Saturday, September 25, 2010

Virginia Tech 19, BC 0 -- Quick, unedited postgame reactions

*Boston College played a bad game.  There are no two ways about it, and no excuses to be made.  They haven't played all that well for the first three games: they didn't need to be amazing against Weber and Kent States, but they did have to go to a higher level against this team.  Instead, they continued their lackluster performances and ended up getting blanked against the Hokies.  It was pathetic, quite frankly.  This was one of the biggest home games they were going to play this year, they got a team that's 1-2 and on the ropes, and they folded up like a cheap tent.  BC should give refunds to the ticketholders.

*Another abortion of a football game for Dave Shinskie, who was mercifully benched in the second half of the game (though the replacement was no better -- more in a moment).  The announcers said that he was playing well, which was most certainly not the case.  Completing maybe half of your passes, off-target throws, bad decisions, interceptions...sounds like a Shinskie game to me.  I would be completely shocked if Boston College even won the ACC Atlantic with him at the helm.  He just isn't good enough.

*Honestly, I don't think Mike Marscovetra is, either, but how would we know?  To be fair to both him and Shinskie, problem Part B on the offensive side was the offensive line, which had another dreadful game.  The way they looked out there, especially late when Marscovetra was getting drilled on every other play, I'm not sure they could block a Pop Warner team.  We're supposed to be "O-Line U"!  Do we really miss Matt Tennant this much?  He couldn't have been the glue that held these guys together, was he?  Anyway, I was aboard the Marsco bandwagon a few weeks ago; I'm off it now.

*Do you go with Chase Rettig?  To be honest, my optimism for this season is rapidly vanishing.  Is it worth burning a redshirt season just so he can play in a lost cause season, if indeed the cause is lost?  (If the O-line keeps playing like that, it's lost.)  If you argue yes, it's because you want him to get the experience now so he can be more seasoned next year, when maybe they'll have a chance.  If you argue no, it's because you want to just take your lumps now and not waste a year of his eligibility on a crap season (that, or you're one of the few still on the Shinskie bandwagon.  On the bright side for those folks, there's plenty of legroom on it now.)

At the end of the day, though, if you're not going with dear old Uncle Dave, you have to go with Rettig.  I wouldn't even waste my time at this point with the others; it's either the most experienced QB or you look to the future now.

*The defense got burned on a few plays in particular, and wasn't always solid, but overall, they did a hell of a lot better than the offense did.  If you had told me BC was going to hold VT to 19, I'd say BC would win.  I didn't expect an offensive meltdown of this magnitude, however.  You have to give some credit to Virginia Tech for what they were able to do, but you can't apologize for how awfully BC played today.

*I don't even want to think about next week right now.

1 comment:

  1. Good analysis. I think the offensive play calling is a HUGE part of the problem, however. When you see that Harris is getting 3-5 yards a clip on first down, even with 8 men in the box, why would you EVER allow Shinskie to start throwing on first down? Run Harris and Phifer 55-60% of the downs and then do a ton of play action and screens. Don't put a bad quarterback into 3rd and long over and over and expect him to suddenly become Peyton Manning and hit receivers down the sidelines.

    Shinskie is awful, plain and simple. He locks into receivers, throws about 25 miles per hour, and has zero mobility. People comment on his locking into receivers a lot but I never read about his awful arm strength. He doesn't throw a fast and tight spiral so the ball simply takes too long to get to the receiver and the CB can catch up to our admittedly fast receiving corps and knock the ball down or pick it off.

    Marscovetra started by going through his reads (at least to the 2nd progression) and has way more velocity on his ball. The O-line was just beat down and the offensive coordinator didn't adapt by using screens and draws enough to give Marsco some room.

    Overall, I was mad and wanted to fight a Hokies fan.

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