CHESTNUT HILL - So, remember when I said this would be fun to cover the Eagles this season.
It's not anymore. At least not right now.
The downright embarrassing 31-27 loss to Louisville in front of just under 43,000 people on Friday night was somewhat stunning. Not because BC blew leads of 20-0 and 27-10, but because this staff was supposed to change the aura around the program.
Instead, this season now feels like every other one since 2008.
At 4-4 and a difficult final four games after another bye weekend this coming week, bowl eligibility isn't a guarantee after so much good will and positive vibes to open the O'Brien era.
Here's what sticks out to me from this train wreck of a game...
-Anyone want to jump on the Grayson James train with me yet? This offense sputters far too often - play calling was decent but still not great at times - and it's because they don't have a QB that can push the ball down the field. Louisville sat on intermediate stuff throughout the second half and Castellanos nor Will Lawing had an answer. He finished just 13-28 for 164 yards and three TD's, but two of them were gimmick plays on 4th down. Simply put - as I've said since August - TC is not the right fit for this offense and his limited ability as a passer is glaring.
-The crossers over the middle Louisville hit routinely in the second half are frustrating, but there's not much you can do with guys like Jackson, Blackwell, Arnold and Steele not able to contribute. The middle of the field is going to continue to be an issue the rest of the season, it just is what it is at this point.
-As a team, BC had just 14 first downs to Louisville's 24. The Eagles also gave up 461 yards of offense and made Tyler Shough look like Brady at times. BC's lack of pass rush was glaring all night, yet the Cardinals still handed them three turnovers and the Eagles still lost. If this team doesn't get a pass rush, there's very little chance they stop most teams remaining on this schedule.
-Open tryouts for a punter have to happen during the bye week. Both Candotti and Zivenko absolutely killed the team tonight and gave Louisville multiple short fields to work with. It's hard to imagine a Power 5 school doesn't have a special teams unit, but the Eagles really don't. Even McGowan was fielding punts at the five or 10 and fair catching them instead of trying to get a return. It's mind blowing how bad that whole unit is. Matt Thurin is a very nice guy, but yikes.
-Eagles did run for 154 yards, so there's that.
-Not going for points before halftime with 3 timeouts and 1:17 on the clock was wild. I asked O'Brien about it postgame and he said it was a fair question, but also noted the team doesn't have much of a passing offense and they were deep in their own territory. (Hmm, I wonder if there's another QB on the roster that can get the ball down the field more...)
-Crowd was into it from the jump and in there early. Once again, the team lets them down. I won't be surprised if there's a significant drop off in attendance the final three home games of the year. No reason to go freeze your ass off to watch a .500 or worse team.
-I think that's everything. I'm sure you'll let me know what I missed. Enjoy the bye, I think we all need a mental break from this slumping Eagles team (even though I'll obviously still have content of some sort this week).
