Second viewing thoughts and grades: Notre Dame

That didn't feel like a three-point loss. Did any BC fan trust us to comeback once the Irish got up? Watching the game back just reinforced the point. The energy, the playcalling and even Notre Dame's reaction never turned. As frustrated as we are, I can only guess what some players are thinking.

Offense: C-

Fadule was ok. He's a fighter and looks good at times, but this was the first game where he seemed confused. There were clearly some runs (Williams was downfield blocking, as was Callinan) where Fadule dropped back to pass. He also had clock issues and timing the snap on the jet sweep. Addazio also got on him for some run pass/decisions. His passing wasn't particularly crisp and had trouble with blitzes. Smith looked good and ran with more purpose. His passing was good too. My only real issue was that he screwed up a snap again.

Rouse was fine but better receiving than rushing. Willis ran hard but did not break anything big. Same sort of feel from Wilson. What they all did though was help the play action and the Smith runs later.

This is a different game without the drop from Thadd Smith and less so with the Robinson drop. Those mistakes are killers, but also lead me to wonder why we didn't throw more. I know the QBs are not great passers, but there were open plays out there. Callinan had some really nice catches, including the TD. Sweeney's one grab was nice. Dudeck was fine as the emergency outlet, but when is he ever going to break a tackle? Addazio struggled blocking again.

Although Flutie got on them, the OLine wasn't their worst. Bowen did not play well and Williams struggled a bit, but I thought Baker looked good and moved well. Monteiro played well.

Put aside who is making the QB call for a moment and just look at some of the unintended byproducts. Snap issues. Wasted timeouts. General execution issues with regards to blocking and catching. Timing issues on timing plays (the sweep). This is happening in Week 11. I also don't understand why there wasn't more passing. Plenty of big plays were there. But Notre Dame knew if they stopped the run, they would stop BC. But even with a focus on stopping the run, BC got good run productivity from the QBs.

Defense: B

One of the reasons ND was able to move the ball was the Defensive Line. Each guy had some big plays, but in general they weren't at their best. Abdesmad made the most plays. Wujciak was contained for the most part. Landry missed big on an option. Kavalec was ok. Gutapel helped tip on of the INTs.

If the DLine was not their best, the LBs were. The most impressive play was Strachan and Milano blowing up ND's read option. Daniels also made some nice plays. He was very disruptive in the backfield. Strachan also did well when forced into coverage.

Simmons had a heck of a game. He made heads up plays all over the field. He tackled well too. McClary was tested the most and did ok -- despite the penalty. Johnson played well. Harris looked okay, but he missed a few tackles.

I thought we would blitz more against ND. But we didn't and that allowed them to pass a lot. We were fortunate that we turned the ball over so often. So Brown doesn't get a thumbs up for the scheme, but the players stripping the ball is all part of the package.

Special Teams: C

Lots of Special Teams mistakes to ruin the good stuff. Alston muffed a critical punt and we were lucky the D got the ball back. The penalty on the blocked kick was also bad. Sailing a kick off out of bounds was also bad.

Walker looked good. The punt coverage was good. And we made a field goal!!!

I didn't mind the fake punt. I just wish it had been executed better.

Overall: C+

Addazio said the plan was to play both Quarterbacks. That's fine, but the timing and the in and out still seemed so haphazard. As mentioned above, the rotation seemed to impact execution again. Addazio also deserves a little scorn for the unsportsmanlike penalty. This is a guy who preaches smart football and avoiding mistakes. Yet here he goes getting a 15-yard penalty when we are behind? If a player did that, he would be livid. Beyond the game, this is dumb because it was an ACC crew. Do you think Addazio is getting a reputation among officials? How is that going to pay off in the future?

We lost a close game against a top team. That is not the end of the world. But he gets a C+ because he's ineffective at fixing our issues in-season and keeps making the same mistakes.