Boston College Athletics
Photo by: John Quackenbos
Eagles Return "Home" For In-State Clash
September 05, 2016 | Football, #ForBoston Files
It's a road game, but BC is back in Massachusetts for game with the Minutemen
When talking about the New England Patriots, Bill Belichick always references the different "phases of the game." Each phase of the game - offense, defense, and special teams - is the result of minor phases of the game, built to include everyone who has a role in the planning and execution of the plan. When a team loses, Coach Belichick almost always uses the same lines about being better in those phases, from the coaches to the players.
At the same time, though, what worked last week might not work this week. Each week presents a team with different positives, different negatives and different mindsets. Last week, the Eagles played a triple option conference opponent in Ireland. This week, they play something considered a home game in comparison, taking on in-state rival Massachusetts at the home stadium of those very same New England Patriots: Gillette Stadium in Foxboro.
"(Saturday) will be a real challenge for us," said head coach Steve Addazio in his Monday remarks. "We'll have a great week of practice and get ready to go on the road. Not too long a road trip - thank God. A little different than Ireland - go on the road and play at Gillette and continue to grow, continue to get better as a football team, which we, without question, did last week, and get going."
Two years ago, BC faced the Minutemen at Gillette under different circumstances. It was the third year of the school's foray into the Football Bowl Subdivision, their first game under head coach Mark Whipple. In Tyler Murphy's first game, the Eagles held only a 6-0 lead at halftime before gelling and adjusting in the second half, opening up a 314-3 edge in rushing yards at one point while cruising to a 30-7 victory.
This Saturday, UMass will be a very different team. The Minutemen are no longer in the Mid-American Conference, for starters. After playing four seasons as a football affiliate, they're now an FBS Independent. Last week, in their opener, they lost, 24-7, to the Florida Gators on the road in a game where they trailed by only a field goal into the fourth quarter.
"UMass had a showing against Florida," said Addazio. "(They) went down there, (where) it's a tough place to play in The Swamp, and they got that thing into a 10-7 game into the fourth quarter. They've got some good players. On defense, they're fast. I think they run really, really well on defense. On offense, the quarterback makes a lot of plays. The running back is electric. They've got a couple of good receivers. Mark Whipple does a great job there. So it'll be a real challenge for us."
There's two compelling angles to watch this week. For starters, there's finally tangible data to build on for BC. They know the areas they performed well last week, and they know where improvements need to be made.
"It's all about improvement right now," said Addazio. "It's all about taking care of the little things we had to do on both sides of the ball that were not really far off of really having a fine game on both sides. That's what's frustrating. But the positives were easy to see - it wasn't complicated - as were the negatives. The growth of the football team was very obvious. So we've got to continue to grow and learn how to close out a game like that."
At the same time, transitioning from Georgia Tech to UMass means preparing for a totally different scheme, especially when the Eagles defense is on the field. After defending the triple option last week, they'll now take on a Minutemen offense that finished among the top 50 passing offenses nationally each of the last two seasons. It's something that the Eagles prepared for during the preseason, which means there should be an expectation of a more traditional, aggressive unit in week two.
"We practice against each other most of camp, and we're a traditional-style offense right now," said Addazio. "We had Georgia Tech offense all camp long at periods, but we also went against each other good-good. Now for the last week, we didn't. So we've got to get back into coverage. I think we'll do that really well. Now we're going back to what our comfort level on defense is. But there is an adjustment, for sure.
"It's really different (defending a wishbone)," said Addazio. "In third down, you're trying to contain, enforce that throw from a contained (space), as opposed to more of a go-get-the-passer kind of deal. It's really a little different than what we'lls ee this week where you'll pin your ears back and go on third down now, more pressure and things like that. It's a totally different defensive approach."
BC and UMass kicks off on Saturday at noon on NESN.
At the same time, though, what worked last week might not work this week. Each week presents a team with different positives, different negatives and different mindsets. Last week, the Eagles played a triple option conference opponent in Ireland. This week, they play something considered a home game in comparison, taking on in-state rival Massachusetts at the home stadium of those very same New England Patriots: Gillette Stadium in Foxboro.
"(Saturday) will be a real challenge for us," said head coach Steve Addazio in his Monday remarks. "We'll have a great week of practice and get ready to go on the road. Not too long a road trip - thank God. A little different than Ireland - go on the road and play at Gillette and continue to grow, continue to get better as a football team, which we, without question, did last week, and get going."
Two years ago, BC faced the Minutemen at Gillette under different circumstances. It was the third year of the school's foray into the Football Bowl Subdivision, their first game under head coach Mark Whipple. In Tyler Murphy's first game, the Eagles held only a 6-0 lead at halftime before gelling and adjusting in the second half, opening up a 314-3 edge in rushing yards at one point while cruising to a 30-7 victory.
This Saturday, UMass will be a very different team. The Minutemen are no longer in the Mid-American Conference, for starters. After playing four seasons as a football affiliate, they're now an FBS Independent. Last week, in their opener, they lost, 24-7, to the Florida Gators on the road in a game where they trailed by only a field goal into the fourth quarter.
"UMass had a showing against Florida," said Addazio. "(They) went down there, (where) it's a tough place to play in The Swamp, and they got that thing into a 10-7 game into the fourth quarter. They've got some good players. On defense, they're fast. I think they run really, really well on defense. On offense, the quarterback makes a lot of plays. The running back is electric. They've got a couple of good receivers. Mark Whipple does a great job there. So it'll be a real challenge for us."
There's two compelling angles to watch this week. For starters, there's finally tangible data to build on for BC. They know the areas they performed well last week, and they know where improvements need to be made.
"It's all about improvement right now," said Addazio. "It's all about taking care of the little things we had to do on both sides of the ball that were not really far off of really having a fine game on both sides. That's what's frustrating. But the positives were easy to see - it wasn't complicated - as were the negatives. The growth of the football team was very obvious. So we've got to continue to grow and learn how to close out a game like that."
At the same time, transitioning from Georgia Tech to UMass means preparing for a totally different scheme, especially when the Eagles defense is on the field. After defending the triple option last week, they'll now take on a Minutemen offense that finished among the top 50 passing offenses nationally each of the last two seasons. It's something that the Eagles prepared for during the preseason, which means there should be an expectation of a more traditional, aggressive unit in week two.
"We practice against each other most of camp, and we're a traditional-style offense right now," said Addazio. "We had Georgia Tech offense all camp long at periods, but we also went against each other good-good. Now for the last week, we didn't. So we've got to get back into coverage. I think we'll do that really well. Now we're going back to what our comfort level on defense is. But there is an adjustment, for sure.
"It's really different (defending a wishbone)," said Addazio. "In third down, you're trying to contain, enforce that throw from a contained (space), as opposed to more of a go-get-the-passer kind of deal. It's really a little different than what we'lls ee this week where you'll pin your ears back and go on third down now, more pressure and things like that. It's a totally different defensive approach."
BC and UMass kicks off on Saturday at noon on NESN.
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