Sunday, November 26, 2017

Second viewing thoughts and grades: Syracuse

There are times when the score reflects the game and times when it can be a little misleading. For example, the Florida State game really was a domination. The Clemson game was not as lopsided as the final result. This score feels a bit misleading. BC won handily, but for long stretches, it felt like Syracuse was going to get right back in it. Addazio does deserve credit for putting them away, However, there are still areas that weren't perfect. I am glad we have a month to practice.

Offense: A

Unlike past games, Wade played well from the start and throughout the game. He made some nice throws and was a bit more aggressive. I was also really impressed with his ability to avoid the sack when he got flushed out of the pocket.

Dillon is getting so much better at being a complete back. He is finding holes and not just running over people. Hilliman played better than he has been playing. His blocking was much better. Levy looked good when he finally got to see the field.

Like many of our recent opponents, Syracuse loaded the box to disrupt the ground game. The OLine handled the onslot well. Lindstrom played well. Lazard is not having as many problems as he did earlier in the year.

The Tight Ends really made the O click. They blocked well. They got open. They made their catches. Sweeney had some tough ones. Garrison played well. So did Callinan. Loved seeing Jeff Smith break free (what could have been with him...). White made some nice plays. Thadd Smith go multiple touches and did well.

This week's gameplan looked like it was made for Wade. Plenty of short passes. Plenty of boots and play fakes. We also added new wrinkles, ran the sweeps well and got the ball to many different guys. It was a good gameplan.

Defense: B

Allen had a solid game. I don't know if something was wrong, but Ray missed a few tackles. Ray Smtih was fine. So was Merritt.

Schwab played really well...even after he tweaked his leg. Jones seemed a little behind the action, but considering how new he is to LB, he played well.

The DBs were asked to do a lot and were pretty good. Cheevers played well in coverage and had a huge pass breakup that led to Harris' TD. Denis' return off the INT was nice. Torres looked okay in coverage. There were some missed tackles in this group but considering how good Cuse's WRs are, that was to be expected.

I didn't love the Defensive gameplan. I know it contained Syracuse to only 14 points, but they gained a ton of yards and hit lots of big passes. There were also plenty of 3rd down conversions. What saved BC were the 4th down stops and the turnovers. Once we realized that Culpepper was going to hit the passes, why not bring more pressure or give him more looks?

Special Teams: A

The success of the offense of late has hurt Knoll's chances at All ACC. His punts were good Saturday and both landed inside the 20.

Walker was fine.

The kickoffs haven't been as long or clean lately. Being indoors I expected the touch backs again. Maybe something is nagging GS.

No attempts at Field Goals. That was probably smart.

Overall: A-

There was plenty of message board talk after the game as to why Perry didn't get in to play. Maybe he could have been used during the final drive, but at this point it doesn't matter. The kid played and will practice for the bowl as the backup. BC needs a backup for the bowl, so this was not an entirely wasted season. I am not going to get on Addazio for that now. (Three years from now if Perry is great, I may reverse my current opinion.)

The other ingame coaching thing that Addazio did was to use timeouts to ice their kicker. It may seem childish, but in this case it worked.

Overall the team was much better prepared than his previous trips to the Carrier Dome and Wade looked much, much better.

Now it is time to get ready for the bowl and to develop the younger guys.

29 comments:

Edward Griffith said...

Dazzle-Not deserves credit for recruiting which he has developed excellently and staying
out of Loeffler , Reid and Brown's way.
Unless we pay Loeffler about 650,000 ,Reid about 525,000 watch them disappear quickly
and with thus will the sudden resurgence disappear.
The women's coach is out and out a sad excuse losses to Dartmouth , and now BU.
The women's mess was created by DIFLOPPO who got rid of Cathy Inglese BC's big time winner
because she wouldn't be able to recruit the players needed for the ACC.
BATES followed up with the current BIG TIME disaster.

eagletix said...

Small quibble with your capsulated comments: I don't remember Thad Smith succeeding once on his sweeps in three or four attempts. He 's young from an experience POV, but he seemed to be unable to judge when to cut it upfield when things got strung out.

NYCEagle said...

It’s always funny to see the same people who absolutely hated Reid and his game plan last year and early this year now give him credit for the turnaround! The same goes for Loeffler. It’s okay to give the head coach some credit. He’s the motivator telling the kids to stay in the boat when things are going poorly, not these other guys

bceagle93 said...

True NYCEagle. Accountability for successes and failures do rest with the head coach. Too bad our head coach is so thin skinned that he only wants the accolades but has proven to be quick to find excuses when things are not going well.

Yes, Daz did a good job motivating these guys to turn things around this season. But he is a horrible in-game strategist and has consistently struggled to adapt his game plan to win big games (note: I did not say win against a "big name." Taking credit for beating FSU and Louisville in clear down years for those programs gets a bit watered down when you also lose to Wake and NCST).

Despite the finish and the crappy Tier 3 bowl appearance, clown show got to go. I'm now thinking maybe Jaramond should now add Schiano to the short list as well.

TheFive said...

The extent to which people are willing to let antipathy for Daz overshadow this team's turnaround is remarkable. Daz is staying. He deserves to stay. And the future is bright.

Take a look through the roster when you have a moment. We are stocked with young talent and lose no more than a handful of guys who made material contributions. AJ Dillon is the best freshman at BC since ... ? Really, I've been watching every Saturday since the early 1990s and I don't remember a better freshman. The OL has come together (and is young in key respects), and we have talent at the QB position. Our entire system is structured around a strong OL and solid running backs -- next year, we will return Dillon, Hilliman, and Levy (who only has scratched his potential). The recent uptick in "explosive" plays is not an accident. It has come together. And it is beautiful. More importantly, we have the pieces to keep it together.

On the other side of the ball, the D was basically taped together at LB and still played at a relatively high level down the stretch. Next year, we will be exceptionally deep at LB; our DL will be at least decent; and our DBackfield has shown depth the likes of which we never really see at BC (how about Hamp Cheevers coming in and playing like that?!?)

There are very few programs in the Atlantic Division on such solid footing. Clemson, definitely. FSU is loaded with question marks (e.g., will Jimbo be in College Station next month?), and Louisville's entire Athletic Department could be in jail by this time next year. Wake was a paper tiger and that L was the product of ugly turnovers. Syracuse just followed up a "program defining" win with an equally program defining five consecutive losses. NC State has had a nice two year trend; I still think we're better.

Do I trust Daz at the end of halves? Not at all. Also, I've heard his personality is quite grating (though not on the team, which appears to love him). But he's actually improved in problem areas. But for an aggressive end of the first half against Northern Illinois, we lose that game. But for staying aggressive with leads against Louisville, UVa, and Syracuse, we would have been susceptible to a come back. The end of the first half against ND was inexcusable; so was not figuring out that you can still run the ball with 3 minutes left against NC State. So, Daz remains flawed. The flaws, though, showed some signs of receding this year.

Finally -- FINALLY, it has been YEARS -- our program is on the upswing and recent success was not due to the fluky performance of a fifth year transfer. We are not out there in an incredibly competitive coaching market looking for a good young coach after nearly a decade of futility (which is what it appeared we had in store halfway through October). We've got a roster in solid shape; a decent coaching staff; and hope for the future. The kids have bought in. Let's have some fun. Pay more attention to AJ Dillon than our over-caffeinated head coach and enjoy it. He just averaged over 5 YPG on his way to 1400 yards in what basically was 7 games!

NYCEagle said...

I hate to break it to everyone on this message board but I think Jarmond may care more about how the players feel about Addazio than how we feel, unless you’re making a 6 figure donation to the athletic program. Listen to the kids (talented kids he brought here) talk about him and then tell me they should fire him

BCAlum2000 said...

BC does not need a Schiano type guy. I dont at all buy the BS at Tennessee ... i.e. that they cared about his past versus they just didnt like the choice. That said, I dont think he is a good coach and would add nothing at BC. Like it or not, Adazzio is back next year and I hate to say it, but he deserves to be. However, next year is make or break. If this team does not win 9+ and score 30+ a game, he needs to go. I mention the 30+ because it is clear this offense had the ability, but he chose to keep them shackled as he has the past 4 years, until it was dire straights. Once unleashed, we have seen the results. To me that is the biggest damnation of him as a head coach. He was unable to understand what type of team/talent he had and only when he was backed into a corner, did he allow them to let lose.

mod34b said...

I think a "B" for defense is too generous.

Yes, the Spaz-like bend-don't break defense was effective at its main job: limiting Syr to 14 points. Still, Syr ripped our D pretty good with a Frosh QB with only 1 game's experience.

I'd give the BC defense a "C."

EL MIZ said...

agree with the Five - we shouldn't let griping over Daz distract from how amazing Dillon has been. what a huge coup to land him - Michigan could really use him right now at RB, couldn't they?

Andre Williams as a Senior or AJ Dillon as a true freshman - you tell me:

@ Louisville - 272 yards on 39 carries, 4 TD
v. FSU - 149 yards on 33 carries, 1 TD
v. NC State - 196 yards on 36 carries, 1 TD
v. UCONN - 200 yards on 24 carries, 2 TD
@ Syracuse - 193 yards on 23 carries, 3 TD

to bring him back along with the QB, the entire OL, the TEs, most of our WRs - the offense should be very good next year. the days of making easy money on the BC Under appear to be over.

working rich said...

So where will the bowl be ?
And please
Play a name team. !

Knucklehead said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Knucklehead said...

Not going to fit a BC. He can chop wood somewhere else.

The key for Dazzler is being able to keep pasqualoni, the recruiter from NJ and Zukauskas. Dazzler ought to kick back 20% of the 2.5 mill to Zuks.

John said...

Do not want Schiano - ever. He is not a better coach than Addazio IMHO. Plus Daz has earned another year, as we are finally on the upswing.

AJ Dillon is our best freshman running back, I believe. William Green was pretty good, as was Montel Harris. ☺️

Agree with Knuckle about Zukauskas and all coaches who recruit NJ - Campanile as well as Coach P?

Our players by and large are good fits for BC and that's a credit to Daz and entire staff.

JBQ said...

Bowl projections of today: 1) Detroit and Western Michigan on Dec. 26-----2) Shreveport and Utah on Dec. 27. Pinstripe is gone.

Geezer eagle said...

What are your sources?

John said...

SBNation has BC vs Iowa in the Pinstripe as of yesterday.

John said...

Also, if the "powers that be" place Louisville into the Pinstripe over BC, I think it's a big mistake.

Louisville vs Iowa in NYC is not good.

Same for putting NC State there.

Let's go, people - cut the sh|t and figure this out.

Geezer eagle said...

I would love Iowa in the Pinstripe. If we had beaten NC State the possibilities would be endless.

Eagle Esquire said...

I agree. I posted the other day about how ND wetting the bed had a negative effect on our bowl prospects. Should have said the same thing about the Noles. I don’t see the Taxslayer bowl snubbing them considering the school is only an hour away and tons of alumni are nearby. Even on a bad year they’ll show up in droves. If we beat NC State that literally could not happen because a bowl can’t pick a team over one with two more wins. I just hope we play a decent opponent.

JBQ said...

Espn.com bowl projections, nov 26, 2017: Kyle Bongura: Detroit---Dec 26----BC v Western Michigan------David Hale: Shreveport----Dec 27----BC v Utah. -----Pinstripe has either NC St or Louisville v Purdue.

CT said...

Congratulations to Dillon.

Unanimous All-ACC selection.

John said...

JBQ - I hope those bowl projections are wrong

John said...

The Raleigh News & Observer has a good breakdown of ACC Bowl possibilities including Notre Dame and all the possibilities resulting from next Saturday.

Right now the N&O thinks BC makes the most sense for the Pinstripe in NYC.

STL_eagle said...

BC in the Pinstripe or the Military Bowl makes the most sense on a number of different levels: geographically, conference performance, hot team, etc.

Most of the “experts” making the projections lack the intimate knowledge of the ACC pecking order, past bowl selections and spend most of their focus on the New Year Six selections. My guess is that some intern is picking the majority of the lower tier match ups.

Net, I would not put too much faith in the experts and I doubt that ACC selection committee or the Quick Lane bowl committee would be high on back to back trips to Detroit for BC especially since you have two other candidates in Duke and Virginia with 6-6 records.

JBQ said...

Sports Illustrated has BC-UCLA in Shreveport. SB Nation has BC-Iowa at the Pinstripe in NYC. Obviously, there are a number of possible destinations. Wow, AJ Dillon tied Lamar Jackson for most votes for All ACC.---A reminder and thank you to his grandfather, hard to believe, Tom Gatewood, wide receiver, for ND and the Era of Ara. BC has a "hot tamale' in AJ. Now, let's see what they can do with him. It was remarked that at 240 pounds that he has 18 inch in diameter tree trunks. ---- Just so he keeps his humility in perspective, there was a female tiger killed at the Eiffel Tower within the last two days. She escaped from a private zoo. "Mevy" weighed a hefty 450 lbs.

Bravesbill said...

If BC loses its bowl game, it will finish 7-6 just like last year. Tell me again why Daz has earned himself another year?

chicagofire1871 said...

Because BC’s historical win percentage is just shy of 7 wins. BC is a seven win program. That’s not a firable achievement.

Geezer eagle said...

Sad when a program aspires to 7 win seasons.

NYCEagle said...

This team has a realistic chance to win 9 games next year. Do you really want to risk firing him now of all times?