The Dawgs Ramblings

11-2 Thoughts

“AND LANE STADIUM GOES SILENT!!!!” – those words, authoritatively stated by Chris Fowler last week following Ryan’s second touchdown pass, perfectly captured the mood after the unbelievable drives that Matty Ice put together to keep the undefeated season alive while firmly establishing himself as a Heisman contender. For most of the game, Ryan spent his time running away from Chris Ellis in an attempt to get the ball to his ‘pedestrian’ receivers. And for most of the game he and his offensive mates failed in that endeavor. But those last 4 minutes were magical and produced intense scrutiny across the college football nation.

The ensuing debate revolved around the question of whether BC did what championship teams do – find a way to win – or that they just got lucky in a game that Virginia Tech dominated BC’s offense for 56 minutes. First of all, you don’t get lucky in producing two scoring drives at Virginia Tech. That takes talent, execution and confidence. Those last two drives demonstrated that BC is a good football team and a player on the national scene. They demonstrated that BC’s defense is good enough to keep BC in any game and it revealed that BC can compete with anyone when Matty Ice is dialed in. That’s what I feel confident in asserting. But that game opened the door to a lot of deserved criticism and highlighted some areas of weakness.

The main area of weakness made evident was that BC is unable to handle an athletic front four with just the offensive line. Anthony Castonzo was abused all night by Chris Ellis from the right tackle position forcing Ryan to unload the ball quickly and disrupting the timing of BC’s offense. With Florida St, Clemson and Miami forthcoming this is not a weakness that will be hidden any more. How will BC deal with this going forward? Will they keep a tight end in to block? Will they roll the pocket occasionally? Will Callendar stay in the backfield more? I feel BC got lucky that the domination Ellis showed did not hurt them more than it did. The teams’ that BC plays each have their own sets of problems but they all do have athletic defensive ends and how BC gameplans for them will be crucial to their success. My eyes will be focused on Castonzo right from the opening snap this week.

Wet weather, usually an aid to BC when playing athletic teams, hinders BC from executing its offense. BC’s mite receivers, who I love, rely on their quickness to get open in the timing patterns of Logan’s offense. BC is not a grind it out team on the ground which teams need to be able to do in poor weather. In poor conditions, BC really needs to rely on its defense to keep the game manageable. Of course, BC’s defense gets better with wet weather also as they will always give up short passes to stop the run and the wet weather plays right into that strategy.

But given those weaknesses, this team has accentuated their strengths to the fullest. Our mite receivers are a joy to watch since all of them have gone over the middle to catch the ball in traffic. Brandon Robinson was awesome in the final two drives at finding the seam in the defense and hanging on to the ball as Tech viciously tried to strip the ball. Ryan Purvis ran great routes in getting open out of his halfback position and Callender seized his opportunity by running an unplanned delay up the right side of the field out of sight of the Hokie defenders. These guys have been around the block and their maturity shows through every week. They have great chemistry and it is evident that a lot of them are always on the same page as Ryan when plays need to be made.

The other great thing about that comeback is that now resides on my DVR. I have watched the final 6 minutes dozens of times already. I am like a little kid with his favorite movie that he watches every day and knows all the words to. I say the words before the announcers even do. I revel in James, Blackledge and Fowler’s commentary of how Ryan’s Heisman hopes were certainly in trouble. I laugh at how BC did not look prepared and they just can’t handle the speed of the Tech defense. I crack open a beer when Blackledge continues to demean our receiving corps. Heap it on boys … throw another log on the fire …. This game … it is a changing. .. Matty Ice is about to look like the greatest scrambling quarterback this side of Doug Flutie and you are about to see why the Chicago Bears are going to trade up in the draft to grab him. Its must watch TV and it’s the happiest ending I have experienced since Niles and Daphne got together. (Of course, that took away Niles not so subtle overtures to Miss Moon from the previous decade and changed the complexion of the show but it made for a great moment).

Also, is Cavemen officially done? Missed it on my Tuesday night recordings.

Anyways, BC has their work cut out from them. Just win. Style points count but losses destroy so one game at a time is the only way to proceed.

What to make of Ohio St? Penn St is awful and the Buckeyes rightly put the hammer down on them. I have tossed and turned debating the question of just how good they are with Florida’s slapdown always on the mind and I think I have finally come up with something. They are good, not great. They are beatable and probably will not be beaten. They are too athletic on defense for the rest of the Big 10 and Boeckman is the most underrated quarterback in the country. This kid is a mature 23 year old and he has played like it. He does not have the name cachet of his predecessor but he has picked right up right where Troy Smith left off. He reminds me of Craig Krenzel, not getting his due but getting the job done week to week. I expect the Buckeyes to win out and stick it to the Wolverines once again therefore getting back to the national championship game. Critics will say Ohio St. will get steamrolled again by an SEC team in the national title but as you look across the national landscape does any team in the SEC truly scare you? LSU has lost and still looks beatable in their games. I do not see one team in the SEC where Ohio St. will not give a good account of themselves. Whether or not they are really good, I can’t say but I don’t think they will embarrass themselves if they get back to the national title game. Also, let me go on record and say I am firmly in the Buckeyes corner against any SEC opponent. College football needs a team to prove to SEC country that there is good football played elsewhere in the country.

Can’t wait for Oregon and Arizona St to clash on Saturday. I favor the Ducks in Autzen. I also think that the Gameday crew of Herbstreit and company is personally responsible for keeping the Ducks in the public’s eye. After Oregon lost to Cal, they still had Oregon in their top five stating that a close loss should not hurt Oregon too much since they are still a great ballclub. I do not disagree but I think their constant harping of that point influenced other voters in their ranking of Oregon. What was so different about Oregon losing than say West Virginia which dropped off the map after losing to South Florida. Remember, that was in South Florida and Pat White got hurt. The Mountaineers have also been destroying opponents since that loss but since the Gameday crew does not harp on them, they will need a lot of help to get back into the national title race. The point here is that the Gameday crew wields too much power and that the pollsters may have some lemming reflex. Now, I don’t want to take anything away from Oregon who appears to be a Top 5 team but they are the beneficiaries of a Maurice Cheeks dime right now.

Dennis Dixon may be the most valuable player to his team in the country. Where would the Ducks be if Leaf had to play? I can’t believe those two ever split time.

Connecticut is ahead of Florida in the BCS polls. Who predicted that? Really looking forward to watching Uconn again. Who predicted that?

Texas has a ranking of 0 in the computer polls.

I hope Hawaii wins out. Lets see if another non-BCS team can crash the big boys party. Colt Brennan against a real D. Lets do it. For anyone that has not seen Hawaii they have some studs at wide receiver also.

Off the main highway, Buffalo is at Miami-Ohio this week in a game that could determine the East division of the MAC.

Does everyone know who Todd Reesing is? He quarterbacks an undefeated team and is fun as heck to watch.

posted by oceanjay @ 3:08 PM