Boston College 51 Colgate 0: Observations on Offense

Boston College defeated Colgate on Saturday 51-0 to begin the season 1-0. Here are some observations of the Eagles offense.

* Stat wise Boston College put up the numbers you’d hope they would against a team like Colgate. 525 total yards, 8.5 yards per play. Solid all around.

* Phil Jurkovec (16-for-24 for 303 yards, 3 TDS) looked in complete command of the offense. He hit a number of passes in tight windows and moved the pocket on bootlegs. He had a few drives that stalled out, but overall was excellent, and looks primed for a big season.

* That being said, Jurkovec tucked and ran a few times that left us holding our breath. Hate seeing QB1 tucking and running and taking hits against a team like Colgate, but scrambling is part of his game, and that’s what he does.

* Colgate had literally no answer to Zay Flowers (7 receptions 135 yards), who ate up the Raiders defense on both the vertical game and on short and intermediate routes. Flowers is a special player.

* Speaking of special, Jaden Williams was put heavily into the game plan much earlier than expected. Part of this probably had to do with the injury of Jaelen Gill, and easing Kobay White into the game plan. But you can see what Williams can bring, as he brought in an touchdown catch on an excellent catch. Jurkovec targeted him four times for two catches. He certainly will be a weapon BC will use all season.

* We only saw a glimpse of tight end Trae Barry on Saturday. Joey Luchetti got a lot of snaps as expected. Barry made an incredible touchdown run, leaping over a defender. What stood out about Barry? His size. He is massive. He was only targeted three times, have to expect he will be targeted more moving forward.

* The rushing attack was disappointing. In the first half BC rushed the ball 15 times for 51 yards. Don’t know if it was a bad matchup, or BC was just out of sync, but they weren’t moving it effectively on the ground. Pat Garwo looked the best out of the backs, but he played against the backups. Travis Levy (3.6 ypc), Xavier Coleman (2.8 ypc) and Alec Sinkfield (3.3 ypc) were all relatively inconsistent. Hafley didn’t seem to concerned after the game, but certainly this will be a player group to watch moving forward.

* Offensive line mauled against Colgate in the passing attack, and played mistake free ball with no presnap penalties. Jurkovec was rarely pressured and was never sacked. But the holes seemed to not be there for the run game. We will have to see if this was a one game issue or will become a trend.

* BC’s receiving unit was active. CJ Lewis (3 catches) looked good, and on the same page as Jurkovec, Hafley said after the game that the offense made a concerted effort to get the ball to Kobay White who returned for his first game action since 2019. Hafley wanted to see how he’d react on the field and admitted he was pleased with what he saw. Zay Flowers said seeing Kobay make his late fourth quarter 28 yard reception was his favorite moment of the game.

* First team was on the field a tad longer than I expected. Jurkovec and his crew played for roughly two and a half quarters. We did get a chance to see some of the younger players on the field including some big offensive linemen like Drew Kendall, Ozzy Trapilo and Kevin Cline.

* In terms of scheme, Jurkovec mentioned after the game that they didn’t use the entire playbook, trying to keep it simple as they adjusted to on field play. Expect BC to build upon their formations and play calls as the season progresses.

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