Thursday, October 08, 2015

BC-Wake Forest preview

Addazio says he is waiting for one of the QBs to step up. He wants one guy to show him something more...something different from the other guy. BC fans want a sign too. We want to see that Addazio can adapt and can handle rough patches and can win the games he is supposed to win. Despite our offensive struggles, BC is favorite this week. If Addazio is a very good coach, he takes care of business at home. If we lose, we will have more questions than just who should be the next QB.

What's on my mind (not totally related to this game)
I don't want to keep going back to the Duke game, but there was a little wrinkle that I failed to mention that shows their coaches are doing a good job. If you recall after every questionable catch that went their way, Duke quickly ran to the line to start the next play. We see something similar with every NFL team. You don't see that urgency as often in college. Maybe because tempo is already part of most team's game plans. Maybe because the NFL has had replay longer. But I found it interesting that Duke reacted how they did. It showed that their players have good situational awareness and good sideline communications.

Three Simple Keys
1. Continue to stretch the field with deep throws. Despite their tendency to hang, flutter and miss their target, I still want Smith and Flutie attempting big throws downfield. Every once in a while you'll hit a big TD and at a minimum, you will keep their Safeties honest. I don't trust Flutie or Smith enough to pull off lots of short passes in heavy traffic.
2. Turn anything between the 50 and the Wake 25 into 4-down territory. Addazio can rationalize this ten different ways, but this is one area where the statistics show he's being too conservative. We can't make long field goals. We have an outstanding D. Every possession in that area should play call as if we are going for it. Run on third down if needed.
3. Get better blocking from the Tight Ends and Wide Receivers. There has been a lot of criticism of the OLine, but the biggest drop off between the first two year and this one is between the blocking of the WRs and Tight Ends. On other teams that might not be a big deal. For us, it is. We depend on those guys to engage the Linebackers and DBs who are crashing the line when we run.

Gambling Notes
-- Addazio is 12-6 at home
-- Addazio last started 0-3 in ACC play in 2013
-- Wake if 1-4 at Alumni as a member of the ACC
The current line is BC-7.5

Factoid
BC has scored only one touchdown in ACC play.

Scoreboard Watching
On Friday night, NC State travels to Virginia Tech. Aside from watching two future opponents and potentially the last days of Beamer Ball, I am also interested to see how VT manufactures offense. It hasn't been pretty for their OC Scot Loeffler. Prior to calling plays for Beamer, Loeffler coached under Daz at Temple.

I hope to see...
Sherman Alston get back in the groove. Addazio mentioned players pressing and it looks like that is an issue with Alston. He can be so dynamic. We just need to find him the right situations.

BC is in trouble if...
We don't score at least 20 points. 20 points seems pretty arbitrary on my part, especially given how good the Defense is. But I think that barrier represents a comfortable enough margin for BC to control and win the game. If we keep slogging along in low-scoring battles, every mistake is magnified and someone will steal at game at Alumni.

Bottom Line
Neither QB pulls away from the other, but they both look much better. BC also gets its first defensive touchdown of the year and mostly keeps Wake in check all day.
Final Score: BC 24, Wake 13

16 comments:

Big Ern said...

Corrections. Have scored 2 TDs but only one was counted.

Hoib said...

’m on team Smith , but he’s not ready to go the whole way. When Daz says they’re not ready I think he is really saying Smith is not ready, but he’s being purposely vague so as not to single anyone out. He’s had Flutie for a year and a half, Flutie is ready to go the whole way, but Daz doesn’t like what he sees there. So he plays Flutie to help w/ the maturity process for Smith. Smith played more last week than the week before and I bet he’ll get even more snaps this week unless we are getting dusted and have to go more to a passing attack God forbid.

NEDofSavinHill said...

How can Flutie look better than 16 yards per attempt?
Remember the numbers!
Flutie 8 passes 5 completion 129 yards.
Smith 13 passes 3 completions for 12 yards.
I rest my case.
Those on the Smith team are in denial

Danny Boy said...

Lets actually look at season, and not just one game.

Flutie is averaging 11yrds an attempt, which is not bad. But if you take out T. Smith's 66yrd rec (which was mostly on Smith), that average falls to 9yrds an attempt. Still not bad. But lets not forget that he has cost BC a TD with his interception.

J. Smith doesn't have nearly the passing numbers. Mostly because he hasn't been given nearly the opportunities. His disallowed TD pass (which would have brought his numbers up) was easily the best-thrown ball of the day.

But lets not forget the 8 yrds/run that J Smith is picking up, now he's real close to Flutie in terms of numbers. This also ignores the fact that the entire offense moves better under Smith. Holes open up. Rouse has scored and Hilliman has scored with Smith on the field. Outlow was running at 7yrds a run with Smith on the field.

Would you rather have a QB that racks up a marginal amount of yards, or an entire offense that moves up and down the field? I want the entire offense moving, I don't care how it happens. The QB could throw underhand for all I care so long as the team picks up the yards and moves the ball.

Knucklehead said...

Give Smith the reins full time and let him run the offense, see what happens.

I predict he gets injured within 2 full games.

mod34b said...

Flutie vs Smith is kinda an interest debate. (Ok. Not really )

But it misses the point.

BC needs to change its really bad play selection/offense before either QB can succeed

CT said...

Right. Play-calling and talent aren't related.

CT said...

Watch Flutie's HS highlights. They're hilarious. He runs around from sideline to sideline and chucks it up after a 10 second scramble. He tries the same thing in college and guess what? A bit faster than scary Massachusetts HS players.

mod34b said...

Crabby

mod34b said...

1. Flutie presently is a horrible ACC passing QB
2. Smith presently is a horrible ACC passing QB
3 Daz is a man who is motivated by avoiding scary things and values ball security over yards, points and first downs
4. He is afraid to lose by allowing his QB to throw short balls. Strangely ATL agrees with so-D-az
5. Daz has the QB 1 time per half chuck a very inaccurate "bomb". Odds of success are less than 10%
6. Weak sister TE can't block
7. pansy WRs are a joke at blocking, route running and catching
8. No rational opponent will fear or respect our long ball run by bad WRs and QB
9. box will remain stuffed and run stymied
10. Daz will now publicly shame his QBs as a way to deflect blame for hideously failing to develop a credible offense in year 3

blist said...

Clearly, losing to Duke is a tipping point for BC coaches. I personally believe we'll win Saturday and look forward to these QBs getting better -- hopefully right in the first quarter

CT said...

Sample size for these QBs is too small. I guess I'm just not that upset. This season was going to be successful only if Wade developed. I'm much more worried about the future since it appears these two guys will have an arm up on Wade next yr. Cross that bridge then, I guess.

I think the coaches will figure it out soon. I don't care who starts but I would like them to consider giving someone a full half to try to get more comfortable.

Hoib said...

CT

I'm w/ u. Certain people were all over Brown last year about his calls. He's making the same calls this year w/ much better success. The answer, as you stated, better players, particularly at CB. If we had a QB who could function at the ACC level the play calls wouldn't be the issue everyone is currently making it out to be.

Knucklehead said...

The head coach should take a pulse of the team. See which QB the team leaders support and then go with that guy full time and see what happens. That would give the "chosen" QB some confidence to manage the huddle and the game.

You can tell in practice who the o-line likes and who gravitates to which QB more. That is the person you start full time. I am not saying you send out a link to survey monkey. Go by what you see in terms of team chemistry.

If it doesn't work then you go to the other guy.

EL MIZ said...

it is disingenuous for Addazio to say that no QB has asserted himself as the starter when he hasn't allowed for that. it seems like every time one of them makes a big play they come out and the other is sent in. in the NIU game Smith made the big run to get into FG position and then was taken out for Flutie, who played the remainder of the drive.

the longer this rotation lasts the worse it looks on Addazio, in my opinion. choose one and go with that guy. if he doesn't do well for an entire game or two, then make a change, but to take these guys out literally within the same series or after they make a good play is something i've never seen before.

Big Jack Krack said...

Players will make mistakes.

But I'd like to see the coaches perform at a higher level during the game.

Clock management;
Get the plays in - do not burn time outs;

Player rotation - get the right players on the field (on offense); if they can't get open, make sure they can block; if they can't do that either, dropped them out of the rotation and get someone in there who can.

(Note - just because the HC and staff have decided on a rotation, doesn't mean you have to stick to it all year. Get the rotation right, please);

Critical situations - get the plays in that make sense for the situation. If they don't work, at least we tried. If you can't do that, step away and let another coach call the plays.

Go BC - beat WF. Go coaches, elevate your game and give these guys a chance to win.