CHESTNUT HILL - All things considered, that's a hell of a finish to the season after it looked like the world was ending in October.
Getting right into this because I've gotta be at Gillette for that train wreck in like 13 hours...
-What more can you say about Donovan Ezeirauku? 10 total tackles, four solo, 3.5 sacks, 4.5 TFL's, 3 QB hits. Just a disruptive force and if you read the preview, I thought he'd have to have a big day along with the rest of the D-line. Okpala obviously forced the pick six for Ty Clemons and that unit held Pitt to just 23(!) yards rushing. I asked O'Brien about DE postgame and he repeatedly said "we'll miss him." Understatement of the decade.
-Tooting my own horn on James again. Was it perfect? Nope. And at least two of those balls to Harris on the PI calls could have just been TD's if he didn't under throw him a bit, but man, imagine what this offense could have been if he started out of camp? The offense had 381 yards of offense and he was 20-28 for 253 and two touchdowns with no turnovers (despite the near fumble disaster). Team loves him. O'Brien loves him. It's way too early, but I think he's already earned the right to at least be the leader in the clubhouse for 2025 QB1 heading into the offseason. He'll have to continue to earn it, but you see what could be with him.
-Third down defense was still a massive issue, especially third-and-longs. O'Brien acknowledged it's one of the things that needs to get cleaned up, but the team also has three more weeks of practice now. Pitt was an absurd 9-17 on 3D's while BC was just 5-14. Gotta be better moving forward.
-Special teams was special teams. Moving on.
-As I said at the half, this RB unit is going to be just as good next year. Nice finish at home for Kye with 71 yards and a TD along with another great game from McDonald with 60 yards and the TD. Can't wait to see how much better that group can get next year.
-O-line did its thing too. That's obviously the biggest need heading into portal season with so many good guys now heading out the door. There's some young depth, but they're going to be very inexperienced. You hope these next three weeks of practice are mostly used to get younger guys a ton more reps and start to already have an eye towards spring ball.
-Penalties were brutal again. Gotta get cleaned up. BC had 5 for 65, but it felt like even more.
-I have no idea how, but this team got through an entire season with no real end-of-game field goal scenarios coming back to haunt them. Literally, none. Wild given how inept and non-existent that part of the game was this season.
As I said in the preview, I think there's a lot more positives than negatives to take away from the regular season and we've got three weeks of recruiting and bowl game talk to get ready for. The team was already talking a lot postgame about getting to that 8-win threshold and it's something they'll be focused on for the month of December.
Nice to cover this team and feel like there's real positive momentum instead of just sort of wishful thinking (which is what last year was in my opinion).
We're officially on to bowl season.
