2011 BC Football: Retrospective, Part I — Offense

Offensive line

This unit suffered this year. The days of Castonzo, Tennant, and Claiborne are gone, and the personnel we had this year struggled.

Boston College quarterbacks, mainly Chase Rettig, were sacked 24 times this year by opposing teams. This was tied for 64th in FBS and was far from the worst, but Rettig definitely faced a great deal of pressure against the better defenses.

They had their good days controlling the line of scrimmage, like Maryland where they absolutely dominated the Terps’ defensive front and made Rolandan Finch’s day very easy. They also had their bad days, like against Clemson, where Chase Rettig was running for his dear life on every down for stretches of the game.

The bad days became a little more uncommon as the season concluded, but the games at the start of the season count, too.

It’s been beaten to death, but we were known as O-Line U in previous years because of all the offensive linemen we had sent to the NFL. This is the first time I can remember when we don’t have any obvious NFL talent on our front five. Either BC isn’t bringing the guys in (which I kind of find hard to believe given the school’s pedigree for developing OLs) or they’re not being prepared to succeed from Day 1. The guys can get better — we’ve seen signs to that end — but they need to be coached better so they can come out of the gate stronger. That goes for the whole team, in fact.

Conclusion

It was another forgettable year for the Boston College offense, which continues to struggle no matter who plays, who coordinates, or what they try. Given that they have sunk even lower than last year, which was a bad year all by itself, there is a clear need for major changes.

I still support Chase Rettig and believe he, with time in the pocket and appropriate playcalling, can develop into a reliable quarterback for Boston College. I also believe that Finch and Williams are adquate backups for Montel Harris, who is expected to return next year (but he will have a decision to make about that).

One of these years, BC is going to open up the playbook beyond Page 3 again. When they do, I hope we see a more aggressive BC team that shies away from the Tranquill-esque run-run-pass-punt offense and legitimately takes chances, early and often, and even when there’s over a minute left before the half. Teams don’t get to and win big-time bowl games by running draw plays and playing it safe as a default setting. Until then, however, with our offensive gameplan stuck in the past and continually failing, what we saw in 2011 may continue into the near future.