Everything Boston College Football Head Coach Bill O’Brien Said Ahead of Western Kentucky
The Boston College Eagles football team is getting ready for its last non-conference game of the year, a home contest against the Western Kentucky Hilltoppers on Saturday afternoon.
Eagles head coach Bill O’Brien spoke after practice on Wednesday about what’s he’s seen so far this week and how the team is preparing.
Below is a transcript of everything O’Brien said.
Q: Could you just comment on the fortitude of Western Kentucky to have recovered from that beat down in Tuscaloosa. And if you just look at the numbers from the last three games, they look pretty formidable.
O’BRIEN: Yeah, they're really good team. You're exactly right. Alabama beats a lot of teams down. Alabama is an excellent football team. So I think for us, they won three in a row. They're a very well coached team. They play very hard. They have a very difficult scheme to go against. Look, I think we practiced well. I think we've got two good days of practice, but we're gonna have to have another one tomorrow. It's a very, very good football team, and it's going to be a very tough game for us.
Q: Your opponents have made in the red zone ten times and have scored scored just three touchdowns. What’s gone into your red zone defense so far?
O’BRIEN: Yeah, I think at the end of the day, you've got to be able to stop the run down there and I think we've done a pretty good job of stopping a run and put them in passing situations. Tim and the staff have done a good job of teaching these guys about the red zone and what's important relative to the red zone, coverage-wise, communication-wise, recognition-wise, all those things, and then the guys have really played well. So again, that's a big, big deal for us. We have to continue to do that. That was a big deal in the Michigan State game, being able to hold those guys to field goals. So that has to continue.
Q: Western Kentucky is always obviously concerned about a letdown coming off of the game like Michigan State. But has that sell been easy with what the guys have seen on tape from that group and kind of how they present?
O’BRIEN: Yeah, if there's a letdown, then then shame on us. Absolute shame on us if there's a letdown, absolute shame on Boston College football. We need to show up and be ready to play, noon kickoff, put the tape on. Western Kentucky is a helluva football team. They won three in a row, beat Middle Tennessee, beat Eastern Kentucky, they've done an excellent job of beating Toledo. Three in a row, on a real hot streak. We better be ready to go. Shame on us if there's a letdown.
Q: Just on Tommy behind the scenes and also, you know what he did in the Michigan State game, kind of bouncing back from the Missouri contest, where he took a lot on himself. What have you seen, have you learned about him over the last week, facing a little adversity?
O’BRIEN: He's a hard worker. He's a very competitive guy, cares about the team. He really tries hard to prepare. He feels bad when he doesn't make a good play or makes a mistake. He tries not to make the same mistake twice. He's a great guy to coach.
Q: I wanted to ask you about NIL and college football and how it's impacting mid-season rosters. Pete Thamel just reported today that Matthew Sluka, former Holy Cross quarterback, after three games, deciding to redshirt because he claims he wasn't paid enough. So I just wanted to get your thoughts on how NIL is impacting college football and what the system you set up at Boston College to kind of deal with that?
O’BRIEN: I think it's really important that when the time's right, that you explain to your team and their families how you do it. I think everybody here at Boston College has a pretty good idea of how we've set it up. Things will change. There's a lot of litigation still to play out relative to revenue sharing and there's just a lot of things that are still kind of up in the air. We have an earn it philosophy at Boston College, meaning are you a good guy in the locker room? Are you a good teammate? Do you go to class? Do you participate in the community when called upon, or even doing it on your own? And if you check all those boxes and a few more boxes, and then you do that over a period of time, then you've earned it. To promise a guy, and this is me at Boston College, had nothing to do, I don't know anything about UNLV, Holy Cross. No idea about that stuff. But nobody will ever be promised anything here. They will have to come in here and earn and some people may listen to that and say ‘well coach, how you going to survive?’ We'll survive. We'll survive. Boston College a very special place. We have a lot to offer at Boston College besides NIL. If you come to BC and you get a BC degree, then NIL will seem like peanuts to you ten years down the road. Peanuts. So, NIL is a part of what we're doing, but at the same time, we have a very, very resilient football team that understands the earn it philosophy.
Q: I wanted to ask you about a player who’s been a little bit of an unsung hero, at least in terms of the statistics for this defense. Cam Horsley. Watching the tape back from these first few games, he’s just been an animal in run defense and in today's game, when it's so much about passing and what are you doing to affect the quarterback, I just want to hear you talk about what Horsley brings to this defense in terms of earning the right to rush the passer by being solid and run defensive early downs.
O’BRIEN: Yeah, he has just been a great player for us through the first four games here. I mean, he got a game ball for Michigan State. He was a dominant player up front and did a really good job against the run. I think his pass rush has gotten better. It's hard to rush the passer from in there, many times you're double teamed. It's just different. It's totally different than rushing the passer from the edge. It's just different. I think the guy fights. I think he's a helluva player. I think the guy's going to be a really good player on Sundays. I love coaching him. He shows up every day… Very tough, tough guy. It's hard to play that position every day. It's very, very difficult. It's like 50 car crashes per day. That's a tough, tough position to play, and he's a tough guy. It's been great to watch him play.
Q: Quick question about the offensive line. Obviously, a pretty veteran group there. What have you liked from them so far in terms of pass protection and discipline?
O’BRIEN: Look, I think our offensive line is really good. I think there's always areas to improve. I think their pass protection has been very, very good for the most part. I think they got to play with better pad level in the run game, get their pads down. We hold them to a high standard. They're a very good offensive line. They need to play to that standard every single game, and they really do. They have great leadership up there with Drew Kendall, Ozzy Trapilo, Jack Conley, Logan Taylor, Jude Bowry. These are great guys, very tough, very athletic, really what BC offensive line, the former BC offensive lineman, I believe, should be very proud of this offensive line. They carry the tradition very well. There's always things they need to do to improve, and we're working hard to improve, but I think overall, they've played well.
Q: Coach, I wanted to ask, kind of following up the offensive line thing, Western Kentucky has one of the highest blitz rate in college football. I believe they're blitzing on like 56% of drop backs, which is the second highest. Don't want to ask you to get specifically in a game plan, but what can you just kind of explain what’s the difference between going up against a team that blitzes a ton in pass protection versus a team that is more just four man rushes?
O’BRIEN: Yeah, look, I think it's very difficult. I think it's very, very difficult. You better be on high alert. You better know in the passing game what the protection is. You better know where you're going. You better gain a lot of, as much information as you can before the snap of the ball, because there's probably going to be some free rushers the way that they do it and you have to be tuned in. Quarterback, offensive line, everybody it’s [a] very, very difficult challenge.
Q: Coach, another opportunity this weekend, noontime game and also family week. I just wanted to ask you another opportunity to get the community together and have families come in for the players. Just talk a little bit about that.
O’BRIEN: Yeah, think that's awesome. I think that's one of the great things about college football, right? It's parents weekend at BC. There’ll be so many people here with their children who go to school here. Obviously our team, a lot of parents come. We have a parents tailgate. We have great parents here at Boston College, parents that really care about their their kids and understand the value of a Boston College education and so I think it's an awesome weekend. It's one of those weekends where we're probably going to have another really good crowd. We again, it's a noon kickoff. So I really, again, I asked the students, ‘hey man, please show up early. Please be in there. Be in there at 11:30’ because our team really feeds off of that. That was such an awesome crowd at Michigan State. Our team feeds off of that and we've got to continue to play well, to have that type of fan base but between the Parents Weekend, our own students, let's have a great crowd on Saturday, it’d be awesome.
KIM RANKIN