2014 Boston College Football Defense: Stats and Grades

All defense. Boston College Eagles. EFFECTIVENESS . B-. In terms of allowing points, Boston College did very well this season, giving up just 21 a game. This was 21st nationally. <p>Thanks largely to their stellar run defense, the Eagles had the 11th-best defense in terms of yardage in 2014, allowing just 324.2 yards per contest.</p> <p>Yet, one thing that hurts the defense’s overall effectiveness is the fact that they were not opportunistic in getting turnovers. With only 14 gained all season, they were tied for 116th nationally. Given that the offense turned the ball over just 13 times, the defense missed a huge set of opportunities to pad the team’s turnover margin and make everybody’s lives a whole lot easier.</p> <p>On third downs, the Eagles were mediocre. At 38.71 percent on defense, Boston College fell in the middle of the road relative to the rest of FBS.</p> <p>In the red zone, Boston College was average there as well (68th in FBS; 83.33%), but they allowed mostly touchdowns when the opposition scored, at more than a three-to-one clip.</p>

All defense. Boston College Eagles. FINAL GRADE . B. Averaging everything together, just like with the offense, the defense gets a B. <p>Now, you might say to yourself that statistically, the defense was quite a bit better than the offense, so that makes little sense, but this is not all about statistics, is it?</p> <p>Boston College’s defense had legitimately elite elements to it, but its deficiencies were easy to spot. Even in many of the games they won, it was clear where the Eagles were vulnerable defensively, just as they often shined in their best parts (like run defense) in a number of games they lost.</p> <p>Could have been better, and could have ended better, (and they could stand to learn how to finish games), but not terrible.</p>