BC plans to learn from mistakes (BostonHerald.com)
Twenty-four hours did not help Boston College football coach Frank Spaziani’s digestion of a 24-17 season-opening loss to Northwestern all that much. It was still giving him agita.
Northwestern football: Wildcats' up-tempo attack tough on opponent (chicagotribune.com)
"It's difficult when you face a team with a tempo like that," Kuechly said. "You can't replicate it in practice." "We watched them (on tape) all offseason," Fitzgerald said. "We believed they had not seen an offense like ours. We have a program vision to make you defend both sides for the entire game."
Eagles’ flaws for concern (BostonHerald.com)
"We were softer than we need to be, or than we’re accustomed to being," Spaziani said. "We weren’t as sharp mentally for a lot of reasons. We had some mental mistakes out there that hurt us."
Second viewing thoughts and grade report: Northwestern (Eagle in Atlanta)
I guess what frustrates me most is that we were close. 479 total offensive yards! But I feel the big Spaz issues remain. We butchered the clock at the end of the half. Came out with no momentum and then ran a sloppy two-minute drill in the final drive. Just take the last sequence. We get the first down with 18 seconds left. We have one timeout. The best move is to kill the clock. But because NU had an injured player we went ahead wasted time and then had a penalty. Mental mistake for sure, but it is too common under Spaz.
Boston College Vs. Northwestern: Ifeanyi Momah, Eagles Ready To Move On (SB Nation Boston)
"Honestly, even though the game just ended, we always have our heads up," Momah said after Saturday's game. "We are ready for the next week and for the next challenge. We're disappointed that we lost this game but it's not the end of the world. The season goes on and [we] are going to be a really good team at the end of the year, so we are going to start pushing, starting tomorrow at practice."
Boston College Notebook: Rettig shows progress in opener (The Milford Daily News)
"I think we got a great look this week from our scout team," said Rettig. "I think that's why we were able to execute some of our plays out there. I think our line did a pretty good job. (Running back) Andre ( Williams) was definitely healthy and looked good out there. We were moving the ball. We had things going for us, but we left too many opportunities for touchdowns out there. ...We were moving the ball, just hurting ourselves."
No Persa, No Problem: Northwestern-Boston College first impressions recap (Sippin' On Purple)
Colter wasn't the deciding factor by any means, as the Cats won the game in the trenches: Northwestern's offensive line opened up massive holes up front for Colter as well as Mike Trumpy and Adonis Smith, who put up 227 yards against last year's best run defense in the NCAA. And on the other side of the ball, a reinvigorated defensive line held Andre Williams to 53 yards on 21 carries (not including his 69-yard romp that got stopped short of a touchdown on the first play from scrimmage) and brutalized Chase Rettig, sacking him three times, forcing him to throw the ball away before/while getting popped other times, and of course, Vince Browne blindsiding him for no gain on the final play of the game.
B1G Abroad: Watching Northwestern-Boston College and Michigan-Western Michigan in Switzerland (Off Tackle Empire)
If you take away BC's first play of the game (a 69 yard run to the Wildcats' 3 yard line -- the defense proceeded to stonewall BC and hold them to a FG), the Cats only gave up 35 yards rushing. Insane improvement. All week we heard how BC's running game was going to be a huge test, even without all conference back Montell Harris....the NU defense showed that it's improved in stopping the run.
Sacks vs. BC (Sippin' On Purple)
One of the most exciting features of the BC game was that NU actually got pressure on BC quarterback Chase Rettig. I was interested to find out what this means for the rest of the season, so I went back and looked at the three NU sacks and the intentional grounding penalty to see what NU did right. Video of the full game is on ESPN3, and several of these can be found as highlights at regular old ESPN.com.
UCF Sunday Review: Coach George O’Leary says Knights still have room for improvement (Knights Notepad)
"I’m just finishing up our game [tape] … But I saw BC the first half of their game. They’re typical BC. Big offensive linemen. Good run defense. You know the running back was good, but the better one didn’t play. Montel Harris. See if he’s back. They’ve got that tall receiver out there that’s 6-6, catches a lot of balls. They’re a typical Boston College team that we’ve faced in the past. Line of scrimmage game, good run defense, All-American linebacker that makes a lot of plays. I think he had 18 tackles in the game yesterday. We’ll have our work cut out for us."
No rest for BC after loss (The Milford Daily News)
"They certainly are a very proficient football team, and certainly well coached," BC coach Frank Spaziani said yesterday during his weekly conference call. "We're going to have to be on top of our game down there for sure. They've got it going, winning (11) games last year and getting off to a (good start) this year. "We have to take care of our own business, and we've got our work cut out for us."
Prediction time: ACC game-by-game (D1scourse)
Positive swing: at Miami. It's anyone's guess how beleaguered the Hurricanes will be at that point. But Boston College faces an absolutely brutal stretch in the six games preceding its regular season finale itself.
Grading the FBS Unis (Uni Watch)
PH (B last year): Clearly last year I graded them too high, because they’re improved…but they ain’t no B+ now. Better fonts, much better helmet striping now. Two too many pairs of pants, however. The golds would be just fine, TYVM. If the pants stripe matched the helmet, it’d be a B+. But they don’t…plus, I’m not a big fan of the stained glass design that you can’t see from more than one foot away. B