Everything Boston College Head Coach Bill O'Brien Said Ahead of Week 2 Game vs. Duquesne
The Boston College Eagles football team is officially looking towards Week 2 and is getting ready to host the Duquesne Dukes on Satuday afternoon.
Eagles head coach Bill O'Brien spoke about how the team is getting prepared on short rest for the team's home opener against Duquesne.
Below is a transcript of everything O'Brien said.
Q: Obviously some flight trouble coming back. How do you think the guys handled that and what's the recovery like this week, while also trying to get prepared?
O’BRIEN: I think they did a good job. I mean, those things happen. We again, like, what I've said all along is we have to control what we can control. We can't control mechanical issues on a plane, or where we stay, or really anything like that. So we just try to do what we can to control the controllables. And I thought these guys did a good job of adapting and came back and had some good energy today.
Q; Talk about preparedness. I mean, if you speak to your coaches, Matt Applebaum with O-Line and Tim Lewis with the defense. Just speak about how prepared and basically preparedness going into Duquesne week.
O’BRIEN: I would say the first deal is the three coordinators did a great job, and they've done a good job. I mean, again, Matt Thurin, Will Lawing, and Tim Lewis, to this point, got to keep it going right? Like, that's the key. Can you sustain? But to this point, they've done a really good job. Matt's done a good job with the O-Line. Jeff Comissiong, with the D-Line. So I think a lot, I think the assistant coaches are doing a very, they're working very hard. It's a hard working group of coaches, and it's one day at a time, one day at a time. Like, how can we be better as coaches today than we were yesterday, and how can we be better tomorrow? Everybody in this program has to be into improvement. The key to any good football team is how do they improve? Because at the end of the day, it's the team that improves the fastest. It doesn't really matter where you are in week one, it's where you are in week 12. How do you improve? How do you get better? And I think that's a key for us moving forward.
Q: Coach, Florida State's front four had the two defensive tackles, two defensive ends. There's some teams that line up those tackles over the center. For you, that preparation with your with the line, just what were some of the things that the line needed to look for out of that front for that gave them that type of success when they were, you know, had the two guys spread out like that?
O’BRIEN: I'm not going to get into details. Look, I think every game has its game plan and we try to put together a game plan that we think, 'hey, this is what's what we believe is going to happen' in any game, any scrimmage, anything. And then, you know, you there's some of it, you're playing the percentages. But then if you go into the game and something happens that's different than what you've prepared for, you got to be able to adjust. I think that's the key in any game. That's the key in any practice. The way we practice most of the time, we practice different situations and things like that. We have to be able to adapt to, 'hey, this is what we believe we're going to see. Oh, it's something different'. We got to be able to adjust to that. I think our guys have to keep doing a good job of that.
Q: Just one game but your thoughts on kind of ball rolling and getting a big one, some getting the alumni involvement and just some thoughts you received from people so far.
O’BRIEN: I really appreciate all the alums, have a lot of, obviously, got a lot of text messages. I think the key though is, again, and I appreciate the question, but like, can we build that as a fan base into filling Alumni stadium on Saturday? I was just watching this video, and I'm not going to mention the school, but it was a great fan base of a school that I think is kind of similar to ours. Like, man, their crowd was into it, and that makes a big difference at home. So to every BC fan out there, we need to fill this stadium for every single home game. I think that's what it's all about. Like college football is all about the spirit, right? The student body, the fans, the band, that really helps the players. The players, they feed off that energy. So hopefully we can, we can get a good crowd here on Saturday.
Q: Just, last point of O-Line, the two tackles, Ozzy and Jude, what were kind of their roles, just in explosiveness, in keeping that pocket so fresh for Tommy?
O’BRIEN: I think you know the tackles. I think you know Dwayne Allick, Jack Conley, Drew Kendall, those guys have worked very hard since the day we got here. Kevin Cline went in there, Logan Taylor will be back this week. Those guys have worked extremely hard in the weight room, summer conditioning, training camp to where we are now. Now, the key is again. I'm going to tell you this over and over again. How can we get better? Because not every play was perfect, right? Those guys, they know that. They know the things that they have to improve on. So we have to be able to, okay, what do we do that was good? We got to keep that going, and then what do we what do we have to do to improve the things that we didn't do well? And that's what it's all about every day.
Q: Coach, I thought secondary was underrated the other night. Just talk about their play, they were playing through receivers an through the ball, and I thought it was an underrated aspect of the defense.
O’BRIEN: Yeah, I think the key to our secondary here at Boston College will be, do we have guys that can place a man to man, that can tackle, you know, tough guys, guys that can communicate, because back there you have to make a lot of communications, and so I think that's one of the keys for us. We did a pretty good job of that most of the night. But then, there were a couple plays that we didn't communicate well, and we just kind of got lucky on we have to get better. We have to get better back there. I'm happy with those guys. I like the way they play, but we've got to really, really work hard to improve this week on the things that we need to improve on.
Q: Coach first game, head coach home game, Boston College. Just personally, gonna have a lot of family and friends and stands and how you're looking forward to that?
O’BRIEN: I'm really looking forward to, like I said to the previous question, is the crowd itself. Like, I think that that one of the keys here, and like I've said all off season, is we have to put a good product on the field. If we can put a good product on the field, and we really want a great crowd at Alumni Stadium. You know, back in the day, I've told that story a million times when I came, when I was, like, 12/13 years old, and I came to that game where they qualified to go the Tangerine Bowl, I think in 1982, Doug Flutie was a quarterback and, I just remember that crowd being unbelievable, students threw the tangerines on the field. I think we need that. We need to make sure that we're playing good football so people want to come watch us play. I think that's one of our our deals and so hopefully we get that on Saturday. And I'm definitely excited about, you know, I'm from here, right, so being from here and being able to lead a team out onto the field at Alumni Stadium is pretty cool.
Q: I was gonna say, Duquesne this week, short, short week. When did it start for Duquesne? You know, with the short, short week, and how do you get ready for the next game with breaking them all down?
O’BRIEN: The key is our summer process. So during the summer, we spent a lot of time on the first four opponents. So, you know, spend a week on Florida State, a week on Duquesne, week on Missouri. You know that that's what we do in the summertime so we have some thoughts, and then we have to watch the game. They played Toledo last week, so we've watched that game, and our guys worked hard. Our coaches got off the plane, got on the bus, and went right back to work. That's football. That's what it is. That's the season. That's the love of the game. That's why you coach. I mean, that's the most fun, like, get back after a late night, little tired, and you get to work on the next opponent. So that'll be a grind all week. Duquesne does a lot of things that are very, very difficult to defend and very, very difficult to go against offensively. So you know, we've got to have a really good couple days here.
Q: What's the latest on that? Grayson James and how's Jacobe coming along?
O’BRIEN: Jacobe Robinson is doing okay. He's got to do better. He's got to be more consistent. He's a great kid, very smart, young player. Got a good, bright, future, but got to do be a little bit more consistent. And Grayson's doing okay. I think he's a ways off, but he's working hard to get back.
Q: Just some thoughts on the young guys stepping in, Carter Davis, Turbo Richard guys like that. How do you decide when a freshman or redshirt freshman's ready to play? And what did those guys do to stand up?
O’BRIEN: I thought that those guys look, again, like a lot of these guys, they've worked very hard, like they've been here. Turbo Richard just got here this summer, but Carter is a guy that's a very versatile player. I think the key to Carter, just him specifically, is, again, like, that's, that's something I've said now a lot is, can he improve? Can he keep his strength level up? Can he improve from week to week because sometimes he'll play corner, sometimes he'll play safety. He's a multiple, versatile player. Plays on special teams, made a couple good plays on special teams. So the whole key for him is, can he balance? Got to go to class, got a lift, got a practice, got to eat, right? That's going to be the key for all those young players.
KIM RANKIN