Random Sunday Musings: Florida State 45 BC 7

Good Sunday morning!  Well it has to be better than Saturday morning was, between the basketball team's loss to Nicholls State (maybe it was actually Nichols College in Dudley??) and the latest evisceration of the football team, the fact the sun came up at all this morning is proof that God does indeed exist and that he does have a direct line of contact with the President Elect.

Speaking of which...

• Should Twitter accounts be taken away from anyone that either aspires to or holds any position of authority? And no, in this case, I am not talking about the Donald, but rather about Jeff Jagodzinski.  In what may be the ultimate example of trolling, Jags made an unabashed play to stump for a return to the Heights and dispose of Steve Addazio.  I've made it no secret that the Dazzler shouldn't return for 2017, but I am not sure I ever remember someone else openly campaigning for a coaching job the way Jags did.  I know a lot of you have fond memories of him, but I have always believed that it was more of the right place at the right time than anything he did on the field and that given another year or two, the Jags administration would be looked at much less favorably than it is now.  Returns to any school are rare and in this case, although I don't believe there is any way BC would consider Jags, best for both the school and the former coach to focus on other endeavors.
• The Jet Sweep is a "staple" of the Boston College offense.  But have you ever seen something that a team at this level runs so often, be executed so poorly?  I am not even talking about blocking it, just the reasonably simple task of timing to get the WR to the mesh point correctly. It seems that 4 out of 5 times BC runs the play the timing is off with the receiver there way too early.
• This question was a bit more appropriate when the defense was playing better, but would you rather be a team like Texas Tech that was around .500 record wise, scored a million points and put up a million yards, or BC which can't do any of that, but at least at one point, could stop people.  What is more frustrating or entertaining?
• That leads right in to the play of the defense.  ESPN's Mack Brown and Adam Amin tried to find ways to boost BC and in particular the Eagle D and certainly they had their moments, but as Bill Parcells said, "you are what your record says you are" and in this case, that has to make this defense far less than they are touted to be.  I know they get no assistance from the Eagle offense, but BC is still 15th in the country going after the FSU game in time of possession (53rd in conference games only), so it's not as if the BC D is on the field an insane amount of time per game.  The facts though are nearly impossible at this point to ignore, despite these coming against really good, highly ranked opponents..get used to it folks, this is your direct competition and this defense under Jim Reid, with many of the same people on the field has fallen apart before our eyes.
  • • 2015 - 183 points allowed all season.  0-4 against Virginia Tech, Louisville, Clemson and Florida State.  Combined score 91-41.  So certainly not good
    • 2016 - 202 points allowed vs JUST THOSE 4 teams.  Being outscored 202-24.
      • This is the first time BC has allowed 45 points or more in a game four times in a season EVER.
      • This is the first time since Dan Henning's 1996 team that BC has given up 40 or more points in a game four times in a season.
      • Keep in mind that although the top three teams in the Atlantic are clearly head and shoulders above their competition, all of the other teams in the division have pushed on the leaders in at least one game..all except BC.
  • The defense had two very much discussed players last night, one for the good and one for the not so good.  Harold Landry coming off the edge was immense, proving once again that he is the real deal.  FSU though did expose him with some discipline issues on containment and that assignment discipline now becomes the next step in his development.  Then there was the case of Lukas Denis who the Noles clearly targeted in their game plan.  Better days will be had by Denis, but this is just another case of the BC DBs in particular looking physically outmatched and poorly coached mostly around the simple concept of locating the ball.
  • If BC beats either UConn (they should) or Wake (don't get your hopes up), with the paucity of bowl eligible teams, should the Eagles take the bid?  I don't think there is any question that the school will do so, but if they are going to use it as reason for keeping Addazio as the head coach in 2017 (that they went to a bowl game that is) count me out.
  • Did Steve Addazio just look like a beaten man the other night?  I know he through out the crazy line about getting everyone's best shot (I am sure there are dozens of teams around the country who target BC as the opponent to get up for!) and I am glad he is not screaming like Brian Kelly at Notre Dame out of pure frustration, but he just doesn't seem to know what to do at this point and is simply accepting his fate.
  • The Boston College offense.  After the mess that was 2015, this season just had to be better right?  So let's take a look
    • • 2015 rush yards per game - 164.7 - #73 in the country
      • 2016 rush yards per game - 151.4 - #94 in the country
      • 2015 pass yards per game - 110.9 - #125 in the country
      • 2016 pass yards per game - 144.1 - #120 in the country
      • 2015 total offense per game - 275.6 - #126 in the country
      • 2016 total offense per game - 295.5 - #127 in the country
      • 2015 scoring offense per game - 17.2 - #121 in the country
      • 2016 scoring offense per game - 18.2 - #124 in the country
      • 2015 yards per play - 3.8 - #128 in the country (stat vs FBS schools only)
      • 2016 yards per play - 4.2 - #126 in the country (stat vs FBS schools only)
  • BC was supposed to be one of the most improved offenses in the country.  Phil Steele listed them as the 2nd most improved pass offense and 9th most improved scoring offense in his pre-season magazine, but we have seen the results. BC went 51 minutes last night without a first down and for the second consecutive game, had their only real spurt of offense in garbage time allowing them to avoid a potential sub 100 yard total offense effort. This is now the second year in a row the program has had three games in which the offense scored 7 points or less.  The last time prior to 2015 that happened was the 1994 Dan Henning team and prior to that, the 1980 Ed Chlebek team.  Interestingly, both the Henning and Chlebek teams wound up winning 7 games.
  • Finally, Patrick Towles.  According to ESPN's QBR rating system, in 2016 there have been 1159 (the ratings aren't out for this week yet!) games to rank.  Against BC, Lamar Jackson registered a 99.9 rating, the highest single game of the season.  Towles effort the other night against FSU was pretty much at the complete opposite end of the scale.  His 3.6 QBR would put that game as the 12th worst of the season, or in the bottom 1% of games in total this year, which is actually worse than the worst game of last season, the 3.9 Jeff Smith registered at Louisville.