Photo by: John Quackenbos
Four Downs: No. 19 Syracuse
November 25, 2018 | Football, #ForBoston Files
The Orange emerged victorious at Alumni Stadium on Saturday
The 2018 college football season began with heightened expectations for Boston College. The changing tides in the ACC created a visible optimism for the Eagles, and the team's reputation helped build a swagger many thought would take it to the top of the mountain in the ultra-competitive Atlantic Division.
A 7-2 record heading into the Clemson game validated that feeling, which is what makes the last three weeks so much harder to swallow. The Eagles finished the season with a 7-5 record following Saturday's 42-21 loss to No. 19 Syracuse and now enter their bowl season without an eighth win that seemed inevitable at the beginning of November.
"It's definitely a disappointment," wide receiver and kick returner Michael Walker said. "We came into the season aiming for an ACC Championship. That was the goal. We were up for that playing Clemson. It hasn't gone our way the past the last few games. We just have to end on a good note and send the seniors out on the right note, including myself."
The Eagles will still finish 2018 with a measure of success. They returned to the national rankings for the first time in a decade, and they essentially played for the ACC Atlantic Division championship in the Clemson game. They will play in a bowl game for the fifth time in six years after going a combined 6-18 in 2011 and 2012. Their win over Virginia Tech was the first since 2014 and beat Miami for the second time in three tries dating back to 2011.
It set individual marks for excellence along the way. The defense intercepted a pass in 11 of 12 games during the season, including the last eight. Quarterback Anthony Brown threw 20 touchdown passes, the most since Matt Ryan threw 31 in 2007. Tight end Tommy Sweeney's next catch will make him the 22nd player and fifth tight end with in program history with 100 receptions.
It's of little consolation to a team that could have and likely should have won an eighth game this season. Any team that tastes a little bit of success wants more, and the Eagles now head into the postseason and offseason searching for how to sustain that level at all levels.
"The goal in bowl (preparation) is not to grind guys like Zach Allen or Wyatt Ray or Ray Smith," head coach Steve Addazio said. "The goal is to make sure Brandon Barlow is taking the next step and Marcus Valdez, TJ Rayam, and Jaleel Berry (get ready). And to get Mike Palmer back playing some safety. To see Tate Haynes, who has really developed at corner, and to continue to see guys like Tyler Vrabel at right tackle and Anthony Palazzolo and Elijah Johnson."
*****
First Down: Anthony Brown
Anthony Brown began the year recovering from a season-ending knee injury in 2017. He returned to full "contact strength" in the first quarter of the season, and it seemed like light years had passed by the time he competed 72% of his passes against Louisville.
Brown threw for three scores to become the fifth Boston College quarterback and sixth season with 20 passing touchdowns. Matt Ryan set the school record in 2007 as the only player with 30 touchdowns, breaking Doug Flutie's 1984 mark of 27 scores. Brian St. Pierre is the only other player to throw 20 touchdowns in the 21st century with 25 in 2001, and Glenn Foley is the only Eagle to do it twice, throwing 21 in 1991 and 25 in 1993. Only Foley's 1991 season and Brown this year achieved the mark in a year other than as a senior.
He finished the season with 548 yards in the last two weeks to push over 2,000 yards for the first time in his career. He enters the bowl game with players like Foley, Scott Mutryn and Matt Hasselbeck within his sights in the record book for a single season while bearing down on career numbers posted by Paul Peterson, Mark Hartsell and Tim Hasselbeck.
"I'm excited to get going...and keep developing our program because that's what this is all about," Steve Addazio said. "It's all about continuing to stay and grow at a certain level. We're in a great position to do that. We have a third-year quarterback and a third-year Heisman Trophy candidate tailback, a really good offensive line and a great tight end and a promising group of receivers."
Brown's career follows a very obvious trajectory. He experienced growing pains last year as a starter and improved his physical tools this season. His 2018 proved he could make any throw, and his touchdown pass bomb to Jeff Smith was a thing of beauty. He stepped to the right, scrambled away from pressure, froze the defensive backs and delivered a perfect strike to the receiver, who had nothing but green turf out ahead.
The next step is now to continue making strides in consistency. He's seen what the conference's best can offer, and he competed against one of those players on Saturday in Eric Dungey. Sponging those experiences and digesting them in the film room and in practice will open up his personal expectations heading into next season.
"Anything that could possibly help you get better and help this team get better will be the next step," Brown said. "That will increase execution. That will get us closer and closer to being a great team. We have to appreciate that and learn from that. There's nothing that won't get us ready to play this next game."
*****
Second Down: Eric Dungey
Syracuse began the week with a giant question mark regarding quarterback Eric Dungey's health. It ended the week with him carrying his team to a second-place finish in the ACC Atlantic Division.
"I didn't know about the performance," Orange head coach Dino Babers said. "The first part of the week, he really wasn't that good. (Then) he did something that looked really, really natural, like he wasn't thinking about his back, and I went over to him and said, 'Is your back bothering you? It didn't look like your back bothered you right there,' and he said, 'I'm feeling better. I'm feeling better.'
"The minute he said that, all of the hair stood up on my arm," Babers said. "He noticed and started laughing. All the hair stood up on my arm because I knew, right then, we had a chance to win."
Dungey joined an elite level of class on Saturday, amassing 396 yards of total offense to bring his career total to 11,008 in 38 games. His 3,297 yards of offense this season is the second-highest in Syracuse program history, and his six touchdowns responsible against BC broke a 20-year program record set by Donovan McNabb.
"You don't see a lot of quarterbacks like him," Babers said. "That's the weird part about him. You can't talk to him like a quarterback. You have to talk to him like a linebacker, and if you talk to him like a linebacker, then he's not so weird."
Dungey benefitted from an offense that was as advertised in Boston. His first four drives put the Orange in position to score, and he netted three straight touchdowns after Syracuse missed a field goal in the first quarter. He hit Sean Riley for a 75-yard touchdown pass and later hit Jamal Custis for a 34-yard pass to end and begin consecutive drives. In total, five Orange receivers finished with chunk pass receptions.
The Eagles held Dungey in check in the third quarter, and BC's offense cut the deficit in half. It didn't get any smaller, though, after the Orange scored third quarter points and converted to a more ball-control offense.
"There was a slight bit of miscommunication, confusion," safety Lukas Denis said. "We were able to stop that from happening later in the game. I think there were just sudden plays. Things happen in football and it's all about how you bounce back so I think we were able to stop some of those from happening later in the game."
*****
Halftime Hits
-Senior Day allowed me to remember a number of different players who were announced, and it's worth a special shout out to John Fadule. Fadule was a Massachusetts legend at Wellesley High School, throwing for over 2,000 yards and 42 touchdowns en route to becoming a state All-Scholastic. After a postgraduate year at Choate, he walked onto the Eagles in 2015 and became the first-ever walk-on starting quarterback in program history when injuries forced him under center. That 2015 season was a challenge for a host of reasons, but Fadule's grit is one of those things I never forgot, especially when he completed 62% of his passes for 257 yards against NC State.
-Lukas Denis spent his entire career wearing No. 21 in the Boston College secondary but changed his jersey yesterday in favor of a No. 31 shirt with no name on the back. That's because he received the Jay McGillis Memorial Scholarship prior to the spring game in April.
McGillis was a Boston College defensive back who passed away from leukemia in 1992. The program established the scholarship award in his memory in 1993 as a way to honor a player who leads by example with "an extraordinary competitive spirit and personal concern for family, friends and teammates." The defensive back honored wears No. 31 in McGillis' memory during Senior Day.
"It was an honor to wear No. 31," Denis said. "To receive the Jay McGillis Scholarship really meant a lot and to see his family after the game and having them embrace me, it was a great feeling and I'm glad I was able to do that."
-BC donned the "Maroon and Old Gold" for a second-straight home game on Saturday. The uniforms debuted for Homecoming against Louisville, and the Eagles wore them with the "no-stripe" helmet against Clemson. The classic, interlocking BC logo came back this year, and I think it's the perfect complement to the current logo. In a world where college football is pushing edgier and edgier looks, a simple, understated change to a traditional look gives it something of a special feel. I think I said that against Louisville, but I feel like it bears mentioning again.
*****
Third Down: The Injury Bug
An injury to a key player is devastating and can derail a team before a game ever really gets started. Losing the wrong player at the wrong time creates incredible hurdles and challenges, so losing multiple key players is fatal to a team's chances. On the other hand, though, nobody ever likes to blame losses on injuries.
The injury bug bit especially hard down the stretch run of the season, though. Anthony Brown went down against Clemson. AJ Dillon never really seemed right against Florida State and missed the end of Saturday's game against Syracuse. Zach Allen and Wyatt Ray, two of the most dominant defensive ends in the nation, both went down on Saturday and didn't return to the game.
"Losing (Allen and Ray) against that kind of offense and that quarterback, that's probably not what you want to see happen," Steve Addazio said. "All of that being said...we take this game and it's 28-21, without either one of those defensive ends at that point."
The Eagles have a talented depth chart, but it creates a fine line to walk. Brown missed the entire Clemson game after suffering an early injury, but he returned to throw for almost 600 yards in the last two games. Dillon kept improving week after week with his ankle injury but never really got back to full strength, and he missed the end of the Syracuse game.
Teams can sustain one or two injuries, but piling them up in a short amount of time is impossible for any team to overcome. There's talent on the depth chart, but it's impossible to know if the outcomes would have been different with different personnel at different times. It's a "what if" game to which there is no answer, especially when the opponents are considered among the nationally-elite programs.
"I think it speaks to the toughness and the character of the kids of our team," Addazio said. "I would call that a little bit of bad luck, a little bit of not good fortunate, and when you get into this thing, you have got to have some of that go your way."
*****
Fourth Down: The ACC
The bowl selection race became clearer following Saturday's results. The Syracuse-Boston College result clinched second place for the Orange and fourth pace for the Eagles, meaning NC State would have finished third regardless of outcome. Because the bowl selection is based on tiers and finishing record, though, it became important that the Wolfpack defeated North Carolina.
Around the rest of the ACC, Virginia Tech beat Virginia in overtime; Miami beat Pittsburgh, 24-3; Georgia beat Georgia Tech, 45-21; Florida beat Florida State, 41-14; and Wake Forest blasted Duke, 59-7.
It means 10 ACC teams are bowl eligible heading into championship weekend. Virginia Tech and NC State both had games canceled earlier this season due to a hurricane, but both scheduled new games at the end of the season. The Hokies will need that game (against Marshall) in order to become bowl eligible since they beat the Cavaliers to improve to 5-6. NC State, meanwhile, can still finish with nine wins if it beats East Carolina in its "makeup game" after the West Virginia game was canceled.
*****
Point After: Bowl Selection Process, What to Expect
Boston College is one of six teams with a 7-5 record but the only team from the Atlantic Division. That means there is likely going to be chaos in the selection, especially if NC State gets a ninth win this week against East Carolina. With the Camping World Bowl going to either the Wolfpack or Syracuse, that means there are seven teams for four games: NC State, Syracuse, Boston College, Pittsburgh, Virginia, Georgia Tech, Miami and Duke.
Of those seven teams, four cannot have repeat bowl performances (NC State/Sun Bowl, Boston College/Pinstripe Bowl, Duke/Quick Lane Bowl, Virginia/Military Bowl) from last season. Additionally, Pittsburgh played in the Pinstripe Bowl in 2016, so it's possible the conference avoids sending the Panthers back there (provided they don't upset Clemson in the ACC Championship).
They key to remember is that ACC bowls employ a selection order as opposed to slotting based on finishing position. The Camping World Bowl has first choice of ACC teams after the CFP committee gives out its invitations. It's not assured that a second-place team is assured a slot based on finishing record or divisional alignment. Tier I then decide from there.
Bowl announcements will be made next Sunday following the College Football Playoff and New Year's Six bowl game announcements.
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A 7-2 record heading into the Clemson game validated that feeling, which is what makes the last three weeks so much harder to swallow. The Eagles finished the season with a 7-5 record following Saturday's 42-21 loss to No. 19 Syracuse and now enter their bowl season without an eighth win that seemed inevitable at the beginning of November.
"It's definitely a disappointment," wide receiver and kick returner Michael Walker said. "We came into the season aiming for an ACC Championship. That was the goal. We were up for that playing Clemson. It hasn't gone our way the past the last few games. We just have to end on a good note and send the seniors out on the right note, including myself."
The Eagles will still finish 2018 with a measure of success. They returned to the national rankings for the first time in a decade, and they essentially played for the ACC Atlantic Division championship in the Clemson game. They will play in a bowl game for the fifth time in six years after going a combined 6-18 in 2011 and 2012. Their win over Virginia Tech was the first since 2014 and beat Miami for the second time in three tries dating back to 2011.
It set individual marks for excellence along the way. The defense intercepted a pass in 11 of 12 games during the season, including the last eight. Quarterback Anthony Brown threw 20 touchdown passes, the most since Matt Ryan threw 31 in 2007. Tight end Tommy Sweeney's next catch will make him the 22nd player and fifth tight end with in program history with 100 receptions.
It's of little consolation to a team that could have and likely should have won an eighth game this season. Any team that tastes a little bit of success wants more, and the Eagles now head into the postseason and offseason searching for how to sustain that level at all levels.
"The goal in bowl (preparation) is not to grind guys like Zach Allen or Wyatt Ray or Ray Smith," head coach Steve Addazio said. "The goal is to make sure Brandon Barlow is taking the next step and Marcus Valdez, TJ Rayam, and Jaleel Berry (get ready). And to get Mike Palmer back playing some safety. To see Tate Haynes, who has really developed at corner, and to continue to see guys like Tyler Vrabel at right tackle and Anthony Palazzolo and Elijah Johnson."
*****
First Down: Anthony Brown
Anthony Brown began the year recovering from a season-ending knee injury in 2017. He returned to full "contact strength" in the first quarter of the season, and it seemed like light years had passed by the time he competed 72% of his passes against Louisville.
Brown threw for three scores to become the fifth Boston College quarterback and sixth season with 20 passing touchdowns. Matt Ryan set the school record in 2007 as the only player with 30 touchdowns, breaking Doug Flutie's 1984 mark of 27 scores. Brian St. Pierre is the only other player to throw 20 touchdowns in the 21st century with 25 in 2001, and Glenn Foley is the only Eagle to do it twice, throwing 21 in 1991 and 25 in 1993. Only Foley's 1991 season and Brown this year achieved the mark in a year other than as a senior.
He finished the season with 548 yards in the last two weeks to push over 2,000 yards for the first time in his career. He enters the bowl game with players like Foley, Scott Mutryn and Matt Hasselbeck within his sights in the record book for a single season while bearing down on career numbers posted by Paul Peterson, Mark Hartsell and Tim Hasselbeck.
"I'm excited to get going...and keep developing our program because that's what this is all about," Steve Addazio said. "It's all about continuing to stay and grow at a certain level. We're in a great position to do that. We have a third-year quarterback and a third-year Heisman Trophy candidate tailback, a really good offensive line and a great tight end and a promising group of receivers."
Brown's career follows a very obvious trajectory. He experienced growing pains last year as a starter and improved his physical tools this season. His 2018 proved he could make any throw, and his touchdown pass bomb to Jeff Smith was a thing of beauty. He stepped to the right, scrambled away from pressure, froze the defensive backs and delivered a perfect strike to the receiver, who had nothing but green turf out ahead.
The next step is now to continue making strides in consistency. He's seen what the conference's best can offer, and he competed against one of those players on Saturday in Eric Dungey. Sponging those experiences and digesting them in the film room and in practice will open up his personal expectations heading into next season.
"Anything that could possibly help you get better and help this team get better will be the next step," Brown said. "That will increase execution. That will get us closer and closer to being a great team. We have to appreciate that and learn from that. There's nothing that won't get us ready to play this next game."
*****
Second Down: Eric Dungey
Syracuse began the week with a giant question mark regarding quarterback Eric Dungey's health. It ended the week with him carrying his team to a second-place finish in the ACC Atlantic Division.
"I didn't know about the performance," Orange head coach Dino Babers said. "The first part of the week, he really wasn't that good. (Then) he did something that looked really, really natural, like he wasn't thinking about his back, and I went over to him and said, 'Is your back bothering you? It didn't look like your back bothered you right there,' and he said, 'I'm feeling better. I'm feeling better.'
"The minute he said that, all of the hair stood up on my arm," Babers said. "He noticed and started laughing. All the hair stood up on my arm because I knew, right then, we had a chance to win."
Dungey joined an elite level of class on Saturday, amassing 396 yards of total offense to bring his career total to 11,008 in 38 games. His 3,297 yards of offense this season is the second-highest in Syracuse program history, and his six touchdowns responsible against BC broke a 20-year program record set by Donovan McNabb.
"You don't see a lot of quarterbacks like him," Babers said. "That's the weird part about him. You can't talk to him like a quarterback. You have to talk to him like a linebacker, and if you talk to him like a linebacker, then he's not so weird."
Dungey benefitted from an offense that was as advertised in Boston. His first four drives put the Orange in position to score, and he netted three straight touchdowns after Syracuse missed a field goal in the first quarter. He hit Sean Riley for a 75-yard touchdown pass and later hit Jamal Custis for a 34-yard pass to end and begin consecutive drives. In total, five Orange receivers finished with chunk pass receptions.
The Eagles held Dungey in check in the third quarter, and BC's offense cut the deficit in half. It didn't get any smaller, though, after the Orange scored third quarter points and converted to a more ball-control offense.
"There was a slight bit of miscommunication, confusion," safety Lukas Denis said. "We were able to stop that from happening later in the game. I think there were just sudden plays. Things happen in football and it's all about how you bounce back so I think we were able to stop some of those from happening later in the game."
*****
Halftime Hits
-Senior Day allowed me to remember a number of different players who were announced, and it's worth a special shout out to John Fadule. Fadule was a Massachusetts legend at Wellesley High School, throwing for over 2,000 yards and 42 touchdowns en route to becoming a state All-Scholastic. After a postgraduate year at Choate, he walked onto the Eagles in 2015 and became the first-ever walk-on starting quarterback in program history when injuries forced him under center. That 2015 season was a challenge for a host of reasons, but Fadule's grit is one of those things I never forgot, especially when he completed 62% of his passes for 257 yards against NC State.
-Lukas Denis spent his entire career wearing No. 21 in the Boston College secondary but changed his jersey yesterday in favor of a No. 31 shirt with no name on the back. That's because he received the Jay McGillis Memorial Scholarship prior to the spring game in April.
McGillis was a Boston College defensive back who passed away from leukemia in 1992. The program established the scholarship award in his memory in 1993 as a way to honor a player who leads by example with "an extraordinary competitive spirit and personal concern for family, friends and teammates." The defensive back honored wears No. 31 in McGillis' memory during Senior Day.
"It was an honor to wear No. 31," Denis said. "To receive the Jay McGillis Scholarship really meant a lot and to see his family after the game and having them embrace me, it was a great feeling and I'm glad I was able to do that."
-BC donned the "Maroon and Old Gold" for a second-straight home game on Saturday. The uniforms debuted for Homecoming against Louisville, and the Eagles wore them with the "no-stripe" helmet against Clemson. The classic, interlocking BC logo came back this year, and I think it's the perfect complement to the current logo. In a world where college football is pushing edgier and edgier looks, a simple, understated change to a traditional look gives it something of a special feel. I think I said that against Louisville, but I feel like it bears mentioning again.
*****
Third Down: The Injury Bug
An injury to a key player is devastating and can derail a team before a game ever really gets started. Losing the wrong player at the wrong time creates incredible hurdles and challenges, so losing multiple key players is fatal to a team's chances. On the other hand, though, nobody ever likes to blame losses on injuries.
The injury bug bit especially hard down the stretch run of the season, though. Anthony Brown went down against Clemson. AJ Dillon never really seemed right against Florida State and missed the end of Saturday's game against Syracuse. Zach Allen and Wyatt Ray, two of the most dominant defensive ends in the nation, both went down on Saturday and didn't return to the game.
"Losing (Allen and Ray) against that kind of offense and that quarterback, that's probably not what you want to see happen," Steve Addazio said. "All of that being said...we take this game and it's 28-21, without either one of those defensive ends at that point."
The Eagles have a talented depth chart, but it creates a fine line to walk. Brown missed the entire Clemson game after suffering an early injury, but he returned to throw for almost 600 yards in the last two games. Dillon kept improving week after week with his ankle injury but never really got back to full strength, and he missed the end of the Syracuse game.
Teams can sustain one or two injuries, but piling them up in a short amount of time is impossible for any team to overcome. There's talent on the depth chart, but it's impossible to know if the outcomes would have been different with different personnel at different times. It's a "what if" game to which there is no answer, especially when the opponents are considered among the nationally-elite programs.
"I think it speaks to the toughness and the character of the kids of our team," Addazio said. "I would call that a little bit of bad luck, a little bit of not good fortunate, and when you get into this thing, you have got to have some of that go your way."
*****
Fourth Down: The ACC
The bowl selection race became clearer following Saturday's results. The Syracuse-Boston College result clinched second place for the Orange and fourth pace for the Eagles, meaning NC State would have finished third regardless of outcome. Because the bowl selection is based on tiers and finishing record, though, it became important that the Wolfpack defeated North Carolina.
Around the rest of the ACC, Virginia Tech beat Virginia in overtime; Miami beat Pittsburgh, 24-3; Georgia beat Georgia Tech, 45-21; Florida beat Florida State, 41-14; and Wake Forest blasted Duke, 59-7.
It means 10 ACC teams are bowl eligible heading into championship weekend. Virginia Tech and NC State both had games canceled earlier this season due to a hurricane, but both scheduled new games at the end of the season. The Hokies will need that game (against Marshall) in order to become bowl eligible since they beat the Cavaliers to improve to 5-6. NC State, meanwhile, can still finish with nine wins if it beats East Carolina in its "makeup game" after the West Virginia game was canceled.
*****
Point After: Bowl Selection Process, What to Expect
Boston College is one of six teams with a 7-5 record but the only team from the Atlantic Division. That means there is likely going to be chaos in the selection, especially if NC State gets a ninth win this week against East Carolina. With the Camping World Bowl going to either the Wolfpack or Syracuse, that means there are seven teams for four games: NC State, Syracuse, Boston College, Pittsburgh, Virginia, Georgia Tech, Miami and Duke.
Of those seven teams, four cannot have repeat bowl performances (NC State/Sun Bowl, Boston College/Pinstripe Bowl, Duke/Quick Lane Bowl, Virginia/Military Bowl) from last season. Additionally, Pittsburgh played in the Pinstripe Bowl in 2016, so it's possible the conference avoids sending the Panthers back there (provided they don't upset Clemson in the ACC Championship).
They key to remember is that ACC bowls employ a selection order as opposed to slotting based on finishing position. The Camping World Bowl has first choice of ACC teams after the CFP committee gives out its invitations. It's not assured that a second-place team is assured a slot based on finishing record or divisional alignment. Tier I then decide from there.
Bowl announcements will be made next Sunday following the College Football Playoff and New Year's Six bowl game announcements.
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