Eagles Decide Crappy Quarterback Should Throw More Often

I'm not sure how to take this:

The Wolfpack hosted South Florida last week, and the Bulls attacked through the air, building a 31-10 halftime lead and cruising to a 41-10 win. They put the ball up 33 times, completing 21 passes for 275 yards.

``They came out and they were throwing the ball,'' said Chris Crane, BC's senior quarterback. ``They really completed a whole lot of passes all over the field and put N.C. State on their heels. I think we're going to go out and we'll want to throw the ball around just like South Florida, but we also want to establish a bit of a running game.''

He added, ``For us to be successful this game we have to throw the ball a lot.''

Hunh. Doesn't sound like he's kidding.

The Boston College passing game, then and now:

        Comp   Att     Yds    Comp%  Yds/Att   TD   INT    INT%  Att/INT
2007    390    659    4507    59.3     6.9     31    19    2.9    34.7
2008     53    104     512    51.0     4.9      3     5    4.8    20.8

Play distribution:

        Run/G    Pass/G    Rush%    Pass%
2007    30.1      47.1     39.0     61.0
2008    41.0      26.0     61.2     38.8

Boston College was one of the few entertaining teams in the ACC last season, because you knew Matty Ice was going to throw the ball about 80 times a game, give or take. Now? Welcome to the lame zone, BC. Would you care for some tea? You're now as unwatchable as the rest of us bums, and your uniforms add absolutely no visual zazz. Logo-less helmets are so 1934. And so's your offense. (Zing!)

At least we got zazz. Check that. Do you miss having stripes? I miss stripes.

*looks at tickets for Saturday* Forty-three dollars?! Aw, dude.

Anyway, so the Eagles are throwing the ball much less frequently this season, and they're getting a lot less in return when they do decide to throw. The offense as a whole is averaging nearly 100 fewer total yards per game, and this is over the weak part of the schedule (Sagarin ranks it 143rd toughest).

Some of that decline has to do with the new clock rules and the Eagles' new run-heavy tendency, which have combined to have them averaging about 10 fewer plays per game, but mostly it's because they can't throw the football.

Despite the easy slate, the Eagles head into Saturday ranked 113th in pass efficiency, which is just a tad worrisome going forward because the running game is obviously due for decline as they start seeing defenses that won't allow them to "run the same [running] play over and over again and be successful."

How to turn the passing game around:

Step 1: Play NC State. (Seems to have taken care of itself.)
Step 2: Spread it out and create one-on-one matchups with our inexperienced and undermanned back seven.

Crap, that sounds kind of easy. But Crane is perfectly capable of blowing whatever opportunities he's given on Saturday.

Cross your fingers. (And savor the tailgating. Forty-three dollars!)