Grading the Eagles: Wake Forest vs Boston College

Well that didn’t go the way we wanted it. Boston College got caught with their eye off the ball this week against Wake Forest. Whether they were looking ahead to next week, looking back at last week, or simply not looking, the Eagles looked poor throughout the game. Steve Addazio and the rest of the team will undoubtedly hope to put this one behind them as quickly as possible before they welcome Notre Dame to Chestnut Hill.

Quarterbacks

PT’s Grade: D. Anthony Brown looked considerably worse on the stat sheet than last week: 11/29 with 3 picks and 1 TD. In his defense, two of those interceptions came off of his receivers hands, but it is hard to take positives from his performance. Darius Wade looked lukewarm as well.

Running Backs:

PT’s Grade: D. The running backs were once again underwhelming, though how much of that is on the offensive line is tough to say. AJ Dillon, Jon Hilliman, Davon Jones, and Travis Levy combined for 3.6 yards per carry and no touchdowns. Hilliman looked passive through the hole, and though Dillon had a few good runs where he tossed around the defense, they were too few and far between.

Wide Outs/Tight Ends:

PT’s Grade: F. You can’t give let the ball hit you in the hands and not catch it, let alone let the ball hit you in the hands and give up an interception. Brown certainly had too much heat on those short throws, but it was a pretty disappointing performance all around.

Offensive Line

PT’s Grade: Barely a D. Man that was not good. Missing captain Jon Baker for the season is really going to hurt this unit. Brown got hit early, which seemed to knock any sense of rhythm out from him, and from there on out his footwork disappeared. In the run game, the Wake Forest front seven was getting great penetration all game and hitting the Eagle tailbacks well behind the line of scrimmage. The stat sheet says they gave up no sacks, which is the only thing keeping the D from an F.

Defensive Line

AJ’s Grade: C+. Harold Landry got his first sack of the year, which is nice, and line racked up quite a few TFLs, but for all the hype this unit got all summer we have yet to seem them really put on a show.

Linebackers

PT’s Grade: B-. Due credit goes to Connor Strachan, who stayed out on the field until the coaches had to drag him off. I didn’t want to fail the LB corp out there because they showed a lot of heart and made some good plays. The offense gave them poor field position repeatedly, and at the end of the day no defense is going to be able to withstand four turnovers.

Secondary

PT’s Grade: C. Some big hits, but also some bad coverages. Against Wake Forest there are always going to be few opportunities get interceptions, but John Wolford was mighty efficient out there and BC could not stop him.

Special Teams

PT’s Grade: C+: There’s not a lot to say here. Colton Lichtenberg made his only two kicks, there were no serious miscues on the returns, and Mike Knoll averaged a 42 yard punt. On the list of things to correct, this unit should be near the bottom.

Coaching

PT’s Grade: F. ugh. This team looked underprepared and unready for Wake Forest. At the end of the game the buck stops at Addazio, and this ugly performance is his responsibility.

Overall Grade

PT’s Grade: F. I think my justifications for this grade are clear in the previous couple of paragraphs. But what I should say is this: it’s really easy to write off the season, but at the end of the day BC is 1-1 with a win over a legitimate FBS team. They have a QB, they have some promising RB’s, and they have a Harold Landry led defense. Don’t wave the white flag yet, there’s still chaos to be found in this season.