Photos of BC-URI

Some of these are mine and others came courtesy of Rita R. As you can see, the weather looked promising in the morning. As the game wore on it went from slight drizzle to downpour.

Second viewing thoughts and grade report: Rhode Island

No grades this week. Why bother? The game was lopsided. The conditions stunk. And in fairness I didn’t get to watch the game back a second time. These are my thoughts from the scrimmagegame.


Offense: NA

As you would hope, the offensive line played well. Their size and skill advantage was evident from the first snap. The only player who had what could even be termed a bad day was Matt Tennant. His snaps out of the shotgun were much more wild than usual. I assume it was due to the wet balls. Tennant was also involved in our only turnover, when he snapped the ball and it hit an in motion Purvis. I have no idea if it was Crane who called for the snap or if Purvis shouldn’t have been there or if Tennant just jumped the gun. Regardless, it was a turnover and would have been much more important against an ACC team. The good news is that most of the second team guys got on the field. Spinney, Murphy, Sheil and Richman all saw time (Rossi rotated in earlier). They opened up big holes and kept the QBs safe, so no complaints about the offensive line.

The poor wide receivers and tight ends. Here we are playing a team meant for stat padding and we only throw the ball nine times…(nine times!). Give the group credit though. Despite the weather and the lack of passing they sustained their blocks downfield. Robinson’s one catch was nice. Purvis’ catches were nice timing patterns. Momah dropped a nice throw from Davis. Jarvis and Davis had a mix up in the end zone right before Jarvis got popped. If I were grading this, the pass catchers would certainly get an incomplete.

I am not going to go overboard just yet, but I am starting to get excited out Montel Harris’ upside. Sure it was only Rhode Island but he was able to break the initial tackles and make multiple people miss. We still don’t know the extent of his speed or strength, but he’s clearly got balance and vision. Considering he ran for nearly 80 yards, it was a pretty ho-hum game for Jeff Smith. The good news is that he showed more power than he has in the past. We know Jeff Smith can run away from people. In this case he ran through people a bit more. Haden was a non factor and according to Jags is still nursing his ankle injury. Razzie Smith was part of mop up duty which doesn’t tell you much.

Some are using this game as reason to move Crane to the bench permanently and hand things over to Davis. I don’t think it is time yet. If the coaches feel that Chris Crane didn’t earn a benching after Georgia Tech and UCF, then a cameo against URI shouldn’t make a difference. Granted Davis looked better, but the conditions were still so unique you can’t read too much into it. As for going forward, don't be surprised if this game turns into a template: Crane starting, Davis coming in and the coaches going with the hot hand for the majority of the game.

There are three ways to use a game like this. 1. Experiment with new things and sharpen your sloppy areas. 2. Play close to the vest and just dominate with a simple gameplan. 3. See what works early and just stick with it. The passing wasn’t working so Logan ran, ran and ran some more. 42-0 later there wasn’t much to say. I don't mind the lack of passing as it means TOB has to prepare with little game film. One thing that did please me is that Logan added a bit of variety in the redzone playcalling when Davis was in.

Defense: NA

The defensive line played well. For the first time since Albright went down, or DEs got to the QBs. Newman had some real athletic plays. Raji and Brace played well and even dropped into coverage on occasion. Ramsey saw plenty of snaps. Scafe was very active. Willette played well. Holloway still didn't get on the field, which makes me think he will probably redshirt.

Herzy had another great game. Although he was called for pass interference, I thought it was a bad call. Toal looked good early. Francois played well. McLaughlin played well. Williams and Thompson looked good.

Akins spent most of his time at CB. He played well. Fletcher continued to look good. Bowman and Davis played well. Anderson continued his high level of play. He made some really nice tackles.

Special teams: NA
Rhode Island threw the kitchen sink at us during special teams. A well-played onsides kick kept the ball away from Jeff Smith on his one chance to return the ball. They also tried a variety of punt formations.

Gunnell’s decisions on punt returns were good. He was a step away from breaking his long return for a TD.

Quigley looked much better after his attempts at placing the ball last week.


Overall: NA

In the post game press conference, Jags mentioned seeing things he didn’t like. That makes two of us. The game could have been even more lopsided than it was. The passing was not sharp and there were a few mental mistakes and dumb penalties. But the win counts, so I'll take it.

Wet, wet win

As I've been saying, there's not much you can take away from these games. A good effort and another shutout. The passing game never clicked...partly due to the QBs, partly due to the weather, and partly due to the lack of need. Why pass when you can run with ease?

It was nice to be back in Alumni, however, I could have used a little less rain. Now we need to get ready for TOB and figure out who gets the ball in crunch time.

Grades and thoughts coming late Sunday night. I'll also post my pictures Sunday if my wet camera still works.

In-game comments post: Rhode Island

The word of the day is "wet." For those watching the game via ESPN 360, I am sure you'll see plenty of aluminum and some sloppy play. Regardless, BC should control the game.

Since I will be at the game, I will not be on line during the events. Leave your comments and thoughts below.

BC-Rhode Island preview

Playing a team from a lesser division doesn’t tell you much. Win with ease and no one cares. Get a scare like UMass gave us last year and everyone questions everything. Lose, like Michigan did to App State, and you think the world has ended. Ultimately though it is just a game where one team has more resources than the other. Because of that known disparity both teams scheme and react differently as the day plays out. Yet Michigan showed that good teams can have off days and still put together a decent season. Regardless of how BC plays Saturday I am not going to read too much into the final score.


Narrative talking point that you’ll tire of by the end of the game.
“Chris Crane really turned a corner in the UCF game.” Crane may have turned a corner against Central Florida. We won’t know it by watching this game. As I said above URI is so outclassed here it will be hard to take away much from this game. We won’t know if it all clicked for Crane until he has a few more ACC games under his belt.

Three simple keys
1. Less than three turnovers. The only way URI is winning this game is if BC hands it to them. The easiest way to do that is by coughing up the ball. I think BC could survive one or two turnovers (we have so far). But if they make more mental errors, the game could be uncomfortably close.
2. Pressure the passer. URI doesn’t have much of a running game so stopping the run won’t be a choir. We need the front seven to get to the quarterback.
3. Score quickly. I am all for methodic clocking killing football, but this is not the week for that. The lesson from UCF – open things up. A blowout will build confidence and allow the second teamers to play.

Gambling Notes
-- The last four DIAA games BC has played have not had betting lines
-- BC has not lost to a DIAA team since 1978
-- Jags has yet to lose a non conference game
There is no line on the game


Factoid
BC last played Rhode Island in 1917. (A rivalry renewed!)

Scoreboard Watching
I will be paying attention to USF vs NC State. Last week TOB’s team showed moxie in fighting for overtime against East Carolina. If they win this week, I’ll be officially worried about our game against the Wolfpack.

I hope to see…
Dominique Davis play the entire second half. Davis needs the time and it would also mean that Crane put the game away in the first half.

BC is in trouble if…
Too many guys get hurt. I don’t see a loss under any circumstances but I would hate to see one or two guys suffer serious injuries. The meat of the schedule is approaching and we’ve already lost Albright. We need to come out of this game healthy.

Bottom Line
Outside of the weather, this should be a nice weekend. I am hoping to see everyone clicking and more time for all the freshmen. Even if Crane continues his uneven play, this game should be an easy W.
Final Score: BC 35, URI 6

Marketing that works: Parents Weekend Patsies

As we know the BC season ticket base is relatively fickle. The big games are always packed, but some lesser opponents keep people at their tailgates or even at home. BC cannot play a murder’s row schedule every year, so how do you increase ticket demand for some of the less desirable games? Easy! You pawn them off on BC parents in town for Parents Weekend.

Although I am cynical about this sort of scheduling, it is brilliant in its execution.

Here is why:

1. Parents don’t care who we play. They are in town to see their kids, see the campus, go out to dinner, and sample the BC experience. They hear about the tailgating. They see BC on TV. Now they get a chance to go to a BC game. They are willing to see any game. So it’s not Notre Dame or Clemson. It’s still BC football. And by playing a patsies, a win is highly likely, which sends them home happy.
2. It also serves as our “good for New England game.” When the postseason restrictions on playing FCS programs (fka DIAA) were eased, Gene introduced the good for New England game. He spun that playing a New England DIAA school helped the regions’ football. Like everyone would be talking about the great BC-UNH rivalry if we just played them once every six years. The reality is that we are just playing fodder like all other programs do now. If every college in New England dropped football, we'd still play a FCS opponent. But the bright side of playing the schools in your backyard is that they will actually buy tickets. If we played North-Central Middle of Nowhere State, their fans wouldn’t come. When we play UMass or Northeastern, the stands are full.

So by increasing demand via BC parents and local fans from other schools, BC has made their annual DIAA game an easy sellout.

If BC were the only school playing this type of game, I’d be disappointed. But we were actually behind the curve. When other schools were playing DIAA programs, we were still filling out home dates with the service academies. (In fact if you look back in the '90s, parents weekend games were often against Temple, Rutgers or Army.) Now patsies are just part of a Parents Weekend tradition like Pops on the Heights. Despite my tone, I am not complaining...I am applauding.