wouldn't let BC win the title in it's last year in the league so they had their inside crew work the game. Who was the referee in that Pitt game? Dennis Hennigan. Who was the ref Saturday? Dennis Hennigan. How does an incompetent Big East ref get into the ACC? Was it part of the expansion allowing Pitt and Syracuse in that they could bring their officials over? Did ESPN insist? Hennigan would never be biased against BC? He spent over a decade in the BE conference. The fact that he is a practicing lawyer in Syracuse NY would never effect any of his calls. Might his business suffer if he makes a call for BC? Does he have clean hands or is he biased? BC might as well have Bernie Fine as the ref.Is there a conflict of interest? Would he put Syracuse's best interest ahead of others? Is he going to tilt in favor of or against certain teams? He seems to be a partisan not a neutral. It's incumbent on Bates and Daz to demand that the ACC never allow former Big East officials do any BC game. One just has to remember the pervasive dishonesty of the employees of that league. They filed false lawsuits. They tried to shake down BC for four million extra in an exit fee. Long after BC was gone they had their flunkies( Calhoun, Boeheim et al) denouncing BC on national tv. What a sorry, pathetic and petty lot they were. But we forgive them as long as they don't do any more BC games.
Now you are here sitting in judgment of the Big East Conspiracy. Yet you, as a man, represent more than a juror in an ordinary case because of the victim in this case. You represent, in a sense, the hope of humanity against ESPN power. You represent humanity, which yet may triumph over excessive ESPN power, if you will cause it to be so, in the course of doing your duty in this case.
I suggest you ask not what ESPN can do for you, but what you can do for ESPN.
What can you do for a ESPN? You can cause justice to happen for the first time in this matter. You can help make our country better by showing that this is still college football of the people. And, if you do that, as long as you live, nothing will ever be more important.
eagle1331
I think Murph has the option to keep the ball instead of hand the ball off to the back on the runs up the middle. He needs to read that play better and keep the ball more often.
Mod
I don't think there are allot of good passing lanes on routes of that length, because the D is cheating up to the line to stop the trun. That's why the deep stuff is open in back of the D off play action. Too bad we have so many drops on wide open plays.
I have been on the road doing a consulting job in Athens, GA. One of the VPs I was dealing with is a big Clemson fan (even in UGA territory :-) )
He said it was definitely a safety - no question.
He also said that because they let BC hang around, they were really afraid that they would lose right at the end.
Clemson escaped by the skin of their chinny chin chin.
Finally, he stated that Clemson was very fortunate with the dropped passes (one at the end zone in the waning seconds), dropped interceptions and under-thrown ball on a wide open receiver for a sure TD.
These plays will work someday - hopefully soon.
Go BC.
Watson is much better than Stoudt. We got lucky.
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