BC-Virginia preview

Close games, in general, are not a good sign. But if you are going to be in close games, you better win them. I do credit the staff for pulling out wins in these close games. Too often we've seen coaching staffs mismanage tight games or flat out give them away. Now let's see if the coaching staff is good at resetting. The non-conference schedule is over, we are a road underdog and we have plenty to clean up. We need to win this game. 

What's on my mind (not totally related to this game)
If you didn't see or listen to it, O'Brien was on Julian Edelman's podcast last week. It is another good platform where O'Brien gets to rehash a lot of stories but also promote BC and give us glimpses into his approach to coaching at BC. I have no true way to measure this, but I think it is safe to say O'Brien has done more media than any previous first year BC coach. It is great for BC. He gets to raise our profile and get the attention the program needs in the college football world. He has the right pedigree and personality for it and seems to like doing these types of things. The newness with the media will wear off, but hopefully he remains in demand because we are winning. 

Three Simple Keys
1. Stick with the run. O'Brien made reference to this in his post games. It helps our QBs, plays to our strength and pays off in the second half. 
2. Use the QBs in the running game. This could be related to No. 1. If TC is good to go, we need him to be a running threat. If James plays, he needs to use his legs more. He had lots of potential big keepers that he didn't take last week.
3. Fix the blown assignments in the defensive backfield. In the past two weeks we've allowed lots of guys to get wide open. Fortunately we were not burned. That can't keep happening. 

Gambling notes
-- BC leads the series 7-1
-- BC is 2-1 in Charlottesville 
-- Virginia is 2-1-1 against the spread this year
The current line is BC+1

Factoid
The Brad Butler cheap shot on Kiwi also took place on the first weekend in October.

Scoreboard Watching
SMU-Louisville. We face both later in the year. Either team might be our toughest game left. It will be interesting to see how they do against each other.

BC is in trouble if...TC is not 100%. Can we win with him on one leg? Yes. Can we win with James? We just did. But we won't have a special season if TC is not at his best for he remainder of the year. 

I hope to see...continued pressure from the front four. Ezeiruaku was awesome last week. Let's hope he can do it again.

Bottom Line
I like this matchup. I think (per OB) we establish the run early and control the tempo throughout. We force a few turnovers and get a nice road win.
Final Score: BC 28, UVA 17

BC-Virginia preview

We’ve suffered some beatdowns before, but usually they are against elite teams...Miami in its heyday. Clemson recently. Notre Dame put up some lopsided numbers when they are trending up and we are trending down. But this year’s Louisville team is not elite. It is not like losing to a mediocre Army or Navy team, but the lack of effort and lack of adjustments and the inability to stop them were terrible. Can we bounce back? Sure. We are even favored this week. But last week was the first time it felt like Hafley has lost the lockerroom.

What's on my mind (not totally related to this game)
In case you missed it, BC just announced a new $3 billion capital campaign. $400 million of the goal is for athletics. When people predict that BC will downgrade athletics or purposefully opt out of the looming super leagues, you only need to look at this to know the Board understands the value of sports. I hope the lofty goal as well as new pressure from the ACC forces BC to be more active in supporting and managing their teams.

Three Simple Keys
1. Pressure on the whoever plays QB for UVA. One of the reasons Louisville was able to hit so many long passes is our pass rush. At this point, blitz more just to shake things up. Both of their guys might play this weekend. We need to bring the pressure regardless.
2. Give more design runs for Castellanos. At this point he is our only elite playmaker. Give him some simple RPOs.
3. Don’t get down early. This team is on the edge. If we get behind by double digits again, it will be over.

Gambling notes
--Virginia is 2-2 against the spread
-- Virginia has lost seven straight
-- BC leads the series 6-1
The current line is BC-3.5

Factoid
This is BC’s first national game on the CW Network. It is basically the old Raycom production so it won’t feel that foreign to regular fans. It will be interesting to see if this relationship grows. Football, above all other sports, drives TV and over the air TV companies need draws just like the cable and streamers.

Scoreboard Watching
Clemson-Syracuse. The Orange are 4-0 again which leads to the semi-regular question: is Syracuse good this year? Clemson is also in a desperate need of an ACC win, so this should be pretty telling for both.

BC is in trouble if… We come out flat again. Virginia is bad. They are looking for reasons to fold. If we come out flat again, we give them new life.

I hope to see… The Offensive line dominate. Lost in all the disappointment is how improved the Oline is. It is still a long way to go to get them to elite, but being functional is a step in the right direction. Their biggest problem has been penalties.

Bottom Line
If you have a terrible game, it is nice to rebound against a bad team. I think as long as we limit the big pass plays, BC should be ok. We will score enough to win, it is just a matter of holding them.
Final Score: BC 28, Virginia 21

Game Day Info: Virginia

No comments this year.

What you need to know

Weather: Low 50s with no chance to rain.

Radio: SiriusXM 382

TV: Regional sports networks. Here are the affiliates.

BC-Virginia preview

As everyone else's season devolves into chaos, controversy and cancellations, our season is just...ending. We are playing an afternoon game against a .500 Virginia team with very little at stake. But it is still an opportunity. Another win is another statement. I also think that the unknown bowl situation does add a little juice to the matchup. This might be BC's last game. It would be important for all to end on a high note.

What's on my mind (not totally related to this game)
There has been a lot of chatter about BC's bowl prospects given that the lower tier bowls are cancelling seemingly every day. The picture is also complicated by the one time rule that all teams are eligible regardless of record or games played. These sort of nebulous circumstances never go our way. Yet I remain hopeful. Ticket sales and travel are less of an issue this year. TV ratings rule and we are a proven TV draw. In the end I think a win over Virginia assures a bowl bid. A loss hurts, but is not crushing. I think ESPN and the ACC will put a lot of pressure on our bowl partners and someone will take us.

Three Simple Keys
1. Stay aggressive in the passing game. With Jurk not at 100% or with Grosel potentially getting time, there is the temptation to play conservatively. That is not a good idea. We are at our best when we are going deep and passing early. UVA has been burned in the passing game. I imagine Zay and CJ could do damage against their secondary.
2. Keep the running game simple. The zones and stretches looked good against Louisville. Keep doing that. It will also help the play action.
3. Turnovers, turnovers, turnovers. While not as careless as Louisville, Virginia will cough up the ball. We have to be looking for it and also get back to stripping the ball whenever we can.

Gambling Notes
-- BC leads the series 6-0
-- Hafley is 2-2 on the road
-- Mendenhall is 17-22 in ACC play
The current line is BC+4

Factoid
Mendenhall's first game as a head coach was vs BC.

Scoreboard Watching
Nothing really impacts us at this point. I guess you could argue that it would help the ACC to have both Notre Dame and Clemson win, so they enter the ACC Championship game with one combined loss and in the driver seat for playoff spots. But at this point I am rooting for Clemson to destroy the Irish. This isn't some bitter BC fan mad at our rivals. It is more about the ACC bailing out Notre Dame and then springboarding the Irish into the playoffs. They are good. But what does the ACC get out of this if Notre Dame wins it all? (ND hosts Cuse and Clemson is at VT.)

I hope to see...that BC is so far ahead that they can empty the bench and get all of the walkons and freshman on the field at some point. Without having cupcakes on the schedule and by playing mostly close games, there hasn't been extended time for all the guys in the program. Hopefully it comes this weekend.

BC is in trouble if...we can't get QB pressure. I was fooled. When our front four destroyed Duke, I thought they were going to be pleasant surprise. Since that game they have been Ok to bad (depending on the game). We need to get pressure this week and we need it to start up front.

Overall
I am still surprised Virginia is favored. I know Virginia comes in relatively hot. They are at home. Our QB health is a big question mark. But I still think our passing game is enough to score plenty of them. I think, like last week, we also force a few turnovers and hold on in the end.
Final Score: BC 35, Virginia 27

Big win for basketball

That's how you bounce back from the Duke drubbing. BC defeated defending champions UVA at home Tuesday night. And did so without Thorton or Pop. The young guys like Heath and Hamilton (and Hamilton) led the way and go some help from all down the stretch. Even with Virginia took the lead late, there were some big shots and equally big shots. BC is now 3-1 in the ACC. Congrats to all.

BC looked directionless against UVA

UVA is better than BC. No argument there. BC was not even close to full strength (Mitchell out, Tabbs recovering, Chatman not 100%). Everyone who follows BC knew it would take some sort of miracle to win. The problem with BC's loss, is they looked so passive and unprepared for long stretches.

BC went scoreless for a long stretch in the second half. It wasn't just that UVA played good D as usual. It also wasn't that the shots weren't falling. It was that the guys had no idea where to even attack. They didn't move well. They dribbled out to take ill-advised 3s. It was a total mess.

Bright spots? Pop, I guess. But he is such a bad defender that his offensive productivity needs to be that much more.

We knew the start of ACC play was going to be tough. This made it seem hopeless.

BC Hoops loses tough road game to UVA

I don't know if this will be a "turn-the-corner" season or just more of the same from other Jim Christian years, but Saturday's loss seemed more encouraging than the typical moral victory. BC went on the road to a ranked UVA team, played UVA's style of game, got an off day from Bowman and nearly upset the Cavaliers.

Jerome Robinson was on fire. He scored 29 of BC's 58 points. It was a real hero game as he drove to the basket, made tough jumpers and a few 3s against UVA's typical disciplined D. The other thing of note as we head towards ACC play is that Christian only played six guys the whole game and Luka Kraljevic only played 14 minutes. This team has no depth but the top guys are clearly ACC-level players. Can he get away with that during the remainder of the ACC season?

If Bowman has his normal game, BC wins. If BC draws up a better inbounds at the end, they win. If UVA's Jerome doesn't nail two NBA 3s late, BC wins. There is a lot to like and the D is improved. Now just turn some of these close games into Ws.

Second viewing thoughts and grades: Virginia

I mocked Addazio when he predicted beauty. I guess I should be mocking myself now. I don't know if we can sustain this, but for two straight weeks, the Offense has dominated. Watching it back, I was struck by the talent on the field. We can question if it is being used well or coached up, but the size and speed is tough to deny.

Offense: A

Brown did nearly everything right. His deep passes were more accurate. He made quick decisions. He ran when he had to. It was also his most productive day. I thought his most impressive throw was the first TD to Sweeney. Brown sold the fake hard and then took an extra pause to throw a catchable ball.

It was going to be nearly impossible for Dillon to top last week. UVA wasn't going to let him either. But even with their determination to stop him, he still had some good runs. I love that he is very careful with the ball in traffic, yet can still use his arm to toss kids. Hilliman had a really nice catch. I also liked Levy in the mix.

Sweeney seems like a new man. Great runs after the catch. Slipping through coverage. I think opponents will start keying on him more. Thadd Smith made some nice moves on his TD. White looked very strong on his TD. Glad to see Garrison get back into things.

One OL guy who I haven't mentioned much this year, but who did play well this week was Schmal. He rotates, but seemed to get more snaps this week. He had some solid blocks and opened some holes. Monteiro had some balance or footwork issues because I saw him fall a few times. Petrula was good. Lindstrom was good.

The Offense had numerous issues the past two years and I pointed much of it at Loeffler (and Addazio). He deserves credit for this game. BC had some great calls against what UVA was doing. Even as they kept loading the box, BC had answers to get the play off and into space. As for other adjustments, I am glad the are letting Brown throw deep and giving him the green light to run more.

Defense: A

Ray played very well and got a big sack. Merritt and Smith had one of their better games stuffing the middle. Allen was good, although not an impactful as he had been the past few weeks. Landry was limited with his ankle.

Lamot had another solid game. He is getting more aggressive and attacking each game. UVA did not target Bletzer in pass coverage as some teams have done. He made some nice plays. Schwab was very productive.

Harris had his best game in a few weeks. Many tackles, good coverage and getting a foot in on that weird INT. Glad Cheevers got another moment after last week's big play. Torres had some tough moments on their one TD drive. He missed a tackle on 3rd down and got called for Pass Interference in the endzone. Moore and Yiadom were fine.

Reid kept it simple. In fact it was only after they built up the lead that you started to see some unique fronts and blitzes. My one gripe is that there were a lot of open spaces in the middle. I don't know how much was by design or Lamot being a little too aggressive. I think we better adjust or else teams will kill us intermediate passes down the middle. Also, there are still some tackling issues.

Special Teams: A-

The only nitpicky thing was that Walker let too many punts bounce and roll. The punts and kicks he returned were fine.

Knoll thankfully didn't have as much to do and was fine.

Lichtenberg was fine.

Schulze-Geisthovel continued to boot the kickoffs.

Overall: A

During the game, I wrote that the first half was the best half of football BC had played under Addazio. Nearly everything worked. The second half wasn't as clean, but BC did the right things. I was most encouraged that BC kept playing aggressively during the first few possessions of the second half.

I know BC fans and just casual college football followers are all trying to figure out what happened. I don't know if there is a simple answer. In my opinion it started with the offensive line a few weeks ago. Then Dillon exploded. In turn UVA sold out to stop the run and ended up exposed to big plays.

Now it is up to Addazio to keep building on this.

BC crushes UVA

For the second week in a row, BC's Offense exploded. The difference between last week and this week's win over UVA was that the D stepped up too. BC dominated from the start. The most promising and exciting aspect of the game was seeing other guys make huge plays. Thadd Smith and White both had huge game-changing TDs. UVA was determined to stop Dillon and that opened up so many other things.

Twitter, the message boards and my Periscope were filled with "Addazio safe" talk. This game certainly helps that cause. I don't know how the season will play out and don't take back what I wrote after the Virginia Tech loss, but he is starting to look safe. Win two more and he is coming back. But I am not going to focus on that. Instead I want to enjoy BC winning and playing exciting football.

I will have second viewing thoughts and grades up late Sunday.

The post-game Periscope is below.

Post game Periscope. BC upsets Virginia https://t.co/cHlZrJFNu0

— Bill Maloney (@bcatleagle) October 21, 2017

In-game comments post: Virginia

Let's make it two in a row!

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BC-Virginia preview

Last week I asked for something unexpected. We got it. Beyond shaking up the doldrums of the season, it also gave BC and Addazio new life. A much needed bowl berth is still on the table. But to get there, BC needs to finish 3-2 at the worst. Virginia is a favorite, but this is a winnable game. As we know, winning a winnable game doesn't come easy.

What's on my mind (not totally related to this game)
Virginia's hiring of Bronco Mendenhall is an interesting test case for BC. Although there are geographic and religious differences, I think BC and Virginia share a similar sports culture, leadership perspective and philosophy. Prior to Mendenhall, Virginia Football had made a lot of hires based on fit and ties to the school. Mendenhall was a true outsider. His first year was rough on and off the field. This year, there seems to be improvement. (I don't know how donors are reacting.) BC has made a lot of recent hires based on fit and ties. The last guy you might call an outsider was Dan Henning. Now as we potentially approach another search, maybe we look to UVA's example and hire someone totally new to BC. Perhaps the risk of the coach not fitting in is worth the upside of being something greater than you've been.

Three Simple Keys
1. Continue to exploit play action. After last week, Virginia will likely load up to stop the run. BC needs to hit the short play action passes to make them pay regardless of whether it is Brown or Wade.
2. Better tackling. I know it is silly and simple, but it has been an issue all season. Virginia lacks some of the game breakers we've seen in other games. No one they have is as elusive as Lamar Jackson, so everyone needs to wrap up.
3. Don't give the ball away. Virginia is not a bunch of ball hawks and don't generate many turnovers. We need to protect and be careful. Don't help them out.

Gambling Notes
-- BC won on it only previous trip to Charlottesville
-- Addazio is 10-12 on the road
-- BC leads the all-time series 5-0
The current line is BC+7

Factoid
As has been mentioned by Blauds and will probably be worked into the broadcast, Spaz's son is a walk-on at UVA. I have no ill will toward the kid. I just wish his dad had never been our head coach.

Scoreboard Watching
Can one win get us back to watching scoreboards or should I focus on the coaching carousel? How about a little of both? The game I will pay attention to is Penn State vs Michigan. Beyond the interest in two Big Ten powers, I am also interested to see how Moorhead does against Don Brown's defense.

I hope to see...
BC stop the big plays. If we are going to truly be a bend but don't break, then let's start seeing some results.

BC is in trouble if...
We keep missing field goals. They won't all be chip shots like the end of last week. We need to convert some or else the offense will continue to sputter.

Overall
I know Virginia is 5-1. I know they have some respectable wins. I know it is on the road. Yet with even all those factors to consider, I think BC can match up well with them. I think it will be a close game where BC's Defense makes the difference. Maybe a late stop to kill a UVA drive. BC sneaks out with renewed vigor and two game win streak.
Final Score: BC 21, Virginia 20

Rough night against UVA

We've seen BC get hot early and run away on Power 5 teams. We've seen them hang with Power 5s and win close games. They have yet to prove they can dig out of big holes against elite teams. That is what happened in the loss to Virginia Wednesday. BC was ice cold in the first half (in part because of UVA's tough D) and never got back into it. Things were relatively better in the second half, but at that point UVA was playing their bench. With the loss, BC falls to 2-4 in ACC games. Next up is UNC.

The good news is that Chatman played well. It was easily his best game at BC. Tava was also able to penetrate and find good looks...they just didn't fall.

UVA is the type of team that would give us fits. They have a tough, disciplined D and turn mistakes and turnovers into points. But now we need to see if BC can bounce back and get back the explosiveness they showed just a week ago.

Looking better while losing

The Duke loss disappointed. The Pitt loss was frustrating. This loss felt encouraging. Despite UVA pulling away in the second half, I thought the team played well for long stretches. There were also glimmers of the team gelling and maturing. Virginia is a great team. They're well coached and consistent. Winning was a long shot, yet there were times when it seemed possible. Let's hope we are turning a corner. Other thoughts:

-- BC played solid D for most of the game. We are not Virginia but it is getting better. I also liked the Christian used different looks. Some 2-3 zone. A lot of man with switching. Even a 2-2-1 press. The only real problem comes when Clifford gets sucked away from the basket. We got beat on a few pick and rolls and a few backdoors.
-- The Perpiglia minutes have to end. This has been a theme on the BC message boards for a while. I've avowed it as to not pick on the kid. However, it is killing us. The team was -4 when he was on the court and it added fuel to Virginia's run. BC never got it close after Hanlan returned. There has got to be a better rotation that still gives Hanlan time to rest.
-- Heckmann played well. I kill him when he looks terrible, so I need to credit him when things go well. He cooled off, but for one stretch, he was red hot. Even his D was better.

BC missed too many close shots to win, but it was a good effort. We will pull off a win against one of the top ACC teams soon.

Losing continues as UVA stomps BC

For those who didn't watch, this was as lopsided a 10-point loss as you'll find. BC was down by double digits throughout and down by close to 20 for long stretches. If not for a too little, too late scoring run late, this loss would have been worse.

Virginia is good and would have made most teams look bad, but there was many frustrating moments tonight. For yet another game Hanlan was a non-factor for 30 minutes. People might blame him. I'm blaming coaching. This guy is a talent and can drive on anyone in the conference. He proved it late. Why do we waste our time and his talent with long, clock killing possessions around the perimeter? I know the offense isn't the real problem, but if we weren't so married to that offensive system, we might be able to do some different things defensively. But that is something a different coach can try.

If you're looking for silver linings, you can be glad that LaPhonso Ellis is not our AD. He used long chunks of the broadcast to talk about the Dennis Clifford injury and how that impacted BC this year. (No mention of Clifford's injury history.) Bob Wischusen -- who knows better -- didn't let it slide.

Anderson did Anderson things and played well and got back in after getting a busted lip. I don't think many BC players are going to get conference honors in March, but he deserves some All ACC votes. He's been the most consistent player on the team.

The fun continues with Duke on Saturday.

A close win at Conte

The curse of beating Duke lives on.  Back in February, Maryland beat Duke and then went to Conte and BC won.  This afternoon Virginia arrived at Conte coming off a win vs. Duke on Thursday, and BC won this one as well 53-52 thanks to some last-second heroics from Joe Rahon.

For 38 minutes, the game had been looking as if it could be another cookie-cutter Conte game this season....BC was hanging tough against one of the better teams in the conference, but like the previous close games at home versus the likes of NC St., Miami, and Duke this one seemed to be shaping up to be yet another close loss.

But with the game on the line, the defense tightened up and Odio had a nice block which turned into a Hanlan fast break layup to pull us close.  UVA couldn't convert both FTs to give themselves a 3-point lead with 30-seconds left, and Joe Rahon made them pay by hitting a big three with 8-seconds left in the game to get us the 1-point lead and the win.

Here's hoping we can use this exciting win as a springboard to close out the regular season.


Likes
-- Rahon bounces back - after a couple previous outings with subpar shooting, Joe Rahon was a solid offensive contributor this afternoon.  He hit a couple threes in the first half to keep us in the game, had a nice set play on a baseline drive to get us back into the game with about 8 minutes left, and hit the clutch winner with 8-seconds left.  He lead BC with 15 points on 5-9 shooting.
-- Hanlan creating on offense - at times, he shows you a great ability to get himself open looks.  Because of that, I wish that sometimes he would take more control of the offense...especially in games when the team is struggling to penetrate off the perimeter like today.  There are stretches where he seems like too passive a participant in the game plan.  Still, his creative play towards the end of the first half and beginning of the second kept BC within striking distance.
-- Anderson vs. the double team - he had a poor first half handling the double.  But in the second half Anderson was able to distribute really well including finding Heckmann for a clutch three and Odio under the basket for a dunk with time on the shot clock expiring.


Dislikes
-- Another slow start - BC opened up the game shooting 1-6 from the field with 3 turnovers in the first 7 1/2 minutes of the game.  These slow starts are unfortunately becoming the norm more than the exception.  
-- Scoring droughts - UVA went on 8-0, 9-0 and 10-0 runs during the game.  We have to do better at letting teams make runs like this against us.  Just a little more offensive consistency would mean a comfortable win vs. needing a last-second shot to win it.
-- Perimeter defense - Joe Harris didn't have his best game by a long shot (4-11 from the field).  But the UVA team as a whole still shot almost 50% from three, and that in turn lead to a lot of easy Akil Mitchell baskets.


The Eagles don't have a lot of time to enjoy this win.  The team's next game is Tuesday at Clemson.  BC hasn't won a road ACC game since the conference opener at VT, and we've only won two road  games all season (the other being the Penn St. win in November) .  Beating Clemson would be nice way to build on today's win.

Likes and Dislikes from the UVA loss

BC lost to UVA by 17 and I am encouraged. It's been one of those things. Not all loses are created equally with this team. For example, the Wake Forest game was very discouraging. The team had no poise, terrible movement and questionable effort. Tonight against the 'Hoos, the team kept fighting and showed much better offensive decision making. Here are my likes and dislikes. Leave yours in the comments section.

Likes
-- Dennis Clifford's ability to get off a shot inside. He still makes mistakes and puts the ball on the floor too much, but I was very impressed with Clifford's ability to post up inside against a good defensive team and still get off his shot. It leads me to believe he'll start killing teams that don't have defensive big men.
-- Lonnie Jackson's basketball IQ. When he drew the foul on the 3 attempt it reminded me of Jared Dudley. He also made good decisions on penetrating and on help defense.
-- Ryan Anderson's Defense. Nine defensive rebounds and a block. He played really well.

Dislikes
-- Patrick Heckmann's entire night. He only played 11 minutes but they were pretty bad. I tweeted about it and a few other's chimed in. I have no idea what's wrong, but he made some terribly sloppy, careless passes that cost BC on the other end. His defense was terrible too. Maybe he is still hurt. Maybe he's home sick. I don't know but until he gets out of it we cannot afford to waste possessions like that.
-- Rushing shots as UVA pulled away. BC tied the game at 44 and then UVA went on a run. That's expected, but I didn't like the way BC just rushed shots and chucked 3s. A smart basket would have slowed UVA and potentially gotten BC back in the game.

Still alive

BC's win over Virginia was crucial. It was a must win and became that much more important after Virginia Tech beat Duke Saturday night. The BC-VT game Tuesday will probably get one team in the Big Dance while putting the loser on the narrowest of margins.

Likes
-- A tight rotation. Ideally Donahue would like to play 11 guys a game. But that is not a luxury he has. Heck, it's not even good strategy when you don't have starter talent on your bench. Today, Donahue played all his starters 29+ minutes. With that he got his most efficient game in weeks.
-- Reggie stepping up. I keep hoping for a mega-run from Reggie. Let's hope this is the start of a big spring.
-- The defense. Virginia is not good on offense, but holding any team to 32% shooting is impressive.

Dilikes
-- Biko Paris' outside shots. We don't ask him to do much, but he does need to make some 3s.
-- Moton's ball handling. Even in limited minutes, he still had two turnovers. He needs to improve on that next year if he doesn't want the incoming freshmen playing ahead of him next year.

Second viewing thoughts and grade report: Virginia

This is not going to come out right but that was actually a well-played bad game. What I mean by that is that most of the guys played well, there weren't many glaring mistakes yet we allowed a poor Virginia team to move the ball, hang around and put up a Hail Mary at the end that would have won the game if they connected. Sometimes you take the win any way you can.

Offense: B-

Rettig didn't look that great Saturday. He had a few passes that could have been picked off. He took some sacks when he probably should have run. Even his one TD pass was into double coverage and sort of a risky pass. My bigger concern though is he waited in the pocket for WRs to get open on their breaks...and waited and waited. He really should be getting rid of the ball faster and as they come out of breaks. If the pass catcher is stationary it gives the DBs time to break on the ball. I did like Chase's toughness on the few plays when he did run. And although he didn't connect a lot I did like his willingness to throw downfield.

Harris had a nice game. Most of his big runs came off of counters and traps instead of stretches or draws. Williams obviously had a nice day too. I don't know if he has Montel's vision or feel but he certainly hits the hole quickly. McCluskey had another great day as a lead blocker. I wish he would get more credit for it.

Amidon's TD was very nice and he should be applauded for his hands and focus. I think he has decent speed too, because he was winning one on one battles downfield (Chase just couldn't get him the ball deep that often). Momah had another nice day. Swigert wasn't as active but caught a ball as did Lee. I usually don't mention Pantale's blocking but he did a nice job on a few of Montel's runs. Anderson blocked well too.

The offensive line played well although they did have a few breakdowns. Claiborne whiffed on a later coming rusher who sacked Rettig. Spinney got overpowered at one point. White struggled a bit so they brought in Richman. Even Castonzo allowed a sack (but he played very well otherwise). The only Oline who played really well throughout was Cleary.

Aside from our first trip to the redzone, I didn't hate the play calling. It was a little conservative once we got the lead, but overall it was effective. I appreciate that Tranq is letting Rettig throw it deep. Our play fakes were effective. I just wish he would start throwing it more. We are not doing ourselves any favors with our slow tempo. Shortening the game against a UVA or say Syracuse next week doesn't play to our strengths.

Defense: C+

The defensive line as a group did not look that sharp. Scafe, Quinn and Holloway all had near sacks that turned into big UVA plays. Newman seemed a step slow or a little off. Edebali wasn't as effective and didn't seem to be on the field much after he got dinged. We clearly missed Ramsey. I do want to credit Dan Williams. He's been waiting to get on the field a long time and looked decent at DE this weekend.

Herzlich made his final day at Alumni memorable. I know everyone hyped the INT, but that was just him playing catch with one hand (as there was no one else around). The REAL jaw dropper was the play before when he tied up the TE and came down with the ball. They didn't call it our way but I think he had a pick there and it was amazing to 1. catch it and 2. wrestle it away with one hand. He also had some nice tackles. Kuechly was Kuechly with an added blitz or two mixed in. KPL had one of his better games. Devitto got in on a few plays too.

Fletcher played well until he got hurt. Fox was solid. Jones looked fine. The safeties weren't as active but Okaroha made a few nice plays. LeGrande and Noel played but weren't near the action all that much.

The good news was that Virginia only scored 13 points. The frustrating news was that they moved the ball up and down on us. We had a few dog blitzes in the first half, but didn't do much of that in the second. We should have as it was very effective. We also didn't do much to put them off balance. In fact by not mixing it up Virginia became more bold and Verica had no problem finding the spots in the zone.

Special Teams: B-

Quigley did a good job placing the ball. It was refreshing to see Ryan Lindsey get a shot at returning and he looked ok. Heads up play by Boek on the onsides. Freese shanked on kickoff but was otherwise good. My biggest problem on special teams was what we didn't do. Why not go for the block when they are pinned back? It is the sort of aggressive move that can put the game away. Instead we ended up with the ball back in our territory.

Overall: B-
As I mentioned in the quick review and earlier in the post, we didn't play poorly. We just played into their hands. In those situations, I just wish Spaz would do something to have his coordinators mix it up. Our two minute drill finally clicked: why not go uptempo for a drive or two? The blitz worked early. Why stop? But we stuck with our gameplan and won in the end. So Spaz has that to hang his hat on. Theses "win streak" games haven't been pretty but I'll take the winning over the losing any day. I am glad we are bowling. I hope with that pressure relieved Spaz really plays to win against Syracuse. I think all BC fans would be thankful for it.

Seniors go out in style

Play calling can be a lot like Rock, Paper, Scissors. Today I felt we executed pretty well but UVA often just had the right call against what we were trying to do. That made things frustrating and I was upset we didn't counter much, but a win is a win. I am happy for the guys and especially the seniors. I don't know if the bowl streak is that important to them, but at least they get some free stuff and a cool trip. Let's end on a high note next week against Syracuse!

I'll have second viewing thoughts and grades up late Sunday.

In-game comments post: Virginia

Final home game. Final ACC game. Finally a chance to get bowl eligible. The home slate hasn't been much fun this year. Let's end on a high note! Leave your thoughts and comments on the game below.

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