Courtesy of SMU Athletics
CHESTNUT HILL- The SMU Mustangs rolled Boston College 45-13 in the annual Red Bandanna game. A disappointing outcome on a day that means so much to the school and the football program.
Here are five observations. From the game.
Quarterback turnovers a problem: Grayson James fumbled after a strip sack and a botched an exchange. The two turnovers set the tone for the day and led to him getting benched in favor of Dylan Lonergan. James played well last week, considering the circumstances. Today was a different story. He attempted only two passes for zero yards. Lonergan also threw an interception as did Shaker Reisig when he came into the game late. The quarterbacks had a rough day taking care of the ball. It is yet another example of how the most important position on a team failed the team once again.
Big plays a problem…again: The defense has been giving up big plays all season long and today was no different. SMU hit several big plays. Quarterback Kevin Jennings threw touchdown passes of 61 and 37 yards and running back Derrick McFall scored on a 48 yard touchdown run. McFall scored three times on the day. The Eagles were once again out of position and lack the team speed defensively to make plays from behind. The inability to execute fundamentally has been a problem all season.
Bond still showing up: One of the few bright spots for the Eagles this season has been wide receiver Lewis Bond’s. Bond’s toughness and competitiveness are on display on a weekly basis. Bond’s caught 9 passes for 94 yards and had by far the best game of any of the skill players. He is one of the seniors that has continued to show up for the Eagles.
No bad blood: Earlier in the week, there was talk that there might some bad blood between B.C and SMU stemming from the Fenway Bowl two years. SMU coach Rhett Lashlee quickly dismissed the notion.
“Bad blood…no they beat us. They won. To my knowledge, there is no bad blood other than we were 14-10 with eight minutes to go and lost 23-14. Credit to them. They won the game and we didn’t. But no, there’s no bad blood.”
Of course it is easier to down play things when your team wins 45-13.
No show: The Eagles no showed. Plain and simple. On a day that means so much to the school and the program, Bill O’Brien and his team failed to give the fans and the Crowther family something to cheer about. It was a golden opportunity to possibly salvage the season a little and they didn’t get it done. Once again O’Brien talked about not doing a good enough job of coaching the team after the game.
“I tell them the same thing every week, I tell them that, again, I have not done a good job of coaching this team. This team has not been coached very well. And I tell them, ‘Look, you guys gotta keep playing hard, we gotta coach better.’ I got there back, you know.”
All sounds good but the falling on the sword thing has run its course. Changes need to made this off-season because the “I need to do a better job.” routine is falling on deaf ears.