Takeaways from an ugly loss to Stanford

Well, insert the Jerry Seinfeld ‘this is no good…this is no good’ gif here.

BC was anywhere from 10.5-13.5 point favorites over Stanford this weekend, even with multiple injuries on defense. But, apparently no one told the Cardinal.

Stanford put up 399 yards of total offense and forced three BC turnovers – while also racking up 213 rushing yards – handing BC a rather stunning 30-20 loss in the wee hours of Sunday morning on the East coast.

Instead of a 2-1 start heading into a bye week, the Eagles are left searching for answers at 1-2 and 0-1 in the ACC.

Here are some key takeaways after the loss and postgame press conferences:

Road woes are concerning

As Bill O’Brien pointed out during his postgame presser, BC hasn’t won a road game since the opener against FSU last season. What’s most concerning is what Reed Harris had to say when asked about the struggles on the road postgame:

” think it’s going to start with our mentality. Coach tells us every time before we get on the plane that this is a business trip, it’s not a field trip. Everybody has to keep their mind in the right space,” he said. “Looking back on these last 24 hours, I think it’s noticeable some guys weren’t as locked in as they needed to be. That’s probably…that translates to the game. That definitely translates.”

That’s not good. And while Bill O’Brien said there will be no finger pointing and that he told the team they will stick together, that’s not the most encouraging answer from a player.

Owen McGowan added that he and the other captains need to start holding guys more accountable when it comes to body language when things go South.

It’s still early, but it feels like things need to get righted quickly during the week off.

Running game on both sides of the ball

Stanford absolutely gashed the Eagles on Saturday night in a scene that was all too familiar for fans over the last few years. Not only that, but the offense once again could only muster 55 yards on the ground, with 54 of them coming from Turbo Richard.

Not having Owen Stoudmire certainly didn’t help defensively, but the biggest runs were absolute back breakers that came after BC had just blown an opportunity of its own at various points. I’m not sure how they fix it, but it’s a problem on both sides right now.

The fact that the Cardinal was able to run out the final 7:38(!) on the clock is unacceptable and the staff knows it. O’Brien called himself and his staff out postgame too, saying they were terrible overall, while adding he still has confidence in everyone he’s brought in.

Turnovers

Just brutal. Lonergan was due for a pick at some point (looked like more of a miscommunication with Franklin than a terrible throw), but the fumble from Turbo on fourth down at the goal line was an absolute killer and simply cannot happen. The fumbled snap is troubling because it seemed like once or twice a day in camp one of the centers had snapping issues. It’s something to keep an eye on and I’m pretty sure I saw Crounse in for Allick later in the game too, so if Dwayne is out for a while, it’ll most definitely be something to monitor.

I don’t believe this team will be turnover prone, I think this was more of just a really bad night overall.

Does Quinn get a chance to punt soon?

Shamus Florio really struggled and it hurt the team. You’ve got to wonder when Andy Quinn might get a shot to take over punting duties more regularly.

Still have the guy at QB (I think)

The kid wasn’t going to be perfect all season, so hopefully he can bounce back from this one. The talent is there. Now, obviously he made some poor throws tonight and probably should have been picked off a few more times, but that deep throw to Harris and some of the tight windows he’s able to squeeze throws into is damn impressive. He should be fine in the long run.

Health

Big issue. The early bye comes at the right time, but if you’re down Stoudmire, Amari Jackson, Syair Torrence, Ashton McShane, Bowry and possibly Allick, that’s hard for any team to overcome. Hopefully, the majority of those guys can get right this week, because if they’re all dealing with stuff long term, there’s only so much depth to go around.

In closing

I’m not panicking…yet. I did have them losing this game in my schedule prediction because I hated the spot. Now, I didn’t foresee going up 17-6 with a chance to make it 24-6 and then completely imploding either, though.

I still believe in the talent of this offense (although the line does have me concerned now…small C) and I think they still have a lot of speed on defense. The tackling still needs to improve and as discussed above the run defense is very, very alarming.

I’m moving off my 9-3 to 7-5 for now. Hopefully, this bye week does wonders for the health and mental state of the program.