BC Football Roundtable: Previewing the Pitt Game
The Boston College Football Roundtable returns this week with panelists Emma Healy, sports editor of The Heights, Dan Rubin of BCEagles.com, and Kevin Stone of NE Football Journal, and AJ Black. Today the panel discusses some of the biggest topics surrounding the Pitt game.
Pitt sits at 3-1, what do you see in their game that could provide the biggest challenge for Boston College?
Dan: BC saw three completely different styles of play in each of its first three games, but Pitt is going to offer a fourth, completely different look on both sides of the ball. The offense is much more balanced historically, but quarterback Kenny Pickett can make plays with his arm and his legs. The offensive line is experienced, and offensive coordinator Mark Whipple is still a dangerous mind when he has the right personnel to execute. Slow starts have doomed BC at times in each of the three games individually - and it ultimately couldn’t overcome that last one against UNC.
Kevin - For me, this game is more about what BC does than anything Pitt does. Pitt is going to score. They’ve scored 128 points this season, so this sets up as a classic shootout. BC has made 14 trips into the Red Zone this season, but, they’ve kicked six field goals. Touchdowns are an absolute necessity if the Eagles are going to keep up with Pitt’s offense.
On the other hand, what could Boston College exploit to their advantage?
AJ: I think BC has a coaching advantage here. Jeff Hafley spoke very highly of Pat Narduzzi this week, but I think the young coach has already surpassed the elder. We’ve already seen how Hafley makes adjustments, and his team plays hard especially in the 4th quarter. Narduzzi has a lot of similarities with Steve Addazio, both are tough noses football coaches who like to grind out games. But I think they both share a fatal flaw, they tighten up in big moments. I think back to their game against Penn State last year, when the Panthers were down seven with four minutes to go. On 4th and 1 from the one yard line, Narduzzi chose to kick a field goal instead of trying to tie the game. Those moments as we saw with Addazio, can set the tone and ceiling for a program.
Emma: In this matchup, BC has the emotional advantage. Because football is so dependent on the energy of the players and coaches, the fact that three of BC’s major pieces have ties to Pittsburgh gives the Eagles the advantage here. Phil Jurkovec obviously grew up in the Pittsburgh area, and his hometown fans haven’t seen much action from him since he wrote his name in the Western Pennsylvania high school history books, so he’s got a lot to prove. Jeff Hafley got his big-time Division I start with Pitt, and offensive coordinator and Pittsburgh native Frank Cignetti Jr. spent some time on the Panthers’ coaching staff as well.
There have been a lot of opinions on the play of BC’s offensive line. What have you observed out of their play so far this season? Are they meeting expectations? Why or why not.
Dan: I think everyone, myself included, expected BC to rely on some old faithful, staple go-tos throughout the first three weeks, but that hasn’t happened, especially in the running game. I don’t think the offensive line is playing badly, but I also think expectations are starting to re-wire a bit. The line played great in the second half against Texas State and looked very good against North Carolina, but I think there’s still more everyone’s waiting for, again including myself there. So it’s not that I don’t think they aren’t meeting expectations. It’s that I think the expectations probably need to change as we learn more about this offense.
Also, as a postscript, every English teacher in high school just read that triple negative and retroactively flunked me on everything that ever had my name on it.
AJ: I agree with Dan here. I think many (myself included) set the bar incredibly high for this group, almost to the point where it would be impossible to reach my expectations. Now there are certainly parts they need to clean up. Run blocking needs to be cleaned up and improved on. But for the most part I think this group has done really well in pass protection. Have they been perfect? No. But a lot of those times you see Jurkovec scrambling, it’s due to the fact that the offensive line is holding blocks for really long periods of time. And they have done it against two good defensive lines so far in UNC and Duke. They are going to continue to get better, and I expect this weekend to be another step forward for that group.
Kenny Pickett is a solid quarterback who can make plays with both his arms and with his legs. How do you see Jeff Hafley and Tem Lukabu attacking the Pitt defense on Saturday?
Emma: Like they did last week against UNC, BC’s front seven on defense will have to get into the backfield consistently. Even if they don’t always come away with the sack, making Pickett nervous and forcing him to hurry is the only surefire way to get him to make some errant passes. And as we’ve seen over the first three games, BC’s defense is quick to go up for tipped or underthrown passes. I expect Hafley and Lukabu to rely more heavily on the blitz than they have in the last few weeks, and if they can execute, it’ll be a game changer.
Kevin: This one feels like it needs to be a game full of disguises. A guy like Pickett is going to be able to make the right reads nine times out of 10, especially if you blitz and he needs to get it out quick. I think if Lukabu is able to confuse him with various looks (think Belichick vs. Peyton Manning early in his career) I think they’ll be ok. Lukabu has been phenomenal with picking and choosing the right times to send pressure and that will be critical again this weekend.
BC wins the game on Saturday if they ____. They lose if they __________
AJ: BC wins if they “win’ the turnover margin. Jeff Hafley has talked a lot this year about how important turnovers are for this defense. They had only one against UNC, but had a forced fumble that killed a drive as well and these were momentum shifting moments for the team. If they can get Pitt to cough up the ball, it should put their offense in prime position to score points. They lose if the offensive line can’t protect Phil Jurkovec. If he is getting hit it could be a long day for the offense.
Kevin: BC wins if they finish in the Red Zone. Pitt is going to score as I stated earlier, you’re not going to shut them out. However, if BC can score TD’s and not just FG’s the defense will eventually get a stop when needed. BC loses if they start slow. The Eagles have struggled to get out of the gate in the 1st quarter, that can’t happen against this Pitt squad.
Emma: If BC can figure out how to come away with six points in the redzone every time rather than settling for three, they’ll have the upper hand. The Eagles have shown they can do it in the fourth quarter, so if they find the endzone earlier on in the game, they’ll win. If they can’t get the run game going, however, they’ll lose. Pitt’s secondary is No. 10 in the nation right now in passing defense, so BC likely won’t be able to rely as heavily on the air-raid offense as they did last week.
Dan: BC wins the game on Saturday if the offense/defense synergy controls game tempo. BC loses if it can’t control the game momentum. I think that speaks for itself after the last two weeks, and I think it’s probably the most obvious thing BC has to control. I don’t think it’s necessarily time of possession, but the defense has to get off the field on third down in order for the offense to score. The offense needs to score to force pressured mistakes by Pitt, thereby easing the burden on the defense.
Follow The Panelists on Twitter:
Dan Rubin: @BCDanRubin
Kevin Stone: @Kstone06
Emma Healy: @_EmmaHealy_
AJ Black: @AJBlack_BC
Photo courtesy of BCEagles.com