BC eked out a win Friday night over Northern Illinois in a game that was too close for comfort. The Eagles, who looked in control of the game for much of the 3rd quarter, needed a blocked field goal by Zach Allen to hold on for the win.
When BC had the Ball: Patrick Brown got the start for BC and showed off the physical skills that made him a high recruit. After starting the game slowly, Brown improved his accuracy, and showed that he can make plays with his feet. He did a good job of putting the ball on tough throws in sports where on his receiver could get it. The one area of improvement for Brown is reading the defense, and missing open receivers. Multiple times, including on his lone interception, Brown didn’t see an open receiver, and instead throw the ball into coverage. However, this should be expected of a freshmen, and hopefully he improves as he gets more game experience. Brown also did a good job of spreading the ball around, and not locking into one receiver. Eight different receivers had catches, including 8 by Michael Walker, and 6 by Kobay White. White made some big catches on the final drive which lead to the game winning field goal, while Walker showed a great ability to get open.
In the run game, it looked like more of the same from last season. Jon Hilliman struggled again as he rushed for just 2.3 yards per carry, and was stopped multiple times in the backfield. AJ DIllion was the only other back who got any carries, and he ran hard in his limited opportunities. Hopefully, Daz spreads the carries around more as the season goes on, especially with Hilliman being ineffective. It was not only Hilliman’s fault, as the offensive line was beat on multiple occasions. Marcus Lazard looked slowed, and was eventually pulled. The line did a decent job pass blocking, only giving up 2 sacks, and provided a nice pocket for Brown on most passes. An area of success for BC running the ball was on jet sweeps. Thadd Smith was BC’s second leading rusher with 55 yards, and Jeff Smith racked up 26 more on the ground. However, BC may have relied on the sweeps too much, and they became less effective as time wore on.
It was strange to see BC was an uptempo offense, but it resulted in the Eagles running 92 plays, up from an average of 67 last season. However, I think that BC used this new tempo incorrectly. BC is very thin at the defensive tackle and linebacker positions, and needs to allow the defense to rest. By going full speed all the time, it resulted in a few 3 and outs which took less than a minute. The result of this, is BC’s top players on the defensive line playing less as they are winded. Harold Landry sat out an entire drive early in the second quarter due to this. What BC must do with the tempo is to use it smartly. They need to go slow until they get a first down on a drive, and then they can pick up the tempo. Even a team that is known for speed such as Oregon, doesn’t go full speed at all times. By varying the tempo, BC can use it to their advantage on offense, without hurting its defense.
When NIU had the Ball: The BC defense played decently, only giving up 20 points. However, NIU dropped a few passes which could have lead to more points, and the Eagles defense missed out on some big plays. The pass rush of BC was mostly held in check, as NIU used a short quick passing game to neutralize this. They also attacked Zach Allen on the zone read. Allen missed badly on one, which resulted in the long gain for the huskies. However, he made up for it by getting a hand on the field goal at the end of the game and finished second on the team with 9 tackles. The defensive line played well in the run game, not getting pushed back or giving up big holes. However, they weren’t able to get into the backfield and wreck the havoc we are used to seeing from a BC defense.
The linebackers struggled at bit during this game. They were held in check, and did a poor job of keeping their levels. Whether by design, or by read, too many times the linebackers came too close to the line of scrimmage and essentially took themselves out of the play. Connor Strachan seemed to move back to middle linebacker during the second half, and while he had one big tackle for loss, didn’t make much of an impact on the game. In total, the linebackers made just 10 tackles.
The secondary did a very good job tackling in this game, and it was needed as the linebackers were not there to make stops. Will Harris lead the team with 10 tackles, while Kam Moore and Issiac Yiadom each had 6. However, the secondary also made their fair share of mistakes. Will Harris took a bad roughing the passer penalty on a 3rd down which lead to NIU’s first touchdown, and got turned around on a long run later in the half. Lukas Dennis had 1 interception, but he dropped another that could have been returned for a touchdown to seal the game. BC also gave up a few big plays, including a run of 60 yards by the quarterback Graham, and a 40 yard pass on the last drive. The big plays kept NIU in the game.
Overall: For all the negativity that has been sent his way the past 2 seasons, Daz should get some credit for this victory. He coached aggressively, especially in regards to the ends of each half. Daz took timeouts when NIU had the ball and it lead to BC taking a halftime lead. He also went for it on 4thdown multiple times on the game winning drive, including from BC’s own 40 yard line. While this game was far from perfect against an average opponent, BC was able to win on the road in a freshman quarterback’s first start.
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