Boston College hosts Cal in the Bears’ ACC opener Saturday, and Eagles head coach Bill O’Brien spoke to the media on Tuesday about Saturday’s matchup. Boston College (1-2) is coming off a bye following its 30-20 road loss to Stanford, while Cal lost to San Diego State 34-0 this past weekend and is a 6.5-point underdog to Boston College this week.
Coaches always lavishly praise their upcoming opponent and the opponent’s prominent players, and O’Brien was no different as he spoke about Cal quarterbacks Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele, who struggled for the first time in the loss to San Diego State.
Here are excerpts from O’Brien’s comments to the media:
On Cal quarterback Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele:
“Good player. Lefty. Good out of the pocket, makes a lot of off-schedule plays. Smart guy. Very good player. He’s got a very good [passer] rating right now. I think he’s playing at a real high level, no doubt about it.”
On whether there are challenges preparing for a true freshman quarterback:
“I don’t think so. Look, he’s a big guy, he’s a good passer, he’s smart, he’s got good command of their offense. He can move out of the pocket. He makes a lot of plays. He makes a lot of off-schedule plays; he makes plays from in the pocket. He reads the defense very well. He’s an excellent quarterback, whether he’s a freshman or a seventh-year senior.”
On whether he was surprised by Cal’s 34-0 loss to San Diego State:
“Never surprised by anything. There’s not one thing in college football that ever surprises me, 33 years. Not one thing in pro football surprises me. Nothing that happened out there today [at practice] surprised me. Nothing ever surprises me.”
On playing at home:
“It’s great. Love the home crowd, just need everyone, the students to be into it. We love the home crowd, love the energy they bring. They do a great job.”
On Boston College wide receiver Reed Harris, who had seven receptions for 141 receiving yards against Stanford:
“He’s gotten better and better. He’s bought into everything we’re doing. He’s catching the ball better. He runs really good routes. He’s tough. He’s playing really at a high level for us, and that needs to continue because he’s one of our best players.”
On how Harris and wide receiver Lewis Bond complement each other:
“Yeah, they’re both different players so they definitely complement each other. One’s more of an outside guy; one’s more of an inside guy, although Reed can do some things on the inside, and Lewis can do some things on the outside. They’re very complementary to each other. They do a good job of playing off each other, no doubt.”
On the fact that ball security cost Boston College in its 30-20 loss to Stanford two weeks ago, when the Eagles committed three turnovers:
“No doubt. Got to take care of the ball. Look at the games from this past weekend. Look at the pro games and look at the college games. In the majority of those games the turnover margin is the difference in the game. There’s absolutely no doubt about that.
“We teach [ball security] every day. We emphasize it. We drill it. We do everything we can. In the end the player has to take care of the ball. No doubt about it.”
On tackling:
“On defense we need to tackle better overall. . . . We’ve missed too many tackles in the first three games, so we have to tackle better . . . Tackling is going to be the difference in this game. Tackling and ball security will be the big difference. If we’re missing a bunch of tackles, it’ll be a long day for us.”
On Boston College’s running game:
“Inconsistent. Got to be more consistent in the run game. Sometimes it’s good, sometimes not so good. It’s got to be more consistent. We’ve got to eliminate the bad, we’ve got to know what we’re doing, we’ve got to know who we’re blocking, who we’re going to, got to be ready for movement. Lot of things we can do better. Worked hard on it, hopefully it gets better.”
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