Boston College Vs. Howard: Steve Addazio's Weekly Press Conference Highlights

For the full transcript of Steve Addazio's meeting with the local media, click here.

Opening Statement...

On offense, we had 10 runs that were zero yards or less. That created some problems for us. And those runs, I heard a lot of people say, "The offensive line wasn't any good.' Well, that is a bit of an over statement because there were some beautifully blocked plays because we had 23 runs of four yards or more. But the youth of our O-Line didn't pick up some blitzes and things and that created some zero or minus yards runs. That's what happened.

Steve Addazio opened his press conference remarks by talking about how all three phases complement one another. He talked specifically about the defense and its huge success at stuffing Maine, especially against the run. After the opening drive, Maine "had nothing."

But he blamed his defense for the Maine points, mentioning how a holding penalty helped lead to a field goal. The intention was to make Maine work a long field, pin them deep, and create momentum for the offense. That didn't happen. After that series, however, BC was able to settle in and really dominate.

In talking about the offense, Steve Addazio talked about how the unit put together an 18-play drive. When you think about how long that takes to run, you really get a tremendous feel for how ball control offense works. Unfortunately, though, BC only came away with three points. The blame on that was an unnecessary sack caused by "wrist band issues."

The problem for this offense was that stat he gave in the quoted section—10 runs of zero yards or less. But that's something that should improve as the year goes on because, like Daz said, it's attributable to the offensive line's youth and inexperience at failing to pick up a blitzing scheme. This is a stereotypical case of growing pains.

Based on his opening remarks, I feel like the "all three phases" thing really came true. The Eagles were good in all three phases, but they made mistakes at different parts of the game. The three phases were maybe not in sync as much as the coach wanted.

I really encourage everyone to go and read his comments. There's a lot to digest and trying to do it maybe doesn't give it as much justice as it should receive.

On the team's identity...

Two years ago, here was our identity. We had a tailback that was a big-play hitter. We had a receiver that was a big-play, play-action hitter. Last year, we had big plays out of our tailbacks collectively - not one big hitter. We had a quarterback that was electric with his feet. So he became a big play hitter. So we might have lost the (Alex) Amidon last year but we supplanted it with the (Tyler) Murphy. And this year, what we've got to get to is, obviously we expect big plays out of our running backs. And I don't think we got enough of them. But then, on the flipside of that, while Darius (Wade) is very capable runner, is he a house-call runner like (Tyler) Murph? I don't know. He is more of that 10, 15, 20-yard guy. We have to go find those hits. We have enough receivers. We have speed. We beat others over the top. Anybody over the top. We need to go find those big-hit plays in play action right now. We didn't get any of those Saturday.

In the months leading up to the season, I really stressed BC as a read option, run-first team. About two weeks prior to the season, I abruptly halted that talk and began talking a lot about the unknown.

For the first couple of games, we won't know what this Boston College offense looks like. Trying to decide it and talk about it is what makes this great, but I admit that I've totally backtracked as an analyst. Until we have real tangible evidence, we can't really talk about what kind of team the Eagles are.

Here's an example: on Mark RogersTV, we've joked about the BC receiving corps (or lack thereof). As the preseason progressed, I read analysis from a few different people and touched base with others. We interviewed Jon Meterparel on last week's episode of BCI Radio. They all said the same thing: these receivers can fly.

How it all comes together is going to be very interesting to see. BC has to replace the big play ability of Andre Williams and Tyler Murphy by finding different ways to get "big hits." If they can get it in the passing game, that's a dynamic I don't think everyone is ready for.

How that passing attack develops and happens is part of the unknown. Are they going to be option pass? Is Wade going to stand more in the pocket? We'll find out. But that's something that will come along. On Saturday, he made some passes that a sophomore with limited experience made. Next week, we'll see how he comes along. The best part about Saturday's game is that we have one set of film, and now we get to start charting development.

On Charlie Callinan...

Charlie Callinan just got back last week. He missed the whole training camp with a hamstring injury. He just got back so no, he wasn't targeted at all. We just are trying to get him back in and start playing again. He played about 20 snaps. He missed the whole training camp. He'll be ready to go this week.

Callinan is an interesting case study to me because he's a big receiver who is capable of making good catches in traffic. He made a great touchdown catch against Virginia Tech last year, after all.

Coming back from injury, he was used mostly in blocking packages and was a nonfactor in the passing game in game one. That said, I'm looking forward to see him develop over the course of the season, especially this week against Howard.

On the impact of the first game...

And really, to be totally honest with you, not discouraged with the play of the offensive line. I know people want to make it that way. It is not really accurate. We just have to play cleaner, make less mistakes. That will happen. I said this going in that it would take a little time. A little time didn't mean a quarter. It is going to take a little time. It's not going to get all fixed this week either. But it going to get incrementally better.

People will want to focus on the negatives, but it's easy to forget that this team hasn't played together in real game situations before Saturday. They're going to get better. There's going to be hiccups along the way. But with the work in progress, let's just take it one step at a time.

Was I discouraged by the play, at times, of the offensive line? Absolutely. Was I discouraged at times by the youngster mistakes by some of the players? I would be lying if I said no. But after digesting it over a couple of days, I'm much more optimistic. I'm ready for Howard. I think it will be good for a young team to get real game experience in any situation against any opponent. And I've turned the page to see how the team executes its game on Saturday.