Mack Brown Talks Steve Addazio & Boston College's Chances vs Clemson

Former Texas coach and current ESPN analyst Mack Brown will be in Chestnut Hill Friday night to call Boston College's game against No. 3 Clemson for The Worldwide Leader. The national championship-winning coach had a few thoughts about BC coach Steve Addazio, and the Eagles' chances against the Tigers.

Brown has known Addazio for years, and actually tried to hire him as Texas' offensive line coach in 2010, after Urban Meyer left Florida, where Addazio was serving as offensive coordinator. That wouldn't work out, as Addazio was hired to be the head coach at Temple, before moving on to BC in late 2012.

After turning around a program that had gone 2-10 the year before he arrived, and reaching back-to-back bowl games to start his Boston College career, Addazio's tenure hit a snag with an injury-riddled campaign in 2015. The start of 2016, which included a last-second loss to Georgia Tech, and blowout loss at Virginia Tech, has caused some, including ESPN, to put the BC boss on the hot seat.

Brown, who won a BCS National Championship with Texas following the 2005 season, then still dealt with the proverbial "hot seat" later in his career, believes Addazio is well-equipped to handle the pressure of coaching for his job.

"Steve (Addazio) has been around a long time, this isn't his first head coaching job," Brown said. "He's played for national championships, so he understands pressure. As a coach, what you do is you ignore the chatter, because you know to keep your job, you have to win. So all of your energy is put into doing the things you need to do to win."

Brown would also go on to say that he isn't a fan of preseason polls or early season firings, because so much can change throughout the course of a season. He also remarked that, at Texas, he was "always on the hot seat."

"If you don't have a good first quarter (at Texas), they want you fired," Brown said with a laugh.

As for what he's thought of the Eagles so far this year, he's been impressed with the way they've handled business against two over-matched foes, especially in the wake of a 49-0 loss to Virginia Tech.

Brown even thinks the Eagles can pull a few things out of those wins over Wagner and Buffalo.

"It helps to win," Brown said. "I talked to a player at BYU last week, and they're 1-3, and somebody said to him, 'well you played well.' And he just said, 'losing sucks!' That's all I can really say. It does, and winning makes everybody happy. And you feel better, and you need to have confidence to win football games. They have a lot more confidence now than they did a few weeks ago."

"I always thought (my teams) should play to a standard, and they should play up to that standard, not down to the level of competition," Brown continued. "(BC) did exactly what they should have done (against Wagner and Buffalo), they blew them out… They're better as a football team, they're more confident."

Having covered BC in the past, and quarterback Patrick Towles when he was at Kentucky, Brown was pleased with the way Addazio opened things up for his quarterback last week against Buffalo. He thinks the Eagles will continue to rely a bit more on the veteran signal-caller, especially against a defense as good as Clemson's.

"(Addazio coached teams) are always going to run the football, but last week they opened it up a little more, and you see Patrick (Towles) throwing the football, and they're really wanting to be more balanced," Brown said. "That helped them a lot against Buffalo, and I think we'll see them open it up a little more. Still be balanced, but open it up a bit against Clemson on Friday night."

Looking ahead to Clemson even more, Brown knows it will be an uphill battle for Boston College, but thinks the Eagles have a shot to pull off the upset.

"They've got to take care of the football," Brown said. "They've got to knock some balls loose, and they probably have to score on defense, or make a special teams score. Usually that's what you have to do to win against a team as talented, and as confident, as Clemson."

"But I do think it's a very dangerous game for Clemson," Brown continued. "Coming in there on a Friday night, with a short week, after the emotion they spent last week against Louisville."

Boston College will host Clemson Friday night at 7:30 pm. The game will be televised nationally on ESPN.