Quotables and Notables: Louisville Game
Andy Backstrom (@andybackstrom)
Staff Writer
Louisville practically handed Boston College Saturday’s game, turning the ball over three times in the first half alone. But the Eagles didn’t capitalize on the opportunity.
Instead, their offense floundered, and the Cardinals’ four-pronged rushing attack gashed a BC defense that was tired and, uncharacteristically, out of its gaps.
The Eagles couldn’t mount a fourth quarter comeback, and Louisville held on for a 28-14 win. Here are the best quotes and postgame stats from BC’s third straight ACC defeat.
QUOTABLES
BC head coach Jeff Hafley was asked about Dennis Grosel’s future as the Eagles quarterback after he completed approximately 53% of his passes for the second straight week while committing three turnovers, including two in the fourth quarter.“We'll have to talk about it tomorrow,” Hafley said Saturday. “Dennis is under pressure. Is it the offense? Is it the scheme? Are we not executing? Are we giving him a chance to actually make plays? We just gotta watch the film to figure that out.”
Grosel, and BC’s offense as a whole, enjoyed some early success. The redshirt senior gunslinger hit on his first four passes, Zay Flowers was getting involved more and the Eagles’ running game was producing chunk runs. BC piled up 89 total yards in the first quarter. The next two periods combined? Just 61.
“I thought we had a good plan coming in to try to back them off in the quick game, which we executed pretty well,” Grosel said. “When you get down, it's hard to stay on schedule, and they're allowed to pin their ears back and come at you.”
BC was rather predictable offensively. The Eagles called only six pass plays on first down. Louisville was stacking the box and bringing pressure, especially on third down. As a result, Grosel was under a lot of duress. He was sacked three times, and BC—which now ranks second-to-last in league play for third-down conversion rate (28.9%)—was a combined 5-of-17 on third and fourth down. Hafley, of course, noticed that Louisville was trying to make Grosel complete the ball downfield.
“It was one of the more aggressive defensive schemes I've seen in a long time,” Hafley said. “A couple times I looked up, and it looked like the safeties were all at linebacker depth. They were gonna force us to throw the ball over their head.”
BC came into the game having forced just seven turnovers on the year. The Eagles hadn’t created a takeaway since their Week 4 win over Missouri. At Louisville, though, they got four. The problem was, BC’s offense scored a mere seven points off those opportunities. Hafley wasn’t happy about that.
“Proud of the defense,” Hafley said. “But when you steal a possession, it's not just about us stealing a possession. You gotta score points. And it wasn't just off of the takeaways. We were just pretty inefficient at that for most of the night.”
The Eagles needed points to keep pace with a Cardinals rushing offense that racked up 331 yards. Quarterback Malik Cunningham registered 133 of them, the same exact total he achieved in last year’s meeting between these teams. Cunningham also threw for 107 yards in the victory. BC linebacker Isaiah Graham-Mobley said that BC tried its best to shut Cunningham down. The Eagles couldn’t accomplish that feat, although they did contain him more in the back half of play.
“He's a different type of quarterback, a different type of specimen,” Graham-Mobley said. “Really good player.”
Grosel said postgame that there needs to be a higher level of execution offensively, and he declared that it starts with him, given that he has the ball in his hands every play. The longtime backup is seasoned at this point. He has 13 career starts, and he’s not backing down to a challenge, even amid a three-game losing streak and a bunch of outside noise about his role as the Eagles’ starter.
“We could pout our heads and cry about it or go out next week and swing again,” Grosel said. “I know these guys, been with a lot of them for a really long time. They're not quitters, they won't get down on themselves. I'm confident going forward with the guys we have.”
NOTABLES
— Grosel finished 17-of-32 for 141 yards, one touchdown and two picks. His lone touchdown throw went six yards to Jaelen Gill, who snatched the 4th-and-Goal touch pass on a corner route.— BC running backs Pat Garwo III and Alec Sinkfield both averaged close to six yards per carry on the ground. Garwo logged 86 yards on 15 carries, and Sinkfield accounted for 53 yards on nine totes as well as his second-career Eagles touchdown.
— Flowers caught four passes for 43 yards, but all of that came in the first half. He was targeted seven times in those two quarters but only twice in the second half.
— Brandon Sebastian and Trae Barry both suffered leg injuries in the loss. They are day-to-day right now and were very limited in Tuesday’s practice. True freshman cornerback Shawn Asbury II, on the other hand, broke his arm will miss the rest of the season.
— BC went three-and-out four times in the first half. The Eagles ended up losing the time of possession battle as Louisville kept the ball for 30:18.
— Cardinals running back Trevion Cooley had his way with BC, rushing for 112 yards on 13 carries. On one drive, he ripped off consecutive runs of 14, 19 and 14 yards.
— Louisville tight end Marshon Ford entered the weekend leading all ACC tight ends in receptions. He added three more catches to his season total Saturday, recording 48 receiving yards in the process.
— Graham-Mobley and BC nickel Josh DeBerry tied for the team lead in total tackles (seven) and solo stops (seven). Next was defensive lineman Cam Horsley, who had six total tackles.
— Louisville defensive back Qwynnterrio Cole also had eight total tackles and seven solos. More notably, however, he broke up a pair of passes and delivered one quarterback hit.
— BC true freshman wide receiver Jaden Williams had a bit of a bounce-back game. After dropping three passes against North Carolina State the week before, he collected three receptions at Louisville.
