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BOSTON COLLEGE FOOTBALL MEDIA CONFERENCESeptember 17, 2018Steve AddazioBoston, Massachusetts STEVE ADDAZIO: Obviously we're excited about an opportunity to restart this week. We're going on the road to play Purdue, a Big Ten team, tough place to play. Been there many times in my career. Very, very difficult. They're a team that's very explosive. Obviously their quarterback broke Drew Brees' single passing record, which is quite a statement. Speaks to their ability to throw the ball down the field. Very talented. Great coaching staff. You can tell their selection of plays, they have a sophisticated passing game, they know what they're doing in the throw game. They're going to strive for balance. They have talented players. Their young receiver is a kick returner, a very talented guy, explosive, great speed. They have some returning players on defense that are quite talented. Their inside nose guard, linebacker, inside tackles are talented guys. That's a developing football team that got to a bowl game. Continue to grow. They've lost three games by a total of eight points. Reminds me a little bit of us a year ago. Very close games. It's a developing football team that's scary. I think they're talented. I think they're tough. Their coach is a tough guy, talented guy. Their team plays like that. That's a tough place to go play at. Might be homecoming, as well. It will be a tough environment for us. We're excited for it. A chance to be 1-0, a new week, a chance to improve. We've got a lot of improving that we need to do. We worked hard at it this morning. This is our Tuesday. We had a great day today. We have to have another great week of practice. This is a week where I'd like to see us improve. We're working hard at that right now. Happy to take any questions. Q. What are some of the differences you see between the ACC and a team coming out of the Big Ten? What is that like for you to prepare a power conference team in a non-conference game? STEVE ADDAZIO: It's challenging. We're going on the road, as you just point out, to play a Big Ten team at their place. That's challenging. I think part of our maturation process of our program right now is to be able to take on one of those games, go get that done. That's not easy. Compared to the ACC, I mean, these are all really good power conferences. They all have legitimate, talented players. It's hard to go on the road and get a win. I said that last week going down to Wake and get a win. It will be really hard to go on the road and get a win this week. I think it develops your football team. You want to make sure you come back with a W, otherwise it sets you up for negative things. Q. Talk about being the first ranked team in this decade here at BC. STEVE ADDAZIO: Well, I don't really know that there's anything to talk about. For me, I think, hey, listen, it's better than the alternative. But not to be cliché-ish, but it's fourth game of the season. It doesn't really mean a whole lot to me. I think those are things that you like to see at the end of the year, then reflect back on it. I think right now the challenge is we got to find a way to be 1-0 after Saturday afternoon. Like I said, better than the alternative. It means that so far things have gone well. But you guys know this business is just such a 'what have you done for me lately' business. We're on the plane, flying to West Lafayette, we're in it with a guy that just broke Drew Brees' record. An angry football team that's going to play with their back up against the wall. That's what I got on my mind. Q. Must be a pretty good feeling though. STEVE ADDAZIO: Like I said, it beats the alternative. I know you guys can appreciate this. I say what I think. I mean, I really haven't even wasted one second thinking about it. In fact, to me it's just one more distraction. Listen, it's great for your fan base, okay? It recognizes the fact that you've made improvements. It recognizes the fact that you're moving in the right direction. But really what I want to recognize is having a chance to be 4-0 around 4:00 Saturday afternoon, or that doesn't mean anything. I've been around long enough to know and see it all. There's no conversation going on in our program. Now, do I think there's not conversation in the dorm going on? Human nature. But I can tell you, I didn't even speak to it, about it, nor did anybody on this football team after having our Tuesday practice today. I think our guys are wired pretty good. They know that's like Kool-Aid, don't drink that now. Just go about your business. They've been through the meat grinder, this team, right? They know where they started last year. These seniors know where they've come from, what they've gone through, what the focus is. It's on one thing: finding a way, somehow find a way to go beat a really good football team at their place on the road, sing the fight song, get to 4-0. Just somehow find a way. That's kind of our mindset. I'll beat that all week long. I don't think I even need to, but I will. Q. No. 2 ranked passing offense in the conference. Anthony has been a big part of that. What did he give you on Thursday? What does he give you looking downfield with the receivers, arm strength? STEVE ADDAZIO: He's very accurate. He's very confident. This is where we've been driving to be. I know a lot of people in the country are, like, they just want to run the football. Really, yeah, we like to run the football. Darn right, part of our plan to win. I like to have ultimately as much balance as we can. If they're going to load the box to stop A.J., our running game, we have fast, talented guys out there. We have a quarterback that has a bona fide, legitimate arm. I think you're seeing him mature right now. You saw that last year. That was just starting to click in last year. Unfortunately he got hurt. I really believe you would have seen more flashes down the homestretch. That's where that he was headed. He played one season, and he even didn't finish it. Essentially he's still finishing his first season right now of play. So his best days are still ahead of him. But he is a talented guy. That showed. That showed on Thursday night. It also showed that we've got backs and tight ends and receivers that can run and go catch the ball. We're going to do that now. That's going to happen. Yes, I believe we have the best runningback in the country, a really good offensive line. Yeah, we're going to work like heck to run the ball, but not trying to pound the rock in terms of just pounding your head against a wall. We'll set it up, those play-action shots are going to be there. They can't help but be there. You can't have it both ways. This is what we've been working towards. This is where we want to be. This is not a shock to us. I know it is to everybody else. But we'll continue to head down this path. Now, also I think this is a week where we got to control the football. I don't think we need to turn this into letting them have the ball, have multiple shots going down the field. You saw that play out for them Saturday night. I mean, with balance we want to control the football. That's our goal. That's not a big mystery. Keep the ball away from them, keep the offense on the field. In a perfect world, that's what we're going to do. If we could strike them, I'd rather have a touchdown than just a drive, so we'll do that, too. Q. How do you feel about special teams? STEVE ADDAZIO: I mean, special teams-wise, it's really simple. Mike dropped the punt. We had a high snap, not too high, go through the hands of our punter. That's not reflective of our special teams. That's a result of a couple plays. I thought at times between our freshman kickoff guy, our punt kicker, our sophomore punter, I thought we did a pretty darn good job with ball placement. I thought our coverage units were really outstanding. I thought there was really great growth in our special teams. But there are two plays where we gave away -- you can say three plays. We gave away 15 points, one extra point, two touchdowns with just a bad play. It wasn't a bad reflection of 10 other people. So I think we just need to get the one drop that's uncharacteristic, but it happens, but we don't want to see it happen again. I think there's something to learn from the punt going through the hands of the punter. When you pick up the ball, the most important thing is the ball. If there's an open alley, you can punt that ball. If not, eat it, play defense on the 10, let's go. Let's not give them an easy score. That's happened two weeks in a row. That has to be corrected. That can't be allowed. Young player got away with it against maybe UMass, if my memory serves me correctly, once where we fielded it, kicked it. You got to have that alleyway or you just got to eat the ball, secure the ball, let's go play defense whether it's on the five, the 10, the 15 or the 20. Grant is going to learn from that. Obviously we just want to field the snap. We'll also learn when things go bad, don't make a bad situation worse. Q. (No microphone.) STEVE ADDAZIO: No. I try to focus in the style of offense we're in right now, it's all about getting first downs. I think once we acquire first downs, we can start to wear on that defense, all those explosives run-pass, starts to open up, then the yardage starts coming. I like to keep the focus with Anthony, our skill players. We just need first downs. Once you get a couple, three first downs, you're stressing the defense now. We're coming at a pretty good clip, coming at you pretty physical. It's about getting those. Then that yardage will come. I do try to pay attention coming off halftime where we are in terms of our balance. By nature, you know, since I've been here, we're going to be a little more run heavy. But I really want to make sure that we're not too run heavy. I like to see all of our ratios, everything that goes on. Is 600 yards attainable? Those kinds of numbers, I mean, I think are by-products, can be by-products of being a more explosive team, staying on the field, running our plays, getting more cracks. Just making sure that we're making them defend 53 and a third, not playing it in a box, run or pass. You can have run game that can get you out there, too. I think that's our goal. That's what we like to do. This is our mindset that we've had, wanted to have since I came here, but wasn't able to really get to it until last year. The bowl game, we started it last year, we got to it, we've been trying to refine it, recruit to it, build to it. It's a work in progress. I still think it's a work in progress. There's some more stuff that we can really improve on. I'm not talking about the players, I'm talking about the coaches now, in terms of where the ball is and what the next formation is going to be so that we can go faster. Ball is into the sideline, line up into the sideline. Don't make the receivers flop, run to the big field, all that other stuff. We're still working on a lot of things here. We're still a work in progress, but we're getting there. Q. I don't know how much time you've had to look around the ACC. Seems like there's a bunch of schools where the quarterback was a potential question mark, but really have come through. How much tougher is this conference if those kind of potential weaknesses turn out to be strengths for teams? STEVE ADDAZIO: Every team's success is going to have a huge impact by the quarterback. I mean, you're not going to win at a high level in a great conference unless you have a real guy at the quarterback position. I don't know who does that. As these quarterbacks develop in our conference, our conference gets stronger. Now, there's other components. But I would say without a doubt, I've been saying it, it starts there. You look at our history at Boston College, look at our history, I'm talking about before I got here. You want to look they years that were good years, they had legitimate guys playing quarterback. Big-time guys. Heisman Trophy winners, all pros. That's usually how that goes. They go hand-in-hand. That doesn't mean you can't have other pieces. If you don't have a well put together offensive line, Daffy Duck can be your quarterback, it's going to be a rough day at the office, right? But assuming you have the appropriate pieces in place, you have that guy, then God forbid you have a couple other skill guys that can be explosive, I think you really have a chance. Everybody is in a race to get the elite quarterback, everybody is. I think every conference, the more elite quarterbacks there are in the conference, the better the conference is going to be. I just think that's simple. It doesn't change when you get to the next level in pro football. Same deal. Same deal. Q. Who is out there around the conference? STEVE ADDAZIO: Look at Wake. I mean, I think Sam down at Wake, the freshman there, I'm impressed with him now. There's a guy, I don't know anything about that guy. I walked away from that game saying that guy is a competitor. I mean, John Wolford ended up being an exceptional player. But this guy here, I mean, there's a guy you can build in the future with right there. There's an example. That guy showed up, all of a sudden he's got moxy. He can throw it. They'll have a few good years ahead of them with that cat right there. That's a guy. The guy at NC State. He's a talented player. He's a pro prospect. The guy at Syracuse. He's a talented guy. Very talented. He's got that moxy. Just go down the list here. They're scattered throughout the conference. But you mentioned the guys that you didn't know much about. I didn't know much about this freshman at Wake. Other guy is suspended, they don't have a quarterback. I think they got their quarterback. Francois down at Florida State is a talented guy. It's not about his talent. When he has a chance to stand there and throw it, he throws it. They're well within our conference. I don't know much about the other side, except Virginia Tech really because we play them. That kid, Jackson, looks to me like he's a future star, as well. So they're there. They're scattered amongst them. Q. Is there any update on Colton Lichtenberg, how he's doing? STEVE ADDAZIO: I think he's day-to-day. We'll just have to wait and see. I really don't have any more input than that. That's exactly what I was told. Q. On some of the play-action passes, are you surprised how wide open some of the receivers were? 25 or more yards, they were pretty wide open. STEVE ADDAZIO: Yes and no. Yes, but no, because we're seeing these loaded boxes. It's hard. When you're a part of the run unit on defense, the hard, aggressive run, still be able to cover. That's not easy to do. Zone coverages, teams are trying to rally an extra hat. Man coverage, they're trying to stuff that hat right in there. There's opportunities both. That's a reflection that it takes a lot of guys to stop A.J. Kind of a conversation about Zach Allen, Wyatt Ray defense. They're going to put a lot of attention to Allen, whatever they're going to do. All of a sudden here comes Wyatt Ray, same as the when the focus ways on Harold. When you have enough talent on your team, these teams have got to play you straight up, not try to be heavy one way or the other. That should be a byproduct of having talented players on the field, whether it's defense or offense you're talking about, people have to make a decision. Either they're going to strike a balance or they're being to be heavy on one end and expose the other end. Q. Talk about the toughness of the defense, Connor Strachan. STEVE ADDAZIO: Connor played 104 snaps on defense, another 15 snaps on special teams. Probably played 120 snaps in the game. Too many snaps. He handled it unbelievable. Zach Allen was completely gassed, wouldn't come off the field at the end. Those guys played -- Wyatt plays 100 whatever snaps, Zach played on punt team, ran down the field, plus defense. Played probably 115 snaps, 112 snaps, whatever it was. They showed great toughness, great grit, under duress, it was humid. They hung in there. I thought they did a great job, just did a great job Blake. I talked about it postgame, we played half a game against UMass, quarter of a game against Holy Cross, got to go on the road and we're into it deep, especially when you come out with a win. It's good. It stresses you and pushes you into the levels you're going to have to be in as you play these tough conference and other Power 5 tough non-conference teams. I thought, as I said Thursday night, we can certainly grow from that. Thank God we have a couple extra days. You play 115 snaps on a Saturday night, fly across the country, whatever, try to rally back in here in a normal week load, you're starting to get gassed, your body is fatigued. At least we had a chance to recover from that. That's a bonus. That's why I really was not interested and glad that game didn't have to be a Sunday game. Oh, yeah, we're going to play there on a Sunday, then turn around and go to West Lafayette. That wouldn't have been great. Thanks very much. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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