Revenge Week.

Head coach Jeff Hafley didn't actually say that during his weekly Monday presser, but he kind of did. UConn was the low point last season (maybe in several seasons) and with the way things are trending after three straight, he doesn't have to say much to the team this week. The guys in the locker room legitimately believe something special is brewing, letting it slip away against a 1-6 UConn team would be a debacle of epic porportions.

Having covered UConn regularly for the last two years, I believe they skipped a step in the rebuilding process and are paying for it now. The bowl game berth in Mora's first year ago was mind blowing and frankly, they caught BC at the best time possible. This season's results are probably what they should have been last season and 2023 should have been the 'step forward' into a bowl game. Mora will have them play hard, but the talent discrepancy, cohesion and confidence all favor the Eagles massivley.

Anyway, here's everything Haf had to say while battling a cold. Said he was sick during the GT game and when the sun hit him just right he thought he was "going down" a couple times...

On not needing motivation for UConn after last year

"No. There's no motivation needed. I don't need to talk much about that. There's zero motivation needed to play this game. Yeah, none. We're excited to play it. We'll pour everything into it just like we have the last few weeks. This is a team right now with a lot of confidence, a lot of momentum, that is enjoying playing football. We're getting better, we still need to get better. There will be no motivation needed this week."

On the O-line having a chip on their shoulder after criticism last year & the UConn performance

"The O-line took a lot of bloody noses throughout the season last year. This is a new group. This is a new team. This is a new O-line. I think...what did we run for 308 yards last week? We rushed for 320 the week before. I think we were averaging rushing for 60 yards a game last year. In back-to-back weeks we've ran for over 300 yards, so this is a totally different offensive line. It's a totally different quarterback. It's a totally different offensive scheme. This is a different team. This is a different offense that played UConn last year and the rest of the teams that we played."

On initially discovering Castellanos

"I think it was obviously...he went to the portal, and I'm not sure if it was Coach Wyatt who brought him in. I remember watching a highlight film of him from several games he played in last year and I kind of got a smile on my face. I said 'yeah, this kid's dynamic,' but you didn't see him throw very much. But, you saw some really incredible runs, like, big time runs and speed. Then, when you did see him throw the ball, he'd sit in the pocket and it looked like it came out pretty good. We had him up on an official visit and he just kind of...he's got a great personality. You guys have met with him, but right now he's probably still quiet around you as he's getting to know you guys. Again, he's a young guy. I really enjoyed him on our official and then he told me he was coming and obviously, I was thrilled. At that point didn't really know much else about him other than he was a dynamic athlete. I went back and watched his high school tape that was dynamic. Didn't really start to see him throw the football until training camp. That's what I talked to you guys about. Then, you started to see what he could be. I'm very happy that he's here. He's a great kid. He's getting better every week. I think you saw last week we kind of tailored the pass game and some of the stuff a little bit more for him and certainly, in the run game. I just think he...1. he adds a whole different dimension to the offense. You not only have to defend a really good offensive line, a good scheme, good wideouts and a run game, but the element of the quarterback keeping the ball. Whether it's a designed quarterback run or him actually dropping back and throwing the ball and keeping things alive, then all of a sudden scrambling around...he's shown he can stand in the pocket. The one play against Georgia Tech I felt like he was there for about 20 seconds he just stood there. There was no looking...he just stood there calmly and he's starting to do that more and more. He brings a lot of energy, he brings a lot of juice and he brings confidence. I think again, you started to see that in the Florida State game. He looked way different than he did in Week 1 and Week 2. He's a totally different player than he was, he hadn't played. Now, he's just getting better and better. I think you're starting to see he doesn't get rattled. The guys believe in him. They believe they can score every time we have the ball. He's having more fun with the guys. He's becoming one of them. He hasn't been here for very long, you know? But, he's a humble guy. He's always in the office and he's also mature in the locker room. You can really start to see that, which is cool for a young guy in a short period of time. We've just got to keep him going."

On tinkering with defensive personnel throughout the season

"You've got to tailor it constantly. Guys get injured. Who's your next guy up? Is he better in zone coverage or man coverage? If you have a corner go down and you need to throw someone else in, what are his strengths? What are his weaknesses? Same thing at linebacker. We've got enough where we've got to base it off of what our players do well. Sometimes, it takes time to figure out what your players do well until you see them play in live games, especially when they're new or they're young. It happens at all positions. What does Kye do better than the other backs? How do you know? You find out when you start to see what he can do. Is he a downhill runner? Obviously, he's a bigger guy than maybe Broome. So, certain plays you want to call Broome in vs. Kye in, vs. Cam Barfield in or Pat Garwo in or...you've got to put your players in the best position to succeed. As you go through the season you start to figure it out and it's our job as coaches to do that."

On the ACC standings being a bit open behind FSU and if he's allowed himself to think about 'what could be' down the stretch

"No. The thing I've learned with this team, we won the last game and now we've got to go 1-0 this week. I say it and I mean, it's such a coach cliché and you guys have all heard it, it's just the truth, you can't look too far ahead. You can't look too far behind and that's the world we live in. Win or lose, you've got to figure it out and give everything you have. You've got a week to prepare and Saturday you've got to go play. That's what we're going to do. I told the team we've done that for three weeks in a row. If you continue to do that, stack them up and keep your head down, keep working and then we'll look up at the end and see where it puts us. But, you start doing that, you'll start going backward."

On whether New England games carry a little extra weight as far as recruiting goes

"I'm not sure on that. I don't know how much we've recruited against them, to be honest. And I'm not saying that as a shot at all. They've recruited great players. Obviously, they've recruited some really good ones, but I'm not sure. I like playing regional games, I think it's great. I think it's great for the reason...Im glad we get to play them at home this time."

On Jackson's pick-six and what went into it

"It's all about the position that you're in. Now, he was in a cutoff angle with his left hand kind of in position to swipe at the ball. For him to intercept that ball, I mean, he didn't have his right hand available. So, usually when you have to backhand and glove the ball out you're not going to catch it unless you can just catch it with one hand, which, he essentially backhanded it, pinned it to his hip and caught it. That's a time you're looking to get a PBU, not an interception. It was no. 1 on SportsCenter for a reason. I'm not sure you can replicate that in a drill or teach that. It was just an amazing play he made...I think when you talk DB play it depends on what coverage you're in. If you have a safety in the middle of the field and you're protecting on inside release as opposed to outside release, you cut him off so you stay on top because your safety's not in position to help you. If you have two safeties deep then you can stay underneath. In that situation, he didn't have a safety over the top so he cut him off to stay on top and defended the go ball. It's really what coverage you're in, where are the safeties placed and can you use your safeties to help you because you use them to leverage coverage."

On how fired up he was as a DB guy for three interceptions

"I think it lit a fire under all the DB's and I think it lit a fire under our whole team. Any time you can intercept a ball and score, i mean, it's usually a good momentum swing. I think since the Louisville game we've given up...we've played much better pass defense and that's just something we've emphasized. Since the Louisville game I think we've given up about 180 yards per game and we've had four interceptions. So, we've just put an emphasis on those guys playing the ball more and becoming the offense more when they're in position to do so. I feel like earlier in the year our guys were a little tentative on getting their heads turned around and playing the ball. When the ball's in the air, man, you've got to become part of the offense and try to go make a play. That's what they're starting to do. With some new guys it just takes some time and confidence. The whole game plan against Georgia Tech...they were an explosive pass team, one of the most explosive pass teams in the ACC with the QB being up there in yards per game and explosive pass plays. We wanted to eliminate their explosive pass plays in that game and we did. I think he threw fr like 200 yards at 44% with three picks. In doing so, we gave up some runs and had some light boxes, but that was the game plan. We put a lot on the DB's. That plus the pressure we put on the quarterback was very effective in winning the game. Credit to the DB's, Coach Aazar and the DB guys. That was well played."

On Robichaux being a good pass catcher and possibly a three-down back

"He has the ability to play on all three downs because he can protect on third down because he's a bigger back, right? You don't want to put in little backs unless you're just going to cut block a lot. Then, he can catch the ball. We've been trying to throw screens to him and trying to get the screen game going more and more. Then, on the one he did a nice job scrambling down the sideline where Thomas kind of rolled out and threw it to him, that's just a good job by him understanding the situation, where the quarterback was and getting open. He's got good hands. Again, he's a young guy who hasn't played much either, so we're starting to see - like you guys were eluding to - what he can do and he catches the ball really well. He's hard to bring down in the open field. he's got a good skillset and he's going to get better and better."

On John Pupel either leading or being one of the leading tacklers almost every game

"He's a guy that...he's relentless to the ball. He is just flying around, laying out. He's a guy that plays with great effort. He's a good tackler. He is, he's always around the ball. It's the first thing I do too, i flip to that page and he was No. 1 in tackles for that game and we didn't even start him. We started Victor in the game. He kind of had backup duty and played a lot and led the team in tackles. He's a hard guy to keep off the field because he does everything right and he plays so hard."

On how important a dominant fourth quarter (21-0) was for the team's confidence

"That was...probably the best thing in that game was, we came out at the half and hit a bit of a lull, but that didn't rattle them. We threw the pick, they scored, it was a one-point game, but it didn't shake us. We got better. We put up 21 unanswered points and if that game went on, I don't know if they stopped our run. We kind of pulled back and wasted...I think it was an eight-play drive for about 5:50-something and we could have scored again. I just wanted to run out the clock. We were up 15 and I think we would have kept going. We got stronger as the game went on and we're starting to see who we are. Our run game's going to wear people down and in the fourth quarter, you can kind of see the D-line, the defense going backward and we kept going forward. That was impressive."

On how much pride BC has in dominating on the ground in a day-and-age where everything is pass heavy

"It's how we're going to win games here. It's very important to me to control the time of possession. If you limit the time the other team touches the ball, you play good defense, you run the ball and you have the chance to win in the fourth quarter, if we do that we'll wear people out. But, with that too, I think you'll start to see the pass game open up too with explosives because people are going to have to start coming down. Rushing for 300 yards in back-to-back games, you're not going to see very many light boxes. We're going to have to be able to throw it over their head. We have the people to do that on the outside and once we start becoming more efficient at that, then it's really going to open things up. The explosive run plays are what also jumped out in that last game. It wasn't just three, four...we hit some explosive runs and not just with Thomas, with Kye too. That's probably the biggest thing. You saw some holes that - and I showed the team in the team meeting - there were some holes now that you stop and freeze the film, you could drive a truck through them. That's a credit to the offensive line."

On if this is what Hafley envisioned being the team's identity offensively

"Yeah, I've always wanted to run the ball. as a defensive coach, there's nothing worse than when you can't stop the run. I mean, it's just, it's demoralizing and it changes everything you have to do. You always have to look at your personnel. We have a really good offensive line and they're well coached and we have the people to run it, so we're going to do it. Some people believe you run the ball to win and you throw the ball to score points. I think each team is different. You've got to figure out what they do best and how we've got to score points best and that's what we're starting to figure out. I think the last three weeks we've really done a good job with that. Now, we have to keep going forward and that's the biggest key. Whether we're playing UConn this week or whoever we're playing, this team has to get better. We need to coach better, we need to play better, we left plays out there in the Georgia Tech game where I don't even know if it should have been close. That was my message to the team. Now's not the time to think great, we won by...no. If you're really a competitor and you watch that game and you watch it really close, that's not good enough. It's not and I need to get better. There's certain things I did - and I told the team - they weren't good enough and that could have cost us. I'm going to do better this week and that needs to be their mentality because they'll start to read some things now where people will be saying they're doing this...no, put that away. Just, we need to get better. We need to run the ball better, we need to stop the run better, we need to do all those things and that needs to be our mentality."

On Ryan O'Keefe's status

"Ryan will probably be out again this week. We'll just see right now how he progresses until we get any final word...he was running around a little bit. I'm not sure how much he'll do this week."

On overall team health

"Health wise, pretty good. I think we came out of that game...I mean, it was a physical game, they were huge up front. Our guys are sore, but we came out of it pretty good. I'll get the injury report from Mike today and have more details on that on Wednesday."