This game was not emotional for me. Once Smith got hurt, I just felt it was over. I was right and wrong. Technically the game was over when Flutie came in as QB (BC never took the lead). But the lone bright spot was that Addazio didn't waive the white flag. He still kept trying and pushing it and throwing with Flutie. I am hoping that fight pays off in one of the few games we have left.
Offense: D
I don't know how much of what Smith is doing is on him or just on the coaching. Obviously some of it is just a Freshman getting his first playing time. But I still feel like he should have better awareness of pressure. I also keep expecting him to have big runs, but they're really not using him like they did with Murphy. The TD was really a broken play where he took off. Flutie playing wasn't by design, so I am less harsh on the coaching staff for his results. But what confuses me is for all his supposed Football IQ and understanding of the offense, Flutie still wastes a lot of time and seems to create confusion when he shouts out things presnap. Also when we were driving late, he motioned to the sideline about spiking it to kill clock on 3rd and 12. How did he not know that was a bad idea? What I did like about Flutie is he started to look better when the play broke down. I don't know if he suddenly got faster, but he escaped a little better than he did earlier in the season.
Willis was the only RB to get significant carries. He was okay. I don't know what anyone could have behind that OLine. Willis (and Louie Addazio) missed the edge guy who crashed in and blindsided Smith on Louisville's fumble return. Wofford was fine.
The Louie Addazio stuff is getting frustrating. Penalties and missed blocks are killing drives. Thadd Smith made some nice grabs. Robinson's drop late hurt, but it wasn't a good throw. Callinan is not getting targeted. Neither is Swigert.
We saw worse OLine play under Spaz, but this was the worst day of the Addazio era. Harris Williams is a shell of his former self. I don't know if he's checked out or just that much slower, but it is not there. Schmal struggled too. As did Taylor. I thought Baker had the most consistent game. Monteiro looked better considering it how new he still is.
Louisville has a good D and we suffered injuries, but that doesn't explain all the offensive woes. The line was a mess and that was the base problem. But why not adjust and give Smith some easy read/throw plays? Let him try to make someone miss before four guys are in his face? We threw as much with one quarter of Flutie than we did with three of Smith, but the results weren't much different. When are these guys going to find something that works?
Defense: B+
The Defensive line bounced back from last week. Gutapfel played really well. Perhaps one of his better games. Abdesmad looked good and played more on the edge. Landry was decent, but we need him to get to the QB more often. Wujciak looked good. Kavalec played but didn't make much of an impact. I don't know if he is still not 100% or the emergence of Gutapfel bumped Abdesmad to more DE snaps and cuts some of Kavalec's time.
Daniels' monster season continued. I think he's going to make an All ACC team. Strachan also played well and showed good speed. Milano was fine.
The nature of this defense exposes the corners. There will be times when these guys get beat. But don't mistake that for lack of skill. Yiadom showed that skill on his pick. With Moore out, McClary played extensively again and looked much better. Simmons played well and so did Johnson.
This was not the defensively clinic other BC games have been, but the ability to generate huge defensive plays (turnovers and sacks) kept BC in the game and almost won it. I was a little surprised by what Louisville tried. I thought they would have more success passing against us and try to copy what Clemson did. They're not as talented as the Tigers and clearly BC adjusted from last week.
Special Teams: B
Because of the lack of scoring, we haven't been kicking off much, so I was pleased with Lichtenberg's output. Walker was fine on the kick returns.
On the punts, Howell didn't boom them like last week, but all were placed well. (Our punt coverage is very strong.)
Alston didn't try to challenge anything.
Overall: C
For all the issues I have had with Addazio's game management, I actually felt he handled the Smith injury well. He took some chances and still tried to win the game (however ineffective it might have been). The other sign of hope -- the punt block. We need game changing plays out of our Special Teams. Hopefully the success of the blocked punt encourages Addazio to take more risks.
The biggest gripe I have was with how Addazio handled the Offensive Line. Like QB, I don't understand the logic of pulling guys in and out during the game. If a starter is not playing well, then pull him. If his replacement doesn't do well let the replacement ride it out. Bringing guys on and off only creates confusion in an area where we need simplicity and a execution.
Who knows where Addazio goes from here. The health of Smith and plenty of other guys will determine some of the strategies and substitutions, but at this point we just need a win.
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23 comments:
the QB and now OL rotation is truly puzzling. Ohio State this year is rotating QBs because they have 2 NFL-caliber QBs on the roster, ok i get that. Meyer did it at Florida when they had a senior (Leak) and the top QB recruit coming out of HS (Tebow) who went on to be one of the best college football players of the decade. i get it if the talent is so overwhelming that you decide "we are gonna get both of these guys opportunities because they are so good."
the inverse of that - these guys are so bad so we are going to rotate them so that they can all be bad - makes no sense to me, ESPECIALLY on the OL and at QB. i can't think of two other units where consistency and letting guys get into a rhythm matters more. the idiotic QB rotation finally ended and Addazio starts rotating the OL. just truly baffling stuff, and coming from an OL coach, even more troubling.
i am not ready to give up on Addazio yet (although I do think that the complete ineptitude of the offense this year is bad enough that it is worth looking for potential replacements for Fitch as OC). but the confidence I had in Addazio (probably an A- or B+ going into this season) is so far down (probably like a C-) after the mismanagement of the clock in game after game, these idiotic rotations, and the total regression we underwent this year. the good news, if there is any, is that next year will be put up or shut up time for him, and he if he fails he needs to go, so at least we'll have some closure.
A "D" for our offense.
No, a "F" is what they deserve.
Overall a "C" - maybe D- (because we have a good D, but a D that cannot win the game for us given the F-ness of the O!)
Epic fail
The stats to prove our worst-ness
Scoring O: still last of all 128 FBS teams
RedZone success: 3rd to last (126) (up 2 spots)
Total O : Dead last 128 (down 3 spots)
FGs: 124/128 (up 2)
First downs: dead last (128) (down 3)
Yards per Rush 118/128 (down 28 spots)
Rushing O - 90/128 (down 45 spots! )
Passing O - 125/128 no change
3rd down conversion - 127/128 down 2 spots
The D is still "statistically" excellent
scoring D 8th same
total D 4th (-2)
rushing d 3rd (-1)
passing D 25th (-2)
El Miz - They aren't rotating QBs, Smith got hurt. He's the starter (but if he's healthy and Daz goes back to the rotation I agree that it would be very frustrating).
I imagine they aren't running Smith as much as Murphy for injury fears. We would have been in a lot of trouble had Murphy gone down but Murphy was 6'2", 210lbs and 22 years old vs. Jeff Smith at 6'1, 182lbs and 18 years old. The play he got hurt on took guts, and he got absolutely drilled for it. Maybe it's worth it to risk injury in order to get the 6 points. With more experience though he'll understand when to take the hits and when to get down and with more strength he'll be able to withstand the hits it takes to run in 10-15 times a game.
A previous comment brought up bringing Golden in as the OC. I can't imagine he gets a good HC offer next year after how brutal his tenure at Miami was. Would probably be a win/win for both parties to let him rebuild his value for a year or two before he goes for a new top job. I've absolutely been an apologist for the coaching staff given the youth and injury issues that they have no control over, but it's pretty clear that Daz needs to cede control of the offense to someone with more creativity than Fitch. The big question would be if Daz would consider such an option though. It would be a big risk for Daz to hire a potential replacement onto his staff. I hope Daz has the guts to do something like that and trust that he can do a good enough job to not worry about it.
GP - i was referring to the QB rotation that we had going in the previous few games.
Interesting thinking back to the HC search when Spaz left. How many posters were all hot over getting Golden. How did that work out at Miami?
Does anyone honestly think that Smith is that good? He seems lost too often and he is NOT as good a runner as we all hoped. Flutie was a great high school QB-period. Just like Tebow was a great college QB- period. The Oline will only get better, but maybe not good enough. Coaching may be some part of the problem, but player ability is the major component for sure.
El Miz
Petrino, a pretty good offensive mind, rotated QBs in the game.
interesting to look back and consider if we had gone after Matt Campbell at Toledo. he was mentioned by ATL (http://atleagle.blogspot.com/2012/11/ranking-mac-candidates.html) and by Pat Forde in a Yahoo article (which i quote in the comments in http://atleagle.blogspot.com/2012/10/revisiting-under-armour-white-stripe.html). since that offseason he's gone 23-9 and Toledo is currently in the top 20. he turns 36 in November.
RE: Smith, I agree with GP that I think the coaches are holding him back from the designed runs because he's so small. that said, i think Joseph is onto something in that Smith may not be a D1 QB.
more stats vs FBS competition
Tackles per Loss allowed: BC is 128/128
Plays from scrimmage over 10 yards : BC is 128/128
Total offensive plays: BC is 120/128
Avg. yards per play: BC is 128/128
Total First Downs gained: BC is 128/128
shocking conclusion; Daz/Fitch are worse than Spaz/Tranquil. BJK mentioned this. It is hard to believe anybody could be worse that Tranquil when he was at BC.
Its honestly pretty hard for me to say Smith or Flutie are D1 Qbs today(if ever). Smith has D1 speed - but otherwise looks kinda lost out there. I dont get a sense that he grasps the offense all that well. Flutie doesnt seem to do any particular thing well either. this still falls on the staff for not having a viable backup on the roster
Howell punted 12 times, that was 12 times, for an average of 42.3. I would have to say that that was pretty good even for Flo of Progressive Insurance.
22 punts in the last 2 games. Howell is our MVP on offense.
ATL,
Did you notice Flutie telling the coaches late in the Louisville game that he needed another player on the field even after the delay of game call/timeout aversion call(I forget which one it was)?
Don't you think the coaches give Flutie an audible call to run when there are 6-7 upfront which he needs to check to? Have you noticed his audibles mostly end up with dives up the middle. Seems forced to me given he threw for 100 TD's in high school.
I think Addazio/Fitch give Flutie 2 plays and they give Smith 1. Flutie needs to audible based on what these idiots tell him to do based on the presnap read. If Addazio dumbed down the playbook for Flutie like he does for Smith Flutie would look less perplexed.
I don't see Smith audibling at the rate Flutie does. There is something behind that and I think it has to do with the coaching staff. They are either overloading Flutie consciously or subconsciously. Either way it needs to stop. They need stop micromanaging him and let him play like they let Smith play.
Bill O'Reilly had Urban Meyer on tonight promoting his new book.
He said he creates 4 groups on offense(WR,Line,QB's, RB) and four groups on defense(line, lb's, corners and safteys). He tries to create a family/group/accountability concept to the people in the group because it keeps the players focused on successes that they can control in their group.
Interesting kind of selfish/selfless concept. Not corny all-for-the team crap or individualistic crap. Middle of the road philosophy.
Knuck
Flutie's been practicing w/ the team a year and a half. Smith 2 months. Shouldn't Troy be able to handle more?
The most recent Daz excuse train: he's not making excuses, "almost counts", blame Spaz, blame injuries, blame age, blame recruiting, blame your opponents, blame future NFL level opponents, blame no early bye week, BC is always about defense (ha! Daz) and blame the players first approach, but the FUTURE IS BRIGHT... really please believe me.....
But whatever you do "DO NOT HOLD DAZ ACCOUNTABLE." what a weasel.
This program is built on playing great defense. That was the number one thing I wanted to do when I took this program over. We had to become an elite defense
I'm not making excuses
We played against a really good football team, which we knew going in.
Obviously, on offense right now we are riddled with injuries. We had more injuries in the game.
We are having a hard time getting a level of consistency playing a bunch of young guys upfront against good defenses
We are eight points from being 6-2 right now. We've lost three games by eight points.
Along the way we have a lot of freshmen on the offensive line. They're not used to the intensity level of the season.
We don't have a lot of depth.
We don't have a bye week.
Although it gets difficult when, once again, we are dealing with injuries.
Yet we are not that far off. We're eight points away in three games.
We were right there in the end within 20 yards of striking position to either win the game or to kick it into overtime.
We had a couple of young guys getting flat-out beat. And that happened.
Our guys got beat by some really good football players. Louisville has two defensive ends who are going to be pro football players.
If you see any smile on my face, it's because I know that we've got a tough football team that's going to grow.
it's a team that will be strong in the future. I know there's frustration, especially on offense. But they'll get better. It'll happen. Just be patient.
It doesn't happen in a day or a year, but in the big scheme of things, we know we've got a tough football team with talent.
We are a byproduct of a tremendous void in those couple of classes. But we have a big void.
There should be a bunch of linemen here who should be true seniors or fifth-year seniors, but they don't exist.
There should be a quarterback around here that's a junior or senior, but that doesn't exist.
There should be an older running back, but that doesn't exist.
They get beat in man coverage and they get that deer in a headlight look, and you just have to roll them out of there.
We had a few young guys who had that wide-eyed look on them.
Good work herzlich is doing regarding abuse. Article in ny times. Wife looks like a man though.
No knock on Flutie. He should not right now. He is a first year player and is a third string QB, right? The coaches need to put him in a position to be successful. To me that means one play comes into the huddle and the coaches take responsibility for the outcome of it.
. . . Just like Stevie does for Jeffie
Coming in at #24 on www.coacheshotseat.com Daz. Moved ahead of McIntyre at CU. I realize he is not getting fired until 2017-18 unless we improve, but it's nice to see outsiders recognize what is happening with the offense at BC
You should acknowledge the fact that he's both right and burying himself in a corner for '16 and '17. Some part of the Daz's Life Doesn't Matter crew should be content.
CT
He's been saying from day 1 that he's had a 5 yr. plan to be competing for the league title in 2017. I for one am still in his corner and think he can get it done.
While not happy about the results, I'm fine waiting to see what 2016 and barring another abysmal season, what 2017 looks like. Give the man a full player cycle (4-5 yrs) before judging the state of the program.
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