Boston College 30 Rutgers 16: Stock Report

Whose stock rose and whose stock fell after yesterday's win

Boston College went to Piscataway, New Jersey yesterday and did what they needed to do to defeat Rutgers 30-16. They didn't do anything super fancy, they didn't really wow anyone, but they systematically wore the Scarlet Knights down with a strong physical run game, while the defense made just enough plays to win the game. But in terms of unit and individual players, who stuck out? Let's take a look in today's stock report. 

Stock Rose:

AJ Dillon: In a game where BC's plan was to go in and just pound the ball down Rutgers throat, a big game from Dillon was key. He did just that with some strong running, and did not wear down as the game went on. He finished the game with 32 rushes on 154 carries and two touchdowns. But what stuck out to me was that he it was a consistent five yards a carry. He didn't have a 70 yard run followed by a dozen two yard runs. Almost every time Dillon touched the ball he was getting BC in good position on second or third down. 

Max Richardson: This was the type of game Richardson needed after looking banged up last week against Kansas. He was an absolute whirling dervish, putting together the typical elite BC linebacker numbers, along with 2.5 tackles for loss. BC needed a strong defensive presence and he gave BC just that. 

Jake Burt: Going into this season I was expecting Hunter Long to be the "Tommy Sweeney" style receiving tight end and he has, but Burt who has also stepped up and become a very reliable TE who has pulled off some incredible plays. He had the catch against Richmond that he took to the house and yesterday he pulled a bad Anthony Brown pass that looked well overthrown. Love his play so far, definitely one of the rising stars on the team. 

The offensive line: This was a tough one to parse out because I don't have the game film to rewatch yet, but this group again allowed BC to run the ball for 287 yards, while not allowing a sack. Just as a quick reaction, I saw great blocks from Zion Johnson, Ben Petrula and Tyler Vrabel. When I do my game rewatch using WePlayed I will have more input here. One critique though, they need to clean up some of the presnap penalties. 

Jason Maitre: He only had three tackles on the day, but the Everett native showed something that stood out. He made some big plays, and just missed out on a huge play when he almost intercepted Artur Sitkowski in the end zone. He looks legit. 

David Bailey:  A huge 50+ yard touchdown run gave BC the lead, he is going to be a legit threat as a feature back when AJ Dillon leaves. 

Stock Dropped:

Anthony Brown: After struggling against Kansas he continued to struggle with his throws against Rutgers. While I didn't see him forcing balls that almost cause turnovers, his touch just wasn't there. He finished the day with a pedestrian 13/25 for 159 yards. There was one positive that came out of his outing, and that was when Addazio started having him run the option. All of a sudden Brown was much more dangerous, the throws were there, and he seemed much more confident. I'm not saying BC needs to become an option team, but it might be a nice wrinkle if Brown isn't on. 

Mike Palmer: Tough game for the safety as it was his missed tackle that allowed Raheem Blacksheer to break what should have been a 20 yard pass into a 74 yard touchdown run and swing momentum. There were a few other plays as well that he missed tackles and was a tick behind in coverage. What worries me is that while he has struggled, it was clear that Rutgers was attacking his area of the field and forcing him to make plays which he again struggled to do. However, he got his vengeance by grabbing the game clinching interception in the fourth quarter. 

The Pass Rush: I would have pointed out the defensive line here, but overall in run support they had a pretty stellar game holding Rutgers to 76 yards rushing. But it was yet another game where BC could get no pressure on the QB and it killed them. Artur Sitkowski had no business throwing for 304 yards, but that's what a P5 quarterback will do when he has no one getting to him. BC did get home in a big way at the end of the game when Bryce Morais forced Sitkowski to throw up a terrible pass that was picked off by Palmer

Play Calling Before Half: Look I am happy that BC got three points out of that because many BC teams in the past would have left all the points on the board, but why didn't they take a chance at the end zone at least once?