Boston College Athletics
Addazio Addresses Media at Weekly Press Conference
October 27, 2014 | Football
Chestnut Hill, Mass. - Boston College head football coach Steve Addazio spoke to the media on Monday afternoon during his weekly press conference as the Eagles (5-3, 2-2 ACC) prepare to go on the road for the second straight week to face Virginia Tech on Saturday.
On the Hokies...
Well, we're off to another game. Obviously we're getting ready for Virginia Tech. Like I've only known Virginia Tech to be over the years, they are just fantastic on defense, they're equally good now. They're fast, they're sound. They have great schemes and it's really tough to move it consistently on them. On defense, you've got linebacker Chase Williams; I think he's a really strong player. Also, [Kyshoen] Jarret, their strong safety. Those guys have 54 and 74 tackles. You've got Ken Ekanem and Dadi Nicholas on defense. You watch Dadi: He's so athletic and so fast to run to the ball, just a sensational player. I'm very, very impressed with them on defense. I really think that they're so sound. You look at them and you're trying to come up with your game plan and Bud Foster just has answers for everything and does a great job of dissecting what you do, so really a concern there.
On offense, Michael Brewer is a guy who makes things happen; when he's on, he's on. We've seen that. He's moving around, he stays alive; he's always got his eyes down the field. He's a dangerous guy. We saw Mark Leal also go into the game and he ran the ball pretty effectively. Marshawn Williams, their freshman running back has 106 carriers for 469 yards and three touchdowns. He's averaging over four yards per carry. He's a big, strong back. I'm really impressed by him. Their receivers, Isaiah Ford, Willie Byrn and Bucky Hodges, tight end type of guy, great athlete, really impressive player.
So they've got some really good football players and some really good coaches. We've got to go down and play in traditionally one of the roughest places to play in the country, on the road against a hungry Virginia Tech team. Both teams are working to become bowl eligible in a critical matchup. So it should be an exciting game and we have a lot of work ahead of us, a lot of planning. We have a lot to process to get ready for this week.
On playing on at Lane Stadium...
There is not anxiety about how [the players] are going to act or anything like that. There is just anxiety about going to - in our conference - one of the top three toughest spots to play on the road. This is an angry place to go play. It's loud and hard. Since I started coaching college at Syracuse, I can remember it like yesterday: Traditionally cold, the stands are right up on you and it's a great home field advantage. Everybody in the business knows that this is one of those great home field advantage places. So, it's a little different than your typical road trip, but we've got two road games left and both will be tough road game locations.
On the team's confidence from road wins...
I think like anything else, kids are kids. Even adults - if something doesn't go well, people look at it and say, `You're on the road' and `You haven't won on the road', `Why can't we win on the road? It creates pressure. Well, we can win on the road, now we have to go do it. We have played on the road in silent games and we have operated that pretty effectively. So we've done a few of those things that make you feel a little better. You certainly would hate for this to be your first road trip, but nevertheless, it doesn't lessen the impact of the rough crowd that you're going down to play in front of. Really, I should say passionate. It's a very passionate crowd, about football and their team. I don't mean it in any disrespectful way; it's a very respectful way. It's a great home field advantage.
On Virginia Tech's season, beating Ohio State and losing to Miami at home...
"Well, I'm guessing a lot of people say the same thing about us. When they played Ohio State that was early. Sometimes positively and negatively, early is hard to gauge. They had a great plan versus Ohio State. I think they caught Ohio State by surprise. Defensively and offensively, they made a lot of plays in that game. You can't deny how good they looked and how well they played. It was outstanding.
And in the Miami game, it looked like it was kind of one of those games. [Duke Johnson] was on fire. He was making guys miss and making unbelievable cuts. Miami just did a heck of a job against Tech. I haven't watched the other side of the ball, but apparently they weren't able to move it as effectively. It's like anything else, you have those days.
They're a young team, a building team, they're on that roller coaster ride a lot like us, but there is a lot of talent on that team. There is some really good defensive football in this conference right now, that's just a side bar. I mean, Clemson is as good as anyone in the country, period. Virginia Tech's defense is as good as anybody in the country. They took a couple hits against Miami last week.
On the ACC...
All these teams - Wake really was pretty solid on D too. I told you that all week long. Don't let anybody kid you on that. So there are some good defenses in the conference, including ours. We'll be up against it with a high end, quality defense. [Virginia Tech] has been good forever.
A couple things that don't get taken into account in college football enough is the quality on both sides of the ball or one side. And the other thing that never gets taken into account is who you play. Even in our conference, we play the top end opponents in our conference and then we play tough non-conference.
On the sense of urgency being one win away from bowl eligibility...
It better be high. You're going down the home stretch now. From the beginning of the year on, they're all precious as we've witnessed. We've basically let two get away from us. As we get down to it the stakes are so much higher. You have to be steady in the boat, but you have to have a lot of drive. It's important to figure out how to manage at this time of the year as well. I think a lot about that right now. How to manage the week. It's hard to be right, hitting too much, not enough, do you hit at all? They're all valid questions at this time of the year when you're starting to get beat up. You just do the best you can to look at your team and figure that out. We're at a time of the year where, like everybody else, we're dinged up, banged up and we need to be physical to stay in this game. I have to think through what our game plan will be right now.
On junior DB Justin Simmons...
I think what you want to know about Justin is that the growth in him from a year ago to today, and just who he is in terms of a football player is huge. His work ethic and his commitment to football and his passion for the game, he's really turning into a good football player. And a good football player then has the ability to go ahead and play corner and play safety. Obviously you need the athletic skills, but more importantly, he always had the athletic skills, but he wasn't always the football player that he is now. He's coming in to his own, which is a credit to him. There's not a lot of nonsense with Justin Simmons now. He's a great person, he's really locked in to being a great student and he's locked in to being a great player. He's got that all working right now. It's like the light when on. I can remember a year ago in the defensive huddle in the Carrier Dome and it was unravelling and he was having a rough go, to where he is today? He's a completely different player, which is a credit to him. It's awesome. It's what you want to see. I count on him and the fact that he will be accountable and go as hard as anybody on this team. He stood out not only on defense, safety and corner, but he was also our special teams MVP [at Wake Forest]. That tells you all you need to know. He's coming in to his own.
On the youth of the team...
It's a concern. We've lost four [overall] starters since we began the year, on a team that wasn't very deep to begin with. Everyone keeps says that we have a veteran, fifth-year offensive line. But we lost three starters from a year ago when you count Harris Williams. We lost three impact linemen. Even though we had a couple fifth-years, they hadn't played a lot of football. We've got some fifth-years on the offensive line, but we still replaced three starters. That means out of five guys, we lost three guys from last year. We're young everywhere else. There's not a place where we're old. Even our quarterback [Tyler Murphy]. You read some of the things people write, you wonder what people really are thinking about. They say, `He played a lot of ball last year'. No he didn't. That's not a fact at all. He's a second-year player; he didn't even play the whole year last year, but he's getting better every week. So what I'm saying is it's a real developmental team.
On the hard work the team puts in...br> I think this team has done a heck of a job. We're sitting right now at 5-3. Could easily be 6-2 and some would say 7-1. This team has really worked hard. Now, what does that mean in the big picture? You have four games left and you have to find a way each week and get as many wins as you can get. This is a team that has worked real hard to get where they are. I would say that we're over achieving right now and that's good. No one wouldn't say that we don't compete hard every week. You could say that we are inconsistent sometimes in our level of play. We seem to play the so-called highest ranked teams the best and but we play hard and I'm proud of that. We play hard and sound, we don't make a ton of mistakes. We had a few too many penalties last week, but characteristically we're not a high penalty team, or a high turnover team. Those are all really good signs. Where we go, where we head, how this all pans out, I don't know, but I like where we're headed. One thing I know is we're going to battle.
On the kicking situation...
What am I working on? One guy is hurt; there's no consistency kicking extra points. We're inconsistent to say the least and we have to get that fixed. I think Alex [Howell] is doing a great job punting. Punting seems to be something that we're doing well. We're improving on our coverage in kickoff and in punting. There are a lot of positives, but I wouldn't out extra points and field goals in that category. What can I say? It's just not where it needs to be. Kickoff return has gotten better, although we had a turnover, but I really believe that was my fault and it was relative to the call that was made. I think we're getting better there. We're working with whatever we can work with to make the extra point/field goal situation the best that we can make it. It's not a lack of effort or anything, we're just not getting it done. We gave Mike Knoll last week off from kicking, he didn't travel with us to the game, he's day-by-day right now [with an injury]. Alex is handling all the duties. Joey[Launceford] is the backup. And we continue down this path, which is alarming and impactful. It's the rare guy that can handle it all, and Alex is forced into that right now. We're doing what we can with it.
