Thursday, November 02, 2017

Is the bye coming at the wrong time?

BC is the hottest team in the conference. For the first time in years, the offense is clicking. We have a QB who seems to grow in confidence every week. It feels like we could take on Alabama. Instead we have a bye.

Bye weeks can be very helpful. Your players get a chance to get healthy. You also get extra time to prepare for the next opponent. But Addazio's track record with byes is not great. He is 2-9 at BC following a bye week (he was 2-2 off of byes at Temple).

Some of Addazio's struggles are probably less about a bye and more about bad football. In 2015 we didn't beat anyone -- bye, short week, back-to-back road games, etc. But even beyond that, he has not done well. I don't know if it is a focus issue or just dumb luck. My only explanation is that in general Addazio is not some sort of Xs & Os guru, so that extra time doesn't serve his strengths. He's not cooking up some sort of unique twist. But the areas where he excels -- motivating players, getting them to buy in and grind it out, is not served by the time off. The players catching their breathes or losing focus for even a week, is hard to overcome. Who knows? There is no easy way to explain it. The record is the record.

While I don't love the bye placement this season, I think the bigger issue will be who our opponent plays. NC State lost to Notre Dame last week and plays Clemson this week. Those are two tough, emotional games. I like having to play them after they have faced the best. I think it helps our chances as they may be discouraged or beat down.

Unrelated to this actual game is the extra recruiting time the bye provides. Maybe that is the way Addazio overcomes his bye issues:  recruit so much talent that you can't lose.

24 comments:

Unknown said...

Scott Loeffler will be cooking up the new twists. Not to worry. Just Let Dazzle-Not recruit.

John said...

Good for Landry to maybe make it back from the ankle injury and Brown as well from the right shoulder injury. Probably several others too. I don't know if Richardson can make it back because we never really knew the extent of his knee injury. It may get be better for him to get ready for next season, but IDK.

I don't think we'll come out flat this time - at least I hope not.

JBQ said...

I was thinking about AB and his shoulder. Forgot about Landary. He didn't look too happy wearing the boot. You also have to remember that these guys are 18-19 years old. They heal quickly both physically and emotionally.---I think that they will be ready for the Wolfpack whether NC St is high or nigh.

BCEagles2014 said...

I was just thinking that. It would be classic BC to have our hot streak stopped by a bye week, but yet again this has been an unusual season. I was convinced BC would come out flat against FSU in what was a statement win, but they executed to perfection. Hoping Daz can maintain the positive vibes and energy during this bye.

Knucklehead said...

Couldn't be a better time. It is the biggest game of the season. Dline and Dillon need the time. Dazzler has no rotation on the line and has been working Dillon hard.
Game is at home. The morgue will have an impact on NC State.

Geezer eagle said...

The morgue?

Goberry said...

After playing at South Bend and against Clemson, I think describing Alumni as a morgue is apt.

Geezer eagle said...

I haven't been up there in years, but what I see and hear,there is a definite lack of enthusiasm at Alumni. Way too much apathy. It's also outrageous that the people of Boston and Mass. Don't give a shit about BC football.

Unknown said...

If we start winning regularly again they will care. I had a season ticket in the mid nineties and Alumni was either sold out or very near capacity.
Will never forget Father Monan enthusiastically greeting fans as they left the parking garage while his successor high tailed it up the steps and out of the area.
He also canceled mid-night madness as basketball was revving up was detracting from things
academic according to him.
Thanks to Chet I was also able to attend four home basketball games sold out or very near
capacity.
Getting smashed in many football games and years losing in basketball help to propagate
the sad Boston is only a pro-town story
Win often and a lot and "THEY WILL COME".

JBQ said...

"Anne Marie" opened the door as Perry Mason would say. Why is Boston a "one horse town"? There are multiple reasons that can be summed up in terms of Marty Walsh, the Salem Witch trials, and Patrick Ewing. The Patriots are viewed as America's team from a Boston perspective. Marty Walsh is working class Irish and doesn't associate with the "snobs on the hill". Patrick Ewing came from Jamaica and was culturally deprived at Boston Latin before being rejected, probably rightfully, and then being a trumpet call for Georgetown and social justice. Ann Glover was the last witch hung in Boston with newest research saying that she was one of the 50k sent to Barbados by Oliver Cromwell. She was a nanny who spoke Gaelic mixed with Church Latin and the radical Protestants hung another follower of Popery.----BC has fallen into the trap of elitism. There are 28 Jesuit colleges and universities. Almost all are built in urban decaying centers to inspire the rebuilding of society. BC needs to reach out instead of hiding out like Father Leahy appears to do.----When the Irish working class neighborhoods were devastated by busing, the Church stood by and watched the houses burn. BC has multiple layered problems which all stem from elitism. There has to be some way of changing the image of BC. The potential for that "shining city on the hill" is more than obvious.----In March of 2015, I visited the campus after taking the train up from New York and the St. Patrick's Day Parade. I took the green line. I was able to find St. Ignatius open and went in for a visit. As I left, an individual was waiting on the sidewalk for me. I did not see him and as I came down the little sidewalk, he tried to run me over. I thought that was strange.---I then went over to the football offices and showed a written invitation to visit from BB. The secretary, Amanda I believe, was very nice and sent me over to the athletic offices. I went over there past mountains of snow and wove my way up the back stairs.---I asked for BB and was told that he was "out at the dentist" by Jill Hagarty, a truly gracious Irish lass whose husband runs the hockey support. Obviously, she is the backbone of the athletic department and is handling the transition for Jarmond. I wonder just how long that she will last after that.----I then left and went to the bookstore. As I left the bookstore to head back to the green line, I saw three students on the other side of the street. They saw me and immediately crossed the street and made a bee-line for me. Like I was supposed to get out of their way and the big one ran into me. I kept going and all three had stopped to try to keep it going.----I arrived at the green line stop. I stood in line behind a young woman. We waited for some ten minutes. As the green line came in and stopped, a young male student walked up to the front of the line and attempted to get on at the front of the line. I confronted him and told him to let the young woman on first. I then stepped aside.----I have to wonder on just what side of God's green earth, the BC campus has fallen. It is beautiful and filled with architectural awe. It also appears that many on campus are living in their own little "dream world".----Father Monan appears to have been cut out of the mold of Barry Fitzgerald. Father Leahy has turned into just one more elite snob who wants to reform the campus. This is a school ranked consistently number 30 without an engineering school and without a medical school (nursing only). Just how is that done?---So, "Anne Marie", there are plenty of reasons just why Boston won't support BC. It is all based on an image of elitism. BC needs to work hard at changing the image. It doesn't help when BC sells a "few above five" tickets to bowl games.

Knucklehead said...

No games are selling out. The Ohio State Penn State game wasn't filled. Watch the birds eye camera in the 1 St quarter.

John said...

Patrick Ewing graduated from Cambridge Rindge and Latin, I believe.

JBQ - can BC (men and women for others) be socialist, as you have mentioned in the past, and elitist too? 🙂

Geezer eagle said...

John,
Plenty of wealthy socialist hypocrites. Look no further than the Kennedy's.
JBQ, what do you expect when tuition has exploded to what - $70k a year? The BC student body now consists of rich, spoiled, preppy brats.

Knucklehead said...

When did Martin Luther nail his 57 points or how many ever to the wall, JBQ?

ORDEagle said...

Wow. Way to run down the school. But you are not describing the place I see. Must be cool to be an expert from afar or from one visit three years ago.
Are there "rich, spoiled, preppy brats" at BC? Sure but you can find them at any major university. But there are a lot more smart, interesting, engaged, nice kids - many of who care more about Chemistry than football. When you are done bitching about socialists, next time you are on campus visit campus ministry instead of the athletics office and see the kids who are out in the neighborhoods of Boston spending their free time helping other people, there are a lot of them doing it. Go to a mass on campus and see who is there. Are there 8500 perfect kids on campus - of course not but the vast majority are quality young people getting a great education that still requires them to take philosophy and theology. So stop with the mass character assassination because my son is one of those kids.
Oh and by the Marty Walsh went to BC and has no problem associating himself with it.
Go Eagles!

CT said...

I always like getting reminded every two weeks about JBQ’s visit to the athletic offices years ago. I never want to get the details confused. For example, was Brad Bates playing golf or was he really at the dentist’s office? Was Jill Hagarty really that nice, or just covering for Bates’ weekly trip to The Country Club and thus “in” on the joke? Does this experience color every subsequent comment from the author? Why yes. Yes, it does.

Keep it up JBQ! Christian Suntrup may still have eligibility left!

Geezer eagle said...

Not spoiled snow flake brats? What middle class parents can afford to send their kids to BC anymore? For the most part it's composed of the wealthy or affirmative action poor. Not a good cross-representation of American society.

John said...

You have to factor in financial scholarships, financial aid and jobs given as part of the package.

BC may be lagging behind with their rewards, GE - I don't know at this point.

My younger brother has two daughters in Catholic colleges with tuition as high as BC's through these programs - and another daughter in a prestigious prep school on sports scholarship - but there is still a great deal of out of pocket money involved.

They are "middle class" for sure. This can be done, but at great sacrifice, of course.

I have to believe that their are many students at BC whose families are making big sacrifices, and who are not wealthy.

But there are good points here.

With the financial cost of a BC education so high, and football, MHockey, WHockey, MBB, etc = multiple games per week - where is the balance? There's pressure to make sure the studies don't suffer.

So our teams must be exciting or no one will show up.

I think Mr. Martin Jarmond gave Addazio that message loud and clear.

As we used to say, Georgia Eagle - Lima Charlie! ☺️

Go BC - make optimum use of this bye week and also catch up on your academics. ☺️

mod34b said...

JBQ, you are always quite a nice man, but I must wonder about your note. YOu came to BC and got into 3 scuffles? How is that possible? I suppose Brad Bates can count his lucky stars for not being there. I think you would have ginned something up and pummeled the stiff St Louie style. Obviously, you do not beat women so Jill was safe.

To recap your visit in March 2015:

- I was able to find St. Ignatius open and went in for a visit. As I left, an individual was waiting on the sidewalk for me. I did not see him and as I came down the little sidewalk, he tried to run me over . I thought that was strange.---

I then went over to the football offices ..... I then left and went to the bookstore. As I left the bookstore to head back to the green line, I saw three students on the other side of the street. They saw me and immediately crossed the street and made a bee-line for me. Like I was supposed to get out of their way and the big one ran into me . I kept going and all three had stopped to try to keep it going.----

As the green line came in and stopped, a young male student walked up to the front of the line and attempted to get on at the front of the line. I confronted him and told him to let the young woman on first. I then stepped aside.----

It also appears that many on campus are living in their own little "dream world".----

JBQ, is it possible that you were your own world that day too?

Napolean Bonaparte said...

There are a lot of great private universities in this country including BC. But the thing most seem to have in common is room, board and tuition in the neighborhood of $60 - 70,000 and consistently climbing year after year. And, of course, the real rolled up cost is probably more than that when you throw in all the miscellaneous expenses and fees not included in those figures. I can't think of any other organizational model that can get away with that and still survive. I'm also hard pressed to say that a bachelor's degree for something approaching $300k makes any sense. There is a limit to everything at some point. If you have young kids and aren't an investment banker - make sure your next job move is to a state with better than average state universities - or hope they want to attend the Coast Guard Academy, etc.

Geezer eagle said...

Thank you. You nailed it. Plenty of good, small state schools that cost a fraction of elite private schools. Also, not enough youth attending vocational schools. Lots of high paying career opportunities.

CT said...

College in many instances, like BC, has evolved into a business model whereby debt is considered an investment in one’s future. Ridiculous because At 18 I’m not a business. This is a huge issue. Loans and interest usually double over time. A 100k loan turns into 200k. Nobody should be saddled with that. Not even BC is worth it. Had I to do over again, I would have chosen differently, despite my Catholic upbringing. Sad to say when I loved the school. If I had an 18 yr old tomorrow, I wouldn’t push BC. Just the way it is.

Napolean Bonaparte said...

I'm not an expert but my guess is that there are a lot of reasons for this unrestrained increase in cost. Obviously, like any other organization they incur legitimate cost increases for nearly everything. But you have to wonder how well these administrators are able or willing to manage those increases and make some tough choices. I also wonder how much of a roll relatively easy money plays in all of this. In other words - government backed student loans, etc. - that enable the kids to keep attending and never force the colleges to manage costs as a result of declining enrollment. One thing is certain - BC better work on improving those academic ratings if they want to be able to continue on this track because only the very highest ranked schools will be able to survive if and when the numbers of eligible applicants start declining due to inevitable demographic changes.

John said...

NC State looks pretty good.