Can We All Stop Freaking Out Please?

One postgame thread, 175 comments.

Usually we only get that kind of backlash after a loss. And if you dive deep into those comments,* that's exactly what it feels like -- fans griping after a loss.

*you do so at your own risk; we don't carry liability insurance for that sort of thing

Can we all just step back and breathe for a second?

About that dumpster fire offense: It's a dumpster fire.

But! Let's not forget that the offense is a process this year. We lost our only experienced quarterback, and we have a young offensive line. The offense against NIU is going to be as bad as you will see all season, and that's a guarantee.

Does anyone really think the offensive line hasn't improved over the course of the first few games? Throwing out the Howard game (because Howard), the run game was horrible against Maine, where we couldn't get anything going at all against an FCS team, fared about the same against #9 Florida State despite it being #9 Florida State, and started to find a good groove toward the end of the NIU game against a team that had just choked the life out of #1 Ohio State the week before to the tune of just 298 total yards (BC had 326, by the way).

No one is saying that the offense isn't a problem, but it's as bad as it's going to get and it can only -- and will only -- get better. Flutie and Smith were a collective mess against NIU, but they are true freshmen being thrown into the fire against a very good team. No one seems to be talking about how hard it is for a freshman to come in and lead a D1 offense.

There is so much that mentally goes into being a D1 quarterback. One mistake out of the dozens of nanosecond decisions you have to make and suddenly there's a turnover and half the fans are screaming for your ass to ride the bench.

That's not an excuse -- it is a perspective into how the young players are going to improve over the next several weeks. You can't just walk in and control the organized chaos. Muscle memory, knowing what your next move is before you have to think of it... you can't just practice that. It only comes with experience, and with that experience will come fewer mistakes and better split second decisions -- and with it, better offensive production.

And whether or not you think that sounds like Olaf singing about summer, everyone forgets that the defense is good enough to win games on its own.

No one thinks the defense is a problem, but very few seem to realize just how good the BC defense has been. BC ranks #1 in the country in total defense, and all anyone seems to care about is that we played two garbage teams to open the year.

But most teams have played at least one FCS opponent so far. Only 6 of the top 23 teams have played 4 games so far against FBS teams. And yet BC is still #1 in total defense if you only include games against FBS teams.

And taking it one step further, if you include everyone's games played against FCS teams *except* BC vs Maine and Howard, BC's 185 YPG is *still* number one in the country in total defense despite its two games being against FSU and NIU!

The BC defense might actually be the best in America. No matter how much of a dumpster fire the offense is, BC is going to be in every game it plays the rest of the way.

There are people talking about the Duke game like it's a certain loss. That's mind-boggling. Everyone needs to climb off the ledge and realize that despite the growing pains, BC is 3-1, with a tight game against a top 10 team as the loss, and a win over a team that has won 11 or 12 games (including a win over a P5) each of the last 5 seasons.

Settle down. We're right on schedule. The offense isn't going to be as bad as it was against NIU all year -- and despite everyone's best effort to forget it, we still won.