Photo by: John Quackenbos
Four Downs: Temple
September 30, 2018 | Football, #ForBoston Files
BC got back to its winning ways with a 45-35 win over the Owls.
It didn't take long for the Boston College-Temple game to evolve into a chess match battle on the field. The Owls opened the game with a nine-play drive that penetrated into Eagle territory, but BC forced a turnover on downs when the offense failed to convert on fourth-and-six at the 36 yard line.
The BC offense in turn produced a classic drive, chunking yards off the Temple offense with pounding attack. AJ Dillon gained 21 yards behind his offensive line, and Anthony Brown connected on a couple of simple passes to get his rhythm going. The Eagles gained a couple of first downs and eventually found themselves with a third down on the Temple 24.
That's when the BC offense executed three plays that exemplified what it can do. Jeff Smith went in motion from left-to-right and pulled a corner with him, exposing Kobay White to single coverage on the left sideline. Off the snap, White made a move to the outside and Brown let go a throw for the end zone. It was intercepted, largely because the throw went inside where the receiver broke to the outside sideline, but overturned upon review. Two plays later - and after a false start forced BC into a fourth-and-15 - they ran virtually the same play with White breaking in, where he was wide open for a first down reception.
BC eventually advanced to the Temple goal line, where they ran a similar set with Smith. His motion coupled with a Brown rollout to the right to draw the entire defense towards the sideline. It enabled Tommy Sweeney to get wide open in the end zone, and Brown threw a designed throwback across his body to the tight end. It was high, largely due to the degree of difficulty of the pass, but Sweeney climbed the ladder and hauled it in to give BC the first score of the game.
"We came out and tried to throw the ball and be balanced early," head coach Steve Addazio said. "And we did. There were a couple of times where I was like, 'oh boy, keep feeding it.' But we're trying to make sure as we go into conference play, we know we have the ability to throw that ball in early downs, shotgun, under center, play action, empty quick game, so we worked at that hard and that showed up in the game."
The early drive set the tone for a game that turned into a grind. Temple pushed and threatened the Boston College defense, and the Eagle offense responded. The early play calls and the threat of the jet sweep forced Temple to pursue the ball wherever it went, but it exposed a vulnerability later in the game that allowed the offense to run a trick "Smitty Special" play with Jeff Smith, a former quarterback. The double reverse caught Temple's aggressiveness, and Anthony Brown waltzed into the end zone with his second career touchdown reception.
The teams traded explosive plays like those, and points amassed across a grueling afternoon in Chestnut Hill. What's most important, though, is that it ended with the Eagles standing in their locker room, singing their fight song for the fourth time after a 45-35 victory.
*****
First Down: Ben Glines
Every football team knows the injury bug arrives at some point during a season, and it arrived in Chestnut Hill on Saturday. BC finished with 275 yards rushing on the day, of which AJ Dillon owned 161 and two touchdowns, but it lost its prized back to an injury in the second half. It forced the Eagles to dip further into its depth chart for the next man up.
Enter Ben Glines. He nearly matched Dillon's output, gaining 5.2 yards per carry for 120 yards and a touchdown. He also returned two kickoffs for 33 yards.
"I come in on Saturday right up until game day with the mindset of 'whatever they need me to do for the game,'" Glines said. "If they need me on receiver, running back, special teams, I'm going to do whatever I have to do to get on the field and help us win games."
It was a performance that truly itched for a breakout. He had a touchdown score against Wake Forest and has very quietly turned into a Swiss Army knife for the Eagles. He's put in time as a returner and special teams gunner, and he converted to running back after starting his career as receiver, though he retained his receiver position skills.
"Last Sunday, we were all pretty upset and disappointed, but I told the team, 'I want to mention one guy and he's a warrior,'" Steve Addazio said. "It was Ben Glines. That was last Sunday and I had to point that out because of what was on the tape. He came in here and continued and picked right up where he left off."
The Eagles used Glines as a running back during the preseason, and he excelled in welcoming contact with little regard for his body, a true old-school football player.
"He's extremely valuable to us," Addazio said. "Tough, gritty, hard-nosed runner. Then again, if you ask our strength coach, he would tell you that (Ben's) the toughest guy on our football team."
*****
Second Down: Boston College Defense
Temple entered the game with top-flight skill position players in Ryquell Armstead and Isaiah Wright, and both had monster games against the BC defense.
Armstead finished with 24 carries and 171 yards, only losing one yard off his gross over the course of the game. He had four touchdowns, including a 75-yard breakaway run that boosted his average to 7.1 yards per carry. Wright, meanwhile, finished with seven catches for 114 yards - almost half of Anthony Russo's completions and yards.
"I think we saw them playing a bunch of man coverage on film and with our athletes on the outside, we thought we could exploit some deep balls and immediate throws against their coverage," quarterback Anthony Russo said.
The score indicates the Eagles gave up yards and points, but Temple scored 14 points off of special teams turnovers. That said, the defense surrendered eight third down conversions, continuing an early-season trend where it will play well but ultimately still need to get better. It also had to rally after losing Lukas Denis to a targeting call in the first half.
"We have to get off the field, and we all know it," Steve Addazio said. "We've got great pass rushers. We've got some unbelievable balls thrown at us. There are times when we're actually in terrific position, you know? Then there are a few times when we're not."
"I think the big thing we stressed this whole week was being consistent," Zach Allen said. "At this point, we didn't want a relapse of last week, and we knew they were passing the ball and we just went for it. We had a great (pass rush) all the way around.
*****
Halftime Hits
-Anthony Brown might have had touchdown passes and a catch on Saturday, but he seemed most proud of his mother singing God Bless America after the third quarter. He graded her a "105 out of 100."
-AJ Dillon is already 12th in Boston College rushing history with 2,241 career yards. Saturday was his 11th 100-yard game in 18 career games, of which six are for more than 150 yards.
-He's also tied for 13th all-time in touchdowns after scoring his 19th and 20th reservations for six.
-Jeff Smith now has six career touchdown passes, but Saturday was his second (and second straight) at Alumni Stadium. He threw for a touchdown at Clemson and against Notre Dame at Fenway Park in 2015 and threw one in the Quick Lane Bowl in 2016. Last year, he threw a score against Virginia Tech on the road and finally got an Alumni Stadium score against Florida State.
-Three players were ejected for targeting, including Lukas Denis for BC. A targeting call in the first half resulted in Denis' ejection, but Temple will lose two players for the first half of next week's game against East Carolina after receiving the flags in the second half.
*****
Third Down: Special Teams
Boston College's special teams play entered Saturday under a little bit more attention because of miscues in the first few weeks of the season. Temple presented a particularly strong challenge because the Owls displayed a knack for blocking kicks and causing havoc over their own first few games, so it would be a test to continue the development of the Eagles' unit.
Michael Walker returned four kickoffs and two punts for a combined 123 yards, and Ben Glines added two kickoff returns for a decent day in setting field position. Danny Longman converted his first career field goal attempt with time running down in the first half, and he marked one touchback on his eight kickoffs with three extra points. John Tessitore also added a PAT.
"Our special teams and Mike Walker made some big plays in the game," Steve Addazio said. "Two big, critical punt returns with confidence. I thought the play of Dan Longman was outstanding today as well, another young freshman."
But there was still inconsistency. Temple ripped a fumble out of Walker's hands on a return and converted the fumble into a scoop-and-score touchdown. Tessitore missed a PAT, and Grant Carlson fumbled a snap on a punt at the start of the third quarter that luckily didn't turn into points because Temple fumbled it right back.
"We spotted them (plays), which doesn't help matters," Addazio said. "We had the kickoff return fumble, which was a scoop-and-score deal, and that was a tough deal."
Special teams are critical because the plays set field position battles. The plays seem totally innocuous when they go well, and they seem like a disaster when they go poorly. An injury to a single player can change the whole dynamic, and it makes the margin for error as slim as anything. Moving forward, the room for error only gets slimmer because BC enters conference play next week and doesn't exit until a hopeful bowl game.
"Every week, we assess where we are," Addazio said. "We'll wait and see if Colton Lichtenberg is available this week. These guys are all young guys. They're all great kids and they're all talented. They're just young, including Grant Carlson. He's been here a couple of years, but he's never really played. He kicked some fantastic punts (against Temple), but we had a couple hiccups along the way."
*****
Fourth Down: No Fly Zone
The Boston College secondary had itself one of its better games as a unit after losing Lukas Denis to a disqualification in the first half. Denis was flagged for targeting and summarily ejected from the game, opening a potential hole over the middle against the Boston College secondary. Instead of caving, the Eagles rallied behind their individual cornerbacks, Hamp Cheevers and Taj-Amir Torres.
"It was disappointing," Temple head coach Geoff Collins. "You know, some of (the passes) were contested. Just the mindset, in our organization, the mindset of our receivers, when that ball is in the air, they're going to come down with it. There are some times that we didn't. So we'll keep working on that and making sure we get that corrected moving forward."
Cheevers and Torres each had an interception that turned into points for the Eagles, and Zach Allen recorded two sacks and four tackles for losses as BC pressured both quarterback Anthony Russo into making mistakes and receivers into dropped passes.
"The second pick was on me," Russo said. "I had Branden Mack open on a slant and I threw it behind him. That's my fault. You can't win a game against a big school like BC making little mistakes like that, no turnovers and no penalties so that definitely didn't help us out in the long run."
*****
Point After: NC State
NC State finished last season as one of the best teams in the ACC. It won nine games and finished ranked No. 22 after demolishing Arizona State in the Sun Bowl. Following the season, prognosticators saw a potential drop off and left the Wolfpack out of polls to start 2018.
There is no reason now why NC State won't enter the BC game with a number next to its name. The Wolfpack scored 17 points in the second quarter at home against Virginia on Saturday and beat the Cavaliers, 35-21, to improve to 4-0 on the season. Quarterback Ryan Finley finished with 257 yards and three touchdowns, and Ricky Person, Jr. finished with 108 yards and a 7.7 yards per carry average.
Saturday's game against Boston College is set for a 12:30 p.m. kickoff and can be seen on the Raycom Sports Network, which is available in the Boston area on NESN.
The BC offense in turn produced a classic drive, chunking yards off the Temple offense with pounding attack. AJ Dillon gained 21 yards behind his offensive line, and Anthony Brown connected on a couple of simple passes to get his rhythm going. The Eagles gained a couple of first downs and eventually found themselves with a third down on the Temple 24.
That's when the BC offense executed three plays that exemplified what it can do. Jeff Smith went in motion from left-to-right and pulled a corner with him, exposing Kobay White to single coverage on the left sideline. Off the snap, White made a move to the outside and Brown let go a throw for the end zone. It was intercepted, largely because the throw went inside where the receiver broke to the outside sideline, but overturned upon review. Two plays later - and after a false start forced BC into a fourth-and-15 - they ran virtually the same play with White breaking in, where he was wide open for a first down reception.
BC eventually advanced to the Temple goal line, where they ran a similar set with Smith. His motion coupled with a Brown rollout to the right to draw the entire defense towards the sideline. It enabled Tommy Sweeney to get wide open in the end zone, and Brown threw a designed throwback across his body to the tight end. It was high, largely due to the degree of difficulty of the pass, but Sweeney climbed the ladder and hauled it in to give BC the first score of the game.
"We came out and tried to throw the ball and be balanced early," head coach Steve Addazio said. "And we did. There were a couple of times where I was like, 'oh boy, keep feeding it.' But we're trying to make sure as we go into conference play, we know we have the ability to throw that ball in early downs, shotgun, under center, play action, empty quick game, so we worked at that hard and that showed up in the game."
The early drive set the tone for a game that turned into a grind. Temple pushed and threatened the Boston College defense, and the Eagle offense responded. The early play calls and the threat of the jet sweep forced Temple to pursue the ball wherever it went, but it exposed a vulnerability later in the game that allowed the offense to run a trick "Smitty Special" play with Jeff Smith, a former quarterback. The double reverse caught Temple's aggressiveness, and Anthony Brown waltzed into the end zone with his second career touchdown reception.
The teams traded explosive plays like those, and points amassed across a grueling afternoon in Chestnut Hill. What's most important, though, is that it ended with the Eagles standing in their locker room, singing their fight song for the fourth time after a 45-35 victory.
*****
First Down: Ben Glines
Every football team knows the injury bug arrives at some point during a season, and it arrived in Chestnut Hill on Saturday. BC finished with 275 yards rushing on the day, of which AJ Dillon owned 161 and two touchdowns, but it lost its prized back to an injury in the second half. It forced the Eagles to dip further into its depth chart for the next man up.
Enter Ben Glines. He nearly matched Dillon's output, gaining 5.2 yards per carry for 120 yards and a touchdown. He also returned two kickoffs for 33 yards.
"I come in on Saturday right up until game day with the mindset of 'whatever they need me to do for the game,'" Glines said. "If they need me on receiver, running back, special teams, I'm going to do whatever I have to do to get on the field and help us win games."
It was a performance that truly itched for a breakout. He had a touchdown score against Wake Forest and has very quietly turned into a Swiss Army knife for the Eagles. He's put in time as a returner and special teams gunner, and he converted to running back after starting his career as receiver, though he retained his receiver position skills.
"Last Sunday, we were all pretty upset and disappointed, but I told the team, 'I want to mention one guy and he's a warrior,'" Steve Addazio said. "It was Ben Glines. That was last Sunday and I had to point that out because of what was on the tape. He came in here and continued and picked right up where he left off."
The Eagles used Glines as a running back during the preseason, and he excelled in welcoming contact with little regard for his body, a true old-school football player.
"He's extremely valuable to us," Addazio said. "Tough, gritty, hard-nosed runner. Then again, if you ask our strength coach, he would tell you that (Ben's) the toughest guy on our football team."
*****
Second Down: Boston College Defense
Temple entered the game with top-flight skill position players in Ryquell Armstead and Isaiah Wright, and both had monster games against the BC defense.
Armstead finished with 24 carries and 171 yards, only losing one yard off his gross over the course of the game. He had four touchdowns, including a 75-yard breakaway run that boosted his average to 7.1 yards per carry. Wright, meanwhile, finished with seven catches for 114 yards - almost half of Anthony Russo's completions and yards.
"I think we saw them playing a bunch of man coverage on film and with our athletes on the outside, we thought we could exploit some deep balls and immediate throws against their coverage," quarterback Anthony Russo said.
The score indicates the Eagles gave up yards and points, but Temple scored 14 points off of special teams turnovers. That said, the defense surrendered eight third down conversions, continuing an early-season trend where it will play well but ultimately still need to get better. It also had to rally after losing Lukas Denis to a targeting call in the first half.
"We have to get off the field, and we all know it," Steve Addazio said. "We've got great pass rushers. We've got some unbelievable balls thrown at us. There are times when we're actually in terrific position, you know? Then there are a few times when we're not."
"I think the big thing we stressed this whole week was being consistent," Zach Allen said. "At this point, we didn't want a relapse of last week, and we knew they were passing the ball and we just went for it. We had a great (pass rush) all the way around.
*****
Halftime Hits
-Anthony Brown might have had touchdown passes and a catch on Saturday, but he seemed most proud of his mother singing God Bless America after the third quarter. He graded her a "105 out of 100."
-AJ Dillon is already 12th in Boston College rushing history with 2,241 career yards. Saturday was his 11th 100-yard game in 18 career games, of which six are for more than 150 yards.
-He's also tied for 13th all-time in touchdowns after scoring his 19th and 20th reservations for six.
-Jeff Smith now has six career touchdown passes, but Saturday was his second (and second straight) at Alumni Stadium. He threw for a touchdown at Clemson and against Notre Dame at Fenway Park in 2015 and threw one in the Quick Lane Bowl in 2016. Last year, he threw a score against Virginia Tech on the road and finally got an Alumni Stadium score against Florida State.
-Three players were ejected for targeting, including Lukas Denis for BC. A targeting call in the first half resulted in Denis' ejection, but Temple will lose two players for the first half of next week's game against East Carolina after receiving the flags in the second half.
*****
Third Down: Special Teams
Boston College's special teams play entered Saturday under a little bit more attention because of miscues in the first few weeks of the season. Temple presented a particularly strong challenge because the Owls displayed a knack for blocking kicks and causing havoc over their own first few games, so it would be a test to continue the development of the Eagles' unit.
Michael Walker returned four kickoffs and two punts for a combined 123 yards, and Ben Glines added two kickoff returns for a decent day in setting field position. Danny Longman converted his first career field goal attempt with time running down in the first half, and he marked one touchback on his eight kickoffs with three extra points. John Tessitore also added a PAT.
"Our special teams and Mike Walker made some big plays in the game," Steve Addazio said. "Two big, critical punt returns with confidence. I thought the play of Dan Longman was outstanding today as well, another young freshman."
But there was still inconsistency. Temple ripped a fumble out of Walker's hands on a return and converted the fumble into a scoop-and-score touchdown. Tessitore missed a PAT, and Grant Carlson fumbled a snap on a punt at the start of the third quarter that luckily didn't turn into points because Temple fumbled it right back.
"We spotted them (plays), which doesn't help matters," Addazio said. "We had the kickoff return fumble, which was a scoop-and-score deal, and that was a tough deal."
Special teams are critical because the plays set field position battles. The plays seem totally innocuous when they go well, and they seem like a disaster when they go poorly. An injury to a single player can change the whole dynamic, and it makes the margin for error as slim as anything. Moving forward, the room for error only gets slimmer because BC enters conference play next week and doesn't exit until a hopeful bowl game.
"Every week, we assess where we are," Addazio said. "We'll wait and see if Colton Lichtenberg is available this week. These guys are all young guys. They're all great kids and they're all talented. They're just young, including Grant Carlson. He's been here a couple of years, but he's never really played. He kicked some fantastic punts (against Temple), but we had a couple hiccups along the way."
*****
Fourth Down: No Fly Zone
The Boston College secondary had itself one of its better games as a unit after losing Lukas Denis to a disqualification in the first half. Denis was flagged for targeting and summarily ejected from the game, opening a potential hole over the middle against the Boston College secondary. Instead of caving, the Eagles rallied behind their individual cornerbacks, Hamp Cheevers and Taj-Amir Torres.
"It was disappointing," Temple head coach Geoff Collins. "You know, some of (the passes) were contested. Just the mindset, in our organization, the mindset of our receivers, when that ball is in the air, they're going to come down with it. There are some times that we didn't. So we'll keep working on that and making sure we get that corrected moving forward."
Cheevers and Torres each had an interception that turned into points for the Eagles, and Zach Allen recorded two sacks and four tackles for losses as BC pressured both quarterback Anthony Russo into making mistakes and receivers into dropped passes.
"The second pick was on me," Russo said. "I had Branden Mack open on a slant and I threw it behind him. That's my fault. You can't win a game against a big school like BC making little mistakes like that, no turnovers and no penalties so that definitely didn't help us out in the long run."
*****
Point After: NC State
NC State finished last season as one of the best teams in the ACC. It won nine games and finished ranked No. 22 after demolishing Arizona State in the Sun Bowl. Following the season, prognosticators saw a potential drop off and left the Wolfpack out of polls to start 2018.
There is no reason now why NC State won't enter the BC game with a number next to its name. The Wolfpack scored 17 points in the second quarter at home against Virginia on Saturday and beat the Cavaliers, 35-21, to improve to 4-0 on the season. Quarterback Ryan Finley finished with 257 yards and three touchdowns, and Ricky Person, Jr. finished with 108 yards and a 7.7 yards per carry average.
Saturday's game against Boston College is set for a 12:30 p.m. kickoff and can be seen on the Raycom Sports Network, which is available in the Boston area on NESN.
Players Mentioned
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QB
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DB
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K
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