Boston College Vs. Clemson: Steve Addazio Press Conference Highights

For the full transcript, head on over to the BC Eagles homepage.

On the upcoming matchup with Clemson...

We have a tough one at Clemson, as you all know. it's a tough place to play at. They're an outstanding football team. On offense, [Deshaun] Watson is playing great. He's the key to the offence and one of the huge keys to them being 5-0. He's a fantastic dual-threat quarterback that throws the ball well. They've got other great players like Atavius Scott, Ray-Ray McCloud and Jordan Leggett.

Clemson is arguably the best team on the BC schedule this year. They have one of the ACC's best quarterback, one of the best running backs, and some of the best receivers. They beat you through the air, and they beat you on the ground. They wear down opposing defenses, then go for the kill shot.

BC's defense is elite and is well deserving of consideration as the best in the land. Clemson, however, is going to be a ridiculously great offense. The teams BC played this year are all flawed in some capacity; Clemson isn't.

Defensively, they are 13th in total defense in the country. They're 18th against the run and 29th against the pass. They only returned four starters, but most of that group that's out there has played a lot of football. They're not new to playing.

BC's offense is going to struggle, but there's only so much blame we can continually put on the coaching staff and the players. When you take a unit climbing uphill and put them against an experienced, good defense, it makes the climb that much harder. We should expect the offense to struggle to score points, and we should expect that it's going to be a tough go of it.

There's multiple ways of taking that. The most obvious is to sit back and say, "Well they've been brutal to this point of the season, so what's to say it's any different? This is just another example of why the offensive coordinator and the head coach don't know what they're doing."

I think there's multiple angles. While the coaching staff and the past experiences are likely to influence the way fans approach this game, I think you can look at how they perform against a good defense as a litmus test. If they connect on a couple of plays, view that as progress. If they connect on a couple of good drives, also consider that progress.

My point is that the offense this week is going to be vastly different from the past three weeks. With one quarterback and with some different looks, this is going to be a different gameplan and different thought process. For that reason, put last week behind you and only look at the performance of these 60 minutes.

On which quarterback is running the silent cadence better...

(Laughs) That was a first for both of them...

It's different when you put that deafening noise out there. I kind of like it from the standpoint that we, as coaches, are so hands on, so it's nice when it's so noise that no one can be hands on. Everybody is on their little island out there and it's fun to watch them operate that way when all of a sudden nobody is yelling at you about what to do from the front and from the side. It's interesting watching some of the young plays, who you can see that they're unnerved by it since there's not a lot of communication or support going on.

The silent cadence is something we saw last year out of Tyler Murphy in different capacity. If you remember when he was running the offense, Murphy, in some games, would wave his arms like wings prior to the snap. Some quarterbacks take a step, followed by timing for the snap. It puts pressure on the relationship and chemistry between a quarterback and his center. It also forces the QB to be able to make presnap reads and check off plays to know where and when he needs to make a play.

This is going to be a good challenge and opportunity. Whoever winds up being quarterback needs to work on being able to identify coverage without help from the sideline. Death Valley is one of the loudest, most intense places to play. If you're an athlete, you shouldn't be unnerved but pumped for that type of atmosphere, even if you have no idea what you're getting yourself into.

You know how to negate the atmosphere? Execute and quiet the crowd. Easier said than done, I know.

On naming one QB going forward...

I am going to settle on one quarterback. I'm going to announce that later in the week. As I said from the beginning, [rotating quarterbacks] wasn't what I wanted to do, but it's what I needed to do to amply figure out which guy [would start]. First, I wanted to get experience for both of them and also I needed to see if one of them could separate [himself]. So until that point, that's what we thought was best. I think now we're getting to that point where we're going to settle in a bit and see where that brings us right now. That's where we're at.

We still have to perform though. Nothing is etched in stone. When you watch a guy on the field, and a guy is unraveling, you've got to take care of them when they're young like that. You can't just let that go. It's always a concern, but I think we'd like to move forward with some continuity to the best of our ability.

I know nothing about this will quiet the crowd. If the one QB comes out and does well with the offense, we'll hear about how Boston College flushed three games down the drain by not committing. If the QB comes out and plays poorly, we'll hear about how Boston College coaches picked the wrong guy, can't develop anyone, and can't form an offense or recruit a legitimate quarterback.

So whatever Steve Addazio says or does here, it's going to be a lightning rod. BC is moving forward and will do so with one quarterback.

On maintaining the confidence level for the QB who doesn't start...

That's hard but what you're doing is giving both guys ample opportunities to show you what they can do. That doesn't mean it's over forever. We've got a body of work now and you're evaluating that and trying to go in the right direction. Now if you pick a guy and he fails miserably, we'll be back at it for another week. But I think that's all you can do. Usually when you pick two it's because you don't have one that's ready. So in the same breath, you're trying to develop young players. You're trying to give them some experience that matters.

I was a proponent of the two quarterback system because I didn't think either quarterback was ready. Over the course of the last three weeks, there were too many times I felt one guy stepped forward before stepping backward. After three weeks, Coach Addazio will make a decision. I have a feeling he already knows who he is going with.

For the QB that doesn't get the job, it's obviously a disappointment, but they both had their chance. The message to the new backup is clear: keep competing and keep fighting. You're only one play away from getting in the game as it is, and if the other guy's game goes entirely to hell, it'll be your turn.