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BOSTON COLLEGE FOOTBALL MEDIA CONFERENCE

October 7, 2017

Steve Addazio

Boston, Massachusetts

Virginia Tech - 23, Boston College - 10

STEVE ADDAZIO: I thought in the beginning of the game we had some opportunities. There were some throws and catches that would have gave us some points. Against a team like this, you have to be able to capitalize on those. I thought there was entirely too many drops. We had 344 yards of offense, they had 431. You know, it's not a big, big difference against that kind of defense. I thought our 3rd down conversion ratio was poor. Once again, that seems to be the thing that is tugging on us, and the ability for us to get going and move the chains enough times, and that wasn't good enough, our 3rd down conversions. So missed opportunities early, our 3rd down conversions. I thought we played tough, I thought we played physical, I thought we were aggressive on offense, I thought we took our shots, even through the end we emptied the chamber of some special plays that we had been working on and put in, and I thought we played wide open. I thought we managed all that well. I just think it came down to missed opportunities that were there for the taking in the first half, missed field goal, high snap, a couple of those kind of things.

On defense I thought we played really well. I thought we played good red zone defense. I thought we were pinned down there -- third quarter field position was just abysmal, and the way the defense handled that and tried to battle I thought was excellent. You know, turning around and basically three points in three of those consecutive series until finally we were able to pop one out of there and shift the field position. So I think the third quarter was a field position deal. I thought the first two quarters we had a couple of big opportunities we missed. I thought we were battling in the fourth quarter, and I thought we did a lot of good things. I see a lot of our guys that are new in there that are -- you can watch them growing in front of our eyes, and I think drawing from playing three top-25 teams and drawing some good experience and some confidence out of there, and we've just got to keep developing and keep getting better and keep battling, and that's what we will do because this is a group of guys that really loves football, loves playing together, and I think really are excited about continuing to develop and grow.

Q. You mentioned the 3rd down conversion rate, you weren't happy about that. Between execution or game plan, what about it are you not liking?
STEVE ADDAZIO: Well, no, there's nothing wrong with the game plan now. We had a lot of open receivers, okay. We had a lot of drops. We had some overthrows and some drops and then we had a couple times where we snapped the ball not on the cadence. I mean, it's -- you know, it's executional, but open, yeah, guys are open. You can see that. Anybody can see that watching. I think there's plenty of -- that's the frustrating part. There's open guys. I think they're in good situations. We've just got to make those plays, whether it be the -- whether it be the throw-catch operation, we have a couple offsides that were not in sync on the cadence. But I think schematically, I thought excellent, actually. I mean, there was a couple times in the first half there were guys open everywhere. I mean, we fell down one time, we didn't finish a route one time. I mean, there's a lot of that going on right now. We've just got to grow and get better there, which we will, you know.

That being said, no turnovers. I'm not sure sack-wise. I don't have that handy right now. But we're doing a good job with that, and I thought Anthony ran the ball a little bit. We had a couple of called quarterback reads, a couple -- he pulled it down more decisively and got yardage on 3rd down. I think that was a huge improvement.

Q. You mentioned the 4th and 2 in the red zone stop. Zach's huge night, obviously Harold gets a lot of attention, has all year, but the play of Zach tonight, you guys have seen that all year. What stood out to you?
STEVE ADDAZIO: You know, he's just so versatile. You know, he's a power guy. He's big and strong and athletic, and his versatility shows, his ability to make athletic, physical plays. He's a big-time player, and I thought he did a great job tonight. Harold made some big-time plays. There were plays -- I think the one thing we need to do a better job of tonight was tackling early on especially, we were hitting and not wrapping and finishing, and that cost us field position early. That field position is so darned critical. When you're playing this kind of defense, it's hard enough, you know, but you start operating with poor field position, and that's where we -- you know, we weren't getting enough cracks with good field position, and we did on that pick early, and we had that touchdown ball right there. We worked on that all week long. I mean, there was no doubt we were going to that call, and it was right there. Didn't cover it, didn't make it.

Q. It seemed like time and time again Josh Jackson was attacking the middle of the field. Was that a matter of his own defense or just him seeing different things?
STEVE ADDAZIO: They were running a bunch of RPOs, they're run pass options off of different styles of runs. You know, just -- the RPO world is -- can be challenging. One of the ways is getting in straight man, but we don't want to get in continual straight man. So you're trying to mix it up.

I thought overall we kind of sealed that up. I thought they were having a really hard time running the football. We ran for 153 against their defense, they ran for 109. That's the stats that I have, okay. Like I said, they had 431 of offense, we had 344, and that's with miserable field position in the third quarter. So statistically I think the biggest stat that sticks out to me right now is 3rd down conversions as we talked about and coverage. Anything else?

Q. I thought in the first half actually your punting team did a really good job in coverage, really good tackling to kind of flip the field a couple of times. What did you think of the special teams tackling and the play tonight?
STEVE ADDAZIO: I think the coverage was fantastic. I thought two things disappointed me tonight. Obviously the missed field goal bothered me. We made one but we missed one early, so we really came off no points off of that, and there was -- we had two snap issues, one on a punt, one on a field goal, okay, and then just a -- an error in communication on one of the punts coming out of the end zone there where we -- they actually fumbled it and we didn't recover, but had we, we had a penalty, because of a miscommunication that has never -- I've never seen happen before. So that was disappointing. But our coverage was outstanding. It has been. It's not a new phenomenon. I would have liked to have seen us get some more punt return yards. I think we could have. I thought we just needed to do just a little bit better job on Gunner control. There was a couple there I thought at the very, very end. I think as you get experience, when the clock is winding down towards the end of the game, you want to take daring chances and go get that thing. Those are all learning experience things that we can work on and grow with.

Q. I know it's early, but Harold Landry came off the field. Do you know what his injury is?
STEVE ADDAZIO: No, I don't, other than what you saw, it appears as though he tweaked his ankle. To what degree, I just don't know and probably won't know until tomorrow I would think.

Q. 4th and 2 call to go for it in their territory, not to kick the field goal, your process there?
STEVE ADDAZIO: Yeah, I mean, it's a little bit out of our range there, and it's 4th and 2, and we were wide open, and we thought we had the right call. You know, you're playing Tech, I just felt like that was the right aggressive thing to do right there. We just didn't -- there's an example what I'm talking about. We didn't operate the throw and catch right there. I mean, I don't think there was anybody within four yards of Tom Swinney. But couldn't get our hips around and get it out in time and just didn't happen. You know, but no, I mean, I feel like that was the right thing to do, and I still do. You know, I thought that we wanted to go into that game and stay aggressive, and we stayed aggressive in that game. You know, wish we could have made a few more of those plays. All the difference in the world. That's one of them. The touchdown pass we dropped is another one of them. There was about three of them. And when you play a team like that, quite frankly, it's about what it comes down to. It's usually about anywhere between three and four of those things, and you've got to make them. You've got to make them. And we will. We will. We've got to grow a little bit more. Some of the guys involved in the operation of those are still young guys, but I'll tell you what, I watched some of those guys growing up before my eyes a little bit out on that field today, and that's exciting.

Q. It's been a consistent theme about the lack of execution and the drops just killing promising drives, resulting in those drives ending without putting up any points; how do you get this team to the level where that's no longer an issue and players are making those plays?
STEVE ADDAZIO: Well, you know, listen, I'm not going to get into the -- let me say it the best way I can, okay; I love our team. I'm not going to get into breaking down -- I've got to do a better job. Let's leave it like that, okay. Let's just leave it like that. We've got to go back to work, and I've got to coach them better. I've got to coach them harder, and we're going to keep growing, and the reality of it is that's all going to come together. We have played three top-25 teams, okay, we're playing really good football teams right now, and we're playing really physical, really aggressive, and we've got some guys spilling it. That's what this team is doing right now, and I love them. And I love them. And they're going to get better and they're going to grow. Sometimes it's never on exactly the timetable that we want it on, but the level of competition that we're playing against while we develop these guys, okay, and so I'll just say that I'll continue on my part to make sure I'm doing a better job in the race of development here, and we're going to leave it right there because I'm in charge of it, and I love them. And I love their work ethic, and I love the way they handle it, and I love the fact that they believe in each other, okay. I love all of that. I've been around this business long enough, fellas, okay, at every level, and I've seen it a long time. It'll come together, and it'll be beautiful. You can write that one down, okay. I don't have the time clock on it right here, but it'll come together, and it'll be beautiful, all right, and the investment is worth it. So I'm excited about the investment. We just keep rolling.

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