Wake 3, BC 0: QB Management Was Completely Unacceptable

There is so much to complain about following today's complete disaster of a game that even summarizing them all would be just about impossible. So I won't even begin to try. I'm sure that over the course of the coming days (and, in fact, years) the many, many mistakes and failures of today's game will be laid out here and elsewhere.

I'm going to focus on one thing in particular that was completely atrocious, the blame for which lays squarely on the shoulders of the head coach: the management of the quarterbacks.

I already mentioned earlier this week that I think the QB rotation is hurting the development of the offense. Today was even more egregious.

I truly don't understand how Addazio can decide to go with Jeff Smith for pretty much the entire second half, then put in Flutie to start the critical drive with 2:30 remaining. If Flutie is the guy you're counting on to start that drive, he should be playing the majority of the snaps! And if Smith is the guy you've entrusted the majority of the snaps to, he should have the ball in his hands for the crucial final drive!!!!

You're doing no favors to the confidence of either quarterback, or the development of an offensive identity, when you can't even figure out what QB you want out on the field when the game is on the line. And both Flutie and Smith managed to make absolutely awful mistakes on their two opportunities to tie or win the game. The confusion inherent in switching back and forth in a frantic late drive certainly did not help.

BC had a young offense even before their starting QB and RB got hurt, so growing pains are understandable. BC would not be a good team offensively even with Vince Lombardi coaching the team. But the head coach's job is to maximize the tools at his disposal and put his team in the best position to win.

Even putting aside the clock issues, penalty issues, and everything else, you're not putting your team in the best positionto win when you don't have a plan for a game winning two minute drill. A plan starts with knowing who is under center. Not being ready for that situation is a mortal football sin, and Addazio deserves to feel heat for it.

I'm pretty lenient toward the head coach over the team's talent issues, since they're still rebuilding. I also think the offensive coordinator probably deserves the most heat (more on that later). But the QB management has to be the head coach's call, and it was wrong, over and over again.