FOOTBALL: Impressive Air Attack Has Potential For Even More

After the football team’s first losing season since 1998, Boston College head coach Frank Spaziani retooled the Eagles’ offensive staff. He choose former Kent State coach Doug Martin as the new offensive coordinator, and former Ohio State offensive coordinator Jim Bollman as the new offensive line coach.

One game into the 2012 season, the hires have paid immediate dividends.

The Eagles will take on Maine this Saturday coming off their best offensive game in recent memory. Chase Rettig threw for 441 yards against Miami—the sixth highest total in BC history—as the Eagles put up 32 points and 542 total yards against the Hurricanes.

“I felt comfortable the whole game,” Rettig said. “I thought the offensive line played great. Whenever you can get no sacks, that’s a great statistic.”
But Rettig wasn’t completely satisfied with his performance.

“You saw our potential on Saturday,” he said. “We could have scored 50 points. That’s a lot more hours of sleep I would have had on Saturday and Sunday night.”
After the Eagles had found the end zone on their first two drives, they didn’t score again until there were six minutes left in the first half, settling for three field goals during the next two quarters.

“In the spring and summer, Coach Martin said we started out pretty fast against our own defense, and it happened again in the game,” Rettig said.

BC finally ended its touchdown drought in the fourth quarter with a 17-yard reception by running back Tahj Kimble. The sophomore had a career-high 130 receiving yards in the game, and was a huge part of the offensive attack all day long.

“Tahj has receiver hands,” Rettig said. “It’s helpful, especially when teams allow you to throw that quick out to your back. It helps us spread the defense.”
Rettig drew a comparison to a BC legend when discussing the importance of having a receiving running back.

“When Matt Ryan was here, the running back had the most receptions, then the tight end,” Rettig said. “So it’s a big deal when we can have a back that can go out and catch the ball.”
And even though Rettig had a banner day passing the ball, the junior quarterback knows there are areas of his game that he can improve.

“I got pretty comfortable in the game Saturday on some of the reads that were early in my progression,” Rettig said. “Giving the first couple routes of my progression more time [is something I can work on].”

One of those plays he referred to occurred during BC’s final drive of the game.

“We went empty, and [Miami] played press-man coverage,” Rettig said. “We’re trying to look for the deeper route in the whole series. The first look is usually the running back—I could have stayed in it, because Tahj juked the linebacker and he was open.”
Rettig also mentioned his deep ball could use improvement.

“When we have a single receiver, [we need] better timing with throwing the deep ball,” Rettig said. “We’re going to need that at some point this year—just throwing the ball deep and making plays.”
The Eagles had a fine offensive game as is. But if Rettig can improve in the areas he touched on against Maine—which plays in the Football Championship Subdivision—this weekend, there’s certainly a chance the offense hangs 50.