Rich Thompson of the Boston Herald was gracious and generous enough with his time to answer some questions about Saturday's Hokies-Eagles matchup.
Boston College has been able to replace the net production of Andre 2000 (Williams) with a trio of ball carriers behind a veteran offensive line. The o-line features 5 graduate players with 122 combined starts among the unit. The Eagles are 11th nationally in rushing yards per game (277) with production mostly coming from quarterback Tyler Murphy (843 yards) and running backs Jon Hilliman (572) and Myles Willis (320). How has Steve Addazio changed his offensive scheme to incorporate Murphy as a running threat? Are most of his yards coming after the pocket breaks down, or is BC running designed quarterback runs or read plays? Which running back is leaned on the most?
Murphy provides an element to the position BC didn't have last year with Chase Rettig. Andre Williams was the only option and he enjoyed exceptional blocking. Addazio returned three interior linemen and he brought in Florida graduate transfer Ian Silberman to replace Matt Patchan. Murphy runs by design and has the option to run or pass on roll outs. Freshman Jon Hilliman is a speed power back in the Williams mode and he is fabulous in the red zone (nine touchdowns).
Against stiffer competition, Boston College has played some close games. What got the Eagles over the hump against Southern Cal (37-31), and why didn't they pull out wins over Colorado State (21-24) and Clemson (13-17)?
BC rushed for a season high 452 yards against the Trojans and Murphy clinched the game with a 66 yard touchdown run. By contrast, Andre Williams rushed for 38 yards on 17 caries in the LA Coliseum in 2013. Colorado State scored on a fourth and goal from the 12 with 1:02 remaining in the game. Addazio and defensive coordinator Don Brown only rushed three men on that play. Lesson learned. They have been blitzing five and six ever since. A missed extra point changed the dynamic in the Clemson game. BC needed a touchdown on late in the game when a field goal would have forced overtime. Sophomore tailback Tyler Rouse dropped an easy touchdown pass and the Eagles offense never recovered.
What's the simplest explanation for a pretty poor passing attack in 2013 being less efficient in 2014? If Tech corner Kendall Fuller was tasked with shutting down one of BC's receivers, who would he cover?
Chase Rettig has a solid arm but Williams was the option of choice. Murphy can throw the ball but BC doesn't have a receiver that can stretch the field. Screens and wheel routes to the backs are BC's most effective pass plays. Teams can load the box against BC because their receivers can be neutralized with man coverage.
In 2013 Boston College was 78th and 93rd in scoring and total defense, respectively. In 2014 they rank 13th and 8th in those same categories. What's different? Which players really make the defense go? Is there a weakness?
BC lost its best defensive lineman Mehdi Abdesmad to a knee injury but guys like Brian Mihalik, Connor Wujciak and Kevin Kavalec have stepped up. Hybrid linebacker Josh Keyes has developed into an excellent pass rusher while Steven Daniels has been a killer against the run. Daniels came from the same high school (Xavier) as Luke Kuechly. A young suspect secondary has been helped by the Eagles pass rush.
What's your prediction for Saturday?
I can't see a Frank Beamer team losing four games in Lane Stadium. BC must move the chains and control the clock to have a chance in the fourth quarter. BC has two road wins in the ACC using that formula. I like Va. Tech in a low scoring game.
Comments
I'd say that I'm glad someone is confident about us winning, but he seems to be just like us. Not confident enough in his own team to think they'll win.
I'm not saying we're going to have to pull Ohio St level of play out of our ass in order to win, but they've got to at least find a happy medium between that and Miami/Pitt level (abysmal). I'm only confident if Bud shows he's figured out how to deal with a running quarterback, otherwise it's going to be a long day.
There's a difference between a mobile QB and a running QB, isn't there? Bud has no problem accounting for the running QB when we play GT, but a mobile QB who drops back to pass, waits for things to develop, then decides to take off on a broken play ... those are the guys that give us fits, right?
The Pitt QB gave us fits on regular running plays.
But wasn't that a wrinkle that Pitt had never used before? I mean, it's one thing to make some adjustments, but at some points our guys looked totally confused, as if the game was taking them entirely by surprise.
No, it was not new to them. The announcers during the game discussed that at length. The QB ran the ball a lot in the first games of the season and was successful doing so. He did not do it the two games immediately preceding ours, and the announcers discussed how much it hurt their offense. They explained that Pitt had gone away from it because of a concern that he might get injured. They re-instituted it for us, to great success. But it was definitely NOT a new wrinkle, according to the announcers.
Well, ESPN's announcers also said our team in its current incarnation was "identical" to the one that beat OSU, and I don't need to go into how wrong that is :)
I guess I shouldn't have typed that so quickly. We knew Voytik was mobile, and you're right, the playcalling for them changed. What I was thinking was that it was unexpected (at least from what it seemed like by our D's response) as to the emphasis on Voytik over Conner ("never" implying that isn't Conner normally their go-to guy with Voytik as the complement, rather than the other way around? I don't watch enough Pitt to know). We came out gunning for Conner, and it bit us badly. Then Pitt kept having success. Seemed to me something was off, not just a small tweak, something more fundamental.
I think that was only David Pollock that made the OhState comment. Either him or Jesse Palmer. I can't tell the difference, except for the tightness of their suits. Jesse always rocks the one two sizes too small. Anyway...
They did talk a few times about how Pitt was using Voytik more than Connor, and seemed a little surprised by it. But you are correct, we were VERY surprised by it, or so it seemed. That's unlike Bud, who always seems super prepped for everything. But we never did install an answer for it. It could also be that since Voytik was so successful, they didn't feel the need to go to Connor so much. On top of that, though, Connor had some dominating runs when they did go to him, so we actually didn't have an answer for either guy. Very unlike Bud. I don't know what the deal was...
Interesting that a BC writer would pick VT.. I wonder if we are being a little too pessimistic, or if he is
The only thing I'm sure of is that this game will be ugly...this game is unpredictable as any this season. The team could be demoralized and not put up a fight, or they could come out like a bunch of pissed off Hokies and punch BC right in the mouth. I'm honestly thinking somewhere in between.