Boston College Film Review: First Quarter

Better late than never.

UOFL BALL, 3RD AND 10

This was a really good blitz design by Boston College but the reason they ran it is because they know that Louisville doesn’t do well up front with “window dressing”. You can see Connor Strachan (#13) line up over Cole Bentley. Once he bails out, Bentley takes the other blitzer who stunts to his left. Wyatt Ray (#11) then loops around to the vacated area to get a clean rush on Jawon Pass.

Sometimes plays just work well and that’s really what happens here with this blitz. I would like to see the line get to the point that they can fix this issue. It’s good for a sack or a pressure every game. Teams are just exploiting it at this point.

BC BALL, 2ND AND 4

Coming into the season there was a big concern about whether or not guys could absorb all of Brian VanGorder’s defense. Plays like this make you wonder if that concern was valid. This is a pretty simple play action play with an out and up from the tight end. For whatever reason, Dee Smith and Dorian Etheridge end up kind of covering the same guy. You have to wonder if guys are thinking too much and not just playing.

The other possibility is that guys are trying to do too much on their own. Smith is staring into the backfield here when he should be in man coverage on the tight end that scores. That’s not something you normally see from Smith. He looks like he was maybe out there trying to “make a play”.

BC BALL, 1ST AND 10

BC came out with a plan to use misdirection-type plays and it worked very well for them. Khane Pass bites on the run look here and Michael Walker is able to get behind the defense. Plays like this work because of the aggression of a defense but more than that they work because there’s no pass rush. Anthony Brown could’ve have cooked a full dinner while he waited for the play to develop.

UOFL BALL, 3RD AND 5

This is, quite literally, a perfect throw from Pass. The defender undercuts the angle here and this looked like a pick six when I watched it live, but Pass puts it on a perfect line and it’s out in front of Seth Dawkins. He’s the only person that has a chance to catch this ball.

Pass shows flashes in every game but he has to be able to do this more often. It’s all about throwing the “right” ball and most times he doesn’t.

UOFL BALL, 1ST AND 10

I really loved this play design by Petrino. Everything presnap is what they’ve been doing on run plays all season. They motion the tight end to make him a lead blocker and then they run play action off of it. Crum slips through the line and the design is meant to free him up because the run action is right behind him. It works perfectly and he makes a nice run after the catch.

You can actually see #55 run right past Crum with his eyes in the backfield.

UOFL BALL, 1ST AND 10

I’ve been complaining a lot lately about the fact that they don’t run the ball to Mekhi Becton’s side enough so I really liked seeing this. Just look at the size of the hole that is created by Becton and Linwood Foy. Then you have Kenny Thomas coming around and moving his guy out of the hole AND sustaining his block. Trey Smith doesn’t get touched for nearly four yards. The entire left side of BC’s defense just collapses. Why not do this all the time?

BC BALL, 3RD AND 10

A few things stand out on this play. First, CJ Avery absolutely explodes on Jon Baker and blows him up into the running back. Baker is 290 pounds and there’s a good chance he’s on a NFL roster next year.

Secondly, the bench shows some good life after this play and it was really nice to see. I’ll be the first person to point out how bad things are with the program and how lethargic everyone seems to be but this was a good sign. Brian VanGorder, Lorenzo Ward, and Grady Brown all get hyped up after the hit. A couple of players do the same.

It was also really nice to see Avery playing like the highly recruited player he is. He made a few big hits and led the team in tackles. UofL definitely has some good pieces at linebacker for the next couple of years.