Bounce Back or Upset Alert? Florida State vs. Boston College Preview

Florida State Boston College can the seols rebound from the disappointment last week or are they on upset watch because a lot of people have it that way Michael I'm nervous I'm excited but to be honest I'm ready to just bury Georgia Tech last week and I'm ready to move on to BC and I'm really just ready to see how this team responds first one in do at night Under The Lights sold out can't be more excited man I just I'm nervously excited so ready to get into this one we're going to talk about the Eagles who have a completely new look this year as far as the coaching staff goes new schemes and all that stuff so we're going to break all that down for you excited to get into this one it's still FSU football man we saw a lot of teams got to play yesterday on Thursday night uh before we recording this and look everybody didn't get off to a pretty start you know so I think it's hopefully it was just game zero game one Jitters or whatnot but we're going to get into it and and what we think is going to happen with this matchup so before we jump in my friend how are you I know you actually you got to watch the 2017 national champions uh play last night down there in Orlando and you know what not everybody's having a little bit of time at quarterback there so uh KJ Jefferson looked a little bit rough but uh how are you my friend oh I'm good Jesse thanks thanks yeah yeah I did get a chance to go with my family to the to the UCF game last night and yeah KJ you know didn't look very good very uh very mundane very uh uh pedestrian and to it took a while against the New Hampshire Wildcats yeah to uh really kind of get that uh get the scoring going but eventually they did because you know New Hampshire's nowhere in comparison to the UCF athletes yeah I'm looking forward to seeing how Florida State bounces back um at Boston College like you said it's a sold out I unfortunately won't be able to be there which I'm so sad about but um I'll be watching from afar and uh excited to see them boun back to respond to use a Mike norell word to see how they respond to to the the gut punch that they took last week and um and see if they can get back on the winning column yeah man it's it's been like I feel like I've aged 20 years in the last week as a uh fan Outlet media member whatever you want to call it it's just there's been a lot of really downtrod in the fan base a lot of just so much negativity so I get it man I totally understand there's a lot of concern with this team and we both feel the same way we were not that that last episode we did was not for the Fain of heart yeah but at the same time we're still going to take a positive tone in this one because you know again man that you never know they say teams make their most Improvement between week one and week two or zero and one whichever you want to say yeah we're hoping that that's the case this week but uh just to get into some things with this Boston College matchup as Michael said he's not going to be able to be at the game I will be at the game originally I wasn't going to be there but I decided to go because it's just a Monday night matchup we are going to be having kind of an informal tailgate there in lot 14 in the in mural fields which is right across the street from the stadium if you're in the area we would love to meet with you come by and say hey uh that is a first come first serve type of lot so I'm not sure exactly where we'll be follow us on social media as we get set up I'll try and let you guys know where we're at I'm trying to find some identifiers so people can find us last year we had some confusion with how to find people so but anyway we're going to do it a little bit bigger for the Clemson and Florida games when Michael's able to be there uh so be on the lookout for that but just you know we'd love to say hey and and have people come by um and talk with you guys but man I'm just I'm excited to be back in Tallahassee I'm excited to be back in do Campbell Stadium kind of it's going to look weird it you know with the renovations I've seen some pictures and it does look a little strange uh but at the same time I am excited to be back and speaking of being in Tallahassee let me bring you a quick word from today's sponsor Alumni Hall FSU if you're in Tallahassee if you're going to that game make sure you swing by and grab you some new FSU gear they got everything you need from tailgate supplies hats shirts everything that you need they're actually having a fan event on Saturday where you can come out bring your kids they got you know face painting and all this type of cool stuff that they're doing 1415 Timberlane Road in Tallahassee or shop online alumni hall.com navigate over to the FSU page and use code spear to get 10% off if you're going to buy the gear you might as well save some money I mean why not so getting into this matchup with Boston College you know I think everybody's in this in this nervous holding pattern for this one and I think FSU has a chance to come out and kind of wash their hands of of last week bury that footage of Georgia Tech and move on but we're nervous to see what they do how they respond because this is also a team that can beat you and so I mean you do get the 7:30 pm kick at night in do so you have that little bit of an advantage there you know we saw last week with hannes King even in a neutral site environment where I think that's only like a 50 thou 47,000 seat Stadium we're only at 55 this year um you know he had had to put his hands over his ears he had a little bit trouble here and stuff so the crowd can make a difference in this game and that I do like uh the odds currently are sitting at FSU at a 16 and a half Point favorite now this line has moved around quite a bit yeah it's been as high as 22 to as low as 15 and a half um now what is interesting here is when you look at the spread bets against the spread 73% got BC covering of the bets and 61% of the money is on BC to cover but on the money line the straightup winner 90 4% of bets are towards FSU 99% of the money is on the seals and as they say Michael follow the money uh now it is pretty evenly on the split of over under which is 49 a half so not the most high scoring game last week I think it was like what 55 and a half or something like that um so you know they say F the money but it's probably nervous money I will I will say that you know 16 and a half points feels pretty fair I can't say that I'm going to give FSU a 16 and a half Point win in this one but we'll get to our our score predictions later looking at the overall series record Florida state does hold the edge 15 to five they've won 12 of the last 13 BC's last win in Tallahassee was 2008 so a lot of these things lean towards FSU a lot of those things kind of lean towards FSU last week too and it didn't really make a whole lot of difference now the last meeting we know was 3129 little bit of a scare there you had that game 31-10 with a minute left in the third quarter before a couple fumbles got them back in the game and you know there was a lot of things that went in that game the red bandan and all that stuff we'll talk about that later the last meeting in Tallahassee is what we're hoping for 44 to 14 opened with a Trey Benson kickoff return touchdown and the nolles never look back so you know Michael the numbers say it should be FSU but that doesn't mean it's gonna happen that way because they kind of said they leaned our way last week and it didn't kind of work out that way that's right that's right I mean yeah I mean it uh Boston College comes into the game with a you know whole different set of uh of of issues and and things that Florida State's going to have to be concerned with I mean honestly if you if if you were to actually look at it you you might say there are some eerily similarities to what Georgia Tech presented for Florida State and the fact that uh and I know we'll get into it but you know they're returning a significant portion of their offensive line Boston College always has beefy offensive line I mean La I mean I know that two years ago they had injuries to the offensive line which allowed us to really you know help us blow them out at Tallahasse but they're again going to be able to bring a a beefy set of offensive linemen they always have that one linebacker that no matter no matter how poor the program is that linebacker is there and it's a it's he's good and he's always in the right space and he's always causing problems right and it's always a weird game for Florida State when they play you know the likes of Boston College or NC State or somebody like that on a nons Saturday if it's a Thursday if it's a labor game and it's always some tricky stuff that you just can never anticipate and coming off the game that they had against Georgia Tech you know the fan base obviously uh our our antennas are are are high up you know we're on we we're no longer on like green smooth sailings we are at yellow almost Red Alert to to anything now so any sign of of of regression any sign of of or even just similarity to last week I think is going to send the fan base but I'm hopeful that Florida State uh has learned its lesson to say to you know they say in football that you either learn you either win or you learn and so I hope they learn from what uh happened last week and they're ready to go for this week because it's I mean I I don't think we're just gonna roll over Boston College no no and I think you know the fans support is still there because the game is sold out but I think we have ourselves on upset alert right now because we're all just so nervous but you know I will say man that like yesterday I was in a Twitter space with some former players and things like that and I'll leave everybody nameless uh just just because and one of them did say that they talked to a current player and that they were pretty shocked about that loss they did not expect that to go that way I'm a little nervous about some of the clips that I've seen coming out of practice as far as the effort and the energy you know I don't even want to bring that up I don't want to go into depth on that because it's just one clip out of practice or something like that a couple of Clips you know people are hammering the people that are posting them but it is what it is man it's they're just doing their job and so like that that type of stuff makes me nervous but I'm hoping like you said man this is aut punching that they respond from last week because BC is eerily similar to Georgia Tech and Georgia Tech just handed them a game plan of how to beat FSU correct and so that does make me nervous now to take a quick look back at what BC did last year and we're not gonna spend a lot of time on what they did last year because there's a lot of new pieces you look at and and when you talk about that 20 uh 2022 game yeah that that offensive line was decimated you had jovic who was a you know very non-mobile quarterback and that is not the case this year uh but they did manage to go seven- six last year after a rough start three and five in the ACC beat SMU in the bowl game which was a big win for them but SMU didn't have their quarterback uh last year scoring offense 24.8 points per game at 82nd scoring defense 28.3 points allowed at 86 so not too great there uh looking ahead to 2024 they are only projected to win four and a half games now depending on what they look like I think that win total might be a little bit low um you know that we didn't have the the first game working out the way did so hopefully we can get a win here and like you said man those nons Saturday games I just did an episode with a BC guy a couple days ago and we were talking about how this one played out and I said man anytime we play BC on a nons Saturday game I get nervous because it's just anybody anytime we play anybody on a non-s Saturday game I hate it um but looking at them again four and a half projected wins feels a little low for that team because I think I I like Bill O'Brien as a coach I think he's going to do well there uh Phil steel experience rank has them all the way up at 14th so they do have some pieces coming back returning production is at 67% but like you pointed out with Georgia Tech it's 80% on the offense and 53% on the defense which if I want to if I'm not mistaken Georgia Tech was 83 and 49 so again man this is literally a copy and paste from last week which is what makes me nervous now we're GNA go big picture first then we'll get offense defense and and get into the uh predictions and keys and stuff like that so for me I when I approach this game I look at this like this is the first game for BC with a new staff new systems and a lot of new faces they just released uh their depth chart yesterday which which I have some notes on that as we go through the sides it's like how crisp are they going to look because you know we saw yesterday where or excuse me last week where it was Florida State's first game and they look sloppy and so that that makes you worried uh how much did we get clean up from from one week to the next but is BC G to fall victim to that too your very first game with all these new things going on how how clean of a game are they going to play now right this comes back to back to you remember 2022 against LSU when we had that Duane game in week zero and it was like well you had a game to work the Kings out but you ALS LSU also has film and things like that and and it wasn't a vanilla game plan against Georgia Tech because you were in a dog fight like like it was with uh Duane where you just pretty much van very vanilla game plan so BC has tape on you that's right but you've also had a chance to work out that sloppiness which have not so that's always kind of a give and take there as far as uh my mindset goes you know really I think when you look at the when you look at last week the general consensus I feel like among the fan base is that most people would have been upset but okay with a loss had the team have flown around been physical gave 110% it just that was not the case yeah and so I think really this week you're just looking for them to rebound from a physical standpoint you just want them to play hard play tough and bring it to BC we touched on this a second ago what really worries me about this game is these are two teams that are so for are so similar BC is always a physical hard-nosed type of team it's a run heavy offense led by a dual threat quarterback we had trouble stopping the run and guess what last week you got Georgia Tech who was the number one rushing offense in the ACC last year this week you get Boston College who was the number two rushing offense in the ACC last year so keep coming right coming in waves things don't get any easier both teams actually averaged over 200 yards on the ground last year and then you also look at a defense that's very similar as well BC likes to load the box to stop the run and they had a good pass defense last year A bad Rush defense last year it really is a copy and paste of last week and so that does make me a little bit nervous um of course like I just touched on a second ago you do bring in a new coach Bill O'Brien has a ton of experience he did coach in college at Penn State way back in the day when Penn State was coming out of those sanctions and all that stuff and he actually did a pretty formidable job 15- n at PSU over two seasons won the Big 10 coach of the year in one of the years there for the job that he did just be you know they lost a lot of their team and all that stuff so so to put that together was pretty good uh then he went to the NFL of course he started in the NFL then he went back to the NFL uh things didn't work out too well there he went to the Nick Sabin coaching rehab facility and 21 and 22 as the offensive coordinator there spent about 15 minutes as the offensive coordinator at Ohio State and now he's he's back with uh BC or or he's with BC a team that he's very familiar with in that northeast corner of the state he said it's been a dream job since he was a kid it just didn't his path didn't lead him there so I think he's excited to be there I think he's going to bring a new kind of swagger to BC uh something that you know a guy who has been at the highest level like the best team in in the NFL the best team in college he's been at both of those programs he's going to bring in that Championship mindset something that BC typically they dream of but they haven't had yet but you have a guy that's been there he knows what it takes to get there and so I think he's going to lead BC in the right direction just hopefully not in game one uh so before we get into the offense and and defense give me some of your overall some broad view thoughts on this game yeah I mean it's really hard to really kind of like sum up who BC is because obviously we haven't seen them with the whole new coaching staff so you have to go back and look at you know his Bill O'Brien's time at Penn State you have to go back and look at his time at Alabama look at some of the offensive concept that he likes to run which um is very similar I think you're going to see a similar esque offense to what you saw with um Georgia Tech with a lot of motion um uh and a lot of just try to misdirection and then run right at you right they're going to try to get the off the The linebacker's Eyes in different places and I think on defense you have um you have the I can't think of his name right now but he was in the uh Tim Lewis Tim Lewis that's right Tim Lewis has been a coach for a long time he's had NFL background he's had you know college background as well too he's a heavy Blitzer you're going to see a lot of blitzing like you remember Miami the defense I mean like la like Miami's defense basically how they their defensive corner just loves the blitz well you're gonna see that you saw that a lot when Georgia Tech you know when they you know after that first drive of Florida state ran through them like sliced cheese they switched it up they started bringing the safety down they started bringing at least um five to six players in the box at all I mean you almost had seven to eight players in the box at all times well uh Boston College Tim Lewis he's going to want to do the same thing yep he's gonna actually like send his play he's gonna put his corners on an island and so you you know Mike derella mentioned in the um in the uh in the press conference there that he uh that they have they've they' they've gone back and watched all film film from NFL film from College film from when they were in the uh uh the the second rate football league I can't think of right now yeah the UFL and the XU XFL yeah because they all have experience there so they went back and looked at a lot of that stuff to try to get you know to throw as much to the players as possible to try to get them as ready to to U for what they may or may not see so it overall you know I think again like we said earlier this is going to be a similar kind of looking to what we saw with Georgia Tech maybe just a little bit different where in the sense of Georgia Tech's you know offense 80% of that uh what what was the present you said Boston College brought back this year off it was 80% 80% as well too and so you know it's just going to be unique to see how Florida State um is able to to to learn from the Georgia Tech game and then apply it to here with Boston College because you know Boston College looked at that game they probably disected they probably called Georgia Tekken said help a brother out how what did you do there um and and they're gonna look to come in in Tallahasse to try to pull up the upset yeah they probably put in that Fone give me the old Conor stallion treatment or whatever here pass that along exactly I think you're right man I think when you look at it it's like you kind of have to cover all your bases because you've seen you know the college game is so much different than NFL you you do different things so you have to kind of take what they did at at uh Alabama there but also like BC is a traditional ground and pound type of running team the Personnel is different like do you have the pieces that's one of my biggest questions is do you have the pieces to run that Bill O'Brien scheme that's right and I mean they're going to run it anyway it's just how successfully can R so let's start with the offense here new offensive coordinator which again keep in mind Bill O'Brien is probably going to be your play caller here he is an offensive guy but it is will la uh he did serve with Bill O'Brien as offensive anist at Alabama in 21 and 22 he also coached at New England and Houston with Bill O'Brien this is his first uh stint as OC at this level he was an offensive coordinator at a division three school back way back in 2011 in 2012 but this is his first time uh at the power four level as a coordinator but again like we said that's not really big deal because Bill O'Brien's going to be your play caller there um of course we you can't talk about BC without starting with the most important position and the most important player on this entire team and that is Thomas castalanos their offense lives and dies with him now we have bad memories of Thomas castalanos because the game against Florida State last year was his best game of the season by far I mean he he torched us for 400 allpurpose yards and two touchdowns in that game now of course there's a lot of things that went into that uh if I remember correctly AEM Dent was out for that game it was early in the season so he was the quarterback of your defense the defense had the flu we all know that type of stuff so that does make you concern there but the numbers through the air weren't very impressive the numbers on the ground he was one of the best rushing quarterbacks in the country so just looking back to last year 189 of 330 57.3 completion percentage 2 248 yards through the air 6.8 yards per attempt 15 touchdowns to 14 interceptions so the big talk with him has been has the passing improved his pass grade last year from PFF was 57.7 which was 137th in the country uh he did take 23 sacks had a 20.9% pressure to sack ratio so for being a mobile guy and they had a pretty good offensive line last year he did take quite a bit of sacks he you know a lot of that's probably making things happen but on the ground man hundred 66 attempts 1222 yards we talked about this before Florida State hasn't had a thousand yard rusher since cam acres in 207 and and their quarterback ran for 1,200 last year uh 5.9 yards per attempt 13 touchdowns seven fumbles so there's going to be some opportunity for turnovers here right uh I mean when you look at the passing game nine of 13 games last year he threw for under 200 yards but he did have four games with over 100 yards on the ground so the biggest question here again is has that passing improved and when I talked to the guy from BC earlier this week he said look man I can't judge that I can't give you that information till I see it in the game they're saying the right things in Camp he's doing the right things in Camp I've have spent the last couple days reading practice reports on on uh BC's message boards they said he's looked the best he has throughout Camp the last week man dju looked the best he's looked in Camp before we saw him in the Georgia Tech game so again I I understand what my what the guy was saying from BC that you just don't know till you see it in a game exactly so I think he will be in a better passing system with Bill O'Brien but has that improved will be the question of this game but you still got to contain him on the ground because that's where he's most dangerous and now I'll throw it back to you but I will say another thing that that the guy from BC touched on was you know anytime you have a running quarterback you open yourself up to the risk of injury and I will say that they have kind of brought in some guys that are very similar to castalano so they don't have to switch up that offense a lot they got a couple of mobile guys but it's not an experienced Group by any means if for some reason castalanos has to miss any bit of time it is going to be a very much you know almost like a a brock Glenn Tate romaker type of situation where that that guy just doesn't have a lot of experience but man the game the really the offense but the entire game to me lives and dies on what Thomas castalanos does and has we know he's probably going to get his on the ground yeah and I think because of the injury risk they're going to want him to lean more on his arm this year than his legs he's going to run the ball there's no doubt about that but has the passing improved will be the key to this game for Thomas castalanos yeah I mean that that like you said that that is the number one uh clue to whether or not Boston College is going to be able to have a decent season not if they're going to be able to overcome the the four- win projection because if his passing has improved to go along with his Dynamic use of his legs I mean he becomes a true dual threat quarterback I mean right now he's dual threat in the sense of he's probably the best passer on the team with the most electric legs but he's not pro he's not the best passer in the ACC he he be way down there and you know like the the the the guy from BC said I mean you know he he said all the right things this summer about like yeah I'm G to work and I'm gonna get my passing up I want to become a a quarterback that's all that's well-rounded do all those things but you know when you get into a game right Everybody's Got A Plan until you get punched in the mouth right exactly and so it it will it will be it will be um it will be important and imperative for them to really try to establish his passing early on so you might see you know the short you know five yard passes the the behind the line of scrimmage the screen throws out wide the wide receiver screen just to try to get him in Rhythm early so that when he starts to actually have to take shots and take you know 10 yards 15 yards 20 yards down the field that then he's already kind of built that Rhythm uh if you go back and look at a lot of the Penn State film with Bill Bill O'Brien he would do that for his quarterbacks kind of give those easy throws you saw that with Mike nll early with dju so the same thing you would see likely see with castalanos unless you know unless Bill br's like nah we're just gonna go For Broke we're gonna go down the field um because you know Florida State's gonna defensive wi is gonna be all eyes are going to be hopefully on him because of what he did last year he had 95 yards rushing against Florida State last year uh just you know we couldn't stop him be third and Kelly and he'd be running all over the place um and so but he you know he did end up with 305 yards passing too so that's the other thing that you can't you can't lose sight of the fact that yes he is a a dynamic Runner and so you want to make sure your defense is is keyed into that but he will hit some passes on you if you lose focus if you lose contain and you allow him to scramble around so those wide receivers can go him look we believe that this defensive back for Florida state is probably uh is you know top two in the ACC you know top 10 in the in the country but they can only cover for so long right if if that defensive line is not creating enough pressure if we're not if we're not getting him to the ground if we're not getting him off his launch um where he where he set up to launch if we're not making him use bad mechanics yeah he's gonna find those receivers and he's gonna throw all over Florida State yeah and the thing is like and we'll get in more into scheme after we run through the Personnel uh for Bill O'Brien's offense but I think you're right man you and I talked to Bill O'Brien I got to interview him at ACC media days and I asked him about that running ability and how that works into the offense and he told me he said look man I get it I know what that brings to our offense we are not GNA re him in and so they like he that's what he said so he told me that like they're not going to R him in they're going to let him use those legs because they know it is a weapon but like you said man if you get in a backyard ball situation you can only cover for so long and you know like I said we'll get into scheme later but one of my biggest concerns is that don't know that we have an athletic enough linebacker to spy him because I don't know that we can run him down in space and that's what concerns me the most about containing him but I will say to castalano's point last year he did play prior to FSU he did not I think he had one start against Holy Cross or something like that um because the the the other guy did start the first game and then he came in uh they made the switch and they never looked back but last year he did transfer out of UCF to get to Boston College and he didn't really play at UCF he hadn't really played a whole lot before Florida State and it didn't affect his performance but you would expect going into year two even though it's a different system just having a year at the quarterback position you would expect him to take that step but he's still been mistake prone so he's thrown a lot of interceptions he's had some fumbles so you want to take advantage of that now looking at the guys who are going to be catching the ball from Thomas castalanos they do return two of their top three they lost their number two wide receiver but here's the thing about this receiver group ever since Z flowers left they've really kind of been floundering a little bit to find some some Playmakers some difference makers there they only had one ride wide receiver go over 350 yards last year a lot of that probably had to do with castalano's passing you know still still coming along there uh but looking at the depth chart your wide your ex-wide receiver is Duran Bradley red shirt Jr um he is a Texas Tech transfer had 87 receptions 1175 yards and 10 touchdowns over the last two seasons yeah so pretty solid guy there uh we know that's a very pass heavy conference out there in the Big 12 uh and they do have an or on the depth chart with Dino Tomlin actually Mike tomlin's son the guy that I interviewed from BC said that this was the guy he had his eye on this year to have maybe a breakout season 24 reception 312 yards but no touchdowns last year so you'll see them rotate and we're going to follow along the depth chart but we're going to kind of touch on the number two guys too because you just they're going to be rotating as Florida state did last week you're searching for that Personnel um so looking at the the position the wde the wide receiver here is Lewis Bond and he is their top returning wide receiver from last year put up 52 receptions 646 yards seven touchdowns I mean he led this receiver Group by a wide margin um the guy behind him is Jade mcau and a junr comes in from Vandy had two seasons there 80 receptions 836 yards three touchdowns but that was a there's some misleading stats there uh 66% of his yards came against non- Power five teams only 88 yards were put up against SEC defenses across eight games so I don't know I mean you'll see him in the game but that that you know that one maybe I'm not so much worried about but leis Bond I've heard in Camp has been doing what he did last year he is by far their most explosive receiver now at the why position you have uh and I hope I'm saying this right because this name's a little bit complicated to say uh Jaden SK s te Michael I don't know if I'm saying that right it sounded maybe a little bit of PG-13 but we're rolling with it uh so he was on their team last year I believe he was a freshman I think he's a sophomore this year 12 receptions 157 yards one touchdown in the camp reports that I've been reading they said that he had a really good camp that's how he earned that starting position and he has had very good uh chemistry with Thomas castalanos when you look at the tight end position they are bringing in another new face this year uh after losing their guy last year they bring in Kamari Morales who uh comes from UNCC 11 receptions 158 yards no touchdowns last year when I looked him up he's only 61 so it's not like that 666 seven type of guy uh for the Red Zone threat there but he's another guy he him and the the Jaden kid are two that they said had the best chemistry with Thomas castalano so I think he will be effective in he will be a big part of their passing game but you know again when you look at these receivers I mean you have only one guy coming back that was part of this this pass attack last year as a starter so there's going to be a lot of new pieces there too a new scheme and you know most of your receivers are brand brand new here your tight end's brand new so they're going to have to get on the same page too now like I said they said that they've had some you know the one kid has been good and the other have good chemistry so we're gonna have to see how they play out in this game yeah you know with Lis Bond and Dino Tomlin coming back that's you know 958 yards combined um and like you said you know Bon was their is the Lan returner for this year he was the he was the the star receiver last year and so you know they're going to try to scheme up you know Bill O'Brien's going to try to scheme up ways to get him open so so that castalanos can get him the ball you know I imagine that fler state will probably put either um uh F Cyprus or or Zary Thomas on him um you know florid State plays a lot of man defense and so um depending on how they're G to try to do that I I would imagine based on uh the what I've seen of the of the tape of Bill BR they're gonna run a lot of uh man man beater concepts with a lot of mesh routes a lot of Crossing routes uh to try TR to try to get try to get those eyes to be confused if he's running through linebackers and Corners are chasing him he's going to come out wide open or at least you know if the defense doesn't pay attention to that as well too and then I I I I think it's just kind of it's kind of a wait and see with uh with Jan Bradley or Jaden Macwan or or any of the or the ski kid um it's kind of a wait and seee to see what happens to see how they leverage them how they use them um you would assume that Florida state has the advantage at the defensive back position based on um the fact that you know a couple of these have come from Texas Tech didn't have much and then uh uh from Van mcgallen came from Vanderbilt which like you said those those stats are kind of skewed in themselves um so it'll be interesting to see how Flor State tries to neutralize the passing attack so it can focus more on what will probably be the predominant scheme which is to run the ball from yeah DC yeah and Lewis Bond I just looked at up he did have 80 yards in a touchdown against FSU last year so I mean he's a very effective wide receiver yeah uh but you lead us into the perfectly into the next point and that is the ground game this has been BC's identity for a long time and you know Bill O'Brien we're going to get into his offensive Concepts in just a second but that does he you know he's a very spread out guy but doesn't mean he doesn't like to run the ball too and they got a couple of good backs here now last year in the Run game Thomas castalanos did lead the team in rushing you know when I talked to the guy from BC this week he said he's kind of looking for is for castalanos to concede that he doesn't need to be the leading rusher this year for this team to be successful you need those backs to carry the load now they do bring in and he did tell me that it is very much a running back by committee type of team which we're very familiar with it's not like that one guy now there is one guy you're going to know uh but to start with listed as running back number one on the dep chart is their leading returning rusher from the running back uh position and that is senior Kai robishaw I believe I said that they got some tough names to say man uh 163 attempts 780 yards 4.79 yards for carrying eight touchdowns last year 15 receptions 108 yards out of the back field he's a I mean he's a he's pretty good back maybe not that super special guy but he's a good he's a good solid back they got a good solid rotation uh you know the one that I'm actually kind of more worried about is running back number two and that's Tran Ward now I don't know I don't think there's a whole lot of that like I can't wait to get back at Florida State with Tran Ward we know he left on good terms he was a big part of this offense I'm sure him and Mike noville are going to hug it out before the game you know I I really kind of wish we had taken him back out of the portal when he entered the second time but you look at what he did last year at Kansas State 124 attempts 643 yards 5.9 yards a carry and five touchdowns 17 receptions 129 yards and two touchdowns through the air I have heard uh reading those practice reports that tran Ward is their most explosive back uh he has had kind of the big runs the big play home running uh home run hitting type of back for them and you know we were talking about that in that Twitter space yesterday they were talking about with with him and uh you know Robert Cooper was one of the players in there he's like man Tran Ward will make you work for it yeah you know what I mean that guy can make you miss in a phone booth he's familiar with this defense he's familiar with some of the Personnel uh so that part does kind of make you nervous there I think Tre sha W is a really good running back so this is a good solid one-two punch kind of that power and speed uh that we've seen Florida State use in the past but man it's a solid group not maybe like the most special group but it's a solid group yeah I mean it's it's not just one two it's one two three because you have to include Thomas castalano in there it's not just Tron Ward or Cy it's also going to be Thomas castalano and so yes they will probably get the bulk of running between the lines and and and doing a lot of the dirty work but then you have to account for the quarterback at the third and when that quarterback comes into play Then you basically got 11 on or I'm sorry then you got you got seven on five seven on six however florer State decides to stack the box and so it's gonna be super interesting to see how Adam Fuller uh designs the defense to try to to slow down this run game and man trewn Ward if you remember from the 2022 season that boy was one of the best along with Trey Benson I mean it it was it was a shocker and it was sad that he you know he transferred out but like you said did leave on great terms uh I I would imagine that if not before but definitely after the game him and Mike noral find each other and give each other a hug and and hopefully we're on the top uh of that score uh but I he he is a hard worker he was a walk-on who earned a scholarship improved himself um he was electric at Kansas State he I I don't I wouldn't I wouldn't suspect he wouldn't be electric at Boston College it's going to be imperative upon Florida State to be have insane eye discipline um so that they cancel now because he's small he'll get through that line and then he'll be five 10 yards down the field before you even notice he's he's out of the backfield I remember that from the 22 and2 season and so um and then of course adding those two backs who power speed and then you add the combination of both and Thomas castalano like it just makes for a dangerous situation that FL state has already experienced this year yeah especially when you look at what they gave up I mean if you again like I said if you take away the negative plays they gave up over 200 yards on the ground last week and so you're going to have to do better uh you know maybe we can talk tra into flipping sides like hey man y you already got like some red and gold on why not just put garnet and gold on and go ahead and just switch sides uh to the to the seminal to the home team here H but it will be cool to see him back into alahas just you know he's unfortunately he's on the wrong team there uh but starting with the guys up front here as well like you mentioned they're always a team that has that identity a big Bruiser type of offensive line they have recovered since that injury ridden year uh riddled year in 2022 they do return three of five starters here they do have to replace both guards who were both NFL draft pick so those are big shoes to fill now I will say looking at the depth chart the starters are all upper classman with a lot of experience yeah now the one the one thing that I will say here is Logan Taylor originally he is he is on the depth chart uh but when I was reading practice reports he was a starting left tackle in 2023 he has since been kicked to left guard for this game but he did miss the entire there was actually a big question mark whether he was even going to start for this game so how prepared is he how you know in game shape is he you do have some guys that haven't played a ton last year but they they have experienced because of the injuries that they had in the past so it's a good offensive line I don't think it's quite as good as what you saw last week in Georgia Tech but it's not a bad group I mean they're again they're all older guys you just have some with experience some that kind of don't some that have been dealing with injuries uh you know like the guy that I talked to with be said like the problem with BC is they can get a good starting five but they don't really have good depth up front so if someone were to go down with injury they don't really have it's a big fall off from the ones to the twos uh so that offensive line is is going to be a pretty solid group but I don't think it's gonna be what you saw last week at George Tech by any means no and and and and the BC guy is right their Dept is atrocious I mean they have like Dwayne Alec who is basically or for two starting spots Right Guard or left guard depending on how Logan Taylor shapes out uh after that they have other tackles that are listed in second and third team of other guards positions in that and so I mean Drew Kendall is definitely your starter at Center um it's either Jack connley or Dwayne Alec at Right Guard uh Azie their uh trapilo I think that's how you say his last name he's definitely uh at your right tackle and then your left tackle is Jude bowy um and so it'll it'll be interesting to see how they how they how they go into the game if Logan tigler doesn't start then I think I think you you I wouldn't say a sigh of relief but I think it gives you a little bit more like okay maybe Florida State yeah might get there might be some luck on injury side for Florida State Side this time instead of always happening to Florida State but but if he does start then I mean even though there's replacing uh two of their five starting offensive line man those three were you know uh Logan Taylor was second Team all act Azie was first team all act um and then Drew Kendall started all 13 games last season and so you you have returning experience you have bulldozers you have hog mogs as they call them and it's going to be really parative of that defensive line to show us a lot more effort a lot more determination a lot more just nasty Ang like controlled violence as they say uh at the defensive line for us to even feel secure about us being able to go up against uh that running game yeah and trapo is a guy that I think that's how you say it uh Jeff Halley was high on him when I talked to him at ACC media days a couple years ago he's been really a staple of that offensive line they have some good pieces there it's just like you said man it's it's really the depth uh that that is their concern there but you're hoping that your defensive line brings the physicality and is able to have a rebound game against this offensive line because it just didn't look good last week against Georgia Tech and this is another like we said maybe not as good as that Georgia Tech offensive line but but it's not bad either it's it's they definitely have the ability to push you around now before we flip over to defense let's spend a few minutes talking about Bill O'Brien's offense and the concepts that they like to use now coming from the NFL you know a guy who was with the Patriots and had Tom Brady probably the most non-mobile quarterback outside of P Manning ever but that doesn't mean he doesn't have experience with mobile guys like castalanos you know he had Bryce young as quarterback at Alabama he also had DeShaun Watson with the Texans so he's familiar with how to use those guys that are dual threat quarterbacks now one thing that I expect to see a lot of that is a staple of the Bill O'Brien offense are empty sets like you mentioned earlier they use a lot of pre- snap motion very common in the past game uh usually to battle pressure instead of bringing in more Personnel into the backfield they like to slide protect you they talked a lot about like Rada calls and things like this where you basically you just have to you have to pass off protection to take the guys you got Five Guys typically teams aren't going to bring more than five guys so you can block it up that way uh but a lot of empty sets because what they like to do with that is you know they like to spread you out and that gives you more options as a quarterback and so they are he is very good at sequencing plays setting them up throughout the game he will use the same formation multiple times to set up different plays on some clips I watched in the Alabama versus Georgia game in the SEC Championship when he was there they used literally the same formation the same motion three different times and it was three different plays so they get the defense keying on that and then it's not even remotely the same place so they're going to have to play discipline they're going to have to play you know a a good very disciplined game in this one they are comp he is a very complimentary play caller throughout the game to to set up Rhythm and improve execution it's not just like we're going to throw it deep One play and run it the next everything is is very to set up the next play um it's a very timing based pass game that plays heavily off of matchups Bill O'Brien really likes to try and attack space that he knows will open up they are big big big on using the middle of the field and a lot of that is matchups they like to try and get their fastest receiver lined up on the inside so he gets matched up on the linebacker he talked about it and you know I actually went and watched some Bill O'Brien coaching Clinic stuff to learn about this offense and it's actually very informative um I actually really enjoyed watching it but he talked about at the Patriots where that's where you had your your uh Julian edelman's in the in the slide West rockers yeah right so you can get him lined up on a linebacker because that's just not a fair advantage and so they're going to try to do that as well and what makes you nervous about that again we talked about this in in our last episode is where you don't have the most athletic linebackers so they can exploit that mismatch and I guarantee you he's seen that on film um as far as the as the way they work they are their progression reads whether it's right to left or left to right they always start vertical and work back horizontal that's the way they like to work so he will be looking for those deeper shots but they always work back horizontal to try and uh just get that completion now because he's big on taking what you get you know he's not always trying to push the ball down the field and the empty formations what he said was that it gives the quarterback a lot of options against any form of coverage so typically what they said is like the rightand side will maybe be running routes that can beat man coverage and the left-and side will be running things to beat Zone coverage so that way once you figure it out you have setups for both types of coverage so it's a very Dynamic offense I will say that and then one of the things that they really like to use are Bunch formations I plan on seeing a lot of these and switch releases that's how they beat defensive coverage like they'll stack you up and then you know you may have different where you're locked on your guy you're playing levels coverage and the switch releases which is how they break into their routes it'll create space and so you'll get those like you know maybe you get the guy who cuts underneath on their release that's the guy they're looking to attack and they like to expose those matchups like I talked about they like to attack lever they like to put middle of the field Zone players in Conflict that's your linebackers uh they like to do that and this allows for quick decisions for the quarterback while still being able to hunt those matchups on the outside so it's a very option heavy offense as far as like giving the quarterbacks things to do uh one other thing that that they did a lot at Alabama is called a nub formation and that's where you put your tight end your biggest pass catcher as the farthest outside receiver on one side and that creates a little bit of a matchup for that big body pass catcher and you'll often often see the switch releases here as well now as far as the rpos Bill O'Brien did adopt a lot of Steve sarkeesian's RPO game from the time that they were at Alabama they do like to run inside Zone to pull your linebackers out of the throwing lanes and then they'll hit the Slants in and the seam routes in the space that you just created Michael this is exactly what we said Florida State should have done against Georgia Tech yep use that RPO game pull the linebackers up hit him behind that's what they like to do and then another one is motion throws where they like to hit a player who's already in motion you'll see him bring a guy across the formation and then they'll just dump it to him while they're while he's already going so that way you can get your Speedy uh player kind of that that Head Start you know what I mean um and then they do like to attack space to the wide side of the field because he did talk a lot about how College hash marks are much wider than the NFL in the NFL he said it doesn't really matter but in college because you have that extra space they like to attack the open side of the field so he's a really smart offensive guy man and then you touched on this earlier where they like to use a lot of mesh Concepts and what they do to beat the man blitzes is they'll toss it oops they'll toss it to the running back out of the backfield so that is a a big way that they like to beat the blitz um and then as far as the Run game goes they do like to run it a lot out of out of shotgun uh typically 12 Personnel looks he you know again he did Coach those mobile quarterbacks as well uh be has always been a run heavy team and so that has always been their strength so I think they're going to lean on that too and I just wonder and and I'll kick it back to you on this but for me when I when I look at BC I think the questions on offense are how well will castal castalanos have this offense down in game one because it's going to be a big change yeah how well does he have that down how gel is this offense with two new wide receivers a new tight end and a couple new offensive line has his passing improved does BC have the person El to run this offense effectively now one thing that does make me nervous on a on a coaching video coaching Clinic video that I watched with Bill O'Brien he said and this is what makes me nervous because of last week he said that if someone is having a hard time stopping what you're running keep running it until they show you they can stop it he said a lot of coaches something will be successful and they be like oh crap we got to we got to switch before they figure this out he said no man Hammer Hammer Hammer until they show you they can stop it so if they find a weakness they going to keep exploiting it until you stop it so man that's that those are the notes I had after watching I went through the Bill O'Brien coaching clinic and watched a lot of film but I found some really good breakdowns on his offense so I just wanted to share those notes with you guys uh but man I'll kick it to you for some thoughts on this offensive scheme yeah yeah I mean I think you you you've you've summed up everything I was gonna say and so I mean the offense no it's okay that's the offense um you know they're going to try to put Florida State in a blender basically uh in the pass off offense they're going to try to get their eyes in different places just like Georgia Tech did and Georgia Tech provided Boston College the blueprint if you if you confuse those ZB backers they're gonna be hesitant they're going to be they're going to overplay their their their Gaff schemes they're going to run out of their Gaff schemes uh especially if you got Omar Graham he's he's gonna run out of the stadium and not be anywhere near the tackle just kidding just kidding he might be next to me in the stand you never know exactly exactly um but yeah so so Bill ob's going to try to leverage uh the the the over over pursuit or under pursuit of Florida State to get them in those different looks and so it it's going to be very interesting to see how uh Adam Fuller uh gets this defense prepared for this game again I think that it's going to fall uh really on the defensive line if the defense can disrupt that offensive line it disrupts a very timing based offense right yeah like you said that offense is really based on timing and if can disrupt that timing you're going to set them back because they won't be able to get the passes off when they want to they won't be able to be right in step if you can come up on the defense and you can jam the wide receivers um and and cause them to to get off their timing in their route uh if you can figure out a way that when they try to isolate their Speedy wide receiver on one of our linebackers to even shift a corner over to bring the safety down whatever it needs to be I think it's going to be imperative upon Adam Fuller and that defense to figure out how to get uh this offense off of Rhythm that's going to be the most important thing yeah we're going to need to see adjustments that we did not see last week and I think you're going to want to see a lot of Blake Nicholson in this game because he is that athletic linebacker that you know if they decide to throw the ball a lot you're going to want to have him on the field now we're going to pick up the pace a little bit as we switch over to defense here offense is just man this is going to be the key to the game is stopping this offense so I wanted to spend a little bit of extra time on that but talking about this defense looking at last year they did have a the number 26 ranked pass defense so they were good on the on the back end there now Halley was a DB type of guy he's a secondary coach by Nature so they had a good pass set there uh but 121st ranked Rush defense on the ground now Georgia Tech was 131st last year and it didn't make a difference for us but that is the weaker side of their defense here now one of the other things that really stood out that they're going to be looking to improve on and as we get into the scheme I think they will do better they really really struggled at bringing pressure last year 130th in sacks only averaged one sack per game only 13 sacks as a team in 2023 I believe Florida state had 46 last year uh and they were dead last in in FBS and tfls so this is wasn't the most Havoc creating defense but they will be under a new DC Tim Lewis he has 34 years of coaching experience primarily in the NFL XFL UFL all that type of stuff um first college DC job ever and and just a correction earlier I I actually I've been looking I don't think he's ever worked at the college level I couldn't find anywhere where he's worked at the college level and he has not been in the NFL since 2015 from what I read on the BC message boards he has ties to BC yeah but this was kind of a surprise hire I think they thought they were going to promote someone within who's no longer with the program so this was a little bit of of a surprise now the guy because it was a new DC I thought it was really cool because the guy who covers BC and man I mean this guy 10,000w essays on this type of stuff so he went really in depth and I'm not going to read you 10,000 words I promise but he did a indepth dive on what to expect from this guy because he's a new DC and he did admit that like it is kind of hard to know what you're going to get because those uh you know kind of second level uh the UFL the XFL and that type of stuff they don't have a lot of game tape that you can just go back and watch like the NFL college and stuff like that so it's kind of hard to assess but he took everything into account from the NFL time and stuff like that and so he this is kind of what he had laid out so and this is a little bit man it's kind of a lot like Georgia Tech 2 which kind of makes you a little bit worried he likes to have a numbers advantage in the Box to stop the run typically they will have seven or more guys in the Box you can expect a lot of Base defense with a safety dropping into the box to give them them numbers Advantage they typically will when they do that they'll leave that single high safety on the back in they mix odd and even fronts which is something BC did not do in the past uh when they go to the nickel uh package they will primarily run that four down lineman that even front and I think the question that the one guy had is there's a it's a very multiple defense but how fast can they get these packages installed and so one of the things that they do differently this year with their Edge rushers is that they will ask them to hold blocks and play Gap assignments they will also occasionally ask them to drop into short Zone coverage assignments against running backs and tight ends so that could be something that we could exploit because we know I mean if you get Jaylen Lucas on a defensive end in in the flat I mean that's not a fair we just talked about matchups we have those two now yeah uh he does like to run simulated pressures Zone blitzes uh with the DBS and the off ball linebackers so that all does kind of tie in like if you see him drop in coverage someone else is probably coming on a blitz there they do like to mix man and Zone uh they did run a good bit of man last year at BC very heavily so they will have more Zone Concepts a lot of cover two four and six they do mix uh the coverages a lot more than BC has in the pass now the guy Tim Lewis was a DB by nature and he does coach his DBS to play very aggressively and attack the ball to create turnovers but as you know Michael that works both ways you can it you know I actually what what I did when I sum this up and I will also say that uh he is an aggressive blitzing defensive coordinator which you mentioned earlier uh and and he does like to Blitz on early Downs now if you're third and long he typically likes to sit back in coverage but the way that I summed up his defense is a little bit of a gambler style defense right they like to create Splash plays but it comes at a cost and the guy who broke the defense down said he does have a history of giving up yards and points so I think they're going to try to make those explosive plays and let the offense score the points but again man there could be some opportunities here where if you can avoid those turnovers and dju is going to have to be accurate this week because if they're attacking the ball you don't want to give them that opportunity uh but at the same time I think the biggest question for him is how is he going to be able to adapt to the more modern College offenses that spread you out you know he's right again typical uh with the other types of places that he's been you know college is a total different game now and so a lot of 11 personnel a lot of spreading teams out uh you got to run a lot of nickel packages which is not what he prefers to run so how how will he adapt to college and this is just first game against a I know last week was a bad week but a good play caller so can Mike Norville find those Pockets to exploit against this defensive coordinator yeah absolutely I think what you're going to see I think what you need to see from the offense is you know last week when Georgia Tech started bringing you know seven eight n in the Box uh Florida state did not adjust shockingly like that was one of the big talking points coming out of the game it it that we just kept running into those eight box fronts like what do we what like and so I think what you're hoping to see is that if Boston College does that if if Tim Lewis starts to bring these uh these numbers advantage to the box that Florida state will open up Mike nvo will will open up and give DJ a few few fewer checks I think one of the things that came out that when you looked at his uh his Tuesday Wednesday whatever it was press conference which is technically a Monday press conference he talked about how that you know they wanted to go the game plan was for them to go down the field but that that some of the looks didn't present themselves and I think if you read between the lines what he was basically saying is that DJ checked out of a lot of those looks right we only threw the ball down the field I think four times um or we looked down the field four times I think there was three deep throws down the field yeah and um and and DJ likely this is my assumption checked out of those looks so what's the solution is you give him less checks like you're like hey if this is the look we get initially let's go with it and then once the snap happens if it's not there you have a check down you have a hot route you have those things but we've got to look down the field because if he's going to bring eight n in the Box he's going to put uh he's going to put your wide receivers up against his Corners if he's going to be aggressive like that and those wide receivers are going to have to try to win one1 battles right well Mike Nell is the best at putting Playmakers in a position to make plays so you're G to run those M if you're running the kind of aggressive defense that he's run it's more likely he's going to be in man you can't run that kind of Defense def that's so blitzing like that and have those Corners play up play play play up on those press coverages like that um without having manto man cover zero cover one Robber where you have the you have a safety coming to the middle of the field and a safety backing up playing the middle of the uh playing deep middle of the field there he's it sounds like he's not going to run a lot of cover two right or cover three unless he's third along and so if you have those opportunities take your shots run the man beaters run the mesh routes get their line backers and a blender right let's do the same thing that they're probably going to try to do to us in that same sense yeah no I totally agree and you were right I mean when you look at the 20 plus yards they only three shots and and didn't connect on any of them right uh and frankly some of them were inaccurate throws and so I think you may see but we also know that he was five of six on throws from 10 to 19 so right I think you're going to take your vertical shots but I think they you know they weren't comfortable with dju throwing the ball last week and they showed us that but you have a game with some timing and and seeing how he plays and reacts in this offense I think you probably will see more of those 10 to 19 yard type of those mid-range passes called because he did thow he did show you that he can throw those passes um I think that's going to be big to get behind this defense behind that front seven so I think you're exactly right you hit the nail on the head there with what Florida State wants to do to attack this defense now running through some of the defensive personel for BC real quick up front on the defensive line they do return seven of their top nine including all four starters so they are going to have some experience there uh Donovan eeru I've said his name a few times so I got that one down was he actually was a second Team all uh all ACC selection in 2022 but he had a step back year in 2023 his production dropped from 14 and a half uh excuse me from it dropped from eight and a half sacks down to two sacks 14 and a half tfls down to six and a half so he had a really step back year but he's he's a good player so he's one to watch to uh defensive tackle is led by cam horley he does lead that interior group highest grade defensive tackle last year this is not the most high-end group but they have experience and they're solid when you look at the other two starters that are coming back they had PFF grades in the 50s last year so they got their two top guys in auraku and cam horley I'm not even gonna attempt to say the other guys names like Nico aapola or something like that the other defensive end but it's not the most highend group but it's also not a bad group either um and you know we talked about the offensive line last week A lot of it was technique and and stuff that was on them that is correctable but that defensive line still kind of pushed you around a little bit and so right you're going to want to set the tone uh upfront this week yeah absolutely I think you know upfront I think hopefully what we'll see is a a a shorter rotation on the offensive line right and that those guys have had a whole week you know back with Coach Atkins you know in the practice back with um with their other uh offensive align assistants just really working on technique getting their feet right you know getting leverage uh working with power and decisiveness understanding how to get it Dept you know and one of the things I think scheme wise I think is I I wonder if Mike nille will go away from running counter as much as he tried to in the first game because I think teams I think especially these first two uh first team Georgia Tech they were just ready for it and then they were ready for it they they were spilling it and then they had the they had the safeties come down and so if if Tim Lewis is going to like to run those eight box uh frames for uh the defensive line then you wonder if mvo will go to more of a Zone scheme and try to just see if we can get man on man or like get him in the zone and then run some stretch plays to try to get them out to see if they can get create a gap somewhere um it'll be curious to see how he wants to leverage the offensive line I think passing wise I think the offensive line again I think they held up pretty well um in the you know except for a couple you know we won't mention that but a couple situations there uh but they held up pretty well and I think so again if they're going to present you this this this this this crowded box situation you know man the RPO sucking them in right bringing the bringing the wide receivers right behind that that's GNA that quick game's going to be there for you the screens out wide to get the bubble screen to the wide receiver or even the motion to the back and hitting him on the Run kind of like what BC wants to do there same thing because if they're going to be in that means they're going to be a little they're going to be less Defenders out whyde spread them out like they want to spread you out and attack the boundaries attack the wide side of the field bring those bring those wide receivers right in behind the linebackers you'll suck them in then you'll bring the safeties down and you'll have one-on-one situations over the top as well too so it'll be curious to see how this offensive line kind of jails along with that in this second game are they better uh in the Run game now it's going to be hard to tell if there are eight Man in the Box eight nine people in the Box it's going to be hard to tell because they're going to be keen on trying to stopping the Run we'll see if mik Noel can adapt to that yeah and I will say there has been an or removed on that offensive line depth chart so I feel like you know that I feel like now like you talked about last week you just want to settle on your I know they like to rotate you want to find your best five and I feel like that's kind of what they're working toward this week they know who they can and can't trust but you're right man at the end of the day you have better athletes than Boston College that's no dish of Boston College it's just you look at the recruiting history Florida State should be able to get those Playmakers the ball in space and they should be able to make plays so you have to find ways to do that if you can't run the ball we talked about this last week you you brought up a good point where it's like where was the screen game you had a couple of them that worked and then you just kind of went away from it yeah and so I think that if they do load the box that would be a big part of the offense we also saw play action the the first pass play of the game worked very successfully so that I think they only ran that play one more time the rest of the game to open the third quarter and I believe it worked then too so you want to see yeah more of that play action get dju out of of that pocket roll them out get the defense moving and get those guys the ball in space so now when you look at the linebackers behind that defensive line they do lose their veteran leader Vinnie DePalma which is that guy we always joke about Boston College that white linebacker you know maybe the neck roll or something like that uh third Team all ACC player and their leading tackler so they got some new guys stepping in they do have six guys that have experience there led by their number three tackler cam Arnold who is the guy that uh the BC guy told me that he's a big fan of I think he's a very solid linebacker here uh linebacker two was not who I expected I thought they were going to have Bryce steel there who's a guy that missed the season with injury but is it looks like a a power five linebacker but it's Davon Crouch he only played 89 snaps uh in the last uh last year with a 65.2 PFF grade and I will say when you look at PFF the fewer snaps that you get the harder it is to have that grade beat accurate uh but only 89 snaps last year so the linebackers cam Arnold's pretty good but you have one of them there that you can probably get some mismatches on uh so that that's their linebacking crew there uh just a starting two now when you look back to the secondary like we talked about they had a good a a good pass defense last year but they did deal with a lot of injuries and they ended up playing 15 different guys on the back end so they have guys that have experience now the bad news for BC is they have to replace all first team all ACC cornerback Elijah Jones who was by far their best DB led the team in interceptions led the team in p pbus I think his p uh PFF grade was above 90 wow I mean this was he was a legitimate cornerback and he is gone now they also have to replace their number two tackler John pupil pupil I don't know how to say it sorry dude uh he started 11 games at safety for them so they got some some crucial pieces on the back end that they have to replace and this is hopefully something that Florida State can take advantage of now when you look at your right cornerback as your starter here is Max Tucker 195 snaps last year 61.1 or 67.1 PFF grade excuse me and I took notes on things that stood out so we're not going to run through this necessarily on everybody but he did have a 23% m tackle rate and also allowed a 76.9% reception rate so that's not exactly great there uh they number two is Bri quis Brown your starting nickel for this game is going to be K Johnson played 273 snaps last year he was listed as a safety in 2023 so that may be a position change for him as well pretty good PFF grade above average 64 .4 did allow an 81.8 reception rate so so far you're looking like you should be able to get you know get some receptions here uh their number two is Cam Martinez who is a guy I thought might start at that position over 400 snaps of experience at Ohio State former fourstar uh did not crack the starting role but I'm sure you'll see him in this game on the other side of that your left quarterback is Amari Jackson starter in 2023 played 721 snaps 63.1 PFF grade did have a a 20% Miss tackle rate but kind of the best here as far as your reception rate down at 57.7% so that's your most experienced guy you're probably going to see him you know try to get on Malik Benson more often than not so you're hoping that the other receivers can step up uh to to make some plays in this game we don't know whether Hing Williams is going to be back or not that'll be big to see uh their number two is Ryan Turner who is also an Ohio State transfer came over with the cam Martinez guy at free safety you got Jaylen cheek 405 snaps last year listed as a corner in 20 23 so again another possible position change here 63.8 PFF grade 58.8 reception rate there is an ore at this position with Carter Davis only played eight snaps in 2023 so probably won't see as much rotation there but you will see him and then your strong safety is KP price 165 snaps 59.7 PFF grade so not the greatest there 21% Miss tackle rate 50% reception rate so the thing is man they miss a lot of tackles and they give up a lot of completion so you know like you said if you want to work that short game that Medium game that screen game get the reception they might be playing a little bit of off in the zone you get the ball to your Playmakers and make them miss these tackles we saw last week where guys just weren't making guys miss you got to make that first guy Miss with your Playmakers and so if you can do that it sounds like you have a good opportunity here now I'll kick it back to you on this what I did read in their Camp notes from the secondary to contrast what I just said they said that the secondary has done their strength this season or throughout Camp has been doing well against short passes and screens so it kind of goes contrary to what we just said but I think that's still gonna have to be a big part of your offense well yeah I mean it's gonna have to be a big part because it depends on how they begin the game and where they want to like what what do they want to establish first that they're going to stop the run or they're going to stop the short game right so if they want to stop the short game they're gonna have to bring those Corners up right they're gonna have to uh stack the box they're going to have to play tight coverage and so if they're going to try to stop the short game guess what's going to be a lot more open do you beat your man off the off the line you're gonna have a you're gonna have a shot at taking a bigger play down a chunk play down the field right but if they want to stop the run they're probably going to bring eight something in the box or at least bring that safety down bring those linebackers in and then Pro play your Corners back a little bit right so that they can have uh the ability to come down and help which then will open up the game so it's going to be very dependent upon what they actually want to establish first do they want to stop the run game or do they want to stop the short game and I think also interesting with Amari Jackson he he started a lot at nickel last year and they're going to be moving him to the corner and so you wonder if maybe some of that you know that low completion percentage was because you know last year they didn't throw a lot to the middle of the field you know they tried to get kind of on the edges with the short game and then deep ball down down down down the sideline down the boundaries so so it'll be interesting to see if him moving out to Corner translate in the same kind of reception percentage uh defense against uh wide outs uh moving forward yeah and I think what's interesting with this is you know when you talk about guys moving positions I mean look at what we saw where you saw Kevin noes move to Nickel we saw Devonte Brown at moving back to safety and so that caused some confusion on our defense you're hoping that plays the same in this game now you're also hoping that DJ is more timely on his throws especially if they're going to play aggressively you're hoping that he's a little better on his reads and stops missing things because you know we talked about last show where you had that kind of high low concept where the that about 15 yard dagger over the middle was wide open multiple times you got to go back and show him on film man this is wide open you have to take advantage of that so that's what you're hoping for you know as Michael helped break down there so perfectly on what we want to do as far as far as an offensive concept against this defense so now Michael let's bring it all home and let's kind of make it make sense here now that we've kind of covered both of our sides here let's get into to some keys and we're going to this week we're going to have a little bit of a New Concept here on the show we're going to do keys and concerns uh because we have some concerns after last week and then we're going to get into some picks so for me uh I will say my keys are obviously this is a key that I'm sure we both have you have to contain castalanos on the ground we said last week against Georgia Tech you want to make hannes King beat you with his arm and we did a poor job of doing that he was not a great passer and neither is technically unless he got a lot better Thomas castalano so you have to make him win the game with his arm and if you don't do that if you let him run wild on the ground I think that's a recipe for chaos and Chaos could lead to an unexpected result I think you want to for on the offensive side of the ball I think you want to throw the ball more effectively to open the run because we did not do that last week we we did put up less than 100 yards if you run for under 100 yards against Boston College you're probably going to lose this game uh because is not just not a guy that throws for 3 400 yards he's just not and so you got to be able to do that and I think a lot of that starts one of the biggest keys for me is winning the battle up front on both sides of the ball you cannot get pushed around like you did last week this team has to play more physical and then my last key here and I'll throw it to you for your keys are because of what we saw last week because we saw the sloppy play from FSU because it's game one for Boston College you have to just make who's going to make less mistakes I think that's going to be one of the biggest parts of the game who's going to have that blown coverage who's going to have that turnover you know Florida state did good with that as far as the turnovers last week they didn't create any but they you know they missed the fumble and I we saw them work a lot on fumble recovery uh this week but who's going to make less mistakes that could be you know in a game where possessions can be limited a turnover or two could make the difference in the game so who's G to play a more crisp game I think is going to be a big part of the winner of this one yeah absolutely I think those are great keys and and my keys would be similar similar to yours you know number one is we got to make Thomas castalano uncomfortable uncomfortable if he starts running around he's going to feel very comfortable so to make him feel uncomfortable is TR you know he's going to try to run but then he should be met with a wall of Defenders pretty quickly at the line of scrimmage or in the back field he should not be seeing very often wide open running lanes for himself he also should be seeing blanket coverage right make him throw make him make bad throws make him throw it out of bounds make him tuck it make him be a one read quarterback turn him into a one-dimensional quarterback and make him beat you with his arms just make him uncomfortable and then I'd say man on the offensive side take more shots and I don't just mean 30 40 50 yard shots I mean 20 yard shots I mean dagger Concepts I mean split ends I mean Corner routes I mean out routes I mean uh post routes like take more shots down the field Mike Nell is one of the best schemers uh in the country uh at getting getting the plays for The Playmakers to make let's do it give DJ less checks to make at the line so he can't check you out of something where it actually is there and then that and then the last thing is man get nasty both offensive and defensive line man your your your fortitude was challenged last week they called you a bunch of punks last week and they took your lunches and then they made you clean the lunch table afterwards then they made you carry their books to class n man this week come ready to fight I mean not literally but like almost to the point yeah be angry they said something about your mama this week okay exactly yeah they challenge your manhood and you know we're a familyfriendly show so I didn't want to use the example on the show but you know you gotta drop you you know what's and and play some freaking football man bring it to that team like you said you got to play nasty so I think those are great keys and I think it's going to be huge in this one you got to make him uncomfortable you got to just man up and play some football here I I'll throw it to you and let you drop your concerns first I know I talk first a lot on the show and I apologize for that it's all good it's just kind of our natural flow how we've always done things but I'm gonna throw it to you and let you and and switch it up and let you give me your concerns first yeah here's my concerns at the defensive line I I'm I'm I'm worried that what we saw last week against Georgia Tech is not a uh a fluke I I I worried that that that this line that while it was experienced was able to really man handle this defensive line This defensive line that was supposed to be one of the best in the country that had NFL Scouts and the Goat Nick saan basically saying that this is supposed to be one of the best in the country and they got manhandled and so I I my my number one concern is that uh they are not who we thought they were yeah that what we saw in the game uh is who they are and that's concerning for the entire season because you're gonna play better offensive lines as you get going towards the towards the season so that's my number one concern and I only got two the other two the number two concern is that maybe Clemson people were right yeah listen I'm a big fan of DJ I think he can be a good quarterback I think he can be better we've said it on here we've we've showed all the stats we've showed everything else but man going back and watching that film I don't know how many times I've watched it now I I just see little things that I heard over time that really showed themselves um in that game and so DJ this is a game for you to prove the doubters wrong that you are not the DJ that that they said you are that you actually can live up to the billing finally of who you are that you're not afraid to take those shots that you're not going to be tentative that you're going to use that 200 something pound body to run and not run like you're running like in mud like you're actually going to like make accurate throws you're actually going to be a leader a dynamic leader of on this offense because if not then you are not the answer and I don't mean to be super negative I'm just saying I want you to be good I want you to be the best so if if I had the two concerns it'd be man is this defensive line really who we thought they were and is DJ who Clemson has said he was no I mean I think that's a very fair take because I think we said at the beginning that we didn't think dju had to have a Heisman season we didn't think he was a special quarterback but we thought he could be good enough last week we said he didn't win you the game but he didn't lose you the game either you need him just to lean more towards a guy who can go win you a game right rather than be that guy that just kind of did enough you know the 70% completion percentage was kind of misleading because he didn't teir it out when he did it wasn't that great but we saw flashes on that fourth uh on that last drive on the fourth down throws we saw what he could do and so I think it's going to be huge man because right now I don't I don't think you're in a position where you make a switch at quarterback because I still think DJ's your your best and most experienced option but if he struggles man I wonder if you do see Brock Glenn get a look or tube just because like you can't just sit by and watch your season go in the tank because the guy's not special and you know again I don't think he has to be special no he just has to be better this week and and for me uh mine is going to be containing castalanos on the ground you know how much has has we have we improved at containing the quarterback back at stopping the rush because man again if he gets loose that opens up so many more things and you know we know a lot of teams look everyone says we we struggle with mobile quarterbacks and look every defense pretty much does uh Lamar Jackson wasn't Lamar Jackson because he he put up a lot of yards on just Florida State yeah uh so I I do think that is going to be the thing there how much has got cleaned up from last week to this week that is my biggest concern they say teams get their make their best Improvement between week one and week two true it's time to see it uh also how effectively will be this leads into your dju point how effectively can we throw the ball if for nothing else to back that defense off to be able to run the ball because we know we want to be able to run it we were supposed to be a really good running team and we didn't run worth a flip last week so how effectively can we throw it to open up the run you know and as we get into our our final thoughts and prediction here you know like I talked about man they say teams make their biggest Improvement between weeks one and two and I want to believe in this team I was actually looking I was going back uh on some comments yesterday on some of our videos and stuff and I went back and looked it up there are nine guys on this current team that have earned some form whether it be first second third or honorable mention some form of all ACC uh mentions honors throughout their career and that I mean these guys are better than what they played on Saturday so was like you said was that a fluke or is that the normal that we have to be worried about I I I definitely think that this team can play much better I think it's not as bad as we saw on Saturday you know like I touched on in that in the opening of the show in that Twitter space where they said that man this team was stunned that they lost that game and how they lost it so is that gut check real you know I don't know that you can just flip a switch on the want and things like that but you also look Florida State lost three games in 2022 consecutively played kind of bad whatever then they came out and and other than the bowl game and I think maybe the Florida game they pounded everybody and so so I think you can have that kind of light switch moment where it's just like man this was a gut check and now we're we're just not going to lose anymore we're going to fight hard for this but again man it's like I want to believe in this team but I gotta see it right and you know I'm still hopefully optimistic but I got to see it and so I do think that when you look at this one I I think it could be a statement game you know I do think you could see them like man we didn't expect that okay maybe we took it lightly or something like that you come out you make a statement and and maybe you even Hammer BC but again castalanos is The X Factor Tran Ward is a really good back and this is a good disciplined well- coached team so you're GNA have to bring your aame to do that I don't think it's going to be a blowout but you could certainly correct The Narrative of your of the nation has of you right now because it's not a good one right you could correct that narrative and so as we get into kind of the score prediction here you know I will say that I have seen some some implied scores by like computer models I've seen 3317 I've seen 3423 the BC guy that I talked to uh he had us us winning at 3117 just because of the athlete advantage and stuff like that you know I I was originally here at like 3123 that's kind of where I was sitting here but I think Bill O'Brien knows that you aren't going to come down to Tallahassee and I understand this team is different than some of the teams you faced in the past but you know being on the road in Tallahassee sold out all that stuff it's a it's just different they haven't won year since 2008 yeah I think he knows you're not going to come down to to Tallahassee and win with a bunch of field goals yep so I think they're gonna they know they need to score touchdowns and you know 23 that's a lot of field goals so I don't know that that's going to be the case um you look back at last year right Florida state held them to 10 points through three quarters last year BC scored on a fumble return touchdown and a fumble that gave them a short field so you only gave up 22 offensive points they also did drive the ball 9 yards between those fumbles for a touchdown uh but again like I said man AEM Dent was out for that game the defense had the flu the defense didn't look great last week without the flu so we'll see how that plays into it it was the red bandana game up there it's just a totally different environment but you gave up 22 offensive points last year that you got the new clock rules you know I went and counted last year BC had 11 drives FSU had 10 we know they and that's excluding a Neil down at the half each team only had seven last week we expect this to be a run heavy game again this week so you probably won't get a ton now I also went back and looked at some other teams uh Colorado North Dakota state had nine each UNCC Minnesota had 10 and 11 so maybe now that they have a better understanding of the clock rules and they can push the pace hopefully freaking field on third down you know maybe you get nine or 10 drives in this game you get a few more opportunities you gave up 24 points in week one to a very similar team it's a better offensive scheme for BC I don't think the defensive scheme probably a lot better I think BC's had a good defense they're pretty good there um it's just always been a personal issue with them castalanos say has another year of experience as a quarterback that's what we talked about earlier even though it's a new system he's now had a year of of quarterback experience under his belt I do think BC is gonna score because of Thomas castalanos and what we saw last week but I also think Georgia Tech's defense is probably better because you have Mike Elco uh who is a disci or I mean excuse me a Mike Elco disciple as the DC who also faced you last year so he was familiar with your team he's familiar with your play caller he's also more adapted to the college game we just talked about where their DC hasn't ever been a DC in college so it's going to be a learning experience for him too on paper Georgia Tech is a little bit more talented than BC Georgia Tech is 10th in the 247 composite rankings in the ACC for talent BC's down at 14th now we said Florida state was what third and you got beat by the 10th best team that's right so that doesn't always matter but the point is Georgia Tech has a little bit more Talent than Georgia Tech uh I mean Georgia Tech has a little more Talent than Boston College so you should have some advantages in this game I think it's also worth noting that because of the late uh season coaching change BC did miss that fall portal session so they haven't had quite as much chance to add players as well I like Florida State to win this one I'm gonna pick them to win I'm nervous about this one because again it's a nons Saturday game against BC with a dangerous uh dual threat quarterback I think it's going to be a close one I'm not going to give him the 16 and a half point spread I'm just not going to do that I will say that I I changed it the very last second as I was getting my notes ready for this and I and the reason I changed is because they know Ryan Fitzgerald knock on wood was money last week knock on wood again so hopefully I I think they're going to be comfortable with relying on him if they need him and so I'm gonna take Florida State I had a 3124 but because of the Fitzgerald Factor I got us winning 34-2 24 I think Boston College scores a little bit but I think you figure some things out on offense I think you get some things cleaned up up front and I got Florida State winning by 10 points again not the most exciting win but it's a win you go into the byee with a little bit of momentum and some winnable home games on the back half of that give me Florida State 34-24 yeah I I I think that's a decent score you know I look at the over under I think it's 49 and a half is what uh what right now the bets have it at ESPN I know we don't like them but they have the matchup predictor at 82% for Florida State 18% chance that's heavy yeah that's that's that's a that's a big Underdog at 16 and a half is the is the spread for Florida State to win by you know Jesse I based on what I saw last week and and I want to believe the best and I'm going to assume the best about them so I am going to predict them the win but I I don't know if I can give them the spread um you know because I if I gave them the spread based on the the over under the total for the game that'd be like a 417 win um not happen I don't think that's happening um but I'm gonna I'm going to predict them the win I'm gonna say that uh that BC covers okay BC covers the spread um but Florida State pulls out the win and I'm gonna I think it's closer than the experts thinks Jesse I'm going 2421 repeat last week but on the other side on the other side as long as we're on the other side of that as long as we got a w that's all that matters yeah as long as we get the W and people are still going to kind of trash it because it's Boston College and you win by three or something like that you know we both have Florida State win I have a little wider margin we both have BC covering yes but man I think at this point in the season you really because of the 0 And1 start you just got a stack a win like I said you got the byee next week you got Memphis and Cal at home the next two weeks you just need some positive momentum at this point and so I think they do get it this week who knows man hopefully they just come out and Hammer BC hopefully it is that 41 to7 yeah type of score that you talked about because that would really just completely wash your hands of last week okay maybe it was a fluke yes uh so man we both got BC winning we'll see I'm excited Monday night Jo Campbell Stadium sold out you know last time BC was there I know there was 20,000 more people because of the you know wasn't under the remodel but they said they admitted after that game they had trouble communicating yeah so you're hope hoping that the crowd Advantage uh plays into it there as well I'm just excited man I'm I'm still like that bug flying into the bug zapper you know oh look at the pretty light zap like I'm still hopeful and optimistic about this team that they can get it right I still think the team we saw in Camp was more than the team we saw last week yeah but again man like we talked about I'm in a nervous holding pattern because I think you could see that team last week rare its head again and if it does it's going to be a long season but I'm hopefully optimistic for this one um I will say as far as a postgame show goes because I'm going to be at the game I don't know that I'll be able to do a live show uh because Michael will be out of town as well so we you know we'll have to figure out what we can do um it may just be you know me doing a quick show uh outside of the stadium and then you know we'll get Michael's thoughts as soon as we can get our internet and and our and our schedule's connected or something like that but we will put together something for you guys I usually you know the intermal fields has good lighting so I I normally like to try and get something there uh but yeah man that's going to be it for the Boston College Florida State preview we both got Florida State winning in a close one but man at this point just win the game I mean you saw some teams struggling with FCS teams yesterday and and so like you just got to get some wins against solid BC team man so any final thoughts before we wrap this one up no I agree with you you you you got to go into this game determined to wash your mouth of what happened last week let's see the Florida state that we thought we were going to see this week I would love for that score to be 41-7 I would love for us to to to walk out of that stadium and everybody's back to like okay okay last week was a fluke that was just a one off thing the whole thing like this is the Florida State team we anticipate I would love that but more than than I would love that I just love a w let's just get on the right side of this of this uh win loss column yeah man I I wholeheartedly agree so we appreciate you guys tuning in make sure if you're in Tallahassee that you stop by and and say hi to us over there in lot 14 as we set up our tailgate uh like I said it'll be real informal just come by say hey I'll try and get you guys our location uh for where we're going to be set up also make sure if you're in Tallahasse to stop by Alumni Hall FSU and get you some new FSU gear I know that's like when I get into town on Sunday that's my first stop I need to run by there and grab me some things for the season because they got some great gear over there make sure you use 10% or save 10% with code spear you know I'm gonna be using my own promo code to save me a little bit of coin on some gear because that way you can get some extra pieces you know you got a long season here so you're going to want to load up on that uh so make sure you guys check that out and uh man Michael I'm hoping for the best I'm nervous I'm excited I'm nervous and I'm excited so I guess uh we'll either I don't know man we we'll catch you on the next one we just don't know how it's going to feel when it's done yeah uh but until the next one man we will we will see you guys on the other side of this so thank you for watching and as always go no go NOS