Offensive Overhauls At BC And Clemson And The Big Finish
by Brian Favat on Jul 16, 2011 10:00 AM EDT
in Big Finish
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PrintWrapping up Clemson week ...
Brian: It's no secret that neither Boston College nor Clemson had stellar offenses last season. The Eagles gained just 3,887 yards of total offense last season (good for 11th in the conference and ahead of only Wake Forest), averaged less than 300 yards a game (dead last) and averaged just 4.8 yards per play (tied for last with Wake). The Tigers didn't fare much better on offense, ranking 10th in the conference in all three of those categories -- total yards (4,349), yards/game (334.5) and yards/play (5.0).
Both programs desperately got the offensive overhauls they desperately needed in the offseason. On the Heights, Kevin Rogers takes over the BC offense for Gary Tranquill, while down in Clemson, the Tigers hired Tulsa OC Chad Morris to the same position.
So after it's all said and done this season, which program -- Clemson or BC -- will see the bigger improvement on this side of the ball? Your thoughts?
Jeff: This is tough to say. I think Clemson has had a bigger offensive scheme problem than the Eagles have since the Eagles have joined the ACC. Clemson has had some studs on offense in the skill position including most notably, C.J. Spiller. In Spiller's senior season, there were games where the Tigers almost literally had no positive plays when CJ did not touch the ball. Jacoby Ford was also an NFL draft pick at wide receiver who should have been able to make some plays since all of the focus was on Spiller, but that rarely seemed to happen. Even when James Davis, another NFL draft pick, was in the backfield with Spiller the Tigers never seemed to be much of an offensive force.
BC has also been much more of a defense-oriented team since joining the ACC. We had some time under Jags that we could win some shoot-outs, most notably the Chris Crane breakout game at NC State, but we still relied on our defense heavily to keep us in the majority of games. But since joining the league, Matt Ryan is the only offensive player from a skill position to be drafted into the NFL. So for that reason, I think Clemson's offense has been more disappointing and has a bigger underlying problem that I'm not sure first year offensive coordinator Chad Morris can fix this season. At BC meanwhile, Steve Logan and Jags set a blueprint for how to be more successful on offense at the Heights. Kevin Rogers can take BC from the bottom of the league to the middle or better in offensive stats in his first season with a returning QB and Montel Harris.
Big Finish
Brian: Luke Kuechly was named to yet another watch list, the Butkus Award, the fourth watch list #40 has been added to in the preseason. Will Kuechly win any of these awards?
Jeff: Nope.
Jeff: Speaking of Kuechly, how many tackles for him this season?
Brian: 150. Some of these other guys will step up and have big seasons.
Brian: Jared Dudley was named to SI's inaugural Twitter 100. This isn't much of a surprise though, is it?
Jeff: No, not really, but why hasn't that resulted in more Boston College social media success?
Jeff: Will Chase Rettig ultimately rank as one of the great QBs Kevin Rogers has coached?
Brian: Hmmm. Don't think so.
Brian: Apparently Maryland coach Randy Edsall has his own ice cream flavor. If White Mountain named an ice cream flavor after Spaz, what would it be?
Jeff: Plain vanilla or down-in-the-dumps chocolate.
Jeff: BC brought home one ESPY this week with Mark Herzlich winning Comeback Athlete of the Year. Does Boston College, or a BC athlete win one next year?
Brian: Doubtful.
Brian: Last one. Here is Scout.com's Boston College preview which states that this season will be a success if the Eagles win eight games. You agree?
Jeff: Yes, we can't set the bar so high that -- with a tougher schedule -- improving in the win column is not good enough.
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If White Mountain named an ice cream flavor after Spaz, what would it be?
Without a doubt: Rocky Road
Writer at BC Interruption SBN's Boston College Eagles blog
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Rogers
Surprised you guys haven’t talked about it but the ND interview with Rogers on eagleaction.com (it’s free to read) is one awful quote after another. My expectations for Rogers plummeted after reading it.
i dont know that my expectations plummeted, but it was strange that how for three quarters of the article he is laying all types of praise and basically bowing down to any quarterback he’s ever coached and then how quickly his tone changed when the conversation turned to rettig, who has a chance to be “pretty good”. I don’t know maybe its a good thing, chase hasn’t done anything yet, but the other thing i didn’t like in the article was how eloquently he described the pride of being given the opportunity to work for the irish and hokies and described the hiring at BC as something he was “forced into” by the circumstances in Minnesota, and that he appreciated feeling wanted here and was offered a “nice contract”
Bloom. Good take on Interview. I had same feeling. But I do thing it’s a coach thing to not let rettig be overconfident
The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood.
by waterwater on Jul 16, 2011 2:44 PM EDT via mobile up reply actions
Even BCI
Is saying middle of the road miquetiadty things about Rettig. See Brian “hmmmm” comment above. Where is the enthusiasm from BCI???
The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood.
by waterwater on Jul 16, 2011 2:45 PM EDT via mobile up reply actions
There's clearly a difference between enthusiasm and unrealistic expectations
Jeff asked if Rettig will end up being one of the best QBs Rogers has ever coached.
I don’t know … Donovan McNabb wasn’t a bad QB in college, and Bryan Randall led the Hokies to an ACC title. That’s two, and doesn’t even cover the up-and-coming BC QBs (Suntrup? someone cool we don’t even know about?). If you want to get technical, Rogers also coached a guy named Brett Favre, as much as I dislike the guy.
Editor, BC Interruption
yea a better response to jeff's question
would have been “who the hell could possibly know that given the quarterbacks rogers has coached and how little we know about rettig?”
Good one!
The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood.
by waterwater on Jul 16, 2011 4:36 PM EDT via mobile up reply actions
Kuechly Awards
If Kuechly leads the nation in tackles again and doesn’t win a single award, I will do something drastic that I have not come up with yet.
Hmmm...
I kind of get the feeling that Roger’s feels that BC is beneath him.
Roger’s response to going back to South Bend with BC: “I’m just hoping we can be competitive.” No wonder Spaz likes this guy!!!
With respect to his career coming back to college and BC: "This decision (going back to college coaching) was forced on me; the NFL decision certainly was not. " Gee, good to have you here too coach.
by chicagofire1871 on Jul 16, 2011 7:23 PM EDT reply actions
Rogers should be happy he’s back in college. Last I checked, there wasn’t a job to go back to in the NFL. #justsayin
Editor, BC Interruption
lets hope it is beneath him
as I think more about this I truly do hope that Rogers does such a good job turning this offense around that he proves he’s qualified for other (better) positions. We all know that any coach who distinguishes themselves at BC will always be faced with the prospect of moving to a bigger program or to the NFL, that is the reality of being a BC fan, but Rogers is 59, how many years will it take for him to distinguish himself as an effective coach? Two? Three? Then how attractive a coaching hire is a 62 year old? Most big programs don’t look towards coaches who are entering the twilight of their career when they decide its time to make a change and hire someone to redirect their ship. I (hope) that even though rogers might still wish he was in the NFL or somewhere like ND, it doesn’t matter because he realizes he is here. He probably has around a decade left in his career so any success he has “transforming” this offense should not be looked at as a window to bigger and better things, but an exclamation point on a great career.
He could replace Pasqualoni at UConn. I hear the Huskies love to give 60+ year old coaches a second chance at glory.
Editor, BC Interruption
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