Monday, September 14, 2009

Headlines: Another Win, A Quarterback Emerges? and League Disappointments

Brian: The Eagles rolled again on Saturday, defeating Kent State 34-7, to go to 2-0 on the season. Boston College used a pair of touchdown passes from Shinskie and Tuggle, a Montel Harris touchdown run and a Steve Aponavicius field goal to mount a 24-0 halftime lead. The only thing in doubt in this game was preserving the shutout, which was lost when Kent State backup Spencer Keither completed a four yard touchdown pass to Jonathan Simpson with a little over 2 minutes to play for the only Kent State points on the day.

The Eagles narrowly missed recording back-to-back shutouts to start the season since 1933.

We turn first to the Eagles quarterback competition, where both Tuggle and Shinskie each split time under center in the first half. Tuggle finished the game with 150 yards and 2 touchdowns on 6-of-12 passing, while Shinskie finished 9-of-16 for 73 yards, a touchdown and an interception.

Jeff, who was the more impressive starting quarterback candidate on Saturday?

Jeff: Justin Tuggle certainly had the more impressive numbers on Saturday. Tuggle went 6 of 12 passing for 150 yards and 2 touchdowns while Shinskie only threw for 78 yards, one touchdown and an interception. Watching this game, the difference between the two was not as great because I felt Tuggle wound up in some better situations. The running game seemed to be working a little better for Tuggle than for Shinskie. Shinskie didn't look terrible but the one interception was a very poor decision.

Overall, it seemed like Kent State got more pressure on Shinskie and the nice plays were made by receivers when Tuggle was in the ballgame. Shinskie throws a nicer-looking ball but Tuggle seems much more accurate and definitely has a stronger arm than Shinskie has.

I was happy with what I saw from both quarterbacks and would take either over week 2 Chris Crane from a year ago.

Brian: Word from Spaz and the Eagles camp is that a decision may come down by mid-week, however, the differences between the two quarterbacks in the eyes of Coach Spaziani were minimal.
"We’re still evaluating," said Spaziani. “Both of them ran the game well, both made some plays. There’s not a great deal of separation. But you have to reach a point where you just have to take some of that information and move on."

Spaziani said he will make a decision by the middle of the week - although he is not sure if he will announce it - and either Tuggle or Shinskie will receive most of the snaps in practice from that point on.

Which was the more impressive win? The Northeastern win or the Kent State win?

Jeff: Kent State was far more impressive than Northeastern. Not only had Kent State won the week before, but their defense actually made BC work and we couldn't just run all over them like we could Northeastern.

Brian: Looking around the league, what ACC result was the most surprising in week 2?

Jeff: I would have to say that Florida State struggling with Jacksonville State was the most surprising ACC result of week 2. Otherwise, all the ACC teams that were favored to win won. Virginia was a big underdog to TCU at home and that game turned out as expected.

Brian: I would have to agree with you. Reading up on this game, it sounds as if Florida State was not motivated at all for this game. The Seminoles scored twice in the last 35 seconds of the fourth quarter to win by 10 and avoid yet another ACC upset at the hands of an FCS opponent. You have to wonder who is running this team at this point - either Bobby Bowden and coach-in-waiting Jimbo Fisher. The head coach needs to have their team motivated to play every Saturday, and I'm starting to wonder how beneficial these coach-in-waiting situations really are for a program. Over the past two weeks, we have seen both Maryland and Florida State struggle to get wins against FCS teams after losing in week 1.

1 comment:

Leather D said...

Coach-in-waiting doesn't appear to have done much good for Oregon either.