It's tough for any team to win a game in Division I-A football. It's even tougher for a team to win against a ranked opponent. It's nearly impossible to come out on top when your quarterback is throwing the ball everywhere but within five yards of his receivers, when your offense is running option plays on second and 15, and when the referees' only holding call of the game comes on what would have been a 41-yard touchdown run by your starting running back.
If Quinton Porter's performance last weekend against Notre Dame was considered a definitive step forward in the career of the Eagles' blossoming starting quarterback, this past Saturday he took two big steps back.
The junior threw for a deceptively respectable 186 yards, 69 of which came on a bomb pass on third and long from deep in the Eagles' own territory. Porter's decent total yardage doesn't reflect on the quality of his passing, which was consistent in its mediocrity.
He continually overthrew the ball, missing on passes to receivers Grant Adams, Joel Hazard, and Larry Lester, among others, This led to his recording a sub-par 41 percent completion percentage that could have been lower if Porter had not completed a few meaningless swing passes during BC's last drive of the game.
Those swing passes also reflected Porter's inability to find receivers downfield. It seemed as if the quarterback ran through his progressions way too quickly, especially as the game progressed when the Eagles went down in the fourth quarter and the burden of coming back was placed squarely on Porter's shoulders. Aside from the big pass to Adams, a 27-yard pass to Hazard that was the result of a picked-up blitz, and a 20-plus-yard pass to tight end Sean Ryan, Porter threw nine passes for 70 yards, an average of 7.8 yards per pass.
The short completions did little to get the Eagles back into the game and seemed to frustrate a few of Porter's receivers who appeared to be somewhat open downfield.
Porter's only heads-up play came on the 69-yard bomb to Adams, who was running a decoy route to take away defensive backs from the left side of the field, where the ball was supposed to go. Porter noticed Adams in one-on-one coverage way downfield and let it go. He underthrew the ball, but connected on what was the Eagles' longest completion since a 70-yard pass from former BC quarterback Brian St. Pierre to former running back William Green on Oct. 27, 2001.
When asked about Porter's performance, head coach Tom O'Brien referred to it as "... a little erratic," "... off a bit," and he spoke of how Porter "missed throws early, [when] there was not that much pressure."
With limited success in the air, one would think that the Eagles would either adjust the passing game accordingly or revert to running the ball, especially with backs Derrick Knight and Horace Dodd experiencing success on the ground, but the team did not use either tactic. Porter continued to miss on passes downfield, the swing passes continued to be ineffective, and Knight was given the ball far too little.
Following two Knight runs to the left side of the field for a combined 63 yards (the second of which was partially called back by the downfield holding penalty on Adams), Dana Bible called a pass play in which Porter was sacked on first down, an option play in which the ball never left Porter's hands, and a pass play that resulted in an incompletion downfield.
Why the Eagles didn't put the ball into the hands of Knight, who had dominated the Pitt defense all game is beyond me, nearly every BC fan, and at least a few of the players.
When asked about the peculiar play call, the players responded carefully, but it was apparent that they were displeased at BC's inability to adjust to Pitt's second-half defensive scheme and were at least somewhat perplexed by the play-calling.
"They made some really good adjustments and we couldn't make adjustments to match their adjustments," said Porter. When asked about whether he was surprised by the option call on second and 15, Porter responded, "I guess. I might be surprised after I watch the film, but in the game you just go with the play that is called."
When Knight was asked if he was surprised about his lack of touches, especially after his two carries for 60-plus yards, Knight said, "Yeah, but that was coach's call. It was out of our hands." In response to a question about the option call, Knight said, "Maybe I was a little bit [surprised], but he's up in the press box. Maybe he sees something in the Pitt defense. It's our job to execute the plays that are called."
To top it off, the Eagles were being visibly held all game, though no holding penalties were called on Pitt. The only holding penalty of the game negated the Eagles' best play of the day, Knight's 41-yard TD run. The refs had their whistles in their pockets the entire game, much to the dismay of the BC coaches, players, and fans.
With Knight running the ball successfully on the ground, with the BC offense's lack of ability to adjust effectively, and with Porter's downfield inaccuracy, the Eagles should have given Knight another shot at the Panthers' defense following the holding call. Instead, BC fed Pitt a steady diet of ineffective first-down passes and second-down runs.
The BC coaching was flawed, the passing game was weak, and the referees should've shown up more than that one time on Knight's run. They should've shown up on Pitt's holds. They should've shown up when Ott was clipped on a punt return. With these three things working against the Eagles, it's a testament to the team's ability as a whole that they were able to keep the score so close.
The bottom line is that there's nothing a team can do in the face of inconsistent officiating. But Bible can improve his play-calling and Porter can improve his passing, and they're both going to have to do exactly that for the team to experience any success next week against West Virginia.
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