Boston College Syracuse Recap

Boston College lost again on Saturday to extend their ACC losing streak to 12 games.  The Eagles had multiple chances near the end of the game to tie or even take the lead.  However, they were unable to convert on any of these.  Syracuse outgained BC 532 to 287, but only won 28-20.

When BC had the Ball:  Patrick Towles played arguably his worst game as an Eagle.  He struggled early on, completing his first pass with only 2 minutes to go in the second quarter.  He did not look confident in his decision making as multiple times he struggled whether to run or pass when his first or second read was not open.  Overall, he completed only 4 of 14 passes, but he did have a 78 yards touchdown run that kept BC in the game.  Towles left the game in the fourth quarter with an apparent hamstring injury.  He was replaced by Darius Wade, who played decent in the few snaps he took.  The BC quarterbacks were not helped out much by their receivers.  Michael Walker led the Eagles with 40 yards receiving, but made a crucial drop on a pass that was eventually intercepted by the goal line.  The Eagles were improved on the ground as they had 223 yards rushing on 40 carries.  Davon Jones had a nice game with 66 yards on 14 carries.  The offensive line for Boston College were decent run blockers, but struggled with pass blocking.  Syracuse was able to get pressure throughout the game, even when they only rushed 3 or 4. They gave up a big sack at the end of the game when BC was driving to try to tie up the game.  In the last 3 quarters, the BC offense played fine, but made mistakes that cost them points.  Where they really struggled was early in the game as they only had 1 first down in the 1^st quarter, and BC scored on a kickoff return for a touchdown, and had a field goal set up by a interception.  In reality, the BC offense only scored 10 points.  

When Syracuse had the Ball: If you only look at the scoreboard, the BC defense played well enough to win the game.  However, they did not have their best day as a unit.  Syracuse had over 500 yards of offense, and Eric Dungey was 32 for 38 through the air.  The defensive strategy in the secondary did not work.  The defensive backs played off receivers, trying to take away the big play. This allowed Syracuse easy passes underneath that they connected on.  However, it did not stop the Eagles from giving up the big play in the air, as Syracuse scored on a 68 yards touchdown, and had 4 passes over 30 yards.  The BC front seven played much better than the secondary.  They held Syracuse to just 98 yards on 35 rushes, and got decent pressure.  Where the defense excelled was creating turnovers, and putting the offense in good field position. 

Overall: BC used the big play to stay in this one.  Without it, they would have been blown off of the field.  However, it still wasn’t enough.  The offense came out flat early in the game, and the defense gave up too many long passes.  The offense strategy used by BC looked desperate, as they used multiple reverses, and end around, and used the wildcat.  These did not work well, and too the offense out of rhythm.  Darius Wade played due to an injury to Towles near the end of the game, and look for him to play more as the season goes on.  With the loss this season is pretty much over, as the team needs to win 3 more games in order to make a bowl.  While that is still possible with 5 games left, and NC State, Uconn and Wake Forest still to go, it is highly unlikely.  This game also sealed Addazio’s fate, as reports have surfaced that he needs to make a bowl game in order to retain his job.  The Eagles are now on a 12 game ACC losing streak, and a 14 game losing streak against power 5 opponents.  Under Addazio, BC is now 6-12 in one score games, and 1-6 in the last 2 years.  BC has always found was to lose under Daz.  His conservative style leads to this.  If the program continues under his direction, BC will dig themselves into a hole that will take years to come out of.