Louisville 41 Boston College 39: Stock Report

Whose stock rose and whose stock fell after yesterday's close loss.

On Saturday, the Boston College Eagles faced off with the Louisville Cardinals in front of a raucous crowd of 46,007 at Cardinal Stadium. It was a game with nine lead changes, 1227 yards of total offense and 40 plays of ten yards or more. The game ended up being a battle with both teams delivering blows to the very end with the final stroke being Cardinals kicker Blanton Creque hitting a 41 yard field goal with 1:02 left on the clock to secure the victory for Louisville. 

With the dust settled, what individual and coaching performances stood out for the Eagles? Whose stock rose and whose fell after yesterday's loss? Let's take a look in today's BC Maven Stock Report. 

STOCK ROSE

Dennis Grosel: Before this game I assumed that Boston College would be doomed with out quarterback Anthony Brown, however Grosel showed some grit out there and a tenacity to win. He wasn't perfect, throwing a lot off his back foot and struggling with pressure, but he also made a lot of good passes, moving the ball effectively with his feet and throwing for three touchdowns. In the end he finished 9/24 for 111 yards with an interception. Certainly not perfect, but he kept BC in the game and it will be interesting to see how offensive coordinator Mike Bajakian tailors the offense to his skill set moving forward especially if Brown has to miss a significant amount of time. 

Alec Lindstrom: Another game without a sack allowed by BC's offensive line, and Lindstrom had another strong game. I have noticed he is incredibly good at pull blocks and can seal edges to spring runs at a real high level. He doesn't get enough credit for the work he does, but he should today. 

Anthony Brown: Cross your fingers on the injury he suffered in the second quarter, but it doesn't look good. Before he was hurt, Brown was on fire going 6-7 for 172 yards and a touchdown. 

Hunter Long: Boston College's starting tight end, leads the Eagles in receptions and has become the Tommy Sweeney-esque catching end who can also run and pass block . What impressed me yesterday was his speed, In the first quarter he grabbed a play action pass from Brown and took it 72 yards beating a Louisville defender to the endzone. He has been consistent all season, and if Grosel indeed becomes the starter due to Brown's injury could be a great safety valve for the young quarterback for the short and intermediate passes.

Aaron Boumerhi: If BC's defense could have made that last stop all the talk today would have been around Boston College actually having a kicker who made a long kick in a big moment. With time ticking, and the Eagles down by two, he drilled a 45 yard field goal to give the Eagles the lead.  Unfortunately BC's defense couldn't make a stop on the next drive, but Boumerhi is now 5/7 on the season and seems to be getting stronger as the season progresses. 

Grant Carlson: Four punts on the game, averaging 50 yards a punt, two inside the 20 and topping out with a 60 yarder. Strong game for the punter, even if he wasn't used all that often in the game. It didn't really matter because BC's defense couldn't stop Louisville, but Carlson did his best to put them in good situations. 

Nolan Borgersen: Two pass break ups, in a game where the defense was falling apart, he actually made plays when the Eagles really needed them. 

STOCK DROPPED (Due to one phase of the game completely falling apart, I am not going to provide individual performances just look at units on defense)

Bill Sheridan's Third Down Defense: Louisville clearly used their bye week to find weaknesses in Boston College defense which happened consistently on third down. The Cardinals would spread out BC with four wide receivers, the Eagles would leave a linebacker or safety in coverage, and the much speedier wide outs would easily get space for first downs. Sheridan did bring more pressure than they did against Wake, but when they aren't getting home (BC had zero sacks again), that leaves single coverage all over the field and Louisville exploited those matchups just like Wake Forest and Kansas did. BC needs to go more nickel and dime formations to get more speed to prevent this from continuing. Boston College allowed 664 yards, the most allowed in school history, the game against Kansas also comes in the Top 10. These numbers will continue if BC continues to struggle mightily on third down. 

Defensive Line: Zero sacks again by the defensive line, they provided very little pressure and it showed. Evan Conley and Micale Cunningham seemingly had all day to make their reads and thread in their passes. This isn't a one game fluke as we have seen this continue over six games, and I don't know if there is enough talent or schemes to fix this. And against the run they were particularly poor, allowing 236 yards, an average of 5.4 yards, just behind the Kansas game for poorest performance of the year  

Secondary: Poor tackling, difficulty in coverage, penalties, it was a smorgasbord of problems for this group. Three Louisville wide receivers finished with over a 100 yards receiving, and it seemed like they were wide open the entire game. 

Presnap Penalties: I counted four false start penalties by the Eagles against Louisville. Two of the four ended with BC getting a first down, so in the end it didn't kill them but if Grosel is the QB moving forward they are going to need to prevent these. 

Steve Addazio: The season seems like it is about to spiral into a very dark place with a combination of a defense that can't make any stops and Anthony Brown being lost for the season. Boston College continues to make the same mistakes week after week, and that falls on the coach. Allowing a team that hasn't won an ACC game in over a year to score at will and put up 664 yards is a stark reminder of where this program is right now. In a down year for the ACC, Boston College may be near the bottom of the pack due to the worst defense I've seen under Addazio, which is a shame because 2019 may have the most talented offensive group he's ever had. Time is ticking for Addazio, and if the season sinks, it may be the final curtain for the seven year coach.