Game Observations (Offense): UNC 26 Boston College 22

A look at the offense's play in yesterday's loss.

Boston College lost a heartbreaker on Saturday night, dropping a close matchup to UNC 26-22 in Chestnut Hill. The Eagles had to convert a two point conversion with under a minute to tie it, but Phil Jurkovec was intercepted by Trey Morrison. 

In this post, we are going to talk about the play of the offense. Here are some of the quick observations I had about their performance.

* The gameplan was an awful lot to expect from Phil Jurkovec, and for the most part he did what he had to do. With 56 attempts. he was one pass away from the school record for most passes in a game. I thought he did a good job of finding his targets. Would like to see him tuck it and run it if he can't find anyone open instead of standing there and ducking defenders like a magician. Add to that his ability to avoid a sack can be a bit anxiety provoking, for example when he was going down he flipped the ball about five yards to the sideline to David Bailey to avoid a sack. It worked out, but I keep harping on this, it's going to bite him at some point. 

* Important to remember as well that he hasn't started games for three years, he still in picking things back up. When they show replays and there are wide receivers wide open and he doesn't see them, I think he will find them, especially as the game slows down for him. 

* Folks keep bringing up the lack of the run game, and I agree there needs to be more runs in the offense. BC only ran the ball 19 times in the game, eight of which were by Jurkovec. The run was there to start the game, but they quickly abandoned it. Maybe because they were falling behind again? Maybe it had to do with Travis Levy's injury? Hafley has said in the past that when they get behind they have certain packages that Levy is the featured runner, and they throw out a lot of the Bailey packages. However, David Bailey looked strong, and I thought Patrick Garwo looked effective as well.

*Hafley has mentioned many times that he will be rolling out more and more of the playbook as the season progresses. I hope some of those plays include designed runs or some sort of read zones for Phil Jurkovec. He did a lot of it in high school and could help open up the offense more.

* Hunter Long is a warrior. Targeted 17 times last night, many after he took a vicious hit that stopped a BC drive in the red zone. I thought he was done for the game after that hit, but he came back in, and was a big contributor down the stretch. 

* I thought the offensive line played fine. They struggled in the few first drives allowing two sacks quickly, but that was because UNC was blitzing on every down. When they settled down and adjusted they had time. A lot of time Jurkovec felt pressure it's because he held on to the ball too long and was waiting for players to get open. Offensive linemen can't block forever, when he got rid of the ball quickly they looked fine. Hard to gauge how they did against the run, since BC did it so infrequently. 

* Zay Flowers, looked good, had a long of 21 yards, but was held in check. UNC clearly didn't want to give up anything long to him. Again, he's a younger player, learning to be a true wide receiver, not a "jet sweep guy" like he was under Addazio. He is learning, and the bigger plays will come. 

* CJ Lewis had arguably his best game as a BC Eagle. Had a couple of touchdown catches negated by penalties. I thought the offensive PI on the final drive was a bad call. He looked comfortable out there, good game finishing with 3 catches for 45 yards. 

* Travis Levy left with a shoulder injury. Big one to watch, he fits a role, a quick pass catching back, that I don't think BC has a replacement on the roster. Garwo, Hines, and Bailey are all bigger backs (perfect for the Addazio system). BC needs Levy back, hopefully the injury isn't too severe.