Postgame Quotes: Boston College

Boston College (3-2) vs. Buffalo (1-3)
Saturday, October 1, 2016
Alumni Stadium | Chestnut Hill, Mass.
Boston College Postgame Quotes

Boston College Head Coach Steve Addazio
Opening Statement …
"I thought it was a dominating performance. The defense held them to 67 total yards, the offense had 400 yards of offense, had 43 minutes of time of possession on offense, 43 minutes. Five for five in the red zone, all touchdowns."

"Obviously disappointed in the 60-yard field position swing on the punt return. For the second week in a row, the guys worked too hard, our players worked too hard on special teams. Can't make bad decisions that are going to result in 60-yard field position swings."

"Guys giving great effort, guys out there going hard. We had that one series where we had a fumble and a sack, we got the ball in the short field, held them to a field goal, but totally dominating performance today. We had 16 minutes of time of possession for the game, 67 yards."

"We need to play cleaner, smarter. We've got a few mistakes that we've got to clean up that really seemed to cost us chunks of yards, which we've got to work on, but it's great to get a win, to go out and do what you need to do and get ready to get back into conference play."

Q. Offensively you wound up with some nice numbers, but the first three drives, really slow start. Just what kind of clicked as the first quarter wound down, and what caused the slow start?
"We've been slow starting a lot. And when you play in tough environments, slow starts are really going to cost you. They're breakdowns up front, and it just seemed like with our young guys, it takes a while to kind of get in a groove a little bit, and it's kind of a simplistic thing to say, but it seems like that's really what happens. It's almost like they have to play to get a feel for what's happening in front of them."

"You know, but we've got to change that. We've got to fix that. Just a couple guys, it's like -- it's just a guy here and there getting cut free to be honest with you, and it creates negative yardage plays. You know, we have all the talent, we're young, and we just make those mistakes and we've got to keep grinding through it and get better, and hopefully little by little we're going to squeeze that out."

Q. Today on throwing ball despite the conditions, seemed like you wanted to throw --
"We wanted to throw the ball, yeah. I said that earlier in the week that we wanted to throw the ball, even with the conditions. We probably would have liked to have thrown it more to be honest with you. We wanted to throw the ball today, and we just feel like that was another step. We wanted more balance this week. Last week we really wanted to work on the run game. The run game today still felt a little herky-jerky to be honest with you. It's these guys that were cutting free here and there that don't -- I mean, it's just ridiculous, and they're disrupting our flow running the football."

"But this is all part of it, and we've got to just keep growing. Those five guys up front, it takes a while to build them now. It just takes a while. It'll get better as we go."

Q. Patrick (Towles) was getting those cross-field passes and really deep. At his worst he had some fumbles. What is your overall assessment of Patrick's play today?
"Well, he had a couple turnovers that weren't his fault. Those were guys hitting him from the backside on sacks that were just ridiculous. I thought he played well. He makes a couple of great plays with his feet in every game. He throws the ball well, floated a couple early balls, but we didn't help him, right. That's the other piece of it early on offense; we dropped some balls. I don't know how many. I want to say we had somewhere between three and five real drops out there that didn't need to be dropped. They were good balls."

"So you know, I think he's playing well. I think he competes well. He has a real good understanding -- every week he feels more and more comfortable with exactly what we're doing, has more and more command of what we're doing. We've got to -- we have these young spots that seem to pop up now and then again and again. For example, our wide receivers, we feel like we're pretty talented out there, but we're really youthful and we make some silly mistakes, and they pop up, they show up, just like up front when we're going as fast as we can to squeeze those out of there which would give us a much more consistent performance."

"We're really not far off. Aside from one game, we really could have a lot of yards right now. You know, this is all -- this is a reflection of where we are with the youth of our team on offense. In that offensive rotation, we have 10 or 11 freshmen and sophomores in there playing. We've got to get this line firing more consistently. At times you see it and at times you don't."

Q. (No microphone.)
"Well, I'm seeing improvements each week in special teams. I really like our special teams play. Obviously given the obvious in the block in the back, right? But I like that. I like where we're headed in our throw game. I think defensively we're playing really, really strong right now."

"We have got to squeeze out the very obvious mental errors that are disrupting us right now because we won't get away with it against a team like Clemson, which is an understatement. And we've got to play -- we've got to really let it go here this week, and that's what we've been working towards, having the opportunity to really have some -- be able to do kind of what we do as a base but be able to have some game plan things that we feel can create explosions, and that's the challenge that we're at right now."

"You know, we went back to basics the last couple weeks and tried to keep things pretty simple and see if we could do that better, which we have. We took -- we stepped out against Virginia Tech and that was a total disaster, so we've got to make sure now are we ready to take another step here, because we have to, to be able to put more things in, if you will, so that we can become more explosive. You've got to create explosions. That's the name of the game in football right now, explosions. You've got to be able to get explosions, and on defense you've got to prevent those from happening."

"I think on defense we're doing a lot of things right now. We have the ability to play some base defense, which allows you not to constantly be in man coverage stress."

Q. Can you just talk about how much of a loss Garrison might be and sort of what his status might be?
"I don't have any idea yet. I literally came from the locker room to here, so I don't know any of the details there. So I don't want to speculate on that right now."

"But Christian has really become an integral part of what we do, so all we can do is say a prayer and hope for the best here, right? I don't know that information right now. But he's an integral part of our attack. We got a little sideways and he got hurt and we had to readjust a lot of things we wanted to do because he's in those packages."

Q. Would you consider the special teams penalties, I think all three of them that were called back, would you consider using more experience on special teams if you had to?
"It's a catch-22. I mean, I really feel like we've got to develop these young guys, and you've got to invest in them, and we're hoping that's what we've been doing last week and this week is investing and that we learn, because we have a lot of veteran guys out there, but they get passed. There's a lot of running there, so you're trying to strike that balance, and we really like some of these freshmen a lot, and I think they're going to be really good football players. So I think we've got to live with some of this until we can kind of grow through it a little bit, and I think it'll pay dividends for us. You know, that's kind of where we are right now."

Q. At 3-2 and with five ACC games in a row coming up, how do you like where you are in the season overall big picture?
"Well, you know, we'd certainly like to be 4-1 right now, okay. But we are where we are, and we're improving. We're starting to watch the blossoming of these guys that we're talking about week in and week out right now. Obviously we'd like it to be more consistent, but in the same breath you see the formation of what's going to be a really good group of young guys, and that usually equates over time to real productivity."

"So you know, we get ready to go in ACC play right now, and we're going to go from -- we've been a little bit in the land of extremes, so what I want to see us do is come out on Friday night and play with a lot of intensity, a lot of confidence, and we've done that here in the past, and we're going to do it again. I want to see us take the next step as a team with great effort, and I want to see some execution against a really obviously top-10 opponent."

"I would tell you that it's my opinion that we're in the toughest conference in the country right now, and I think I'm pretty qualified because I've been in all of them, and I've been in some of them when they've been the best they've ever been, okay."

"Our conference right now is tough, really, really tough, and we're in that division that's obviously the side of our conference that's the toughest that there is. We're playing three teams that are top-10, top-15 teams, and I think four really when you count Virginia Tech in there, because I think they are, you know, so our permanent crossover and three on our side. We're in a tough side of that division, and it's going to make us -- we're going to get better from it, and we're going to grow, and we're looking forward to it. Our kids are jacked up down there right now, jacked up to get back to work and go, simple as that."

Q. While taking on the best quarterback in the conference, maybe in all of college football, for a game like this, is there pressure for you to be more aggressive on offense, to do more trick plays, to be more outside of your comfort zone, because you're a guy who likes to pound the ball, use defense and make it a slow game?
"Well, as I said earlier, that's what I said, yes. I think we do need to create more explosives. I'm a guy that likes to see productivity, okay, and I've said that since I've been here. We came in here in year one; we had the runner-up Heisman Trophy running back with a big offensive line. We had one receiver. We pounded the ball, and we were very productive doing that.

Year two, we had a quarterback here that was a spread option, and we mixed it with some power run game, okay. That's what we did because that's what the talent dictated."

"Year three, I mean, I don't know what to tell you, it never materialized. We went through all those quarterbacks, we lost our starter, that's yet to know."

"Now we come in here, and what we're trying to do, you can see what we're trying to do; we're trying to become a much more balanced team that has a really good play action game and is a much more balanced throw. And yes, we would like to build more explosives through different styles of plays, but when we try -- even though I know it didn't look like it, it didn't look like it to me, either, okay, but we went down to Virginia Tech and that a little backfired on us. We were too young, we couldn't handle it and we became not good at anything to be honest with you, okay."

"And that happens sometimes when you're young and you go on the road in an environment like that. I just saw it happen to Stanford against Washington last night. You know, when you're in a pro-style offense, you'd like to have a leathered-up, mature offensive line. We're not quite there yet."

"Long answer is to tell you yes, we will and we do need to create more explosives. And to think that we're going to sit here and ground and pound Clemson, that would be great that happens, and you know what, if that happens, we'll ground and pound and ground and pound and ground and pound, but we're not going to go in thinking that we're going to be able to just do that. That would not be a great plan."

"Our object is to create balance, and that's what I think we've done differently. Year one was different from year two, year two to three, year three, who can measure, and now what we're trying to do is build balance, and I think you see that."

"So I think you can follow the plan here a little bit. It's not that hard. Our consistency is not where it needs to be right now. That's just the fact. What does that mean? Whether it's penalties, whether it's some missed blocks, whether it's this or that, if we had that right now, quite frankly we'd be pretty explosive right now, okay. We really would be, and you'd be in here five games in at 4-1, okay. Playing, by the way, some good opponents along the way, okay."

"We're getting there. We're getting there. We're going to face a buzz saw this week, so we're going to have to play at our top level, period end."

Graduate QB Patrick Towles and senior DB John Johnson

Q. Patrick, how much more fun is it to throw the ball, getting out there even on a day like this?
PATRICK TOWLES: "It's great. Winning is fun. I don't care if we run for 300 or throw for 300. As long as we've got more points end of the game, we'll be fine, but I do like to throw the ball. But I think today we got some looks, some good play action stuff and got the ball to Jeff in space, so it was really good."

Q. Patrick, when we talked before about the importance of this game, getting to 3-2, now that you're at 3-2 and approaching conference play, sort of where you feel like everything stands and how much improvement have you been able to make going in?
PATRICK TOWLES: "Yeah, I think we've come a long way. I think it was important for us to come out and play great today. We had two awesome days of practice, two probably of the best practice days we've had since I've been here. Two great days of practice, and I think it really showed today. Our defense obviously dominated like they usually do, and we can't take that for granted, but they played awesome. Just a really, really good team effort. All three phases played good today."

Q. Patrick, you mentioned your fearlessness with making passes. On that one touchdown throw to Michael Walker you just snuck it over the linebacker. Take us through that play and talk about your fearlessness when you're throwing the ball.
PATRICK TOWLES: "Yeah, we talk all the time, that's supposed to go high, high in the back of the end zone. As soon as I threw it, I didn't know if it was going to get over the top of his fingers. I'm obviously extremely thankful that it did, but Mikey ran a good route and it was a great call by coach Loeffler."

Q. John, just talk about all the negative plays the defense was able to get, looked like about eight?
JOHN JOHNSON: "We just had to play fast and play physical. Like Patrick said, we had a great week of practice, and we saw most of the plays that they ran at practice, so we were on top of them."

Q. How interested will you be in watching Clemson tonight?
JOHN JOHNSON: "It'll be very interesting, especially because of their opponent. We get to watch both of them, and great talent on great talent. It should be fun to watch, and I think we'll all be cued into it."

PATRICK TOWLES: "Yeah, I think it's safe to say our whole team will be watching it. I know they roll in here on Friday, but like he said, we play both those teams. I've played that red team four times, so excited to watch hopefully a pretty good football game tonight."

Q. Patrick, just talk about that good play Garrison made coming back to the ball, and does that remind you how tough this game is?
PATRICK TOWLES: "Oh, I mean, it's huge. It's obviously not what we want, but made a really, really good play, and we talked all week that I wasn't going to try to overthrow him with those big guys and let him go up and make a play. Now I kind of wish I overthrew him a little bit."

"It's football. That kind of stuff happens. But you move on, you talk to him and make sure he's doing well, but he made a great play that I'm not confident anybody else on our team can make. Hearts are with him, and we'll be good moving forward."

Q. Is this game with Clemson one you've actually been circling looking up to because it can help not only your team but your draft status?
JOHN JOHNSON: "Oh, I just think this game will fall in the hands of the DB's. I honestly think that. I think we're going to be in a storm with them, we're going to be in a deep fight with them, and I think -- I'm not worried too much about my draft status. Of course I want to play a good game every game, but I think the game is going to come down to the DB's, so we've got to have another great week of practice and stay on top of them."

Redshirt freshman RB Davon Jones and junior DE Harold Landry

Q. In terms of more workload, you saw it coming this week, but once you did get it, how did everything play out for you?
DAVON JONES: "I thought it played out pretty well. I think the O-line stepped up today, and I just took what the defense gave me."

Q. Obviously you guys have the goal of 200 yards every week, but for you and Hilliman to go back and forth sort of with the carries, is that kind of how you see it playing out? Obviously that's at the coach's discretion.
DAVON JONES: "Here at BC I think the coaches are just going to play the best people, and whoever those best people are, they're going to play them. Anyone that's in there, from the running back crew, like we're all going to give everything we've got every down and try to help the team get a win."

Q. Harold, was this about as clean a defensive game you guys have played in a while? Held them to 26 rushing yards, 41 passing yards, 1 of 11 on 3rd downs. Talk about how you guys did today.
HAROLD LANDRY: "Yeah, I think it was a pretty clean performance, but it was expected. We were supposed to do that. We don't expect nothing less. Now we're just ready to get back into ACC play and get ready for Clemson on Friday night."

Q. Harold, as we mentioned before with John taking on one of the best quarterbacks, is this a game that you like, because as you said, it's a measuring stick for you, how do you measure up with the best players, measure up with good teams? Is this the one game you've been circling as your breakout party, the Clemson game coming up?
HAROLD LANDRY: "I'm not too focused on myself right now, but I do know that big-time players make big-time plays in big-time moments, and of course I'm always looking forward to Friday night on ESPN. That night is going to be a big game. We're all pumped up for it. It's just a very exciting time, and like John said, we always want to play good, but we've just got to focus on our defense as a whole playing good so we can give our offense as many chances as they can to score so we can come out with the 'dub'."

Q. Have the last two weeks been different sort of preparing and working through kinks and playing teams that aren't Clemson, knowing that you're going to play Clemson? Know what I mean? Is it different?
HAROLD LANDRY: "I think the last two weeks our whole team, we've just been focused on getting back to the basics of the game, getting back to fundamentals and technique, and just getting back to the groundwork that we developed during camp and during spring ball. We can't let that get away from us, and I think we've worked really hard the past two weeks in getting all the kinks worked out on both sides of the ball, and I just think that it showed in two games."

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John Johnson

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Harold Landry

Patrick Towles

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