Postgame BC

[AE 87]

Ouch.... Thanks for the catch.

LOL I also caught your post before the edit.

 

[jwsavhGT]

Paul Johnson 17, Steve Addazio 14: More Games are Lost Than Won
A classic example of what is yielded by playing not to lose

http://www.bcinterruption.com/bosto...steve-addazio-14-more-games-are-lost-than-won

Make no mistake about it, Boston College was the better team yesterday in Ireland. Statistically the Eagles controlled it, they appeared to have more talent essentially across the board and although they certainly didn't dominate the game, were in a position and should have closed it out.

That's when Paul Johnson's personality, faith in his team and outright balls, took over against Steve Addazio who was simply looking to have the clock run out and suddenly BC is getting on a plane for the 2986 mile trip home from Dublin, 0-1 on the season, after dropping their ninth straight game overall and ninth straight conference game, 17-14 to Georgia Tech.

 

[vamosjackets]

I like Steve Addazio. I enjoyed all of his interviews related to this game, and watching him coach his team yesterday. He's now probably my 2nd or 3rd favorite coach in the ACC. He seems to be a good coach, and if he can get that great of a defense at BC with 2 different coordinators, then he knows what he's doing. If he can find some help in developing a decent offense, they'll be a force in the conference. I agreed with his decision to kick the field goal on 4th and 1 for 2 reasons. One, his defense is killing it and it's a defensive game anyway, offense is hard to come by on both sides of the ball, so get the points while you have the chance and it will likely be enough to win. Second, even if you make that 1st down, it's still no guarantee of a TD - you still have to go the last 20 yards which is always the toughest because the field is condensed, and you may even turn the ball over. I also agree with how conservative they played once they got the lead late. Again, put it on your best unit to win the game for you - the defense. And, it almost (should have?) worked ... except for, you know, JFT.

 

[Northeast Stinger]

There were missed assignments and bad reads (3TO give to the BB and a midline give to the BB in the 1st half for sure).

I think GT definitely had worse footing than BC for whatever reason. They were not sliding around like our guys. The team slowed down due to the unsure footing.

GT does not play as well in rain... I think there is enough data to confirm this statement (except that one UNC win)

Still a young team, but I think/hope they can grow up/old fast. They may have been dazzled a little by the experience.

One last thing... it seems to take the team 4 games to warm up to fire on all cylinders (ala 2014).

Also tend to think that jet lag was a factor. Bet they slept really well when they got home.

 

[vamosjackets]

As far as the game goes:
The good:
Passing game - QB, WR's, AB's, OL (mostly). This is huge and will give us a chance to win a lot of games. The ability to convert 3rd/4th downs again will get us closer to '14 than '15.
Simmons - Looked like a difference maker.
Defense - Except for giving up the huge run, they looked competent. I liked the way they stopped the run the rest of the time.
OL - decent pass blocking, we were starting to be able to establish the BBack before the Mills fumble against a stout BC midsection.
BBacks
The continued fight in all three phases.
JFT
THE WIN!

The bad:
Option game - bad reads, bad rhythm, a few busted assignments
Giving up a 70+ yard run right up the gut. Where's the safety play?
Fumble by Mills when we were driving, transformed momentum.
Little pressure on QB.
Blitzes weren't disguised well.

The maybe:
Cerge made some plays. He's pretty nimble out there, with that #54 I sometimes mistake him for a LB.
Shamire was still playing hard at the end of the game. We might have a very good OL if we stay healthy and continue to sharpen up.
Special teams - love JJ and Stewart so far, Butker is going to have a monster year and go on to a good pro career, I didn't think Rodwell did too bad either but had some unfortunate bounces. FG block was YUUUUGE!
Terell Lewis looked like he belonged out there.
Would've thought AJ Gray's presence would've been felt more.
I would've thought Lynn Griffin would've gotten some snaps, but I don't remember seeing him out there. Same for Cottrell (though he would be more understandable from the injury).
The DL outside of Simmons. Freeman showed up some but didn't look 100% to me.

I like the look of this team, but the execution level has to ramp up as we go. I don't see anything right now that would rule out the possibility of a 2014 level squad as the season and team mature. First games are hard to judge. CPJ'ism: we've got a chance to be good.

 

[Animal02]

Also tend to think that jet lag was a factor. Bet they slept really well when they got home.

Maybe it is just me, but I have always had an easy time making the time adjustment going east (as in 1 day and am good) Going west always takes me several days to adjust.

 

[AE 87]

As far as the game goes:
The good:
Passing game - QB, WR's, AB's, OL (mostly). This is huge and will give us a chance to win a lot of games. The ability to convert 3rd/4th downs again will get us closer to '14 than '15.
Simmons - Looked like a difference maker.
Defense - Except for giving up the huge run, they looked competent. I liked the way they stopped the run the rest of the time.
OL - decent pass blocking, we were starting to be able to establish the BBack before the Mills fumble against a stout BC midsection.
BBacks
The continued fight in all three phases.
JFT
THE WIN!

The bad:
Option game - bad reads, bad rhythm, a few busted assignments
Giving up a 70+ yard run right up the gut. Where's the safety play?
Fumble by Mills when we were driving, transformed momentum.
Little pressure on QB.
Blitzes weren't disguised well.

The maybe:
Cerge made some plays. He's pretty nimble out there, with that #54 I sometimes mistake him for a LB.
Shamire was still playing hard at the end of the game. We might have a very good OL if we stay healthy and continue to sharpen up.
Special teams - love JJ and Stewart so far, Butker is going to have a monster year and go on to a good pro career, I didn't think Rodwell did too bad either but had some unfortunate bounces. FG block was YUUUUGE!
Terell Lewis looked like he belonged out there.
Would've thought AJ Gray's presence would've been felt more.
I would've thought Lynn Griffin would've gotten some snaps, but I don't remember seeing him out there. Same for Cottrell (though he would be more understandable from the injury).
The DL outside of Simmons. Freeman showed up some but didn't look 100% to me.

I like the look of this team, but the execution level has to ramp up as we go. I don't see anything right now that would rule out the possibility of a 2014 level squad as the season and team mature. First games are hard to judge. CPJ'ism: we've got a chance to be good.

Good list.

I'm less certain about our D. We change the names and numbers but still seem to have the same problems of not finishing tackles, especially for loss. Too many bad angles, too often failing to wrap up.

I'm not complaining about holding a pwr5 team to 1.4 ppd, but only time will tell how improved they are from averaging less than 1ppd last year against pwr5 Ds

Also, we seemed to have a similar recurring problem on O where it seems like guys were in the right spot (when they were) but not finishing the play. For example, I'm thinking of plays like when JT ran up behind MM who didn't go after his block aggressively.

That being said, I agree that most issues can get cleaned up. I agree Terrell had a solid first start, first game with sig time. I loved Corey's aggressiveness. In fact, I think all our DBs played pretty well. We'll see.

 

[BuzzStone]

I'm less certain about our D. We change the names and numbers but still seem to have the same problems of not finishing tackles, especially for loss. Too many bad angles, too often failing to wrap up.

I'm not complaining about holding a pwr5 team to 1.4 ppd, but only time will tell how improved they are from averaging less than 1ppd last year against pwr5 Ds

This is my main concern. These men should be tackling correct during the first game. Our Defensive coaching left a lot to be desired just on the fundamentals of the game. I hope CPJ will take the lead on that and keep these arm tackles in Ireland.

 

[Boomergump]

Paul Johnson 17, Steve Addazio 14: More Games are Lost Than Won
A classic example of what is yielded by playing not to lose

http://www.bcinterruption.com/bosto...steve-addazio-14-more-games-are-lost-than-won

Make no mistake about it, Boston College was the better team yesterday in Ireland. Statistically the Eagles controlled it, they appeared to have more talent essentially across the board and although they certainly didn't dominate the game, were in a position and should have closed it out.

That's when Paul Johnson's personality, faith in his team and outright balls, took over against Steve Addazio who was simply looking to have the clock run out and suddenly BC is getting on a plane for the 2986 mile trip home from Dublin, 0-1 on the season, after dropping their ninth straight game overall and ninth straight conference game, 17-14 to Georgia Tech.

I disagree with the author of that article. I told the guys sitting with me during the game that I would have kicked there too and put the game on the shoulders of my defense. They were playing lights out on D and in those situations you try to grab the lead any way you can with as little risk as possible. I guarantee you, all the second guessers would be out in force if they had gone for it on 4th down and failed. "Why don't you trust our defense?", they would all be screaming. Was BC the better team? Possibly. Certainly on defense. That guy is just angry and trying to sound smart. I love the part about how he has a "background in coaching". Give me a break. So do many who read this stuff, but it doesn't mean jack. People will listen to those who make keen observations and sense with their comments regardless. If he has to advertise, he probably wasn't much of a coach in the first place. If you want have me tune out, just start defining yourself as the "expert". It won't take me long. I love our coach and I do think he coaches aggressively to win, so, in that sense I agree with him. But I would be willing to bet, if CPJ had a defense like that, he might play field position at critical junctures a little more often too. Number 1 rule as a coach is play to your strengths while you play to win. Personally, I like Addazio as a coach. If they can pull together some semblance of an offense, it will be a good year.

 

[pinglett]

BC will be the best D we face this year. At least it will be the best who was best prepared for us too.

I hope you are right Boomer. Some of our OL were getting rag dolled by their DL, and it looked some of our A-backs/WR got out muscled. I also hope there is no truth to the theory that we have a 'tell' or a tendency that they have figured out and are secretly sharing among our opponents. It just seems like they know what is coming now. The MLB and safeties are right where they need to be, but we can't burn them and keep them honest. We need some sort of short passing game. I really liked the calls of the smoke/hitch route once in awhile, but I think it was only really successful once to Jeune?

 

[InsideLB]

I like the look of this team, but the execution level has to ramp up as we go. I don't see anything right now that would rule out the possibility of a 2014 level squad as the season and team mature. First games are hard to judge. CPJ'ism: we've got a chance to be good.

Very nice write up and the conclusion is really well-stated.

It seemed like we started to get some traction late in the second half on offense. I am wondering if some of that wasn't due to the conditioning the guys did over the summer. We had the promising drive that ended in a fumble, the Butker FG drive, and the winning TD drive. Still a struggle, but we were definitely moving it.

We just need to keep working hard and improving every week.

 

[4shotB]

But I would be willing to bet, if CPJ had a defense like that, he might play field position at critical junctures a little more often too. Number 1 rule as a coach is play to your strengths while you play to win. Personally, I like Addazio as a coach. If they can pull together some semblance of an offense, it will be a good year.

Maybe the subject of a different post, but why doesn't Paul have a D like that? He and Roof have been here awhile. Conversely, why doesn't Addazio have any O to speak of? Your post made me look up some data (which I am too lazy to do in most cases). I don't know (nor care) which recruiting service is "better" but I pulled this info from rivals. Here is the recruiting rankings (FWIW) for the years 2012 - 2015...i.e. the kids who were on the field for the most part Saturday....

Year GT BC
2012 60 68
2013 84 89
2014 49 43
2015 38 49

So, it looks like GT and BC are about the same in terms of talent (if you believe the recruiting service, which is another topic altogether), what separates them in terms of their identities (GT known for its O and BC for its D)? Does their identities allow (or cause) the best recruits to fit more on one side of the ball? Eg, we have put several WR's in the pros, so we are more likely to attract WR's with high ceilings than BC?

 

[Supersizethatorder-mutt]

This is my main concern. These men should be tackling correct during the first game. Our Defensive coaching left a lot to be desired just on the fundamentals of the game. I hope CPJ will take the lead on that and keep these arm tackles in Ireland.

They've been going on far longer than the Roof regime, and even back before Johnson arrived. I just don't understand how our guys never seem to know how to tackle.

 

[Northeast Stinger]

Maybe the subject of a different post, but why doesn't Paul have a D like that? He and Roof have been here awhile. Conversely, why doesn't Addazio have any O to speak of? Your post made me look up some data (which I am too lazy to do in most cases). I don't know (nor care) which recruiting service is "better" but I pulled this info from rivals. Here is the recruiting rankings (FWIW) for the years 2012 - 2015...i.e. the kids who were on the field for the most part Saturday....

Year GT BC
2012 60 68
2013 84 89
2014 49 43
2015 38 49

So, it looks like GT and BC are about the same in terms of talent (if you believe the recruiting service, which is another topic altogether), what separates them in terms of their identities (GT known for its O and BC for its D)? Does their identities allow (or cause) the best recruits to fit more on one side of the ball? Eg, we have put several WR's in the pros, so we are more likely to attract WR's with high ceilings than BC?

Good question. Would love someone to come up with a plausible explanation. I don't mean this literally but it is almost as if there are not enough good players once the factories get through picking the bones and BC and GT have to choose which side of the ball they are going to emphasize. I honestly don't think that is it both there is an anomaly here worth exploring.

 

[AE 87]

Good question. Would love someone to come up with a plausible explanation. I don't mean this literally but it is almost as if there are not enough good players once the factories get through picking the bones and BC and GT have to choose which side of the ball they are going to emphasize. I honestly don't think that is it both there is an anomaly here worth exploring.

It's not rocket science imo. It's coaching--scheme and play calling. If we had Don Brown as DC, we'd be unstoppable.

 

[Boomergump]

Maybe the subject of a different post, but why doesn't Paul have a D like that? He and Roof have been here awhile. Conversely, why doesn't Addazio have any O to speak of? Your post made me look up some data (which I am too lazy to do in most cases). I don't know (nor care) which recruiting service is "better" but I pulled this info from rivals. Here is the recruiting rankings (FWIW) for the years 2012 - 2015...i.e. the kids who were on the field for the most part Saturday....

Year GT BC
2012 60 68
2013 84 89
2014 49 43
2015 38 49

So, it looks like GT and BC are about the same in terms of talent (if you believe the recruiting service, which is another topic altogether), what separates them in terms of their identities (GT known for its O and BC for its D)? Does their identities allow (or cause) the best recruits to fit more on one side of the ball? Eg, we have put several WR's in the pros, so we are more likely to attract WR's with high ceilings than BC?

I don't rely on recruiting services to determine talent levels of teams. That is a waste of time IMHO. I just watch the replay, slow down the action, and decide for myself. I'll bet BC has as many players drafted off this defense as any we play, if not more.

 

[Boomergump]

I hope you are right Boomer. Some of our OL were getting rag dolled by their DL, and it looked some of our A-backs/WR got out muscled. I also hope there is no truth to the theory that we have a 'tell' or a tendency that they have figured out and are secretly sharing among our opponents. It just seems like they know what is coming now. The MLB and safeties are right where they need to be, but we can't burn them and keep them honest. We need some sort of short passing game. I really liked the calls of the smoke/hitch route once in awhile, but I think it was only really successful once to Jeune?

I think our OL was more effective than our ABs. Did some guys get "rag dolled" on our OL? Sure, at times, but that happens going against really good players. It wasn't constant. To say we got the better of them in the game I don't think is accurate, but we had some good moments in the trenches too. They had the kind of players that if 3 of our guys made really good blocks but the other two were just decent, one of them was going to be making a play. That isn't always the case with all of the teams we play. Part of what you have to look at too, is what kind of QB read did we make on the play. We made some bad ones Saturday and that alone can make your OL look worse than it is. We left a couple guys unblocked (not by design) a few times too. A couple of times I thought we were supposed to pull, but didn't. We checked out of a couple plays and not everybody got on the same page. Those kinds of things are a different problem. It makes you look like you are getting beat physically when that is far from the truth.

 

[JacketFromUGA]

 

[Northeast Stinger]

It's not rocket science imo. It's coaching--scheme and play calling. If we had Don Brown as DC, we'd be unstoppable.

Well, that is the question that gets debated around here all the time, whether it is CTR.

 

[Sideways]

They've been going on far longer than the Roof regime, and even back before Johnson arrived. I just don't understand how our guys never seem to know how to tackle.

This is largely true. But if you wanted to see fundamentally sound tackling look no further than Jemea Thomas. He would stick people and they generally went backwards. A fine football player.