Boston College finished the 2018 season 7-5 led by head coach Steve Addazio. I am sure if you got Addazio on truth serum, he would regret not going for it on 4th down against the Noles last season. The deep bomb to Terry was by far our biggest play of the season in a year with not a lot of highlights. BC was the 40th ranked offense last season putting up 32.0 points per game. Their defense ranked 55th allowing 25.7 points per game. At ACC Media Days, Addazio claimed his offense in 2019 may be the most explosive unit he has ever had in BC. The term “explosive” and Boston College offense do not seem to go together.
QB
Anthony Brown (RS-JR) is returning for his third year as the starter for the Eagles. In all honesty, Brown is not very impressive as a passer. In fact he is kind of dreadful. Brown was 158-285, 55.4%, 2121 yards, 20 tds, and 9 ints. Now Brown was the Quarterback for the 35-3 beatdown in 2017, and should’ve beaten us last season so he is capable as a starter. But “capable” is all he is. Brown was 6-20 for 54 yards and 1 touchdown in the 2017 matchup, and we lost by 32….let that sink in. 2018 he went 18-36 for 297 yards, 1 td, and 2 ints. We gave up 300 yards passing to Brown…let that sink in as well. As a recruit in 2016 Brown was a 3-star ranking 798th nationally and the 23rd overall dual threat QB. He is not even much of a running threat as Brown only totaled 85 yards on 54 carries and 1 td in 2018. Behind Brown are two low rated recruits in EJ Perry (JR) and Matt McDonald (RS-SO).
RB
The best player on the team for the Eagles is starting running back AJ Dillon (JR). After a dominant freshman season Dillon came out hot in his sophomore year, but tempered off towards the end after an ankle injury. Dillon missed two games because of that ankle in 2018. In 2018 Dillon ran for 1108 yards and 10 touchdowns. He is a beast of a man coming in at 6’0 245 lbs. It is very simple when beating BC, you stop Dillon, and you win. In BC victories Dillon averaged 5.9 yards per carry, when BC lost he only averaged 3.2. Dillon ran for 116 yards and 2 tds in our game last season, but took 37 carries to do so for a 3.1 ypc clip. AJ Dillon has really outplayed his recruiting profile. In 2017 he ranked 407th nationally and the 24th overall athlete as a 3-star recruit. For various reasons, he has had a more productive college career than two 5-star running backs in Akers and Laborn thus far. He is built for the BC offense and has had a way better Oline than what our guys have had to work with so it isn’t all on Akers and Laborn. In Laborns case he hasn’t even had a chance to show what he can do. Supporting Dillon in the backfield is a trio of Ben Glines (RS-SR), Travis Levy (JR), and David Bailey (SO). All three players had a good share of the workload last year especially when filling in for Dillon when injured. Bailey ran for 253 yards, 2 tds on 57 carries. Glines had 380 yards, 3 tds, on 68 carries. And Levy had 215 yards on 49 carries and 2 tds. We all know what Addazio wants to do on offense and that is run the ball, and run it some more.
WR
Kobay White (RS-JR) really came on towards the end of the season establishing himself as a downfield threat. White tallied 526 yards on 33 catches and 3 tds. He was a serious problem for us in our game as he caught 7 passes for 121 yards. In 2016, White was a 3-star ranking 875th nationally and the 133rd overall receiver at 5’11 185 lbs. Height isn’t a factor but speed and quickness are with White. Looks like Boston College will be trying out the above mentioned running back Ben Glines at receiver this season. Glines had 12 catches for 170 yards and 4 touchdowns in 2018. I think him moving to receiver both shows he is a talented athlete who BC wants to get the ball too, but also they are not too sure who else will step up on the perimeter after Jeff Smith graduated. Elijah Robinson (SR) was a dual threat recruit transitioned to wideout and will look to add explosiveness to the offense. RS-SO Noah Jordan Williams and CJ Lewis (JR) will be other players looking to replace Jeff Smith on the outside. Not really a lot of proven talent for the Eagles at the receiver position.
Oline
Boston College lost 4 starters to graduation including guard Chris Lindstrom to the first round of the NFL Draft. The lone starter returning to the lineup is All-ACC honorable mention candidate Ben Petrula (JR) who will start at LT. Miami grad transfer Hayden Mahoney will most likely start at RT. LG is Anthony Palazzolo (RS-SR), C will be Alec Lindstrom (RS-SO), and RG is John Phillips (RS-JR). Addazio does feel like Alec Lindstrom brother of the aforementioned Chris, will be an elite player. He was only a two star recruit coming out of high school. Even with the high turnover, Boston College always has a well-coached unit at offensive line and should be pretty stout.
Dline
The dline unit is said to be the weakest position group for the Boston College defense. After losing Zach Allen and Wyatt Ray to the NFL, the Eagles have a lot of work to do. Brandon Barlow (RS-JR) and Marcus Valdez (RS-SO) will most likely start at the end positions. Those two combined for 28 tackles, 2.5 TFL, and 0 sacks. At 6’6 225 lbs out of high school, Barlow was a 3-star recruit in 2016 ranking 1696th nationally and the 96th WDE. Valdez was a similar recruit ranking 1634th nationally and the 82nd SDE. Clemson grad transfer Richard Yeargin was a late addition this offseason and joins the rotation at defensive end. Yeargin never caught on with the Tigers behind the loaded front four they’ve had but he was a highly talented guy coming out of high school ranking 279th nationally and the 23rd OLB as a 4-star recruit. One of the few positions that are solidified on defense for the Eagles is DT Tanner Karafa (RS-SR). A former 3-star ILB recruit Karafa has been pretty solid transitioning to the defensive line. Karafa totaled 47 tackles, 8.5 TFL, 4.0 sacks and 1 FR. Starting alongside of Karafa will most likely be TJ Rayam (JR). Rayam had minimal impact in 2018 so by no means is his position guaranteed. Kyiev Bennermon (RS-FR) and Joey Luchetti (RS-FR) are two guys who will look to make an impact. Both are former 3-star recruits although Luchetti was a tight end coming out of high school.
Linebackers
The linebacker unit is much stronger than the dline returning 3 juniors in Isaiah McDuffie, John Lamot, and Max Richardson. McDuffie is the teams returning leading tackler with 85, 5.5 TFL, and 3.5 sacks. Richardson had 76 tackles, 9.0 TFL, and 2.5 sacks. Lamot had 35 tackles and 1.0 TFL. McDuffie had 6 tackles and Richardson had 4 in our game last season. All three players were 3-star recruits coming out of high school. Vinny DePalma (RS-FR) had a nice three game stretch towards the end of the season totaling 10 tackles, 2.0 TFL and 1.0 sacks. True freshman Shitta Silah was one of the best recruits of the class for Addazio in 2019 and has folks pretty excited. Silah was the 667th overall recruit and the 45th OLB. We will see how much of an impact he will have this season but I would not anticipate him playing much with the veterans being in front of him.
Secondary
The BC secondary lost a lot of talented players from the 2018 team. Will Harris and Hamp Cheevers are both gone to the NFL along with two other starters who graduated from the unit. Brandon Sebastian (RS-SO), Tate Haynes (RS-SO), and Elijah Jones (RS-FR) will be the frontrunners at the corner positions. Sebastian had a really good season last year tallying 49 tackles, 2.0 TFL, 1.0 sacks, 2 ints, and 8 PD. At 6’1 180 lbs out of high school he was a 3-star rated 708th nationally and the 70th overll CB. Jones and Haynes have not made much of an impact so far but Jones did have 4 PD in 2018. Haynes was a 3-star athlete who played QB in high school standing at 6’1 so he does have a little size to him. Starting at safety will be upperclassmen Mehdi El Attrach (RS-SR). Mehdi had 9 tackles, 1 int, 1 FF, and 1 FR in a supporting role in 2018. Opposite of him at FS will be Mike Palmer (RS-JR) who had 23 tackles and 2 PD in 2018. Much like the rest of the defense for BC, there are a lot of players who have yet to make an impact in college football.
Synopsis
On the surface this feels like it may be a rough year for the Fighting Adazzios. I do not share the same sentiment as he does in regards to his offense being “explosive” this season. Anthony Brown is just not a very good QB and therefore limits the ceiling on offense. New OC, former Tampa Bay Bucs QB Coach Mike Bajakian, will have a challenging task this year in creating points. Now White and Glines do appear to have some ability when provided the opportunity so we will see how the new OC can scheme those guys open. I just wouldn’t bank on Brown being able to spread the ball around efficiently through the air. Everybody knows this offense begins and ends with Dillon in the run game. If he can put up a 2000 yard season the BC offense might be alright. But that poor guy is going to be the focal point of every defense he plays against and will have at least 30 touches a game. With four new starters on the offensive line this could be problematic for BC in providing open running lanes for Dillon. I will give Adazzio benefit of the doubt until proven otherwise with the oline unit and say they should be pretty good, but do not think they will be nearly as dominant as they have been in the past. Behind Dillon are capable backs as well with Levy and Bailey. Levy is the change of pace back at 5’11 190 whereas Bailey is built just like Dillon at 6’0 225 lbs. Anticipate Bajakian to play cloud of dust football while trying to control the clock and setting up shots to White or Glines whenever they can.
With our up tempo style of offense we will need to avoid the 3 and out drives as much as possible in this game. Once we give the ball up, BC will try to suck the air out the stadium with their offensive game plan. If we are constantly going off of the field with short drives and making our defense go out there to tackle Dillon again and again, it could be a huge problem for us in the second half of this game. Our offense needs to help our defense in this one. Now besides the linebackers, there really is not much proven production out there for Boston College. Addazio actually demoted former DC Jim Reid to defensive ends coach, and then promoted linebackers coach to DC in Bill Sheridan. I just do not think Sheridan has much to work with on defense. We have far greater athletes than they do at the skill positions and they do not have a vaunted pass rusher like a Zach Allen to take advantage of our tackles. The weather is honestly the greatest concern for me in stopping our offense in this game. November 9th in Boston will be very cold, and Florida teams usually do not play well in the cold. God forbid it would snow in that matchup. It will be a very lethargic game taking our offense a while to warm up and feel the flow. Wouldn’t shock me at all if we never really did gain any flow on offense because of the weather and the game plan of BC offense. When we do get our chances it is important we score a few touchdowns and not field goals, giving BC life.
Before I looked at this game in depth, I thought we would lose this game. Boston College has had our number for years now going back to 2014. Every game just feels so damn hard against them. I picked us to go 8-4 in my Boise preview thinking we’d lose this one, but after looking at all the turnover on BC, I think we actually pull this one out. Now I wouldn’t be shocked at all if we did lose after Dillon goes bizurk in the snow running for 180 yards and three touchdowns in a game where we never wake up. However, I think we will score a few touchdowns to put the game out of reach. I am not expecting a lot of down the field action because of weather causing Briles to throw screens and hand offs galore. Could be a huge game for Helton and Harrison who can make defenders miss in tight areas. S&P has the Noles as 7.7 point favorites and only gives BC a 33% chance to win the game. Load the box against Dillon and we should do just that. FSU wins 27-19.
Record:
FSU 27 Boise State 23 (1-0)
https://floridastate.forums.rivals.com/threads/boise-state-preview.256188/
FSU A LOT ULM A Little (2-0)
UVA 31 FSU 26 (2-1)
https://floridastate.forums.rivals.com/threads/uva-preview.256933/#post-4421666
FSU 42 Louisville 17 (3-1)
https://floridastate.forums.rivals.com/threads/louisville-preview.257297/#post-4431010
FSU 41 NC State 20 (4-1)
https://floridastate.forums.rivals.com/threads/nc-state-preview.257667/#post-4442641
Clemson 47 FSU 30 (4-2)
https://floridastate.forums.rivals.com/threads/clemson-preview.257830/#post-4447401
FSU 45 Wake Forest 16 (5-2)
https://floridastate.forums.rivals.com/threads/wake-forest-preview.258035/#post-4453483
FSU 31 Syracuse 21 (6-2)
https://floridastate.forums.rivals.com/threads/syracuse-preview.258266/#post-4459155
FSU 28 Miami 20 (7-2)
https://floridastate.forums.rivals.com/threads/miami-preview.258426/#post-4463233
FSU 27 BC 19 (8-2)
QB
Anthony Brown (RS-JR) is returning for his third year as the starter for the Eagles. In all honesty, Brown is not very impressive as a passer. In fact he is kind of dreadful. Brown was 158-285, 55.4%, 2121 yards, 20 tds, and 9 ints. Now Brown was the Quarterback for the 35-3 beatdown in 2017, and should’ve beaten us last season so he is capable as a starter. But “capable” is all he is. Brown was 6-20 for 54 yards and 1 touchdown in the 2017 matchup, and we lost by 32….let that sink in. 2018 he went 18-36 for 297 yards, 1 td, and 2 ints. We gave up 300 yards passing to Brown…let that sink in as well. As a recruit in 2016 Brown was a 3-star ranking 798th nationally and the 23rd overall dual threat QB. He is not even much of a running threat as Brown only totaled 85 yards on 54 carries and 1 td in 2018. Behind Brown are two low rated recruits in EJ Perry (JR) and Matt McDonald (RS-SO).
RB
The best player on the team for the Eagles is starting running back AJ Dillon (JR). After a dominant freshman season Dillon came out hot in his sophomore year, but tempered off towards the end after an ankle injury. Dillon missed two games because of that ankle in 2018. In 2018 Dillon ran for 1108 yards and 10 touchdowns. He is a beast of a man coming in at 6’0 245 lbs. It is very simple when beating BC, you stop Dillon, and you win. In BC victories Dillon averaged 5.9 yards per carry, when BC lost he only averaged 3.2. Dillon ran for 116 yards and 2 tds in our game last season, but took 37 carries to do so for a 3.1 ypc clip. AJ Dillon has really outplayed his recruiting profile. In 2017 he ranked 407th nationally and the 24th overall athlete as a 3-star recruit. For various reasons, he has had a more productive college career than two 5-star running backs in Akers and Laborn thus far. He is built for the BC offense and has had a way better Oline than what our guys have had to work with so it isn’t all on Akers and Laborn. In Laborns case he hasn’t even had a chance to show what he can do. Supporting Dillon in the backfield is a trio of Ben Glines (RS-SR), Travis Levy (JR), and David Bailey (SO). All three players had a good share of the workload last year especially when filling in for Dillon when injured. Bailey ran for 253 yards, 2 tds on 57 carries. Glines had 380 yards, 3 tds, on 68 carries. And Levy had 215 yards on 49 carries and 2 tds. We all know what Addazio wants to do on offense and that is run the ball, and run it some more.
WR
Kobay White (RS-JR) really came on towards the end of the season establishing himself as a downfield threat. White tallied 526 yards on 33 catches and 3 tds. He was a serious problem for us in our game as he caught 7 passes for 121 yards. In 2016, White was a 3-star ranking 875th nationally and the 133rd overall receiver at 5’11 185 lbs. Height isn’t a factor but speed and quickness are with White. Looks like Boston College will be trying out the above mentioned running back Ben Glines at receiver this season. Glines had 12 catches for 170 yards and 4 touchdowns in 2018. I think him moving to receiver both shows he is a talented athlete who BC wants to get the ball too, but also they are not too sure who else will step up on the perimeter after Jeff Smith graduated. Elijah Robinson (SR) was a dual threat recruit transitioned to wideout and will look to add explosiveness to the offense. RS-SO Noah Jordan Williams and CJ Lewis (JR) will be other players looking to replace Jeff Smith on the outside. Not really a lot of proven talent for the Eagles at the receiver position.
Oline
Boston College lost 4 starters to graduation including guard Chris Lindstrom to the first round of the NFL Draft. The lone starter returning to the lineup is All-ACC honorable mention candidate Ben Petrula (JR) who will start at LT. Miami grad transfer Hayden Mahoney will most likely start at RT. LG is Anthony Palazzolo (RS-SR), C will be Alec Lindstrom (RS-SO), and RG is John Phillips (RS-JR). Addazio does feel like Alec Lindstrom brother of the aforementioned Chris, will be an elite player. He was only a two star recruit coming out of high school. Even with the high turnover, Boston College always has a well-coached unit at offensive line and should be pretty stout.
Dline
The dline unit is said to be the weakest position group for the Boston College defense. After losing Zach Allen and Wyatt Ray to the NFL, the Eagles have a lot of work to do. Brandon Barlow (RS-JR) and Marcus Valdez (RS-SO) will most likely start at the end positions. Those two combined for 28 tackles, 2.5 TFL, and 0 sacks. At 6’6 225 lbs out of high school, Barlow was a 3-star recruit in 2016 ranking 1696th nationally and the 96th WDE. Valdez was a similar recruit ranking 1634th nationally and the 82nd SDE. Clemson grad transfer Richard Yeargin was a late addition this offseason and joins the rotation at defensive end. Yeargin never caught on with the Tigers behind the loaded front four they’ve had but he was a highly talented guy coming out of high school ranking 279th nationally and the 23rd OLB as a 4-star recruit. One of the few positions that are solidified on defense for the Eagles is DT Tanner Karafa (RS-SR). A former 3-star ILB recruit Karafa has been pretty solid transitioning to the defensive line. Karafa totaled 47 tackles, 8.5 TFL, 4.0 sacks and 1 FR. Starting alongside of Karafa will most likely be TJ Rayam (JR). Rayam had minimal impact in 2018 so by no means is his position guaranteed. Kyiev Bennermon (RS-FR) and Joey Luchetti (RS-FR) are two guys who will look to make an impact. Both are former 3-star recruits although Luchetti was a tight end coming out of high school.
Linebackers
The linebacker unit is much stronger than the dline returning 3 juniors in Isaiah McDuffie, John Lamot, and Max Richardson. McDuffie is the teams returning leading tackler with 85, 5.5 TFL, and 3.5 sacks. Richardson had 76 tackles, 9.0 TFL, and 2.5 sacks. Lamot had 35 tackles and 1.0 TFL. McDuffie had 6 tackles and Richardson had 4 in our game last season. All three players were 3-star recruits coming out of high school. Vinny DePalma (RS-FR) had a nice three game stretch towards the end of the season totaling 10 tackles, 2.0 TFL and 1.0 sacks. True freshman Shitta Silah was one of the best recruits of the class for Addazio in 2019 and has folks pretty excited. Silah was the 667th overall recruit and the 45th OLB. We will see how much of an impact he will have this season but I would not anticipate him playing much with the veterans being in front of him.
Secondary
The BC secondary lost a lot of talented players from the 2018 team. Will Harris and Hamp Cheevers are both gone to the NFL along with two other starters who graduated from the unit. Brandon Sebastian (RS-SO), Tate Haynes (RS-SO), and Elijah Jones (RS-FR) will be the frontrunners at the corner positions. Sebastian had a really good season last year tallying 49 tackles, 2.0 TFL, 1.0 sacks, 2 ints, and 8 PD. At 6’1 180 lbs out of high school he was a 3-star rated 708th nationally and the 70th overll CB. Jones and Haynes have not made much of an impact so far but Jones did have 4 PD in 2018. Haynes was a 3-star athlete who played QB in high school standing at 6’1 so he does have a little size to him. Starting at safety will be upperclassmen Mehdi El Attrach (RS-SR). Mehdi had 9 tackles, 1 int, 1 FF, and 1 FR in a supporting role in 2018. Opposite of him at FS will be Mike Palmer (RS-JR) who had 23 tackles and 2 PD in 2018. Much like the rest of the defense for BC, there are a lot of players who have yet to make an impact in college football.
Synopsis
On the surface this feels like it may be a rough year for the Fighting Adazzios. I do not share the same sentiment as he does in regards to his offense being “explosive” this season. Anthony Brown is just not a very good QB and therefore limits the ceiling on offense. New OC, former Tampa Bay Bucs QB Coach Mike Bajakian, will have a challenging task this year in creating points. Now White and Glines do appear to have some ability when provided the opportunity so we will see how the new OC can scheme those guys open. I just wouldn’t bank on Brown being able to spread the ball around efficiently through the air. Everybody knows this offense begins and ends with Dillon in the run game. If he can put up a 2000 yard season the BC offense might be alright. But that poor guy is going to be the focal point of every defense he plays against and will have at least 30 touches a game. With four new starters on the offensive line this could be problematic for BC in providing open running lanes for Dillon. I will give Adazzio benefit of the doubt until proven otherwise with the oline unit and say they should be pretty good, but do not think they will be nearly as dominant as they have been in the past. Behind Dillon are capable backs as well with Levy and Bailey. Levy is the change of pace back at 5’11 190 whereas Bailey is built just like Dillon at 6’0 225 lbs. Anticipate Bajakian to play cloud of dust football while trying to control the clock and setting up shots to White or Glines whenever they can.
With our up tempo style of offense we will need to avoid the 3 and out drives as much as possible in this game. Once we give the ball up, BC will try to suck the air out the stadium with their offensive game plan. If we are constantly going off of the field with short drives and making our defense go out there to tackle Dillon again and again, it could be a huge problem for us in the second half of this game. Our offense needs to help our defense in this one. Now besides the linebackers, there really is not much proven production out there for Boston College. Addazio actually demoted former DC Jim Reid to defensive ends coach, and then promoted linebackers coach to DC in Bill Sheridan. I just do not think Sheridan has much to work with on defense. We have far greater athletes than they do at the skill positions and they do not have a vaunted pass rusher like a Zach Allen to take advantage of our tackles. The weather is honestly the greatest concern for me in stopping our offense in this game. November 9th in Boston will be very cold, and Florida teams usually do not play well in the cold. God forbid it would snow in that matchup. It will be a very lethargic game taking our offense a while to warm up and feel the flow. Wouldn’t shock me at all if we never really did gain any flow on offense because of the weather and the game plan of BC offense. When we do get our chances it is important we score a few touchdowns and not field goals, giving BC life.
Before I looked at this game in depth, I thought we would lose this game. Boston College has had our number for years now going back to 2014. Every game just feels so damn hard against them. I picked us to go 8-4 in my Boise preview thinking we’d lose this one, but after looking at all the turnover on BC, I think we actually pull this one out. Now I wouldn’t be shocked at all if we did lose after Dillon goes bizurk in the snow running for 180 yards and three touchdowns in a game where we never wake up. However, I think we will score a few touchdowns to put the game out of reach. I am not expecting a lot of down the field action because of weather causing Briles to throw screens and hand offs galore. Could be a huge game for Helton and Harrison who can make defenders miss in tight areas. S&P has the Noles as 7.7 point favorites and only gives BC a 33% chance to win the game. Load the box against Dillon and we should do just that. FSU wins 27-19.
Record:
FSU 27 Boise State 23 (1-0)
https://floridastate.forums.rivals.com/threads/boise-state-preview.256188/
FSU A LOT ULM A Little (2-0)
UVA 31 FSU 26 (2-1)
https://floridastate.forums.rivals.com/threads/uva-preview.256933/#post-4421666
FSU 42 Louisville 17 (3-1)
https://floridastate.forums.rivals.com/threads/louisville-preview.257297/#post-4431010
FSU 41 NC State 20 (4-1)
https://floridastate.forums.rivals.com/threads/nc-state-preview.257667/#post-4442641
Clemson 47 FSU 30 (4-2)
https://floridastate.forums.rivals.com/threads/clemson-preview.257830/#post-4447401
FSU 45 Wake Forest 16 (5-2)
https://floridastate.forums.rivals.com/threads/wake-forest-preview.258035/#post-4453483
FSU 31 Syracuse 21 (6-2)
https://floridastate.forums.rivals.com/threads/syracuse-preview.258266/#post-4459155
FSU 28 Miami 20 (7-2)
https://floridastate.forums.rivals.com/threads/miami-preview.258426/#post-4463233
FSU 27 BC 19 (8-2)
