Random Sunday Musings

A stream of random consciousness following BC’s 28-8 win over Central Michigan putting the Eagles in control of the Mid American Conference, now 2-0 in league play.

Wait.

Whatever, it’s just a detail.

I just watched Steve Addazio’s press conference from yesterday and heard virtually nothing that I disagreed with. There is little doubt that once again this team played hard and did so short handed. Being down seven starters and having your LT and QB not practice all week makes life even more.

The good news for Addazio and team is that the opposition was pretty bad. According to our Book ratings, Central Michigan is 112th this week in the power ratings, that is two spots behind UMass. Sagarin has them squeezed between FCS Montana State and Stony Brook.

Unfortunately for Addazio and he is right about this, he’s got a brutal schedule and is right back at it again this week. Through five weeks of the season, once again according to our Book metrics, BC has faced the toughest schedule in the country, but that is the lot in life that the Eagles face. This is their direct competition. It’s not changing anytime soon.

So while it is more than fair to stay positive, to understand the dilemma you are in with lack of depth (one can point at Florida State losing Deondre Francois and how through three games, that has impacted the Noles), it is what it is.

It is a bit too early still to call the season lost and while there is every reason to believe the Eagles will wind up sub .500 overall and struggle to win any game in the ACC, this is what they signed up for getting into the ACC.

I was listening to the post game show on WEEI on the way home and thank God for Scott Mutryn. It wasn’t until Mutryn thought he handed Jon Meterparel a bunny for player of the game in Michael Walker, only to see him go another direction, that Mutryn called out both Meterparel and Peter Cronin.

Without Walker, although BC still probably eeks out a win, it would have been considerably closer. Walker gained 135 all purpose yards and the 34 and 61 yard punt returns (I told you he would pop one this week!) led to BC’s 14 first quarter points.

The Eagles went yet another week without a big play from scrimmage. Walker’s returns were those big plays that triggered scores.

Hard to fault Anthony Brown for much of anything this week. The fact that he played, after not practicing all week is enough or a real indictment of Darius Wade, considering the opposition.

Still Brown threw for just 85 yards against a team who surrendered 275 per contest coming in, good for 112th in the country. URI got 284 in the air against the Chips.

Addazio called out their play action game and it’s really hard to disagree. With the Hokies in town next week, the box is sure to be loaded, with pressure coming and corners on islands. BC has to be able to make some throws on early down situations to try to get that always aggressive defense a bit on its heels.

The linebacking corps once again held up nicely. I really thought that with Central Michigan a four and five wide team, that they would pick on the linebackers with running backs in particular, but Kevin Bletzer, Ty Schwab and John Lamot were solid and not exposed in pass coverage and rarely out of position vs the run. Lamot tied for the team lead in tackles with 10.

The level of competition was really noticeable. As mentioned earlier, the Eagles have faced some iron to start the year and while this CMU group looked statistically OK, the teams they had earned those stats against were less than stellar.

BC got three sacks where the Chippewas had allowed only two all year and for the most part controlled the game at the line of scrimmage in a way that an ACC team, even a lesser, banged up one, should against a lower level MAC team.

Early in the 3rd quarter, BC took control, pounding the run game, but got too cute for their own good and it cost them. Jon Hilliman, who had an up and down game, lost three yards on 2nd down, followed by an incomplete pass to Tommy Sweeney and the doinked FG off the upright by Colton Lichtenberg.

I know pound the rock between the tackles can be monotonous, but in this game, with the physical advantage the Eagles had, to play at pace and run it til they stopped it, was the way to go.

The Eagles needed a win but just put them away in the fourth quarter. In a game BC should have been getting stronger in, they were outgained 99-47 yards against a team they had been pummeling in the 3rd quarter.

We complain about Addazio’s game management but be glad you aren’t a Chippewa fan. What was the thought around going for a 2 point conversion down 14-8 early in the second quarter and then even more puzzling, NOT going for the first down on 4th and 11 down 28-8 in the fourth quarter.

The whole thing is just horribly broken. It isn’t any one person’s fault, that is too simplistic and a story and topic entirely to itself, but as I looked around the stadium time and time on Saturday, I just shook my head and thought about how broken the whole thing is.

The attendance was announced at 27K, which looked a bit high, but there were essentially no students and yeah, this picture was taken after it started to rain a bit and up 20 with 4:42 left in the game...but really?

Whether it is what it means to the community including the students and alums or what the product on the field is, we’ve become accepting of what BC football has become over the past decade and that has to change.

It is a challenge that sits firmly in the laps of Martin Jarmond and quite honestly, Father Leahy, to determine if they are happy cashing ACC paychecks, or whether truly want compete and Excel (seems I’ve heard that phrase somewhere around campus before) against their peers.

CoachJF