Boston College 41 Missouri 34: Observations on Offense
On Saturday, Boston College won their fourth straight, downing Missouri in a thrilling 41-34 game in overtime. Here are some observations of the offense.
* The offensive line easily had their best game of the season. Now many may point to the fact that Missouri had a poor defensive line. But to that I would respond, how many times has the BC oline been critiqued for lack luster play against such poor groups? They dominated against the Tigers from whistle to whistle, doing an excellent job on both pass and rushing plays. In terms of rush block, it was phenomenal work by the starting five, and they set the tone to win BC's first game against an SEC team since 2001.
* Pat Garwo III had a superb game rushing the ball 25 times for 175 yards and a pair of touchdowns. While his yardage was impressive, he also set up the other runnings back to have big runs as well. By wearing down the defensive line, he let the fresh legs of Travis Levy and Alec Sinkfield get some big plays as well, including Levy's go ahead touchdown at the end of the game.
* What we saw out of Dennis Grosel is what we should expect the rest of the year. He wasn't a lights out threat, but he made a handful of plays that kept BC in the game, managed situations, and made the play of the game on a touchdown pass to Zay Flowers. Clearly he isn't Phil Jurkovec, but he can still be very successful in this offense. Not a perfect game (he missed throwing two interceptions by luck), Grosel wasn't a hinderance, and knows how to run the offense.
* It is pretty incredible that Boston College was able to adjust their identity after the injury to Phil Jurkovec. They went into the Colgate game, able to move the ball around a lot through the air. For the past three games they have leaned heavily on the power running game, rushing the ball 49 times and chewing up the clock, and it has been incredibly successful. Not sure if this system will work on Clemson, but if Frank Cignetti Jr. can adjust the system once, why couldn't he do it again?
* Great seeing Jaelen Gill back in the lineup. Only had a pair of catches, but he will most likely see his role increase moving forward
* Jaden Williams continued his red hot freshman year with his third touchdown catch.
* In conclusion, credit to the coaching staff, they found the Mizzou's weakness and exploited it for four quarters and an overtime. There is no reason BC has to be balanced for the sake of balance. If a team has a weakness, whether it's through the air or on the ground, you gameplan around that. Now the Eagles have a tougher nut to crack in Clemson this week, but this offense can put BC in position to win any week, and in a variety of ways.
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