Everything Boston College Football Head Coach Bill O’Brien Said After Win Over UNC
The Boston College Eagles (6-5, 3-4 ACC) football team became bowl eligible on Saturday afternoon with a dominant 41-21 win over the UNC Tar Heels (6-5, 3-4 ACC) at Alumni Stadium.
After the game, Eagles head coach Bill O’Brien spoke about his team’s performance and what he saw out of specific players.
Below is a transcript of everything O’Brien said.
Q: Just comment on bowl eligibility with this kind of effort.
O’BRIEN: Yeah, very proud of these players, this coaching staff. We got a long way to go, but from the moment we walked in the building here, the players really bought into what we were talking about. It hasn't been perfect, don't get me wrong, we're 6-5, but these kids have really worked hard for us, and so I'm very happy for them. It's very well earned. At the same time, we got one [more] game, we got another game. So we really want to get back to work here tomorrow but I'm very happy for the for the players.
Q: The anniversary of Doug Flutie’s pass 40 years ago. Does that kind of complete the day with maybe the most completed game you guys have had all year?
O’BRIEN: I told them in this room on Friday, I showed them the last drive of the Miami game. That that was a team, quite obviously, that played 60 minutes. They understood what playing 60 minutes was all about and on this screen right behind me, I showed that drive. And then, when you have the ‘84 team here, they were 10-2, ranked fifth in the country, Heisman Trophy winner in the house, you got to play well. It's kind of in the same vein a little bit as the Red Bandanna Game, like you got to play well in these games. There's a lot of tradition here at Boston College and for those guys to be here meant a lot to our program and it was important for us to go out there and win.
Q: With a 17-7 lead with [the] last two minutes in the first half, how important were those two minutes when Joe gets the pick? And obviously the touchdown from Grayson to Reed, great catch there. Just tell me about how important those two minutes were, knowing that UNC was going to get the ball back.
O’BRIEN: Very important, probably the best example all year of complimentary football. Joe Marinaro makes a huge play and Joe Marinaro, there's not much more you can say about the guy. Like he's done everything we've asked in this program. You talk about a BC guy. He is a BC guy through and through. He's tough, he's smart, whatever we ask him to do, he does and so to see him get that interception. And then, for us to compliment that with the touchdown pass to Reed. Reed went up and got it, which I was very happy to see. And then, if you noticed who made the tackle on the kickoff, it was Joe Marinaro. So that was just a great sequence of plays and very important in the game.
Q: Your thoughts on Grayson's progression over the past couple games, and secondly, have you adjusted the playbook at all to adjusting to his strengths, or have you kept it pretty much the same?
O’BRIEN: I'm very proud of Grayson. He’s traveled a different road. He's had a road that took him down to South Florida for college, and then now to here, to Boston College. And he's done a great job. He has worked very hard. He was hurt earlier in the year and then helped us beat Western Kentucky. And then I thought, did a really good job obviously, in the end of the Syracuse game, did a really good job against SMU, and then he played really well today. I was very happy for him. Playbook wise, we've coached all kinds of quarterbacks, so we have a pretty good idea of how to coach different styles and things like that. So it's pretty much the same. There's probably some things that that we did that we think he's really good at, but overall is probably about the same.
Q: What was the key to stopping the run today?
O’BRIEN: These guys, they had to tackle right. Hampton's a great back and so we had to do a good job of staying in our gaps. The D-Line played really well. They probably played their best game. To stop a guy like that, to hold a guy like that, who came in averaging a lot of yards and just rushed for 250 against Wake [Forest], I mean that's a big accomplishment for our defense and give them a lot of credit up front, they did a really good job.
Q: Bowl eligibility in your first year. Can you just talk about that setting you up for the rest of the season and then especially setting your team up for the offseason as well, just getting that sixth win?
O’BRIEN: Yeah, I think it's great to be bowl eligible. There's no doubt about it. It does, you're exactly right. It gives you those extra practices which is very important for the younger players on our team. That's a great thing. But I do think it's important to note that we have another regular season game that's very, very important. It's an ACC game against a really good Pitt team. Well coached, Coach Narduzzi is one of the best coaches in the country and so we've got to come back and get ready for that. But I am very proud of these guys to be bowl eligible, no doubt about it.
Q: We talked a lot about special teams this year. You gave up the return but you got the field goal, you got the return from Farris. What’d you see from Farris and special teams today?
O’BRIEN: Yeah, I think the return, the kickoff return, was tough. They did a good job. They blocked it well, we didn't leverage the ball properly, and we've got to get that fixed because that'll be a problem if we don't get that fixed. Overall, our kickoff coverage has been good all year, wasn't that good on that play obviously. I think overall though we've done a good job. Give credit to Liam, Liam Connor to be able to step in and do all three. It's not always perfect, but his kicking has really helped us a lot. Another guy, like very much of a BC guy. Very smart, very tough, ‘hey whatever the team needs’ is always his attitude. Give him credit. And then all the guys on special teams I thought overall did a decent job. Isaiah Farris, he earned that in practice. So a few weeks ago, he was doing a great job of returning punts in practice. We said ‘hey, let's let him do the punt returner.’ He had a great punt return today.
Q: Just comment on the O-Line’s run and pass protection.
O’BRIEN: Yeah, they're one of the most improved units on the team. They've gotten a lot better over the course of the year. Their communication, how they execute in both the run and the pass has really been awesome. The leader of that ship is Drew Kendall and he's done an awesome job. They're really good players up front. They're tough. They don't say much. They just go out there and they got a lunch pail attitude and they did a great job today.
Q: Amari’s been out for some time. Max was out today. Ryan Turner gets two interceptions today. Tell me about that.
O’BRIEN: I mean, Ryan Turner has gone from the bottom of the depth chart to the top of the depth chart. He's earned it. He has stuck with it. It hasn't been easy for him. He transferred here from Ohio State. He's probably third on the depth chart, fourth on the depth chart at times, kept plugging away, got better and better. Showed up in some scrimmages in the spring, showed up a little bit in scrimmages, in the fall, during the bye weeks, and earned the right to start and made the most of it today. So I give a lot of credit to Ryan. He's been through a lot and he did a really nice job.
Q: Thoughts on going up against Mack Brown, one of the legends. He had high praise for you coming into this game… Thoughts on going up against him?
O’BRIEN: Yeah, I can't say enough about Mack Brown. Mack Brown is someone in this profession that I've always looked up to. When I was a graduate assistant at Georgia Tech, he was in his first stint as the head coach at North Carolina and we had some great games against him, obviously at the University of Texas, winning the national championship with Vince Young and that group in one of the greatest games of all time. And then, when you go to the ACC meetings and you're around Mack and he's very, very smart. He’s very experienced. He's just a really great person, a great human being and it was an honor to go against him today. I'm sure he's not very happy right now, but he's a great football coach, a Hall of Fame coach, and we wish him the very best.
