Everything Boston College Football Head Coach Bill O’Brien Said Ahead of SMU
The Boston College Eagles (5-4, 2-3 ACC) football team is getting ready for its final road game of the regular season as it travels to Dallas, Texas, to take on the No. 14 SMU Mustangs (8-1, 5-0 ACC).
On Wednesday, Eagles head coach Bill O’Brien talked about the upcoming matchup and how the team is preparing for the road trip.
Below is a transcript of everything O’Brien said.
Q: Has Tommy rejoined the team?
O’BRIEN: No.
Q: Can you expect him to travel to SMU with you guys?
O’BRIEN: No. No, I don’t.
Q: Coach, I'd like to talk to you about Brashard Smith a little bit. Does he fit the definition of the classic, every down back?
O’BRIEN: Absolutely, yeah, he's a very dynamic player, strong player, obviously a great runner, breaks tackles and excellent out of the backfield in the passing game, is a good protecting back. So yeah, and a fourth down back, because he returns kicks. So the guy can do it all. He's one of the best players we've played against and it's a big challenge for our defense.
Q: Just a quick follow on that Bill, are those kind of guys harder to find now in the age of specialization that you see so much?
O’BRIEN: Yeah, sometimes they are. I mean, I think there's a good amount of them out there, but it is different than in the past. There's been specialization for a while, right? You look at when I was at the Patriots, and some of the guys we had when I first went there was, we had Laurence Maroney, he was a first and second down back. Then, obviously Kevin Faulk’s probably, in my opinion, one of the best third down backs in the history of the of the game. So, yeah, over time it's been specialized, but I think there's still a good amount of three down backs out there.
Q: Coach, Kevin Jennings [is] one of the best quarterbacks in the country. But what makes him so tough the game plan against?
O’BRIEN: Yeah, cause he can do it all. He's a really good passer. He directs the offense, it all runs through him and then obviously he can run and so it's definitely a tall order for our defense. This is one of the best teams we've played, just an excellent football team, no doubt about it and a lot of it is because of their quarterback, Jennings.
Q: I was wondering if there were things during practice that you guys have noticed over the past couple of weeks that maybe also account for Grayson stepping into the starting role, and if you saw this coming for some time now or if it was solely just gameplay related?
O’BRIEN: No, no, no, he's he's done a great job at practice. He gets half the reps pretty much every day. He's done an excellent job in practice. Very smart guy, prepares himself to be the starter every week and yeah, so part of it is the game, but also what he's done in practice gotten better and better every week. I think a big thing is to like remember he was injured. I don't know if everybody knows that. He was out for like four weeks, he had surgery way back when, so he missed a lot of time and so it took him a while to get back into it. He's a good player.
Q: Coach, everybody wants to talk about SMU’s offense, I want to ask about their defense. This team lines up a nickel a lot, uses light boxes, but they're exceptional at defending the run and I want to ask what you've seen that allows them to be so successful in that department?
O’BRIEN: Yeah, they're very strong up front. They do a really good job up front of moving the front. They have a really good pressure package that's hard to see. It's very well disguised. They run a lot of different coverages, so they make you think it's this and then on the snap, the ball is something else. They're one of the best teams we’ve played, one of the best coached teams we played. Coach Lashlee and his staff do an unbelievable job. I just give them a lot of credit. This is one of the better coach teams that we've played, no doubt about it.
Q: More along those lines, they have 19 takeaways. What do you think enables them to do that?
O’BRIEN: Again, they disguise you, right? So they lead you into plays where you think it's this and then it ends up being this and you throw it to the wrong guy. Then they also do a good job of punching the ball out. So we have to take care of the ball. They've done a great job of taking the ball away.
Q: Did Grayson's preparation before Western Kentucky, did that kind of make the transition a little more seamless for this week?
O’BRIEN: Um, yeah. I mean Grayson's done a good job since the day we walked in here. I really don't see it as a big, dramatic thing. I mean, other people might see it that way. We've got quarterbacks on a roster. Grayson's done a good job. He has earned the opportunity and he's a good guy and he cares about the team. He tries to do what's best for the team every day out there as a backup quarterback and now as the starter. So this is where we're going. We’re going with Grayson James.
Q: I do want to end up asking about the offense actually. So this team, they're really good at creating explosive plays, especially in the pass game. They’re 12th in explosive pass rate and that seems to be a function of just how fast they are. Is there anything that you guys are doing to kind of especially prepare for that, in terms of making sure the first guy makes proper tackle and then limiting yards after catching that way?
O’BRIEN: Absolutely, we have to do a great job of tackling this team. They do a great job with tempo. They break a lot of tackles. Like you said, a lot of their yards come after the catch or after first contact. So tackling will be a big part of this game on both sides of the ball, how well do we break tackles and then how well do we tackle on defense. That's a big, big part of the game.
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