W2WF: Texas State

A locker room is the holy grail of places in sports. It's the one place where outsiders aren't allowed inside, a location devoid of access to anyone other than team members. It's completely walled off, so what happens in the room is considered some of the deepest interactions for a sports team.

Reverence for that place and respect for its lack of access is why interactions inside the locker room are some of the most desired parcels of information. Those conversations are the deepest, innermost moments for a team, and the small viewpoints are treasured because they further indicate how a team reacts to highs and lows. The euphoria of the victorious endorphins are contrasted only by the raw, cratering sadness after losses, and both create a magnetic appeal for people disallowed from experiencing them on a regular basis.

Last week, Boston College laid those emotions on bare earth for outsiders to witness. The Eagles were moments removed from defeating Duke, and the interior locker room rocked the players with scenes of music, dancing, and cheering. Overwhelming emotion engulfed everyone, and the intense happiness of victory played out in snippets on social media.

"The locker room after that first game felt like two years since we last played a game," defensive lineman Marcus Valdez said. "It was bittersweet because we sacrificed more than any other year in order to keep everyone healthy. Coach Hafley preaches 'FTT' (or 'For The Team') to make the sacrifice and get to the game, and winning was a crazy feeling. It felt great to play and make sure everything was normal again."

For the players, the opportunity to let loose swarmed the invisible distance between individual position groups. Defensive lineman Ryan Betro stole the spotlight before handing it off to defensive back Jason Maitre, and wide receiver Jehlani Galloway joined them both in the team's postgame montage. The circle of smiles spread from there to everyone in the room, and the noise drowned out the blaring music from the team's stereo.

"Betro was doing a slide," Valdez laughed. "Maitre was dancing pretty good. It's all just the excitement. We dance a lot in the locker room. It speaks to how different it is. We're having more fun with everything, and we got the season started good. Betro's up there at 300 pounds, so we have to get some offensive linemen in there to dance."

"I will shoutout Jason Maitre with that video," linebacker Max Richardson agreed. "He did a great job dancing. He's our resident dancer, but our O-linemen can get in there and show some moves. Football's a precious game, so we love to have fun and do our deal (before) it's just onto the next."

The Eagles earned the release by building up intensity before the game. The players bottled and harnessed their own aggression, focus, and intensity with a healthy degree of frenzy while exhibiting control over their own calmness. It was the end moment for a wide range of emotions that they bottled up in pregame moments with help from another playlist of carefully curated music.

"I'll give a shoutout to the strength staff," Richardson said. "They control the music. They do some slow jams, a little hip hop, some modern rap, and they mix in a little gospel in there. They do a great job with the music."

This week, BC will try to experience the same range by winning at home for the first time. The music and team will lock away on a familiar stadium while an underrated, upset-minded Texas State team bursts out with its own brand of antics. What happens between the lines will play out in a microcosm of pregame and postgame antics, and the pent-up energy will either release in more euphoria or fall away in destitute sadness.

Here's what to watch for when the Eagles return home:

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Weekly Storylines (Guardians of the Galaxy Edition)

Drax: Where did you learn to do that?
Peter: I'm pretty sure the answer is 'I am Groot.'
Groot: (nods)

Jeff Hafley very openly admitted the team ran certain sets and plays last week against Duke because he didn't think he could throw the entire playbook at his players. It yielded a stripped-down product, but it paid immediate dividends against the Blue Devils in the oft-repeated, 26-6 victory. This week, the coaching staff analyzed that game and opted to refuse a downshift to rest on baseline success prior to the team's only non-conference opponent.

"I just show them the film," Hafley said. "It's not hard on the film to show the mistakes. Zay (Flowers) made some plays, but there were other plays that could have cost us. I'm happy these guys got accolades, and I appreciate everything that's positive because we won. That's what we need to do. At the end of the day...we need to get better. We didn't have spring ball or a full length training camp, and we have to get better fast."

The lack of diversification in play-calling left unanswered questions throughout the week, especially after the running game struggled at times against Duke. David Bailey led the ground attack with 18 carries for 51 yards and a touchdown, but the 84 team rushing yards was just the fifth time in the last two years that BC failed to gain 100 yards. Of those five games, two came against Clemson, so there's a little alarm bell ringing against the team's signature ability to pound the rock.

"We have to run the ball consistently and hold up in pass protection," Hafley said. "That first game was a very dialed-down offense compared to what you're going to see (moving) forward. We stayed pretty basic and simple, and the guys played fast in order to execute. We're going to open it up more, and more guys are going to get involved, for sure."

Peter: Yeah, I'll have to agree with the walking thesaurus on that one.
Drax: DO NOT ever call me a thesaurus.
Peter: It's just a metaphor, dude.
Rocket: His people are completely literal. Metaphors go over his head.
Drax: Nothing goes over my head.

Observers generally agreed that Phil Jurkovec's performance sent shockwaves through college football last week. He took charge of the BC offense in his first start since high school and impressed with throws of varying defensive depths. He went 11-of-12 in the second half for 210 yards and two touchdowns, and at one point, he threw 10 consecutive passes without missing. On the whole, his yardage made him just the 11th BC quarterback with 300 yards since 1996.

Those numbers quenched a driving thirst for a pass-first offense and etched a necessary first impression upon viewers, but it devilishly threatened expectations on him heading into the second week of the season and the first home game of 2020.

"If you watch the tape, there's much room for improvement," Jeff Hafley said. "There's big time improvement in making the right reads and getting the ball out of his hands, (and) tucking it and running with it on run reads. He made some nice plays, but if we're going to win games, he has to play better, too."

An offensive expansion will require Jurkovec to balance his raw, natural abilities against newfound leadership in the offense. He's still playing in a new system with new receivers, and the expectations will further force him to make more reads both before the snap and during RPO plays. It's his job to check off receivers and find open players, and his job to get the ball efficiently to the running back on those calls.

All of that is part of the grand BC offensive plan, and its components will change him from a passer into the team's unquestioned, undisputed leader. It's his next level of development, and it will continue to change as the season lurches forward.

"It's going to be a work in progress," Hafley said. "There are going to be mistakes and great plays. We're going to stick with (Phil) and grow him and develop the best we can."

Rocket: Now, this is important. Once the battery is removed, everything is gonna slam into emergency mode. Once we have it, we gotta move quickly, so you definitely need to get that last.
Groot: (removes battery)
Rocket: Or we could just get it first and improvise.

All of this hinges on the team's ability to execute more complex schemes and plans. A more complex defense draws offenses into more fundamental mistakes and in turn generates more opportunities. It's the past concept of synergy, which a team grows into once it grows more comfortable within a system.

"I think (the Duke game) was about as vanilla in all three phases as you'll see all year," Jeff Hafley said. "We took the greatest hits, what we were most comfortable, and stuck to them. We didn't want to throw too much out there."

Synergy walks a difficult balance beam because fundamental plays confuse opponents with mayhem. Defense gets off the field quickly and forces exhausted opponents back into play before they have proper rest, and offense taxes defenses with both sustained drives and explosive plays. All of it lines up to sync with one another, but one piece slipping off the beam requires the opposite end to pick up its slack.

"We wanted the guys to stay comfortable without spring football and with a strange training camp," Hafley said. "You'll see from week one to week three to week five to week ten and so on, we'll gradually grow and develop. We can't just jump and do everything. We won't look good."

The hope is to sync enhanced synergy into the next level of the team's development by homegrowing the concepts in practice. This way, it will grow together as one unit and not worry about the constant need to compensate for a weak balance.

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Countdown to Kickoff

10…Year old record broken last week for least points allowed in an ACC road win (16-7 win over Syracuse in 2010).
9…A win over Texas State would be BC's ninth win over a current FBS team from Texas.
8…Years since a BC QB completed 25 passes. Phil Jurkovec completed 17 last week.
7…Wins by Boston College all-time on games played on Sept. 26 (last game: 17-14 win over No. Illinois in 2015)
6…Touchdown passes by Texas State QB Tyler Vitt, currently best in the country.
5…Scoring drives by Boston College last week, of which three were two minutes or less.
4…More wins would make BC the 34th Division I football team with more than 680 all-time wins.
3…Texas State non-conference games played outside of the state of Texas over the past three seasons.
2...Consecutive home opening games won by Boston College (UMass and Virginia Tech)
1…Other game in Texas State history played against an ACC team (Florida State won, 59-16, in 2015).

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BC-Texas State X Factor

Midfield Defense

Boston College's success against Duke in the red zone last week returned a source of pride to the Eagles' defense. BC shutout the Blue Devils on every sustained drive, and the three trips inside the 20 yard line yielded nary a field goal for the home team's offense last week.

That Duke had those three trips, though, forced BC to look at itself on defense in its quest to improve during this week.

"Our red zone defense was actually one of the best things we played," Jeff Hafley said. "We have to clean up first, second, and third down in the field so we don't let (Texas State) get down there. Once (Duke) got down there, we executed at a high level. We just let them down there too much, and we let (teams) hang out in our red zone. If we do, we have to hold to field goals or takeaways."

Four of Duke's offensive drives elapsed three minutes or longer on the game clock, and three of those drives included 10 or more plays. One of those four possessions also ended with the Blue Devils' touchdown and capped an eight-play, 84-yard drive that began deep within their own red zone. On the other three drives, Duke drove deep into BC territory, but two turnovers and a missed field goal ultimately left the offense empty handed.

That Duke offense is going to vary mightily from Texas State, but the Bobcats rank atop the nation in cumulative first downs. The Bobcats further boast a third down conversion rate in the top half of available programs, and the passing game stretches the field both vertically and horizontally while forcing a defense to respect a running game capable of pounding away at interior, low areas.

"We're going to run a little bit more," linebacker Max Richardson said. "That's how we're going to prepare, running sideline-to-sideline and playing fast. We want to take good angles and make our tackles. We want to be in space a lot and running a lot more, but when it's time to stop the run in the box, we're going to be there too. It's a do-it-all type of week, and we're going to prepare for it."

*****
Dan's Homegrown Tailgate Tip of the Week

It's impossible to have a good tailgate without the right food, and the perfect spread balances a centerpiece against side components. It can't take too long to eat any of the courses and requires easy setup and breakdown in a shortened time period between parking and entering the stadium.

In other words, it's the complete opposite of a homegrown tailgate.

Still, I don't think being home should be the antithesis of going to the stadium. I think it opens a whole host of possibilities, and Saturday night's game is a great opportunity to try out some stadium faithfuls in the comfort of one's own home.

My original intention to fire up the smoker went up in, well, smoke (bad pun, I know) when my wife politely "asked" me to clean the patio during the day, so I can't make the necessary moves on smoking ribs - which I'm not happy about. Instead, I'm going to be on that grill with the steak tips and chicken, and I intend to cook it all up in the shortened window after I fight with my lawnmower.

For me, steak tips and chicken thighs are always a crowd pleaser as a relatively easy alternative to standard hot dogs and hamburgers (not that anything is bad about those two options). They can go a thousand different ways, and I'm of the opinion that the marinade or dry rub is a critical element in pushing different directions.

On Friday, I'll cut everything up and drop the pieces of meat into freezer bags topped with soy sauce and minced garlic. On Saturday, I'll drop a little honey on the chicken and let it sit throughout the day. The full plan is to turn on the grill sometime around 4:45 so the meat can get on the heat by 5 p.m.

I believe tailgates need simpler options, so building out from there will make dinner worthwhile. The goal is to serve an appetizer or two while the meat is on the grill in order to fully mimic what it would look like at Alumni Stadium. Once the meat is done, a three-bean salad or pasta salad goes a long way, though I'm a bigger fan of baked beans.

The point is to be able to put it out and pack it away as quickly as possible before kickoff. From end to end, the goal is to be in my seat by about 15 minutes prior to kickoff, which this week will require the projector setup to move outside full time.

*****
Scoreboard Watching

The Big Ten formally announced a return to play last week and officially created a big mess out of the national polls. Neither the Associated Press Top 25 nor the Coaches Poll held those teams under consideration when it debuted season polls a couple of weeks ago, but the AP chose this week to keep the teams out of consideration for at least one week. As a result, an air of inconsistency pummeled the schools jockeying for national slots.

Army, for example, remained 2-0 last week after its game against Brigham Young was postponed. The Black Knights remained in the AP Top 25 at No. 22, but the Coaches Poll dropped them.

In the ACC, Pittsburgh suffered a similar fate when it slotted into the No. 21 spot in the AP poll, but the Panthers remained unranked in the Coaches Poll. Outside of the ACC, Tennessee at least remained ranked in both polls, though the Vols slipped to No. 21 by the emergence of both Michigan and Wisconsin, highlighting the stubborn volatility still enveloping the 2020 season.

It places a premium on every game every week. This week, Pittsburgh hosts Louisville, which remained ranked despite losing to Miami last week, and Virginia Tech, a ranked team as high as No. 20 in one poll despite not yet playing a game, debuts against NC State in the night game on ACC Network.

Miami, meanwhile, rocked its way into the ACC Championship race last week and now hosts Florida State in ABC's game of the week. It's a ludicrously interesting matchup this year, even if the Seminoles lost to Georgia Tech, because the teams are technically in the same race - without divisions - for the first time since 2004. Additionally, FSU head coach Mike Norvell is unavailable for the game after testing positive for COVID-19.

The top of the league is still wide open, though, even as Clemson sits idle this week and Notre Dame's game against Wake Forest was postponed.

Elsewhere, the SEC finally joins the college football foray with some massive games this weekend. Every game features at least one ranked team, and the Kentucky game at Auburn will feature two ranked teams battling in a league game.

In the Big 12, Texas defends its top ten status against Texas State, and Oklahoma State hosts West Virginia in a game definitely worth mentioning.

*****
Around the Sports World

Losing sports remains one of the hardest things I adjusted to as part of the world's COVID-19 impacts. The immediate cessation of March wiped everything out quicker than I could fully fathom, and pillars of my sports-watching life all crumbled within days of that week before St. Patrick's Day. The NBA, the NHL, March Madness, college hockey playoffs, Spring Training, spring practice for college football, the anticipated Pro Day workouts for the NFL Draft...they all vanished in hours.

Nobody knew when any sports would return, which in turn made the past couple of months all the more sweeter when they all came back at once. The daily and nightly routines or preparing for bubble watches made staying at home easier to endure, and the ability to tune into a team or game, especially local, felt like an accomplishment. A full sports calendar created hours upon hours of watchable games.

That all is officially winding down. The Stanley Cup Final will potentially end by next week, and the NBA Finals are fast approaching on the horizon, possibly without the Boston Celtics. The WNBA postseason is likewise wrapping up, College football and the NFL are at full speed, but they're two of the only sports currently in full flight. Even Major League Soccer feels like it's a month away from the end of the season, though the European leagues are starting back up after an incredibly short offseason.

Having those games made the last month infinitely more bearable, and I will always carry a deep appreciation for the athletes who made it all possible. It's easy to talk about them playing a game for a living, but they all made intense, immense sacrifices to step out on their fields. They moved away from families for months and missed important life events, and many self-discovered unknown maturity along the way.

The darkening of the sports calendar was a necessity in order to reboot and move on in the COVID world, and the upcoming offseason will assuredly give everyone a necessary breather. I will never forget the past two months, though, because of how it anchored me. I don't have the answer about the appropriateness of returning to sports, and I can't say whether it was right, wrong, or indifferent. I just know that their return helped me get through some dark days, and for that, I am forever indebted to those who made it happen.

That said, I'm not quite ready to say good bye yet, and the Celtics still have some life left in them, though Friday night might say something different about that.

*****
Pregame Quote and Prediction

Design is not just what it looks like and feels like. Design is how it works. -Steve Jobs

BC lifted the Colossus of Rhodes from its shoulders last week both by playing a game and by convincingly winning it. It helped exude chatter oozing with swagger, and a dormant bandwagon roared to life almost immediately before, during, and after the team's monumental win over Duke.

Jeff Hafley centered that message this week by avoiding a Sisyphus-like mentality. The celebration ended by the start of practice on Tuesday, and a yeoman's integrity gripped the team as it went back to work. It repositioned the goal of avoiding a letdown in the second week and repurposed the team's performance as a baseline, not a capstone.

Texas State is a combined 0-23 against current power conference opponents and lost to Texas A&M and Rutgers by a 76-14 count over the last two seasons, but there's a different feeling about everything in 2020. The Bobcats are two or three possessions away from an undefeated record and a potential spot in the national polls, and their offense is clicking like a well-oiled machine. They emerged from their own COVID-19 contacts at the start of the year as a powerful football team, and they come to Massachusetts to play a program that doesn't know anything about its program, its culture, or its roster. In short, Texas State is a wildcard in a year full of wildcards.

Still, last week's game felt significantly different for the Eagles, and it cracked the ACC fault lines with a resounding, tectonic shift. Determining that shift as a vibration or a full-blown earthquake requires a follow up performance. That starts this week in the team's only non-conference game of the 2020 season.

Boston College and Texas State will kick off on Saturday, September 26 at 6 p.m. The game can be seen on the ACC's Regional Sports Network, which is available locally in Boston on NESN+. Radio broadcast will also be available via the BC Learfield IMG Sports Network, which is available locally in Boston on WEEI 850 AM. The broadcast is further carried via satellite radio, on Sirius channel 204, XM channel 207, and Online channel 967.

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Players Mentioned

David Bailey

Ryan Betro

Jehlani Galloway

Phil Jurkovec

Jason Maitre

Max Richardson

Marcus Valdez