Boston College

Rural Kansas in September can be beautiful in its own way. Walt & Willie sat on the porch rocking gently back & forth as the day wound down and the sun began to follow. The winds that can be relentless across the plains had begun to quell as well, and their nephew was in their periphery wound up as only a 7 year old can be at dusk. He was furiously pointing behind the house, twisting and yelling, twisting and yelling. After 15 minutes of this loud dance, the rocking stopped and Walt whispered..."What is that boy up to...?" The tornado hit soon after.

Yup, it is that obvious. The fans have been yelling all game. Umm, throw it to 15.

I know our coaching gurus spend all week Xing and Oing, eschewing sleep and worrying off all the pounds that the Holidays can bring. Well, we idiots in the bleachers can make this a much simpler process. Throw the damn ball to that kid unless he is triple covered. Terry, who is inexplicably one on one about 50 percent of the time, is a game changer; and after Saturday night, maybe a season changer.

I said it before, Tamorrion is the best freshman wideout in my limited 40 year memory. No, I was not out of the womb when Fred Biletnikoff was wondering around Doak, but I don't think freshman were allowed to play until the early 70's, so I feel pretty good about this ridiculous statement. Somehow, he was targeted only about a half dozen times this week. Many of them on the silly go routes down the sideline that are a staple of Steamboat Willie's lethal obviousity (yes I just made up that word) where the throw has to be perfect and the sideline serves as an extra defender. When we actually cut down the middle, our dudes made some plays. Noonie made a circus catch, mighty mite Keyshawn Helton bounced like a pinball down the field and 15 scored to send us all home happy. This ain't that hard coach.

If he was a teenager, I would have sent him to his room, but Francois is in his twenties and a millennial, so apparently we have to gently cajole and encourage. That first half was awful. One of the interceptions was so bad that a man above me in the stands asked - indelibly loudly - if Deondre has money on BC. With almost no pressure (and I know that sounds crazy with our OL already), he threw 3 balls into the stands. The other pick may not have been all his fault as Terry was tackled as he ran his route, but all the presnap malfunctions and receivers in garnet going the wrong way that seemed to disappear with James running the show are back with vengeance as #12 takes snaps. Thankfully, two things changed in the second half. First, Brady Scott came back in for our poor LT Williams. This poor guy has 63 pound weights strapped to his ankles and when they come loose he falls forward and false starts, and when they stay tight his feet can't move. Maybe next Fall, Coach Frey can make this Yeti an athlete. Secondly, 2017 Cam made an appearance. Suddenly, the Mississippi mauler was back in Doak. Breaking tackles, stiff arming Eagles and even progressing past the line of scrimmage. All of this noise somehow allowed Deondre to settle down and give the offense a chance to compete. Finally taking his tunnel vision away from Noonie, he threw the pass of the season and we can begin to forgive the mess that was our offense most of Saturday afternoon.

One other note for those not in attendance, and that includes 85% of the student body, when we line up in that silly looking trips formation, it forces opponents to bring at least three warm bodies to that side of the field and oftentimes as many as five are shifting towards the sideline party. That formation becomes an incredibly run-friendly situation, and we took advantage of this numbers game on at least four plays this week. On one crazy formation, RT Kelly was lined up on the line, but out at the hash with a wideout on his outer hip and only one DB in the area. BC smartly called timeout or that would have been a walk in TD. So some of this offensive craziness is paying off, but it might be 2019 until we see the fun really begin. But, even as Coach Bell begins to get on a roll, he is not the Head Man. That was apparent in the second half when after a series of big plays got us inside the redzone, Willie came out of hibernation and grabbed the laminated sheet. I nudged the wife and wondered aloud what surprise was coming next. It was the ill-fated DJ reverse pass that halted the drive like a honey baked ham stops a bar mitzvah.

BC had possibly the shortest warmup session in the history of opponents in Doak Campbell. They were outside for only about 9 minutes pregame. I just assumed that they had not been in weather like this for a month, and were afraid of wearing out in the 62 degree sweltering heat. They rightly assumed that they were going to just run us over like an unlucky neighborhood squirrel stuck on a speed bump. But, give Coach Barnett some credit. The new LB lineup had more beef, and the boys not only held their gaps, but gang tackled better than they had all season. DeMarcus Christmas had his best game of his senior campaign, and Kaindoh was also superb before a tough Nole on Nole crime sent him loopy to the bench. But, it was the D-Jack, Rice and Woodbey effort that made this a game. If it was not for some hideous zone attempts on third and Kelly, this would have been a blowout even without our offensive ineptitude. BC came in with the senior laden physically dominating OL, and they went home and hit the ice bath after getting whipped up front by the southern boys from Tally.

The video boards in Doak do just about as horrible job as possible of allowing the fans to see replays, so I have to admit horrific bias when it comes to my views on officiating. But, the line spots in this game were seemingly just hazardous guesses by the line judges. I am not sure they got a running play right all game. One guy would run in from the 22 and the guy on the other side would sprint forward at the 25 and then they would look up - realize that one of them had to be horribly wrong and then leak towards each other. It was laughable. Then we had the joy of seeing a holding call actually called on BC (the first in 3 seasons). It was obvious, egregious, and right in front of our entire bench and would have forced a 3rd and forever from the 50 for the Eagles. But the offended TE pleaded his case to the same crack crew, and they decided that oh golly, maybe he is right…and picked up the flag. Never seen that one before. For goodness sake, it will be nice to win games by 40 again, when this garbage is just a gnat and not game changing.

In the midst of goodness, we did get a reminder that one segment of the 2018 Noles stayed true - our oh so special teams. On one punt, all 5 guys rushing the punter came in completely unblocked. Not touched. How they missed the ball and smashed into Logan is a miracle of science. We got another FG blocked, although this one was hit low enough to hurt our snappers vertebrae. On the most important kickoff of the season, we hit it low and hard and gave BC a realistic chance to win by starting from the 38. Finally, a bad decision to run it out from the opponent followed by two block in the back penalties were wiped out by a late hit and a personal foul. I think every beat writer in Tallahassee has run out of words to describe this unit. I have too.

So, we got to win after a month of misery. We got to watch the boys run to the band and scream the fight song in the end zone and for just a moment, we got to believe that a ridiculous finish could wash away all the scum from a season of filth. Is it possible that this year could be termed a transition instead of a failure? Well, if the streak against the Lizard gets to 6, that is just what we get. A Bowl, an offseason of hope and a recruiting class a click above good. Wouldn't that be lovely…?