A familiar script for BC defense
BC NOTEBOOK
Boston College will confront yet another dynamic dual-threat quarterback when the Eagles face Louisville in an ACC match on Saturday at Papa John’s Cardinals Stadium in Louisville, Ky.
This past Saturday, the Eagles had their first look at Virginia Tech redshirt freshman Josh Jackson, who toasted BC for 322 yards on 22 completions with a touchdown pass in the Hokies’ 23-10 victory at Alumni Stadium.
Now, the Eagles must face junior Lamar Jackson, the reigning Heisman Trophy winner with whom they already are painfully familiar.
When last they met, Louisville’s Jackson rushed for 185 yards on 15 carries with three touchdowns that included scoring runs of 69 and 53 yards during a 52-7 win over the Eagles. He complemented his ground game by completing 12-of-17 passes for 231 yards and four touchdowns. The Louisville QB likely lured undecided Heisman voters to his camp by producing seven touchdowns against the Eagles.
“I’ve been around a lot of spread quarterbacks in my career and I’ve coached some of the very best,” said BC coach Steve Addazio during his weekly press briefing at Conte Forum. “His acceleration is extremely unique and he can pull away from anybody. He’s got a rifle arm. I mean he can flick the ball. He’s got great arm strength. That combination is unbelievable.”
Louisville is coming off its second ACC loss of the season, a 39-25 setback at North Carolina State. Defending national champion Clemson beat Louisville 34-7 on Sept. 29.
Jackson has started six games and has completed 138of-222 passes for 1,990 yards with 14 touchdowns and four interceptions. He’s rushed for 510 yards on 91 carries and seven touchdowns. The Cardinals average 37.5 points and 557.8 yards per game.
The end game
BC has two of the best defensive ends in the ACC and they were statistical beasts against Virginia Tech. Junior right end Zach Allen yesterday was named ACC defensive lineman of the week for the first time in 31 league games. Allen led BC with 14 tackles, 3.0 tackles for a loss and a sack.
Harold Landry, who led the nation with 16.5 sacks in 2016, dropped the Hokies quarterback a season-high three times. Allen and Landry will have the difficult task of sealing the edge and keeping the Louisville QB in the pocket.
“It takes more than two defensive ends to contain this guy,” said Addazio. “Trying to keep him in the pocket on third down and also in the read zone where he reads the ends. That’s always a challenge.”
Downtown via Brown
BC redshirt freshman quarterback Anthony Brown has a lively arm but hasn’t launched a reliable lateral passing attack in six starts. However, Brown showed signs of improvement with the deep ball against the Hokies.
Brown completed 13 passes for 166 yards that included throws of 20 or more yards to five different receivers. Brown’s longest toss was a 32-yard hook up with Kobay White followed by a pair of 24-yard completions to junior split end Jeff Smith and freshman tailback Travis Levy.
Smith completed a 25-yard flanker option pass to Brown that resulted in BC’s lone touchdown. Smith was BC’s starting quarterback in the Eagles 17-14 loss to Cardinals last year.