End of the Week Rant: Leave the Coordinators alone

Remember last year when BC had the worst offense among the Power 5 teams and one of the worst in college football? Offensive Coordinator Todd Fitch took the blame and was pushed out. Now he is coordinating a Top 10 Offense at Louisiana Tech. I hammered Fitch last year even though prior to the season Addazio said it was "his" offense and the coordinator implemented his philosophy. I also endorsed Addazio's idea to have Jim Reid run the same defense as Don Brown. In retrospect, I was probably wrong. And so is Addazio. A good head coach needs to find a scheme and coordinator he likes and then give that guy some freedom. We had injuries last year on Offense, but as big a problem was flipping QBs and styles and approaches. We never simplified. Now the Defense -- with the majority of the players the same -- look lost or overmatched. Something is not working. My fear is that once again we are dictating to coordinators instead of letting them set the approach.


Periscope Update: I held another Periscope Friday morning to discuss schedules and Brad Bates' contract. These remain a work in progress so I appreciate feedback. A few notes:
-- If you doubleclick the video it takes you to a Periscope fullscreen so that the movie is not such a closeup.
-- This didn't get as many live interactions as the Post Game Periscope did. Post game after a night game is a natural timeslot. Is there a daytime slot that people would prefer to discuss general news?
-- I appreciate the questions and topics that I got ahead of time. Keep them coming.

LIVE on #Periscope: Bye Week - Periscope. Boston College's future schedule and ADs. https://t.co/lCxg4fjIq5

— Bill Maloney (@bcatleagle) October 14, 2016

Friday picks

No BC game this week to clutter my mind. Maybe that will result in better picks.

(Picks in bold.)

West Virginia-1 at Texas Tech

Minnesota+7 at Maryland

Pitt-3 at Virginia

Central Michigan-2.5 at Northern Illinois

Northwestern+7 at Michigan State

North Carolina+7 at Miami

Nebraska-3 at Indiana

Ole Miss-7.5 at Arkansas

Temple+3.5 at UCF

Stanford+3 at Notre Dame

Last week I was 6-4. For the season I am 24-33-3.

Let's discuss the 2016-2017 Boston College commercial

There's no football game this weekend, so you won't get to see BC's annual sports commercial again. For those who haven't paid attention, here it is:

This will play once during all of BC's televised sporting events during the 2016-2017 school year. By May we will all probably be sick of it, but I actually liked this one.

It seems like BC goes every other year on the format of these commercials. Last year it was another "talking" commercial. In those students and faculty usually share some short personal story about Boston College. Then between "talking" year commercials, BC does a "montage" type commercial that captures all of BC. I usually prefer the montage style. Apologies to any who have appeared in the "talking" commercials, but I find them overly specific and usually a little cold and serious. In my opinion the "montage' does a better job of capturing more of BC and generally make it look more fun.

I don't know what market research has told BC about these commercials or why they continue to rotate formats year to year. Maybe next year they should take an entirely new approach. If it doesn't work, they can always go back to the "talking" and "montage' rotation.

Looking at Bates' football hires while at Miami (OH)

Hiring is tough in any profession. It is even tougher in sports because your hires are so public, as are the results. Even the best Athletic Directors like Louisville Tom Jurich or Florida's Jeremy Foley get it wrong sometimes. Also you can have a good process and hire the wrong coach or have a bad process and luck into a great coach (think of Jerry York at BC). But if you are repeatedly making bad hires, you probably shouldn't be the one making more hires. That brings me to Brad Bates.

Bates has done many things as an Athletic Directer at Miami of Ohio and Boston College. He's also hired dozens of coaches and even more staffers. But his challenges with finding good football coaches remains disconcerting. Addazio still may turn things around, but given track records, I don't know if I trust Brad Bates to handle the football hiring and firing.

We all know about Addazio, so let's look at the three coaches he hired at Miami of Ohio. The MAC school had a great history of developing coaches and winning football. It had even been nicknamed the "Cradle of Coaches." Sid Gillman, Woody Hayes, Ara Parseghian, and Bo Schembechler all coached there. That history creates great opportunities for an AD. Many young assistants would gladly jump at the chance to learn in the place that molded all those previous legends. In fact, the two head coaches prior to Bates' arrival were Randy Walker and Hoeppner. Both left Miami of Ohio with winning records and both got hired away by Big Ten schools where they continued their successes. (Both also died at their next stops, which is an unfortunate coincidence.) Being the AD at Miami of Ohio would seemingly be a dream. Any time you had a football opening, you could tap some of the best and brightest assistants around.

Now I don't know all the politics or issues involved with each decision. Nor do I know exactly how much autonomy Bates had each time, but from afar it seems like he followed the young up and comer model. Also note the win percentages of Walker (.621) and Hoeppner (.657) before Bates' series of coaches took over.

Shane Montgomery -- Four Seaons: 17-31. .357 win percentage
What happened: This seemed like the classic case of hiring the guy who is there in an effort to keep the good times rolling. Montgomery had been a critical part of Hoeppner's staff and credited with developing Ben Roethlisberger as a first round pick. Bates hired him right before their Bowl game when Hoeppner was out the door to Indiana. Miami's own recap of the situation even speaks to it being a surprise move:

In an unprecedented move, Miami University Director of Athletics Brad Bates made a locker room announcement in front of a national television audience prior to the playing of the 2004 Independence Bowl, naming then-offensive coordinator Shane Montgomery head coach of Miami's venerable football program.

Whether he was too young or it came too soon or the challenge of finding another Big Ben, Montgomery had one winning season and three losing ones. He is now as assistant at Youngstown State.

Mike Haywood -- Two Seasons: 10-15. .400 win percentage
What happened: I don't know where to start with the Mike Haywood situation. You could almost call it a successful hire with a major, major asterisks. Following firing Montgomery, Bates hired Haywood from Notre Dame where he served as Charlie Weis' OC. Prior to being on Weis' staff, Haywood was on Mack Brown's at Texas. He was considered one of the next big things. On paper, he was perfect for Miami of Ohio. His first season was terrible (1-11), but his second season saw a huge turnaround (9-4). Haywood leveraged that success into the job at Pitt. As you might know, he never coached a game at Pitt. From the ESPN article:

Pittsburgh fired football coach Mike Haywood on Saturday, saying he could not continue in the job he held for only 2½ weeks because of his arrest on a domestic violence charge.
Haywood was released Saturday from St. Joseph County Jail in Indiana on $1,000 cash bond, said an officer at the jail who declined to give her name, after the charge was upgraded from a misdemeanor to felony domestic battery in the presence of a minor.

Bates is professionally lucky that Haywood's arrest came only two weeks after he left Miami. I don't know if Bates gets the BC job, if that happened on his watch. I know an AD can't monitor the behavior of all his employees 24/7, but it speaks to the need for due diligence in the process. An AD needs to ask all the tough questions and turn over every rock. For better or worse the football coach is often the face of the university. The only defense Bates has of this hire is that Pitt made the same mistakes. Even with the off-the-field issues, Haywood left Miami with a losing record.

 Don Treadwell -- Three Seasons: 8-21. .275 win percentage
What happened: Treadwell was Bates' last football hire before coming to BC. The former TOB assistant came back to his Alma mater after a successful run as Offensive Coordinator at Michigan State. Even going back to his BC days, Treadwell always participated in different programs and workshops designed for black assistants to become head coaches. Getting the Miami job seemed like the next step and a good hire on paper. It didn't work out. His first two seasons saw identical 4-8 records and then, after he started 0-5 in Year 3, they fired him.

I don't know all the challenges at Miami or each coach's issues -- other than not winning enough. Maybe Bates was just unlucky or maybe he can't see that subjective "it" that happens when you put the right guy in the right place at the right time. Since Bates has been gone, Miami's latest football coach Chuck Martin has failed to turn things around. (Martin is now 5-25 at Miami.) Maybe -- like BC -- they need to address why they continue to struggle given their rich history. But every AD is going to face institutional challenges. The good ones work around those challenges and find the right coach.

BC announces series with Mizzou

A week after the ACC finally clarified its future scheduling format, BC made a move to bolster its own future schedule. Brad Bates scheduled a home and home series with Mizzou. The games will take place in 2021 (at Alumni) and 2024 (in Columbia). While this might be the least exciting potential SEC opponent, this is still a great move and hopefully a sign of things to come.

Considering the ACC and SEC are sticking with eight games while the Big XII, Big Ten and Pac 12 play nine conference games, I think there will be plenty of SEC teams in BC's future. Teams from both conferences will be looking for decent non-conference, Power 5 matchups and both sides will have plenty of openings. We are unlikely to see Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, or South Carolina, since all already have permanent non-conference Power 5 opponents. However, nearly all the other SEC teams are options. If I were Brad Bates, I would schedule Alabama now. There is no way that Saban is still coaching there in 2025 and beyond. Hell, it is highly unlikely that Bates will be BC's AD in 2025. Might as well look like you've done something big -- schedule the nation's best program -- and leave some other BC administration and coaching staff to actually play the games.

As for Missouri, who knows what they will be like when we play them. They are not good now, but have had plenty of recent success. Traditionally they are a mediocre major conference program. They are the type of team we traditionally can and should compete with. I've never been to a game in Columbia, so I don't know if it will be an exciting trip. Their gameday reputation doesn't come with the expectations of LSU or Ole Miss. But the game matters more than the destination.

Now that the Power 5 aspect of our schedule is filling up, I hope Bates improves the other slots. All FCS opponents should be based in New England or Catholic. That is the only way to generate interest (and justify) those opponents. As soon as Holy Cross is at its full compliment of scholarships, they should be our FCS opponent four out of five years. As for the mid-majors, it is all about our alumni and recruiting. Find programs where we can recruit in their backyard (like Ohio) or where we have local fans (California). 

I know smart scheduling helps build a program. We are pretty close to that now with regards to future Power 5s. Now we just need smart football coaching. 

How many Clemson fans were at Alumni?

BC listed Friday's game as a sellout. The stadium didn't look completely full, but something was noticeable: all the orange.

More orange than maroon and gold tonight. Pathetic crowd and mostly Clemson @bcatleagle pic.twitter.com/bQXOMdWxDB

— Chris Eidt (@cjeidt) October 7, 2016

@bcatleagle pic.twitter.com/7mFEbt8brN

— PanickyFloyd (@PanickyFloyd) October 8, 2016

Clemson fans are known for travelling and I don't begrudge them. They're great people and I've always enjoyed interacting with them. This is also not the first time they've traveled in droves to Alumni. What made this trip different is that they were not limited to the traditional "visitors" sections (Lower East corner on the Beacon St. side, small section of north endzone, and upperdeck endzone). This time they were everywhere. The Tiger fans were sitting in BC fans' seats. This meant that BC fans either resold their tickets like never before, or the season ticket base has dwindled much more than BC has let on and BC sold all those traditional "BC" seats.

I understand why Clemson fans wanted to be there. Boston is a great trip and the team is in the middle of a great run. What Brad Bates and BC should worry about is why didn't more BC fans want to be there. We've been big underdogs at home before (think back to some of those Miami games or during the Spaz years). But big name opponents still brought out BC fans. Now they either don't care or are so turned off by the gameday experience and product on the field that they would rather stay home.

The remaining home games are such that I don't think you'll see visitors take over Alumni again this year. I just hope BC fans start to show up.

Second viewing thoughts and grades: Clemson

Addazio wears his emotion on his sleeve. That is great when things are rolling. But in these beatdowns it makes everything more frustrating. When I watch these games back, Addazio's frustration is palpable. Based on the continued results, I don't think his approach is working. Maybe he should be a little more "rah rah" when things go bad. It might not change the outcome, but hopefully it will keep the team on his side. If he keeps walking around like he's sick of his team and sick of all of this with 20 minutes still left in the game, he's going to lose a lot more this season and next.

Offense: D

Live I thought Towles was bad. In the second viewing it wasn't terrible. His same mistakes were there, missing open men, waiting too long in the pocket, throwing it away to quickly. But his passing numbers were better than the stats (we had drops). He also wasn't as quick to throw it away. The dumbest thing he did was not protect the ball when running. It would have made a difference in the score but not the game. Wade did not look great in his limited time. His Pick 6 throw was off.

Jones has the ability to get through traffic at the line. For that reason alone he should be the feature back. He also runs with decent power. Hilliman wasn't terrible but he is less consistent. He busted out a long run late. Rouse and Willis didn't get many touches and just looked okay on offense. Congrats to Wolford on his TD.

Sweeney played well and made some nice catches. Smith had too many drops. Callinan was fine. Walker only caught one pass.

One excuse that was real was Baker going down. It screwed up so much of the timing thereafter. Lindstrom was probably our best Lineman of the night. Cashman was okay as a replacement. Johnson was fine. Lowery was better than he has been. Schmal struggled a lot. He needs to move his feet better if he is going to stop edge guys.

Run-Run-Pass. It wasn't every series that Loeffler called but it felt like it. The creativity in the second drive was effective. We need to do it more. I also think he's got to work with Towles more on his time in the pocket. He should know when the ball has to come out. (Wade has the same problems.) I hated the goalline sequence. I hope Addazio is not overriding play calls there. One pass to the endzone would have at least kept Clemson honest.

Defense: D

Landry was the lone bright spot of the night. He made good plays, showed that he has elite talent and kept fighting. Allen also looked good. Gutapfel had another quiet game. I don't know why he's not winning more battles inside. We need him to be more disruptive. Kavalec was okay. Smith made a play. Ray hustled.

Schwab played well but all the LBs got caught out of position on Clemson's first rushing TD. Milano was fine. Strachan showed speed...just not enough to stop a TD.

McClary had a rough night. It is one thing when you don't get help you were supposed to get or a guy makes a great catch. But he had a few catches where he was so far off even when the receiver did not make a dramatic cut. On the first TD Harris should have been helping out and was late getting over. Yiadom was okay. Johnson made a sack.

I like Jim Reid, but I don't think we are blitzing enough. I think that is part of the problem with the DBs. Because BC cannot get pressure and because we are playing so, so far off, they are getting burned. This same group was much more effective being very aggressive at the line and jamming. There are also so many more breakdowns and noticeable defensive mistakes this year. Maybe it is the change in all the position coaches, but we know these guys can play better. I hope Reid figures it out soon.

Special Teams: C-

The Special Teams started off well and then went down hill. The recovery of the first punt was great. As was the early coverage.

The kickoff coverage was not good. We threatened an onside and it turned into a mess and long return.

Rouse was overly cautious on the punt returns.

Willis had a rough night and had some issues on his returns.

Knoll was fine.

Overall: D

After the game, Addazio mentioned a few big plays changing the game and the team still being "in it" during the first half. There is some truth to that, however, he still never coached with the type of aggressiveness to keep BC "in it." Look at our first drive after the half. Still ultra-conservative followed by a punt.

I have many of the same thoughts as I did during the Virginia Tech game. Why does he keep punting when we are down so much? Why did he wait so long to give Wade a try? When you are down big, it is time to throw caution to the wind and trying anything.

This was another bad, bad game for Addazio. His coaches looked overmatched as did his roster. Even if he is safe this year, he's got to show some progress. If he doesn't, recruits are going to bail on him.

Hard to blame Spaz for Year 4 problems

Addazio will gladly tell you how young his team is. BC folks are also putting many of our issues on Addazio having to rebuild after Spaz and his poor recruiting. I don't think Spaz managed his roster well nor did he put much effort into recruiting, but Addazio's issues cannot be pinned on his predecessor.

As of this season there are only 14 scholarship players who were offered and recruited by Spaz. They are:

• Barksdale 
• Callinan 
• Cashman 
• Cottrell 
• Giacone 
• Gutapfel 
• Johnson 
• Kavalec 
• Milano 
• Ntantang 
• Rich 
• Strizak 
• Willis 
• Wolford

Look at that list. There's not a lot of dead weight or wasted scholarships. In fact, 10 have contributed significantly the past four years for Addazio and Callinan, Gutapfel, Johnson, Kavalec, Willis and Wolford are all still starters.

Would it be nice to have a huge group of talented 5th year Seniors that Spaz had recruited? Sure. But the flipside of Spaz not using all his scholarships and many of his recruits bailing over the years, is that Addazio got to remake the team in his image. 71 scholarships are being used by Addazio recruits. That's 84% of the roster.

When you lose such lopsided games, talent is clearly an issue. However, I don't think talent is Addazio's major issue. And if the talent really is what is hoplding him back then Addazio only has himself to blame. 

Another Addazio disaster

Just when you think it can't get any worse, it does. Clemson pounded BC Friday night for the worse home ACC loss of Addazio's career. There were some tough breaks and bad calls, but ultimately the Offense couldn't score and the D looked good one series and terrible the next. I keep saying that Addazio is safe, but boy is he using up every once of goodwill he has. Now it is about regrouping and trying to get back in the win column.

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

Also, for the first time I tried a Periscope broadcast. Thanks for your patience and support with it. Hopefully future episodes are smoother.

LIVE on #Periscope: Clemson postgame https://t.co/Rfwjbk2QtQ

— Bill Maloney (@bcatleagle) October 8, 2016

In-game comments post: Clemson

Clemson is a great team, but they can be beat. We just need to play our best and play to win! Friday night at Alumni! Let's do this!

Leave your thoughts and comments below.

You can also follow me on Twitter.

P.S. After the game I am going to go on Periscope via Twitter. Send me any topics or questions you want me to discuss.

End of the Week Rant: BC better honor the 2007 team next season!

With Jags popping up around the BC blogosphere, I was reminded of something that needs to happen. Next season, BC needs to honor and welcome back members of the 2007 Atlantic Division Champions!

Jags is clearly still a lightning rod among BC fans, but that is not the point. Having some sort of gameday event would be about honoring the whole team ten years after their great run. I know BC is honoring Matt Ryan this season, but he wasn't a one man team. Think of how great it would be to have Silva, Herzlich, Albright, Tennant, Brandon Robinson, Purvis, Larkin, and the rest all back. Have Callender catch a pass in the corner! Have Aponavicius kick a chip shot!

Who knows if Bates will even be here next fall? I also don't know if Addazio will want reminders of other teams' successes during his make or break fifth year. But I don't care what they want. The team deserves it and it would be nice to remember when this was all fun.

Friday picks

Last week was another grind it out effort with nothing to show for it. I tried to avoid games impacted by the Hurricane. Is that a good idea? Given my record, it can't get much worse.

(Picks in bold.)

Cincinnati-2.5 at UConn

Iowa-1 at Minnesota

Maryland-2.5 at Penn State

Auburn-2.5 at Mississippi State

Army+5.5 at Duke

Virginia Tech+1.5 at North Carolina

Colorado+5 at USC

Hawaii+3 at San Jose State

Syracuse+2.5 at Wake Forest

Florida State+3 at Miami

Last week I was 4-5-1. For the season I am 18-29-3.

Go listen to BCI's interview with Jags

Former BC Coach Jeff Jagodzinski had a long interview with BC Interruption. It is long but well worth your time.

I've been waiting for the right time and place to write about my experience with Jags. There is a long draft of a Jags chapter as part of my potential e-book.  Hopefully I will get the my book done by Christmas.

It is and was a unique time in BC Sports. Things will be fun again one day.

BC-Clemson preview

I am really torn about this game. There is so much to like about the circumstances: Friday night on National TV, Clemson coming off a huge emotional game, our Defense looking better. Yet the past two years have left me distrusting Addazio. Will he take the needed risks to pull off a major upset or will he just play to keep it close and hope that Clemson self destructs?

What's on my mind (not totally related to this game)
I've been writing about it all week -- and I am a little tired of the subject -- but the ACC did elect to continue playing eight conference games. Each school will sacrifice approximately $500,000 in TV money from ESPN. The traditional powers in the conference argued in favor of flexibility. Their argument against the money is that one of these neutral site "kickoff" type games is worth in the neighborhood of $4 million. ACC schools would have less scheduling flexibility to play those games if they had to commit to nine conference games plus a non-conference Power 5. Given Addazio and Bates' track record on scheduling, I think BC will use their flexibility to find more easy wins. The only silver lining is that future BC leadership will have open slots to toughen up the schedule once again.

Three Simple Keys
1. Don't let Watson escape the pocket. Spying him or only rushing four might create other problems, but I still hope our LBs wait back a bit to keep Watson from running. Ever drive he keeps alive with his feet keeps us off of the field.
2. Complete 65% of our passes. Drops and errant throws have hurt BC so far this season. Now that we are facing the best team in the conference, we cannot have mistakes. 
3. Aggressive Special Teams. Rouse has already shown he's willing to return anything. We need that same sort of attitude on kick returns and another punt block would be nice.

Gambling Notes
-- Addazio is 1-6 vs Top Ten teams
-- BC has lost ten straight ACC games
-- Swinney is 23-16 on the road
The current line is BC+17

Factoid
BC and Clemson were both regulars on Thursday night games, but never played each other on the formally "big" night of college football. This is the first time the game is not being played on a Saturday.

Scoreboard Watching
The most optimistic fans have all looked to Wake and Syracuse as winnable games. They play each other this weekend. How good is Wake's D? Can Syracuse outscore them? Can BC still expect to beat both? This game might provide some answers.

I hope to see...
The Defense dominate.  Last year -- even in the most lopsided games -- the D kept the games interesting. That didn't happen against Virginia Tech. If we are going to pull this off, we need our guys to play the best game of their lives.

BC is in trouble if...
We don't stretch the field. Like everyone else, Clemson will probably load the box and dare us to throw. There should be a bomb or two to Jeff Smith early to keep them honest.

Overall
This team has not scored 21 or more points against a Power 5 team since 2015. I just don't see it happening this weekend. I think our D comes to play and the game is close for a half. I think Clemson pulls away in the second half and BC gets a late score to make it look respectable.
Final Score: BC 14, Clemson 24

As the ACC turns...watering down the schedule is in play

Earlier in the week it looked like the ACC was going to beef up its Football schedule one way or another. But as we know, things can turn quickly on Tobacco Road. The latest leaks say that the conference is willing to take less money from ESPN in order to avoid the contracted ten annual Power 5 games each Football team is expected to play by 2019.

This comes from the weak leadership in North Carolina. Commissioner John Swofford has never been a good consensus builder -- look at the botched first expansion, losing Maryland, the flip flops on nine games, etc. I don't know who is driving the pull back. Based on Bates' track record, I doubt it is him, but I can see BC joining the group of "less money/easier schedules."

The only reason the ACC feels like they can take this risk is because the Big XII is such a mess. Our place at the table is secure as long as their is a weaker, more disorganized conference out there. But being fourth place is not a good long-term strategy. Hopefully something talks some sense into the leaders and they actually agree to the contract they signed.

The problems of the ACC often mirror those of BC. Both organizations need to decide what they really want to be and then go forward in a direction to fulfill their goals and vision. Instead, both always say one thing, do another and then change direction again when there are threats or criticism. That sort of flipflopping never leads to consistent success.

Behind the scenes on ACC's schedule debate

There is a very interesting article in Tuesday's Daily Press. It gives all the details on the ACC debate over an eight or nine game conference schedule.

BC remains committed to the ninth game. Regardless of who wins out on this issue, I am glad the 9+1 model is BC's focus. Playing the one additional ACC  game solves many of BC's schedule issues and gets Coastal Division teams to Alumni more often. The 8+2 policy might bring more variety, but the logistics for BC are always going to be difficult. We don't offer a big stadium pay day and represent a long trip for many Power 5. If you include our desire to play like-minded schools, there just aren't enough non-ACC teams to go around.

The issue has to be decided soon. There are a few swing schools in the mix, but I still believe that the 9+1 model wins out. It is certainly what is best for BC, but I also think it is best for the ACC.

Who benefits from the short week?

Addazio held his usual press conference Monday and was asked about the short week. His response:

"I think being home helps you, yeah. But, no, I mean, it's hard. We practice in the mornings. So it's compounded. We couldn't come in today and use the bulk of the day today continue game planning. We had to get it all done yesterday and last night. At least all done relative to having a good day today, which we did have a good day today. I thought the coaches did a great job. I thought we had a great practice and got some real great things accomplished. In fact, I'm looking forward to going back and watching the practice tape with the coaches and going through it right now. I felt a lot of good stuff happened. We had a hell of a day, but it was a grind. It was absolutely a flat grind. And it's different for the players. Traditionally this is the player's day off for us in our program. So we come in, we watch tape on Sunday. We go on the field. We work on fundamentals. Monday is the day off. And then Tuesday is the day we have -- this all got bounced up. But, I mean, it's the same thing for Clemson. It's no different, they've got the same issues. They played late at night."

Ultimately, I think Clemson is the better team, but I feel we still have the advantage on a couple of fronts. The short week favors us. We played a day game Saturday and do not travel. Their game didn't end until midnight and they have to travel. Even with the disruption, we had more preparation time than the Tigers.

I think facing them coming off of a huge Louisville game is also an advantage. These are still young emotional players. It will be natural for Clemson to overlook us. Conversely, BC hasn't played real competition in three weeks. I think our players should be pumped up and have something to prove.

I also think we have a home field advantage. Don't get me wrong, there will be plenty of Clemson fans there. And Alumni was a morgue last week. But BC fans will show up this week. And if BC shows any sign of life, the crowd will be into it.

I hate how our schedule plays out, but this Friday night will work for BC.

Second viewing thoughts and grades: Buffalo

What Addazio and Bates probably didn't realize when they put this schedule together is how empty it would feel. We now have three wins and I don't feel like we've accomplished anything. I also don't feel like we know much. I am glad this part of the season is over. The games weren't fun to watch live or the second time around.

Offense: B-

The stats don't cover Towles' problems. He underthrew a sure TD on the play where Garrison got hurt. He was stripped in the pocket on two plays where he should have felt the pressure. He also continued to miss open men. I think he has more than enough physical tools. I pray the staff and he find a way to leverage those tools without exposing him.

Their stats are similar, but I feel like Jones is playing much better than Hilliman. Jones moves with a quickness and clarity around the line that Hilliman has been lacking. I don't think it is Hilliman's recovery. I think his challenge is the line is so inconsistent and he's not adjusting as decisively as Jones. Willis didn't get many touches and got dinged up at one point. Wofford blocked well.

Smith made some big catches, but also dropped a few. I thought Callinan played well and blocked better than most of the WRs. Garrison's catch was great. I hope he returns at 100%.

I really don't know what to make of the offensive line. Or even how to judge them. Buffalo went all out to stop the run that our line was collapsing on too many plays. Even if our talent and experience was better on the OL, I don't know if there is an answer when the other team is crashing down like that.

Aside from the Towles isssues or the Offensive line problems, I still see too many moments of confusion out there. Taking time outs to before a critical play. Confusion coming out of the huddle. That is on Loefler to start to fix those problems. I know we scored plenty but I don't feel like it was a sharp, well designed gameplan...more like talent prevailing.

Defense: A- 

Smith was great. He dominated his matchups and showed real quickness. Gutapfel was good. Landry looked good.

Milano's biggest play was on Special Teams, but he looked good on D. Strachan played well. Scwab was good.

Moore played well. Johnson was very active and had some nice tackles. Yiadom was very good in pass coverage. Harris was good.

While Georgia Tech was a tougher task and the UMass game included plenty of sacks, this was BC's best Defensive performance of the year. Things were sound. The tackling was good. The scheme was the right mix of aggressiveness and conservative.

Special Teams: B+

Rouse continues to be a breathe of fresh air on Special Teams. His day was great even with his best run getting called back.

Knoll was solid throughout. His punts were well placed.

The punt block was very encouraging. Our Special Teams needs to be more aggressive to help the offense.


Overall: B

Didn't it feel like BC should have won by more? I hoped for a flawless victory, but this will have to do. My primary concern and criticism of Addazio is how flat the team seems during the early possessions. I am sure the weather, empty seats and opponents left the team wanting more. But during down moments like that, motivating the team becomes Addazio's primary job.

The real tests begins this week. Considering this was Addazio's last warm-up, he gets a decent grade.

BC did what it had to do against Buffalo

Lots to digest in this BC win. Garrison goes down with a broken leg. Another flat start. Confusion leading to burned timeouts. Yet, on the flipside, Jones looked good in the backfield. The Defense dominated. Rouse looks really good on Special Teams.

The season seems like it will really come down to how much in-season improvement we can get from Towles and the Oline. At times things look good but moments later it is a mess.

BC has matched last year's win total. I hope they're not done.

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

In-game comments post: Buffalo

The last true cupcake of the season. I hope it is not interesting (in a good way) and the team looks better.

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