Personally, I’m tired of the overreactions all the time. I know that this is nothing new, but can we (as fans) please be better? We are 17 games into the Bill O’Brien era at Boston College. He has an 8-9 overall record, 4-6 in the ACC. I’m not going to tell you that it’s all been sunshine and rainbows so far, it clearly has not. But we can criticize BC’s coaching without calling for him to be fired less than 1.5 seasons into his tenure.
The penalties have been getting worse as time has gone on. Last
year was a breath of fresh air when we transitioned from the penalty-ridden Jeff Hafley team to BoB’s disciplined team. But BC had 15 penalties for 109 yards on Saturday, including several avoidable pre-snap penalties. O’Brien seemed to be frustrated with the officiating after the game:
There’s also been a huge lack of fundamentals as this season has progressed. Missed tackles, goal line fumbles, Lonergan not throwing balls away… despite the creative play-calling and some methodical drives down the field, BC constantly shoots themselves in their own foot. Can we please teach our new quarterback that he doesn’t have to throw into double-coverage if there is nobody open? Throw it away and live to play another down.
With all that being said, however, the Eagles are about two plays away from being 3-1. An OT that goes differently against Michigan State, and a 4th down that doesn’t get penalized against Cal would have swung this season into an early success. So despite all of their flaws, and there are a lot of them, it’s not like this program is circling the drain and down for the count. They are struggling to close games with a first year quarterback and an injured defense. That’s not something that the coach should be fired over. It’s something that needs to continue to be worked on.
Moving forward, the schedule is getting harder and the optimism has mostly run dry. Lonergan may improve as the season goes on, but it seems unlikely that this banged up defense will get much better. We’re staring at what will likely be a 3-9 or 4-8 record by the end of the year unless some dramatic improvements are made.
