Our writers talk about BC’s win over UConn and the path ahead
Curtis: Make that four wins in a row! It wasn’t always pretty, but BC pretty much dominated UConn. What’s your biggest takeaway?
Arthur: BC came out flat. No other way to put it. Just absolutely flat. I think part of that is Thomas Castellanos was nursing an injury, but it felt like BC played down to UConn. I think this shows a recurring problem for BC, it reared its head against Holy Cross and NIU. It won’t come up again since BC is playing league games here on out but it shows that some of the Eagles’ preparedness issues haven’t been worked out.
Curtis: I do think a lot of those struggles fall on Castellanos’s mistakes and injury. BC would’ve jumped out to a pretty big lead if it weren’t for his first half turnovers and his second half injury. BC certainly didn’t play perfectly but we’d be talking about a very different game if it weren’t for those factors.
Kieran: It does seem like playing these types of games is a pattern for BC. I don’t think the game ever felt in doubt, but they also made UConn seem better than a one-win team. Still, Thomas Castellanos played well enough, and Kye Robichaux picked up the slack in the running game, so BC dominated in time of possession. That makes it four wins in a row for the Eagles, which is impressive considering how they started.
Niraj: Just happy to get that win by any means necessary. I largely agree with you guys, they played down to their opponent and it made things more stressful than they needed to be. But this is BC football, so you know what you’ve signed up for. Hopefully Tommy’s injury doesn’t force him to hold back too much. I jumped in a bit late, but I was irked by the way the play calling didn’t lean even more on the run in the second half. A few poor runs and it all of a sudden shifted to Castellanos figure it out or throw it, which didn’t seem to make much sense given the fact he was hobbled.
Curtis: I will say that Castellanos did actually make a lot of good throws when he had to operate in the pocket in the second half. But he definitely struggled when the play blew up and he couldn’t scramble like normal. I hope this is just a one week thing, because the BC offense is probably screwed if TC can’t scramble. Do you think that BC can carry this win streak into their next few games despite the struggles?
Curran: Well, I think Syracuse could be a good litmus test. I agree with you all — BC starting slow is a consistent problem, and we never seem to be able to just dominate and crush an opponent. Syracuse is not very good, sitting at 0-4 in the ACC, but it is a Friday night game for the Orange coming off a long road trip. They will be viewing BC as a chance to get back on track. BC needs to be ruthless. Losing this game would prove to me that we really just got lucky with a terrible schedule as opposed to Hafley really figuring anything out.
Niraj: Assuming Castellanos is healthy, I expect us to be competitive at the very least. It was actually sort of convenient having this game after the big Georgia Tech win. It was a bit of a comeback to earth moment and they got the job done. Now it’s time to refocus. This next game will be tough, but all I can ask for is a tough fought match.
Kieran: I think this team will go as far as Castellanos can take it. If his injury worsens, the offense could be on life support. But if he gets back to 100%, then I think they can keep winning games.
Curran: If BC’s defense shows up, we could beat Syracuse. Cuse’s offense has been struggling in recent weeks, especially without star receiver Oronde Gadsden. This is a prime opportunity to go over .500 in ACC play.
Curtis: Yeah I really think this comes down to the defense. Our offense will put up points and do a good job of controlling the time of possession I think, but I have my doubts that the defense will be able to control a mobile QB like Garrett Shrader. It’s a very winnable game but very loseable too if the D doesn’t show up.
Arthur: I think the season feels a lot different if we win Friday. That gets the season to six wins and that feels like the line of acceptable results (should be higher). If BC gets to it this week it feels like playing with house money and better results seem more attainable.
Curtis: You’re right that it should be higher. Given how poor this schedule is, acceptable results really should be 7 wins minimum. It does not bode well if BC can only scrape together 6 wins in a historically bad ACC. With 3 of those coming from out of the conference.