Series continues ... BC PREVIEW ...
Upgrade. It’s the mantra, the mission and the goal wrapped up into one for Boston College entering the 2018 season. The offensive coaching staff uses the word as a motivator on every drill, every play. Upgrade. They point to tape — if one player could have done just a little more to be in the right position to make a certain play, it could have changed the course of a game that ultimately turned into a loss.
Now, upgrade everything.
“We’re keeping track of missed assignments during practice,” Boston College offensive coordinator Scot Loeffler told The Athletic. “We’re keeping track of what we were terrible on. We were 38 percent on third down — we were horrific. But when you look at it, if you upgrade on eight plays, nine plays, you’re in the top 20. It’s amazing. This thing comes down to eight plays, nine plays (in a game, in a season). Our message to our guys is we never know when those eight or nine plays are going to come in a real game. When you’re playing against a team like Clemson, it’s going to come down to three or four plays, and whoever makes those four plays is generally the winner.
“We’re trying to really make an emphasis that every play matters. Worry about just that play. You can’t worry, you can’t change what happened, but you’ve got to worry about taking care of business on just that play.”
The Eagles were pleased with a 7-5 regular-season record in 2017, before a loss to Iowa in the Pinstripe Bowl, but they also know how close they were to reaching college football’s next tier. They dealt with a number of significant injuries, from two starting centers to a late season-ending injury to the starting quarterback, but they blew out Florida State, beat Lamar Jackson and Louisville in a shootout and finally broke through on offense in the second half of the regular season. During much of head coach Steve Addazio’s tenure, the Eagles have won games with their stingy defense; now, they have the potential to have the best Boston College offense since the Matt Ryan era in the mid-2000s, led by AJ Dillon, who will be among the country’s top running backs.
The Eagles averaged 25.5 points per game against ACC opponents, ranking sixth in the conference. They had averaged just 10.6 points in 16 ACC games over the previous two seasons. They broke the 40-point mark once in their first 12 seasons of ACC play, then did it three times in 2017 in road wins over Louisville, Virginia and Syracuse.
“We’re trying to sustain and upgrade what we were doing the last half of last year,” said Loeffler, entering his third season as offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach. “We’ve finally tasted it, we’ve felt it, we know what this looks like. For two years here, you were trying to explain something, and no one’s seen it. They finally have tasted it, and now it’s upgrading and doing that on a consistent level. If we can do that, we’re gonna have a heck of a football team.
“To say that we’re gonna be more talented than Clemson — we’re not. But we can complement and be a good football team that’s hard to deal with if we keep our ego on the side and worry about all the important things about our team and don’t be selfish. And upgrade. That’s our big message right now, that we’ve tasted it, and now for us to get where we want to be, we’ve got to take it one more step.”
Biggest on-field question
Boston College went through spring practice without many of the players it will rely upon this fall to take that step forward, from quarterback Anthony Brown to top linebackers Connor Strachan and Max Richardson. But the good news is everyone is expected to be healthy and ready in time for fall camp, and center Jon Baker is even back for his redshirt senior season.
The Eagles’ rash of injuries last season has resulted in newfound depth across the board heading into 2018. A linebacker corps that was so depleted it needed to convert a running back is so full of talent that defensive coordinator Jim Reid says he might have to use a set of linebackers to specifically stop the run and a separate set for the passing game. “We just have to make sure we mesh everybody together,” Reid told The Athletic.
Defensively, Boston College should have talent and depth at every level. Offensively, its young stars will enter the season with at least a year of experience under their belts. There are fewer question marks than there have been at any point in Addazio’s tenure — his recruits have finally gotten into his system, and they’ve developed well. They’re healthy, for now.
What is the biggest potential limiting factor for this team as it sets its sights higher than seven-win seasons? The arm of redshirt sophomore Anthony Brown. (Well, his legs, too.) Brown suffered a right leg injury that caused him to miss most of the final four games of the season. It was a crushing injury because he’d just started to get comfortable. While fans and coaches will keep watchful eyes on his knees, they’ll also want to watch his arm.
As a redshirt freshman, Brown completed 52 percent of his passes, the lowest completion rate among ACC starting quarterbacks. Brown has shown flashes of his ability to add a dynamic passing game to this offense — he completed 19 of 24 passes for 275 yards and three touchdowns (with zero interceptions) in the win over Virginia — but he needs to become more accurate and more consistent to truly balance an offense that will have a dominant rushing attack. That, too, should help improve the mediocre third-down conversion rate (which ranked 81st in the country). As a team, Boston College finished last in the ACC in passing efficiency and 122nd nationally in yards per attempt.
Addazio believes strongly in Brown, calling him an “outstanding player.” Other players have echoed that sentiment. He’ll have a chance to be so, once he returns, particularly if all of his other banged-up teammates get back to help him.
“We play in one of the very toughest if not the toughest conferences in the country,” Addazio told The Athletic. “The margin for error is small, and depth can be a problem. But we’re hoping to get everybody back (healthy). … We’re still a young team, but I think we’re a team that has got experience and is built for the future.”
Upgrade. It’s the mantra, the mission and the goal wrapped up into one for Boston College entering the 2018 season. The offensive coaching staff uses the word as a motivator on every drill, every play. Upgrade. They point to tape — if one player could have done just a little more to be in the right position to make a certain play, it could have changed the course of a game that ultimately turned into a loss.
Now, upgrade everything.
“We’re keeping track of missed assignments during practice,” Boston College offensive coordinator Scot Loeffler told The Athletic. “We’re keeping track of what we were terrible on. We were 38 percent on third down — we were horrific. But when you look at it, if you upgrade on eight plays, nine plays, you’re in the top 20. It’s amazing. This thing comes down to eight plays, nine plays (in a game, in a season). Our message to our guys is we never know when those eight or nine plays are going to come in a real game. When you’re playing against a team like Clemson, it’s going to come down to three or four plays, and whoever makes those four plays is generally the winner.
“We’re trying to really make an emphasis that every play matters. Worry about just that play. You can’t worry, you can’t change what happened, but you’ve got to worry about taking care of business on just that play.”
The Eagles were pleased with a 7-5 regular-season record in 2017, before a loss to Iowa in the Pinstripe Bowl, but they also know how close they were to reaching college football’s next tier. They dealt with a number of significant injuries, from two starting centers to a late season-ending injury to the starting quarterback, but they blew out Florida State, beat Lamar Jackson and Louisville in a shootout and finally broke through on offense in the second half of the regular season. During much of head coach Steve Addazio’s tenure, the Eagles have won games with their stingy defense; now, they have the potential to have the best Boston College offense since the Matt Ryan era in the mid-2000s, led by AJ Dillon, who will be among the country’s top running backs.
The Eagles averaged 25.5 points per game against ACC opponents, ranking sixth in the conference. They had averaged just 10.6 points in 16 ACC games over the previous two seasons. They broke the 40-point mark once in their first 12 seasons of ACC play, then did it three times in 2017 in road wins over Louisville, Virginia and Syracuse.
“We’re trying to sustain and upgrade what we were doing the last half of last year,” said Loeffler, entering his third season as offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach. “We’ve finally tasted it, we’ve felt it, we know what this looks like. For two years here, you were trying to explain something, and no one’s seen it. They finally have tasted it, and now it’s upgrading and doing that on a consistent level. If we can do that, we’re gonna have a heck of a football team.
“To say that we’re gonna be more talented than Clemson — we’re not. But we can complement and be a good football team that’s hard to deal with if we keep our ego on the side and worry about all the important things about our team and don’t be selfish. And upgrade. That’s our big message right now, that we’ve tasted it, and now for us to get where we want to be, we’ve got to take it one more step.”
Biggest on-field question
Boston College went through spring practice without many of the players it will rely upon this fall to take that step forward, from quarterback Anthony Brown to top linebackers Connor Strachan and Max Richardson. But the good news is everyone is expected to be healthy and ready in time for fall camp, and center Jon Baker is even back for his redshirt senior season.
The Eagles’ rash of injuries last season has resulted in newfound depth across the board heading into 2018. A linebacker corps that was so depleted it needed to convert a running back is so full of talent that defensive coordinator Jim Reid says he might have to use a set of linebackers to specifically stop the run and a separate set for the passing game. “We just have to make sure we mesh everybody together,” Reid told The Athletic.
Defensively, Boston College should have talent and depth at every level. Offensively, its young stars will enter the season with at least a year of experience under their belts. There are fewer question marks than there have been at any point in Addazio’s tenure — his recruits have finally gotten into his system, and they’ve developed well. They’re healthy, for now.
What is the biggest potential limiting factor for this team as it sets its sights higher than seven-win seasons? The arm of redshirt sophomore Anthony Brown. (Well, his legs, too.) Brown suffered a right leg injury that caused him to miss most of the final four games of the season. It was a crushing injury because he’d just started to get comfortable. While fans and coaches will keep watchful eyes on his knees, they’ll also want to watch his arm.
As a redshirt freshman, Brown completed 52 percent of his passes, the lowest completion rate among ACC starting quarterbacks. Brown has shown flashes of his ability to add a dynamic passing game to this offense — he completed 19 of 24 passes for 275 yards and three touchdowns (with zero interceptions) in the win over Virginia — but he needs to become more accurate and more consistent to truly balance an offense that will have a dominant rushing attack. That, too, should help improve the mediocre third-down conversion rate (which ranked 81st in the country). As a team, Boston College finished last in the ACC in passing efficiency and 122nd nationally in yards per attempt.
Addazio believes strongly in Brown, calling him an “outstanding player.” Other players have echoed that sentiment. He’ll have a chance to be so, once he returns, particularly if all of his other banged-up teammates get back to help him.
“We play in one of the very toughest if not the toughest conferences in the country,” Addazio told The Athletic. “The margin for error is small, and depth can be a problem. But we’re hoping to get everybody back (healthy). … We’re still a young team, but I think we’re a team that has got experience and is built for the future.”
