Four Downs: Florida State
November 18, 2018 | Football, #ForBoston Files
A disappointing and bitter pill to swallow as the Eagles leave Florida with a loss
There's a number of quotes that the proverbial "cliché machine" recycles after a win or loss. A team is never as good as when it's rolling, and it's never as bad as when it struggles. A game is never decided by a single play. An early play can potentially haunt a result, but it's not the end of the game when there's plenty of time still left on the clock. There's still work to be done to improve in victory, while losses highlight the need to prepare better, practice better, coach better and execute better.
They seem simple but carry complexities. They are recyclable but seem to be convenient for every game. They seem cliché but are absolutely correct.
All of those statements seemingly define Boston College's 22-21 loss to Florida State on Saturday. The simple perspective says that Steve Addazio's choice to punt on fourth down from midfield in the fourth quarter gave Florida State an opening it didn't need, especially after the Eagles had success on previous fourth down conversions. The punt set up Deondre Francois' 74-yard touchdown pass to Tamorrion Terry.
But there are a number of different complexities that led to that point. Boston College entered Saturday with a defense ranked No. 23 in passing efficiency and rated in the top 50 in the nation in both scoring and total defensive categories. It hadn't allowed a 70-plus yard pass play since the Purdue game, and defensive back Brandon Sebastian was just two weeks removed from being named ACC Player of the Week at his position.
FSU's offense, meanwhile, only registered four scoring drives of 80 yards or longer the entire season. One included a 78-yard Francois-to-Terry hookup, but it happened against Northern Illinois. BC had success earlier in the game but still ranked 79th in the nation at fourth down conversions against a defense ranked No. 22 in the nation in that same situation.
Francois' completion percentage was below 50%, and he'd thrown two interceptions. He was well below 300 yards passing, and he was only 3-of-7 for 12 yards in the fourth quarter when the Eagles punted the football. So while there was a strong case for forcing him to beat a defense that had played great even if it came at the expense of the good case to go for it.
"I wanted to pin them," Addazio said. "I felt pretty good about it. The ball was at midfield. Maybe (going for it) would've had a different outcome, but if you give (the Seminoles) the ball at midfield, you give them a short field to beat you. That's a pretty hard way to lose the game because your defense had been playing good all night. We pinned them down at the 11, and they had to go 89 yards."
The move obviously backfired, but it's not the only reason why the Eagles returned home with a disappointing loss. It also could have been much worse of a defeat if other factors hadn't happened. The decision to punt and the subsequent score becomes the simple, late-game example of how the game went down, but getting to that point is nothing but complex.
Here's what else can be learned from Saturday's defeat:
*****
First Down: Situational Football
The late game drama would've been avoided if both teams executed situational football in the first quarter.
Deondre Francois and Cam Akers moved Florida State from its own 35 into Boston College territory on the game's first drive, but Zach Allen blocked Ricky Aguayo's 45-yard field goal attempt. Three drives later, the Eagles used tilted field position to drive to the Florida State 37 when Anthony Brown threw an interception.
It took all of one play for Francois to give the ball back when Brandon Sebastian intercepted a deep post pass. Sebastian returned the ball to the FSU 24, giving BC golden field position. The Eagles summarily drove to a first-and-goal situation before two false start penalties drove them back to the 12-yard line. The drive ended with no points when Colton Lichtenberg missed a 29-yard field goal.
"We had a number of chances in the game that we did not capitalize on," Steve Addazio said. "We had first-and-goal from the two where we went backwards on two penalties and (then) missed a field goal. We had another opportunity in the red zone that we threw a pick on. We had our early opportunities, and I don't think we played well offensively in the first half."
It's a broken record at this point, but it's once again both easy and difficult to point to those plays as the difference. Anthony Brown was 3-of-8 for 12 yards and an interception in the first quarter, but the Seminoles couldn't capitalize because BC's defensive pressure forced Francois to go 5-of-13 for 61 yards and a pick of his own.
*****
Second Down: Anthony Brown
Quarterback Anthony Brown missed virtually the entire Clemson game after suffering an injury on the first offensive series. He spent the past week day-to-day in recovery, and it created a little bit of rust on his performance to start the FSU game. He followed up his first quarter with a 3-of-6 performance in the second quarter, and he threw a second interception in the second despite tossing 71 yards.
He shed that funk in the second half and pulled a complete 180-degree turn in the third quarter. He completed eight passes for 156 yards. He found a rhythm with Kobay White, who had four catches for 97 yards after suffering an invisible first half.
"I thought Anthony gave great effort," Steve Addazio said. "He gutted it out when the first half wasn't very good. On the road, he had too many missed opportunities. Those were facts."
Quarterbacks often play under a microscope that obscures their achievements, but Brown is quietly building a career run at BC's record books. His 297 yards on Saturday broke the 3,000-yard barrier for his career, and he moved into 12th place all-time. His 28th touchdown pass tied him for ninth all-time. He's ranking in with names like Scott Mutryn, Quinton Porter and Paul Peterson. For a player
*****
Halftime Hits
The ACC bowl picture started to come into focus on Saturday. Pittsburgh beat Wake Forest in the early games to clinch its first Coastal Division championship, and the Panthers will advance to the ACC Championship to play Clemson on December 1. The potential for chaos, though, means the loss to Florida State likely won't damage BC's outlook.
Clemson remains in the driver's seat for the College Football Playoff after beating Duke, and the clean projection has the Tigers in the CFP after projecting to beat the Panthers in Charlotte. A Pittsburgh win might not knock Clemson out of the national semifinal, but it would give the ACC a second team.
Syracuse lost to Notre Dame on Saturday at Yankee Stadium, so the Orange remain one game ahead of BC in overall record. It's a tenuous spot for the Orange, who at 5-2 in conference can clinch second place behind Clemson with a win. Whoever wins on Saturday likely makes a case for the Camping World Bowl, which is the ACC's most prolific non-New Year's Six game.
The loser is more likely to default into the ACC's Tier I, which includes the Pinstripe Bowl from last season, though it could also fall into the "Additional Bowls" tier depending on how the Coastal Division shakes out.
The scenario likely wouldn't change too much with a BC win over FSU. It maybe would've given the Eagles a more secure shot at the Camping World Bowl, but it wouldn't have changed the stakes for Saturday's game against Syracuse.
*****
Third Down: AJ Dillon
AJ Dillon finished with 116 yards and two touchdowns to break the 1,000-yard barrier for the second straight season. He became the first player in Boston College program history to begin his career with back-to-back 1,000-yard seasons, and he joined Derrick Knight, Montel Harris and William Green as the only rushers with two years of 1,000 yards or more. His 116 yards moved him past LV Whitworth and squarely into the Top 10 in career rushing yards as he pushes closer to the 3,000-yard mark.
"We got a little bit out of AJ this week for the first time in the past seven weeks," Steve Addazio said. "And he played a little better. We looked pretty rusty offensively in the first half. That's a good defense, and I (knew) that was a good defense. I knew it would be rough sledding, but I thought we would make some hay in the second half."
The Eagles relied on Dillon's ability to pound the football on Saturday, and he carried the ball 37 times. It was only his third time over 30 carries this season, but it represented his most carries in 2018. He went over 100 yards for the fifth time this year and 12th time in his career.
*****
Fourth Down: Boston College's defense
The defensive unit individually played great on Saturday, recording two sacks and two interceptions on Florida State's Deondre Francois. It limited the passing game to under 50% passing and under 300 yards while limiting all receivers to 100 yards until the last play of the game.
"I think we all know that we had a golden opportunity that we let get away from us," Steve Addazio said. "That doesn't take anything away from Florida State. They made the play that was necessary."
Florida State nearly cleared 500 yards of total offense, and Cam Akers finished the game averaging almost eight yards per carry due to explosive plays. The Seminoles have always had great athletes, and their well-documented struggles this year aren't related to the individual talent. They will always be able to hit for big plays based on talent alone, which is what makes the timing of Terry's 74-yard catch all the more bitter.
Consider that Terry and Nyqwan Murray only had three receptions apiece, and Akers only had 14 carries. Each had one explosive play against the BC defense, with Murray converting a 45-yard reception and Akers having one 55-yard run. That's 174 yards on three plays. Removing those plays leaves the Seminoles with 203 yards passing and 100 yards rushing as a team. Akers' average rush per carry would have dropped from 7.9 to 4.2. That's probably of little consolation to the BC unit's performance, though.
*****
Point After: Syracuse
Syracuse entered Saturday with a golden opportunity to unseat Notre Dame at Yankee Stadium in the latest installment of the Shamrock Series. The No. 12 Orange lost quarterback Eric Dungey early in the game, however, and never got any traction as the No. 3 Irish scored 13 first quarter points. Notre Dame rolled, 36-3, to hand the Orange their third loss of the year.
Dungey's injury adds a significant layer to Saturday's matchup. The dark horse Heisman candidate fell down while calling signals before a play and immediately reached for his back. He was later carted to the team bus, and Dino Babers didn't have an update after the game. The play came after he completed a run for four yards.
The Notre Dame defense rolled from there against backup quarterback Tommy DeVito. The Irish recorded six sacks and two interceptions and held the Orange offense off the scoreboard until a field goal in the fourth quarter. Â It came at a tenuous time for the Orange, who finish their season in their annual rivalry game against Boston College on Saturday with the aforementioned Atlantic Division second place on the line.
Boston College and Syracuse will kick off on Saturday at 12 p.m. from Alumni Stadium. The game will be televised on ESPN.
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They seem simple but carry complexities. They are recyclable but seem to be convenient for every game. They seem cliché but are absolutely correct.
All of those statements seemingly define Boston College's 22-21 loss to Florida State on Saturday. The simple perspective says that Steve Addazio's choice to punt on fourth down from midfield in the fourth quarter gave Florida State an opening it didn't need, especially after the Eagles had success on previous fourth down conversions. The punt set up Deondre Francois' 74-yard touchdown pass to Tamorrion Terry.
But there are a number of different complexities that led to that point. Boston College entered Saturday with a defense ranked No. 23 in passing efficiency and rated in the top 50 in the nation in both scoring and total defensive categories. It hadn't allowed a 70-plus yard pass play since the Purdue game, and defensive back Brandon Sebastian was just two weeks removed from being named ACC Player of the Week at his position.
FSU's offense, meanwhile, only registered four scoring drives of 80 yards or longer the entire season. One included a 78-yard Francois-to-Terry hookup, but it happened against Northern Illinois. BC had success earlier in the game but still ranked 79th in the nation at fourth down conversions against a defense ranked No. 22 in the nation in that same situation.
Francois' completion percentage was below 50%, and he'd thrown two interceptions. He was well below 300 yards passing, and he was only 3-of-7 for 12 yards in the fourth quarter when the Eagles punted the football. So while there was a strong case for forcing him to beat a defense that had played great even if it came at the expense of the good case to go for it.
"I wanted to pin them," Addazio said. "I felt pretty good about it. The ball was at midfield. Maybe (going for it) would've had a different outcome, but if you give (the Seminoles) the ball at midfield, you give them a short field to beat you. That's a pretty hard way to lose the game because your defense had been playing good all night. We pinned them down at the 11, and they had to go 89 yards."
The move obviously backfired, but it's not the only reason why the Eagles returned home with a disappointing loss. It also could have been much worse of a defeat if other factors hadn't happened. The decision to punt and the subsequent score becomes the simple, late-game example of how the game went down, but getting to that point is nothing but complex.
Here's what else can be learned from Saturday's defeat:
*****
First Down: Situational Football
The late game drama would've been avoided if both teams executed situational football in the first quarter.
Deondre Francois and Cam Akers moved Florida State from its own 35 into Boston College territory on the game's first drive, but Zach Allen blocked Ricky Aguayo's 45-yard field goal attempt. Three drives later, the Eagles used tilted field position to drive to the Florida State 37 when Anthony Brown threw an interception.
It took all of one play for Francois to give the ball back when Brandon Sebastian intercepted a deep post pass. Sebastian returned the ball to the FSU 24, giving BC golden field position. The Eagles summarily drove to a first-and-goal situation before two false start penalties drove them back to the 12-yard line. The drive ended with no points when Colton Lichtenberg missed a 29-yard field goal.
"We had a number of chances in the game that we did not capitalize on," Steve Addazio said. "We had first-and-goal from the two where we went backwards on two penalties and (then) missed a field goal. We had another opportunity in the red zone that we threw a pick on. We had our early opportunities, and I don't think we played well offensively in the first half."
It's a broken record at this point, but it's once again both easy and difficult to point to those plays as the difference. Anthony Brown was 3-of-8 for 12 yards and an interception in the first quarter, but the Seminoles couldn't capitalize because BC's defensive pressure forced Francois to go 5-of-13 for 61 yards and a pick of his own.
*****
Second Down: Anthony Brown
Quarterback Anthony Brown missed virtually the entire Clemson game after suffering an injury on the first offensive series. He spent the past week day-to-day in recovery, and it created a little bit of rust on his performance to start the FSU game. He followed up his first quarter with a 3-of-6 performance in the second quarter, and he threw a second interception in the second despite tossing 71 yards.
He shed that funk in the second half and pulled a complete 180-degree turn in the third quarter. He completed eight passes for 156 yards. He found a rhythm with Kobay White, who had four catches for 97 yards after suffering an invisible first half.
"I thought Anthony gave great effort," Steve Addazio said. "He gutted it out when the first half wasn't very good. On the road, he had too many missed opportunities. Those were facts."
Quarterbacks often play under a microscope that obscures their achievements, but Brown is quietly building a career run at BC's record books. His 297 yards on Saturday broke the 3,000-yard barrier for his career, and he moved into 12th place all-time. His 28th touchdown pass tied him for ninth all-time. He's ranking in with names like Scott Mutryn, Quinton Porter and Paul Peterson. For a player
*****
Halftime Hits
The ACC bowl picture started to come into focus on Saturday. Pittsburgh beat Wake Forest in the early games to clinch its first Coastal Division championship, and the Panthers will advance to the ACC Championship to play Clemson on December 1. The potential for chaos, though, means the loss to Florida State likely won't damage BC's outlook.
Clemson remains in the driver's seat for the College Football Playoff after beating Duke, and the clean projection has the Tigers in the CFP after projecting to beat the Panthers in Charlotte. A Pittsburgh win might not knock Clemson out of the national semifinal, but it would give the ACC a second team.
Syracuse lost to Notre Dame on Saturday at Yankee Stadium, so the Orange remain one game ahead of BC in overall record. It's a tenuous spot for the Orange, who at 5-2 in conference can clinch second place behind Clemson with a win. Whoever wins on Saturday likely makes a case for the Camping World Bowl, which is the ACC's most prolific non-New Year's Six game.
The loser is more likely to default into the ACC's Tier I, which includes the Pinstripe Bowl from last season, though it could also fall into the "Additional Bowls" tier depending on how the Coastal Division shakes out.
The scenario likely wouldn't change too much with a BC win over FSU. It maybe would've given the Eagles a more secure shot at the Camping World Bowl, but it wouldn't have changed the stakes for Saturday's game against Syracuse.
*****
Third Down: AJ Dillon
AJ Dillon finished with 116 yards and two touchdowns to break the 1,000-yard barrier for the second straight season. He became the first player in Boston College program history to begin his career with back-to-back 1,000-yard seasons, and he joined Derrick Knight, Montel Harris and William Green as the only rushers with two years of 1,000 yards or more. His 116 yards moved him past LV Whitworth and squarely into the Top 10 in career rushing yards as he pushes closer to the 3,000-yard mark.
"We got a little bit out of AJ this week for the first time in the past seven weeks," Steve Addazio said. "And he played a little better. We looked pretty rusty offensively in the first half. That's a good defense, and I (knew) that was a good defense. I knew it would be rough sledding, but I thought we would make some hay in the second half."
The Eagles relied on Dillon's ability to pound the football on Saturday, and he carried the ball 37 times. It was only his third time over 30 carries this season, but it represented his most carries in 2018. He went over 100 yards for the fifth time this year and 12th time in his career.
*****
Fourth Down: Boston College's defense
The defensive unit individually played great on Saturday, recording two sacks and two interceptions on Florida State's Deondre Francois. It limited the passing game to under 50% passing and under 300 yards while limiting all receivers to 100 yards until the last play of the game.
"I think we all know that we had a golden opportunity that we let get away from us," Steve Addazio said. "That doesn't take anything away from Florida State. They made the play that was necessary."
Florida State nearly cleared 500 yards of total offense, and Cam Akers finished the game averaging almost eight yards per carry due to explosive plays. The Seminoles have always had great athletes, and their well-documented struggles this year aren't related to the individual talent. They will always be able to hit for big plays based on talent alone, which is what makes the timing of Terry's 74-yard catch all the more bitter.
Consider that Terry and Nyqwan Murray only had three receptions apiece, and Akers only had 14 carries. Each had one explosive play against the BC defense, with Murray converting a 45-yard reception and Akers having one 55-yard run. That's 174 yards on three plays. Removing those plays leaves the Seminoles with 203 yards passing and 100 yards rushing as a team. Akers' average rush per carry would have dropped from 7.9 to 4.2. That's probably of little consolation to the BC unit's performance, though.
*****
Point After: Syracuse
Syracuse entered Saturday with a golden opportunity to unseat Notre Dame at Yankee Stadium in the latest installment of the Shamrock Series. The No. 12 Orange lost quarterback Eric Dungey early in the game, however, and never got any traction as the No. 3 Irish scored 13 first quarter points. Notre Dame rolled, 36-3, to hand the Orange their third loss of the year.
Dungey's injury adds a significant layer to Saturday's matchup. The dark horse Heisman candidate fell down while calling signals before a play and immediately reached for his back. He was later carted to the team bus, and Dino Babers didn't have an update after the game. The play came after he completed a run for four yards.
The Notre Dame defense rolled from there against backup quarterback Tommy DeVito. The Irish recorded six sacks and two interceptions and held the Orange offense off the scoreboard until a field goal in the fourth quarter. Â It came at a tenuous time for the Orange, who finish their season in their annual rivalry game against Boston College on Saturday with the aforementioned Atlantic Division second place on the line.
Boston College and Syracuse will kick off on Saturday at 12 p.m. from Alumni Stadium. The game will be televised on ESPN.
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Players Mentioned
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