Everything Boston College Football Head Coach Bill O’Brien Said After Win Over Pitt
The Boston College Eagles (7-5, 4-4 ACC) football team ended its regular season with a 34-23 win over the Pittsburgh Panthers (7-5, 3-5 ACC) on Saturday evening at Alumni Stadium.
After the game, Eagles head coach Bill O’Brien spoke about the victory and what he saw from his team on the field.
Below is a transcript of everything O’Brien said.
Q: Last week, bowl eligible. This one now takes it up another notch. Thoughts on your performance today and going forward?
O’BRIEN: Yeah, just very proud of the team. Haven't even been here a year and just really thankful for the team and the coaching staff and the support staff and everybody in this room right here: administration, Father Jack, everybody that's contributed. We're not an undefeated team, but I think we're a good football team and I think we've improved as the year’s gone on and a lot of credit for that goes to the players and the coaching staff. And just very proud to be their head coach. Very proud today to have a chance to possibly win eight games which hasn't been done in a long time. So just proud to be associated with Boston College football.
Q: Kind of following that Bill, winning three of your last four in the ACC and taking the Mustangs to the wall. That’s a helluva finish.
O’BRIEN: Yeah, I appreciate you saying that. I think we've gotten better. I do think we've improved, obviously to be where, ultimately where we want to be, we've got a ways to go, but we've definitely worked to improve and I give a lot of credit to the senior class. The captains, we had really strong captains, five captains that just did a great job, Ozzy Trapilo, Kam Arnold, Donovan Ezeiruaku, Joe Marinaro and Drew Kendall. They did an amazing job of leading this football team throughout the whole year and give those guys a lot of credit.
Q: You talked about [at the] beginning of this year being able to give Boston a nice, play for them, good football, for them to show up and for them to go to 6-1 in your first year was quite an accomplishment. Just talk about being able to build off that and really get the city of Boston good football to come and watch here at Alumni?
O’BRIEN: Yeah, I think when I first was hired by Blake and the administration, again we play on Saturdays. And I get it, I understand it's a pro... There's no bigger pro sports fan than me when it comes to the Patriots, the Celtics, the Bruins and the Red Sox, but we're Boston College football. We play on Saturdays and I do believe that we play an exciting brand of football and so hopefully, as the years go on, we can get the crowds where I believe they could be. We've got to play good football. We've got to reward that but love to see us continue to get better, to be able to get the great crowds. Give credit to the students. A lot of students there today, love the students, not really including them in the crowds because they show up every single week, do a great job, but as we move forward, hopefully we can keep playing good football and get great crowds here.
Q: On the touchdown by Ty Clemons. How big was that emotionally for you guys and we're about 500 feet away, was that you running down the sideline?
O’BRIEN: That was certainly not me. Yeah, I ride the bike, I don't run. But that was a huge play. That was a great play. Give credit to the players. They executed the plan on defense pretty well. I mean, there were some things we gave up at times, but I think overall we executed it very well and that was a huge play by Ty. Big momentum builder there. But then, little things that we got to keep improving on: kickoff there we gave up some yards, had a penalty, and then they were able to kick a 57-yard field goal. So we got to learn from that situation, but I think that play by Ty was a huge play.
Q: Any injury updates?
O’BRIEN: I think there's a couple guys with potential concussions, but I don't know that yet, so we’ll have to see. But yeah, some guys took, it was a very physical game, Pitt’s a very physical team, so I'll know more about that in the next couple weeks.
Q: Earlier in the season this team had started so quickly and then kind of struggled closing teams out. Today, you're able to close out. You were able to close out on UNC. Obviously closed out on Syracuse too. Just how is that continuing to improve down the stretch over the last month?
O’BRIEN: I think that's something we have to build on as a program is to be able to continue to play 60 minutes. I told the team this morning at breakfast, if you look at the two games that I was flicking back and forth between last night, Georgia-Georgia Tech and Nebraska-Iowa. There were teams in those games that were up 17-0, 10-0, those teams didn't end up winning the game. It was almost a 90 minute game, eight overtimes in the Georgia-Georgia Tech game. It was 10-0 Nebraska for a long time and then Iowa came back and won the game 13-10. So it's a 60 minute game. You have to play every snap. You got to play every down. And I think that's something we're still learning how to do. I think we've gotten better at it, but I think that's something we still can do a better job at.
Q: Your team is now going to face probably around three, almost three week layoff, how do you keep your guys focused?
O’BRIEN: Yeah, no, I think these guys will be focused. I think they're excited about the way they finished the season and we'll have lifting and running and things like that and then obviously, class. They've got a lot of academic work they need to get caught up on and then we'll know what bowl we're going to, I think next Sunday. So we'll have a better idea of the schedule and things like that. But these guys, they love to lift in our weight room. We've got a great strength and conditioning staff. They love to be over there. So they'll be looking forward to that.
Q: Another big performance from Donovan Ezeiruaku… Anything else you can say on what he meant this week in particular?
O’BRIEN: Yeah, I mean what he’s meant to Boston College football, right? Well, I would say, I think it's very safe to say that he's one of the best players to ever play in this program. To do what he's done, to break the single season sack record which I think he did tonight, to be the captain, to be the leader that he is, the face of the program in many ways. He’s been through a lot here. Didn't have the greatest of years up to his standard last year, came back this year, really worked hard in the offseason. Give him a lot of credit. He's got a lot of football left in front of him. He'll play in the NFL. He'll play on Sundays. But just give a lot of credit to Donovan. Just did an awesome job. We're going to miss him. We're going to miss him a lot.
Q: Just talk about Grayson. Look at his numbers there. That quarterback rate is pretty darn good, too.
O’BRIEN: Yeah. Grayson is somebody that we're just, we're very proud of. Here's a guy that's come back from injury and then to play today tonight which I thought was probably his best game. He just did a great job. He managed the game very well. He did not turn the ball over. He took off on a couple scrambles that were huge for us within drives. Just an awesome guy, combination of a great person, great student, an improved football player, got better every week, very proud of Grayson James.
Q: Just what about the defense kind of allows a player like Donovan to excel the way that he does in the pass rush?
O’BRIEN: I think Tim [Lewis] has been doing this a long time and Tim brings a professional element to the to the scheme. So we do a lot and we're still working to get better, get a better grasp on what we're doing defensively, but for guys like Donovan, Q Hutchins, Neto Okpala, like it gives them some freedom to come off the edges and rush the passer in passing situations, it ties up the interior pretty well. So, Tim does a good job and those guys, they did a great job of executing.
Q: When you think about where you guys were as a program Day 1 to what we saw on the field today, how much do you feel like the way you guys finished the regular season kind of fortified the identity you're trying to build?
O’BRIEN: Yeah, definitely good job doing that in the first year. I think that what we try to do is just bring a culture in here that's defined by the people within the culture of toughness and good teammates, and giving back to the community and obviously being as good as students as we can be. We try to really take the culture of Boston College and apply that to the football team and I think these guys have done a good job of that for the most part. I think we still are building on that. We'll have new players coming in here pretty soon. We've got 13 or 14 early enrollees that will be here in January. So, we still are building this culture, but I think to get off to the start that we got off to and again, give the seniors a lot of credit. They've been through a lot. Some of them have played for three head coaches, but they bought into what we were doing and really proud of those guys.
Q: You talked about the improvement that this team has shown in the month of November. So what do you attribute that?
O’BRIEN: I think these guys, their work ethic. I attribute it to their work ethic. They stuck with it. They they never quit. There's no quit in Boston College football, that word, we don't use that word here, and so these guys stuck with it, even though some of the weeks were tough. Losing to Louisville, we were up 20-0 in that game. Losing to SMU was a tough, tough loss because we felt like we were in that game. But at the end of the day, they came back and every Sunday they would be sitting right there where you're sitting and ready to go for the next week. So give these guys a lot of credit. I think we built some mental toughness throughout the year and hopefully that'll sustain into the bowl game and into the offseason.
Q: It’s just one game but how much better does 7-5 feel than 6-6?
O’BRIEN: It's a lot better. There's a big difference. We said that all week. There's a big difference between 6-6 and 7-5. I mean, it just sounds better and I think the big thing too is to have a chance to win eight games which hasn't been done here in a while. It's a very big deal for us, no doubt.
Q: Still one other play to ask you about. The game was still kind of in the balance there, that catch by Reed Harris. How big was that?
O’BRIEN: Yeah, another one. We were just saying, we were saying on the Randy Moss segment on the NFL Countdown, maybe he'll make it again. I'm politicking for him, but it was unbelievable. Reed Harris is one of the most improved players on our team. I mean, he's come a long way, made a lot of big plays over the last three or four games. Very proud of him and he's got a great future. He's been awesome for us.
Q: I know it's early, regular season just ended. Is there a bowl destination that’s kind of on your mind, or do you care at all where you might get sent?
O’BRIEN: Not really. I've been to a lot of bowls. I think the Bowl experience is a great experience. You get the extra practices, you get the extra time with your team. College football is a lot better when it comes to that than pro football. In college football, you’re with your players a lot throughout the whole year and so to be able to go to a bowl and be around these guys and continue to build the relationship with the players that we have, I think is a big deal. So whatever bowl we go to, we'll be proud of the fact that we're in that bowl and represent BC to the best of our ability, but I think it's just, it's about being able to get that extra month with your team.
