Takeaways from embarrassing effort in Red Bandana Game

CHESTNUT HILL – Is this rock bottom?

Of all days for BC to show little fight, The Red Bandana Game certainly was the wrong one to choose.

The Eagles lost 45-13, gave up almost 600 yards of offense, eight sacks and dropped to 1-9 on the year with two weeks to go.

There’s not much left to say as the season (mercifully) winds down, but here’s a few thoughts:

The non-field goal decisions

Here’s what Bill O’Brien said about them postgame:

“I didn’t think it was a field goal type of game. Less than 4th-&-4, I said ‘we gotta go for this.’ Just didn’t execute. Really, it was more about the second and third down calls that we weren’t able to execute or…it’s…like I told the team, I have not done a good job this year.”

So, that may have been the thought process going in, but the defense showed up early and made life difficult on SMU. It ended up turning into a field goal game there in the first half. If BC takes even one of those two field goals, it’s 17-9 or better yet, they take both it’s 17-12 at the half after SMU handed you a little momentum with the great play by Josiah Griffin.

O’Brien continues to say he hasn’t done a good job this year and that’s fine, he should be taking the bullets for his guys, but this one is impossible to defend given how the first half was playing out. Took buzz out of the stadium and his sideline.

The QB thing has been a mess from the start

Everyone here knows I’m a Grayson James guy. I will never buy that this was a true competition in spring ball or training camp. Dylan was given the job because he’s Bill’s guy and was being paid handsomely.

Having said that, Lonergan’s start to the year was nice, but he was far too inexperienced for all of us to believe that would continue once tape got around on him. The yo-yo’ing between the two of them this season has really hurt any offensive continuity. Now, to be fair, the O-line has been brutal since the jump too (eight sacks on Saturday) and no running game has killed them all year, but neither guy has been able to get into any kind of flow.

The QB situation has been messy since Day 1. Going forward, Shaker Reisig can either play against Georgia Tech OR Syracuse without burning his redshirt year, not both. It makes sense to start James on Senior Day at home and give Reisig the start against Syracuse after having two weeks to prepare. But, does the offensive staff feel like they owe it to Dylan to give him the chance to put more film out there in case he decides to hop in the portal? Pretty interesting decision coming here.

What’s next?

There’s still three weeks left in this slow death march of a season (including the bye). The Eagles can’t just stop showing up (they won’t, there’s too many legitimately good kids on this roster to do that), but for the first time this season, I genuinely question whether the school will bring Bill O’Brien back.

This was the one time this year where the team truly had the entire school behind them. Student section packed in there again today and got loud. Seeing that section empty at halftime again in THIS game was a perfect encapsulation of the season. Red Bandana Day is all about honoring Welles Crowther’s sacrifice and heart, and BC showed little of it on Saturday. It’s the one day the team can’t be embarrassed and they were.

I still believe (especially with the jobs open in this current coaching cycle) that BC can’t do any better than O’Brien and I still think he’s capable of turning this around with two or three recruiting classes. But, I also know there’s so much wrong with all things BC athletics right now (money, admissions restrictions, a lame stadium and terrible game day atmosphere being top of the list), that his hands are probably tied again in the offseason when it comes to portal shopping. Will the new president actually spend? Will there be serious changes to all things athletics? If not, firing a head coach only delays any progress for the program another five years at least.

It’s a mess and I’m not really sure where they even begin to clean it up until the folks in charge above O’Brien look in the mirror.

See everyone at Alumni next Saturday!