Opposing Views: Expect Another Defensive Struggle Between FSU and BC

For the second straight season, Florida State and Boston College will meet on a Friday night. The Eagles come to Tallahassee on Veteran’s Day or Nov. 11.

Although Boston College went winless in ACC play a season ago, the Eagles posed one of the nation’s best defenses. Boston College yielded the fewest yards per game in the country and ranked fourth in scoring defense. The Eagles return a lot on that side of the ball, but will have to operate without defensive coordinator Don Brown, who left to take a job with Michigan.

“While it will be tough to be as statistically dominant as last season’s BC defense, I don’t expect a huge drop off,” said Bill Mahoney, who runs the popular BC blog, Eagle in Atlanta. “There is still plenty of remaining talent, especially in the defensive backfield, and new (defensive coordinator) Jim Reid promises that he’s not going to change the scheme.”

Points have been hard to come by recently in the series. Last season, FSU managed just one offensive touchdown in a 14-0 victory. The year before in Boston College’s last trip to Tallahassee, the Seminoles needed a Roberto Aguayo field goal in the closing seconds to escape with a 20-17 win.

“The players confirm that the terminology is the same,” Mahoney said of the BC defense. “The big question is how aggressive things will be. Don Brown brought pressure nearly two-thirds of the snaps. I don’t know if Reid will be as aggressive, however, he coordinated a great defense at BC 20 years ago. Even if the defense is not elite, I still think it will be one of the better defenses in the ACC.”

As good as the Eagles were on defense in 2015 however, they were bad on offense. Boston College was dreadful on that side of the ball, having four different quarterbacks attempt at least 50 passes. Expected to take over under center this season is Kentucky transfer Patrick Towles, who was largely inconsistent during his time in Lexington.

“As a fifth-year transfer Towles, by definition, is a short-term fix,” Mahoney said. “The bigger question on offense is how will the offensive line develop and can new offensive coordinator Scot Loeffler put together a consistent, functional offense. There were many factors in BC’s embarrassing offense last year, but I did put a lot of blame on (head coach Steve) Addazio and former (offensive coordinator) Todd Fitch. They threw everything against the wall and nothing stuck. They failed to develop a quarterback or even a consistent game plan. Let’s hope Loeffler is able to at least keep BC competitive.”

Despite not beating FSU since 2009, the Eagles have been competitive in recent years with the Seminoles. Boston College gave the Seminoles their toughest regular season game in 2013 and 2014 as FSU went a combined 24-0 in the regular season. Last year, the score was 7-0 in the fourth quarter before Jalen Ramsey returned a fumble for a touchdown.

“I think Addazio uses emotion as a tool,” Mahoney said. “Under his leadership, we’ve seen BC get up for USC and the Notre Dame games. I put FSU in the same boat. Even last year, when the team wasn’t as good, there was still plenty to play for — national TV, prime time game on ESPN, etc. I don’t know what each team’s ranking will be when they meet up this year, but I expect a BC to be ready.”