FSU 22 Boston College 21: Thumbs Up And Thumbs Down

The last thing I want to do is recap last night’s infuriating loss to Florida State. But through the good and bad we try to give you insight and opinions. Let’s take one more look at this game, before we catapult the recap into the sun.

THUMBS UP

Tommy Sweeney/Korab Idrizi: While they only combined for five catches, they came in big moments, and in tight windows. Loved their play, and if only Steve Addazio could get them more involved in the offense, because when they get going they are hard to contain.

Kobay White: It has been a while since White had a game where you said to yourself “Man that is a #1 wide receiver”. He certainly had that game yesterday when he seven catches for 121 yards. White looked great out there, and made some big catches when BC needed it.

Zach Allen: At this point we should pretty much leave Allen in the Thumbs Up section, because it just seems like every game he is making big plays. In one set of downs he had a sack, followed by a tipped pass. He blocked a field goal, he was literally everywhere. Even though his effort did not lead to a win, his draft stock continues to rise.

Max Richardson: Had a huge tackle, and a sack for the Eagles. Starting to really show that he is back from his injury that sidelined him last year.

THUMBS DOWN

Steve Addazio: Alright where to start here? Let’s start with the first half play calling. Even though he said he was 100% on Twitter, AJ Dillon clearly did not look like himself against FSU. So what did Addazio do? Ran him 37 times against a physical FSU defense, Dillon did his best, but still struggled to break tackles and didn’t show his explosive burst. I have two major problems with this. Earlier this season I have crowed about how Addazio has found some depth at WR with big games from Travis Levy, Ben Glines and David Bailey. How many carries did that trio get yesterday? 3. And those were all from Levy. Why continue to run Dillon into the ground when you have three other horses who have fresh legs? I have no clue, but it seems senseless to me. Also, I don’t have stats on it, but if you run a back 37 times while he continues to battle an ankle injury, you have to be raising the risk of worsening the injury.

Secondly, the play calling was for the most part boring, bland and very predictable, especially on first down. Why does this happen every game? I keep hearing from BC related media sources the term “on schedule” for Addazio’s offense (Pete Cronin kept talking about it on the PBP on the radio last night). If a play doesn’t get a certain amount of yards on 1st down, they are “off schedule” and it throws off the system. You saw this on display the first half when Dillon would run for 2-3 yards, Anthony Brown would get happy feet and throw a bad pass, and then either Dillon would run it again for a minimal gain, or the next play would be a disaster. If this is the case, I totally disagree with whatever system Addazio has implemented that is forcing this “scheduling” nonsense. If you have to get 3-4 yards for a play to be “On schedule”, that would be the reason we saw AJ Dillon run it over and over and over again on first down. I’m pretty sure if you asked a team with a consistent offense if they have a “schedule” for plays, they would laugh.

And the crowning moment, the moment where Addazio turtled in the biggest moment, was of course the punt with two minutes remaining on 4th down and 1. All game long, Daz had been what we have seen him do for most of the season, which was go for it on 4th (Great!), and was reasonable successful at a 50% clip. However, it was like his mask came off during the biggest moment of the game. Even with the most seasoned offensive line, Doak finalist AJ Dillon, he could have just tried to get that one yard to win the game, instead he punted for a net gain of 27 yards, to a team that had almost 500 yards in offense. A few plays later, FSU hits a 72 yard bomb and it’s game over. It was like Aggressive Daz’s mask came off, and under it was the Conservative Playing Tight Daz we feared was there all along. Playing not to lose bites teams in the butt constantly, and it has plagued Daz in year’s past, but this one particularly hurt because this was such a winnable game.

This toxic soup of Addazio’s worst traits, led to yet another heartbreaking loss, which again has BC in peril of yet another 7-6 season. This raises the question, can he ever get past those seven wins, or is that Addazio’s ceiling? Syracuse at home is easily winnable, and could be without Eric Dungey, but they have some terrific offensive weapons that’ll be difficult to defend, and bowls are always a crap shoot. I’m not going to call for his head here, but you have to wonder if BC goes 7-6 AGAIN, what will Martin Jarmond do? Will he hitch his wagon to Addazio or move on?

Others: You can throw a bunch of thumbs down for other players here, I just don’t care to after this loss.