Boston College Post Game Thread

[swampsting]

Bye weeks are always welcome when you’re playing poorly; not so much when you’re playing well.

3-3 at the bye is neither poorly nor well. And we were coming off a disaster of a game against Bowling bleeping Green and getting a huge gift from Miami (which we did cash in. Could have just said aw thanks but decided to make em pay for it as well).

Did Key have the team practice the entire bye week or did they get some time off? Six games and the win at Miami, I'd have given them Monday-Tuesday off to rest and recuperate and worry about midterms.
Judging by what Coleman said at Savannah QB Club, they did practice Monday of the bye week.
And then we wonder why they look so out of gas in the fourth. Against BC. Who barely beat the College of the Holy Cross.

 

[g0lftime]

I get the feeling that a few of the goofy mix ups we saw were the result of trying to make some changes during the bye week. Not an excuse, but the bye week is when you’d think we would tweak personnel / packages so we have some extra days to sort it out.

Bye weeks are always welcome when you’re playing poorly; not so much when you’re playing well. I was hopeful it would change our defensive fortunes while not impacting the offense…. Neither seemed to be the case.

This weekend feels like “proof of concept” to me. Hopefully the D has ironed out the issues and has some success and the offensive timing comes back. Unfortunately, if we have Carolina’s full attention, it may not matter on the scoreboard.

We were down 17-0 to UNC at one point last year and came back with two backup QB's. Not likely to be overlooked this year and our D is very vulnerable to a good passing game. Transfer Tez will give us match-up problems and Maye is just very good. I am still trying to figure out how UVA beat them. UVA was able to run against them but not a strength of our team.

 

[Root4GT]

We were down 17-0 to UNC at one point last year and came back with two backup QB's. Not likely to be overlooked this year and our D is very vulnerable to a good passing game. Transfer Tez will give us match-up problems and Maye is just very good. I am still trying to figure out how UVA beat them. UVA was able to run against them but not a strength of our team.

Look closely at UVA’s record. Some close losses and a couple of losses to good teams. They aren’t nearly as bad as their record.

 

[CEB]

3-3 at the bye is neither poorly nor well. And we were coming off a disaster of a game against Bowling bleeping Green and getting a huge gift from Miami (which we did cash in. Could have just said aw thanks but decided to make em pay for it as well).

Did Key have the team practice the entire bye week or did they get some time off? Six games and the win at Miami, I'd have given them Monday-Tuesday off to rest and recuperate and worry about midterms.
Judging by what Coleman said at Savannah QB Club, they did practice Monday of the bye week.
And then we wonder why they look so out of gas in the fourth. Against BC. Who barely beat the College of the Holy Cross.

You replied to an argument I didn’t make. The rest of that quote was that I hoped the bye would be good for our awful defense while not impacting the offense that was playing pretty well. Didn’t work out that way, as the D showed little improvement and the O was out of sync

Maybe we were gassed on D but I’m not sure what we did or didn’t do on Monday would make much difference… who knows.

It was pretty obvious that neither D was going to be successful stopping the offenses and the difference was the late turnovers.

 

[CEB]

We were down 17-0 to UNC at one point last year and came back with two backup QB's. Not likely to be overlooked this year and our D is very vulnerable to a good passing game. Transfer Tez will give us match-up problems and Maye is just very good. I am still trying to figure out how UVA beat them. UVA was able to run against them but not a strength of our team.

Maybe that’s the strategy… give them a big early cushion and hope they get comfortable that their season is back on track…. Then

 

[ibeattetris]

Judging by comments three weeks ago, demoting Thacker was going to solve all of our defensive woes.
Now I see we’ve all decided to pile on Coach Key. Makes no sense to me.

Truly, no one said it was solve everything.

Even if not everything is solved, in the FBS games under Thacker, the opponents points per drive was:
3.0, 4.1, 1.45, and 3.88
After Thacker
1.54, 2.82

While 2.82 against BC is bad, it’s better than the 3.88 against BG who up until then hadn’t scored more than 10 all season.

Our defense is most likely going to suck no matter who is the coach, but there is no reason Thacker deserved a job after the BG performance.

 

[Techster]

The issues at the beginning of the season are largely the same one as now.

On offense we do not run the ball well. Against FBS opponents King is our leading rusher - over 40% of our yards against FBS opponents (and our leader in ypc by alot). We avg only 4.6 ypc (Which is brought up by King's rushing).
On defense our front 7 is lacking and are unable to stop the run with any consistency. I don't think it was by accident that the BC coach said he wanted to run more in the second half.

King had some TO issues at A&M. He still has them here, but that said he is still a big upgrade from last season and is our primary weapon on offense. Without him we might be 1-6.
I also think opponents have largely figured out Faulkner's early tendencies. Remember, no one had film on him at the beginning of the season - now they have half a year. They know his tendencies, they know the capabilities of our players.

FWIW, I think this team ends up 5-7. Don't ask me which 2 games they will win though as I wouldn't hazard a serious guess.

It would also help if the program could start playing well at home.
Key is 1-4 against FBS opponents at Bobby Dodd (with a 4 game losing streak).
In the last 4 1/2 seasons GT has 5 wins at Bobby Dodd over FBS teams (and 4 of those had losing records). Avg 1 home win per season over FBS opponents is not going to get a fanbase excited.

Key's record on the road against ranked opponents is mind boggling (in a good way), but Key's record at home against anyone is also mind boggling (not in a good way).

Playing well at home is an issue. Key and the staff need to figure it out because it will be Key's demise at GT if it doesn't get corrected.

 

[bke1984]

I didn’t see the comment about “maybe not everyone is bought in”, so I don’t know where that came from in some other posts I saw.

He said in on the radio interview that occurred after the post game presser

 

[Oldgoldandwhite]

Duke 5-2, James Madison 7-0, Air Force 7-0, Missouri 7-1, Louisville 6-1, and Tulane 6-1. How many of those teams have more tradition, name recognition, better support, more money, more fans, bigger stadium, and better recruiting grounds than we do? They might have one or two, but not all the advantages we have.

 

[Techster]

Duke 5-2, James Madison 7-0, Air Force 7-0, Missouri 7-1, Louisville 6-1, and Tulane 6-1. How many of those teams have more tradition, name recognition, better support, more money, more fans, bigger stadium, and better recruiting grounds than we do? They might have one or two, but not all the advantages we have.

The right coach makes a BIG difference.

I believe James Madison's coach was on GT's list, and we all know about Willie Fritz. The other coach on our list was Chadwell who's at Liberty and currently 7-0...but you can make an argument that Liberty is one of the best funded programs on that level. Of course, Chadwell had a LOT of success at Coastal Carolina as well.

Moral of the story: Good coaches win wherever they go.

 

[stinger78]

Duke 5-2, James Madison 7-0, Air Force 7-0, Missouri 7-1, Louisville 6-1, and Tulane 6-1. How many of those teams have more tradition, name recognition, better support, more money, more fans, bigger stadium, and better recruiting grounds than we do? They might have one or two, but not all the advantages we have.

This is encouraging, actually, that there is a road back.

 

[Root4GT]

Duke 5-2, James Madison 7-0, Air Force 7-0, Missouri 7-1, Louisville 6-1, and Tulane 6-1. How many of those teams have more tradition, name recognition, better support, more money, more fans, bigger stadium, and better recruiting grounds than we do? They might have one or two, but not all the advantages we have.

Which of those teams was as bad as GT from 2019-2022? We were in a huge hole and are trying to dig our way out.

 

[RamblinRed]

UVA has their starting QB back (as well as their best WR) and have looked better since he returned.

I'm expecting a close game in Charlottesville with both teams in the 20's.

 

[slugboy]

Which of those teams was as bad as GT from 2019-2022? We were in a huge hole and are trying to dig our way out.

Duke was close; their weak schedule hid some of it. Tulane was worse. JMU was practically nonexistent. Missouri’s biggest asset was being in the SEC.

 

[Techster]

Which of those teams was as bad as GT from 2019-2022? We were in a huge hole and are trying to dig our way out.

From a talent perspective, GT was better off than all the teams even though our record was bad. That's just coaching. GT still has a talent advantage, but it seems our coaches need to figure it out.

 

[sgreer]

If that chart were against FSU, maybe there’s a moral victory to take out of it.

This team needs to just win, though. Especially these games


=======

Postgame presser


I didn’t see the comment about “maybe not everyone is bought in”, so I don’t know where that came from in some other posts I saw. Key is frustrated. There are problems in all areas of the game. Acknowledged that we lost up front on both sides.

Having 10 players on the field is a bad way to give up points. Big plays happen when one player gets beaten or fails to do their job—with a player missing, it’s guaranteed one player fails their assignment—plus, someone else has to fight through an extra block.

Maybe nothing big happens this week, but it should

I heard him say the “buy in” comments on the radio postgame. Maybe said out of frustration not long after game and did not have time to process everything. Still an unacceptable excuse this far in to the season IMO.

 

[ibeattetris]

Duke was close; their weak schedule hid some of it. Tulane was worse. JMU was practically nonexistent. Missouri’s biggest asset was being in the SEC.

I’m pretty sure JMU would have won the Sun belt every year if not for NCAA rules limiting their post season play. They’ve been good since their jump to FBS.

You are spot on with duke scheduling. We’d have been bowing with Collins last year with their schedule.

 

[Root4GT]

From a talent perspective, GT was better off than all the teams even though our record was bad. That's just coaching. GT still has a talent advantage, but it seems our coaches need to figure it out.

That is simply BS. GT has been talent deficient for years. It has been obvious on both lines of scrimmage for a very long time. White is the only "Good" DL at GT in years. There have been no above average OL in years. Name one above average WR GT has had in years. Who has been a good QB at GT in years? Where is all this alleged talent. It's not in our lineup!

 

[g0lftime]

The right coach makes a BIG difference.

I believe James Madison's coach was on GT's list, and we all know about Willie Fritz. The other coach on our list was Chadwell who's at Liberty and currently 7-0...but you can make an argument that Liberty is one of the best funded programs on that level. Of course, Chadwell had a LOT of success at Coastal Carolina as well.

Moral of the story: Good coaches win wherever they go.

Fritz would have been a good choice but that ship has sailed. Key is the coach and deserves a little time.

 

[stinger78]

That is simply BS. GT has been talent deficient for years. It has been obvious on both lines of scrimmage for a very long time. White is the only "Good" DL at GT in years. There have been no above average OL in years. Name one above average WR GT has had in years. Who has been a good QB at GT in years? Where is all this alleged talent. It's not in our lineup!

We’ve had several defensive players make NFL rosters. Fewer offensive players but still some. While we weren’t deep, there has been talent on the team. The greatest scarcity, however, has been both lines, and what we had at DL portalled out.