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The Tape: Original Sin

NCAA play-by-play looks like this:

Josh Haden rush for 4 yards to the WFrst 32 for a 1ST down.

Very bare-bones and without even basic information like direction or who tackled Haden. Tackle data is recorded though and somewhere, presumably, play-by-play that includes it is accessible. I figure that's the data that populated NFL Draft Scout's 2008 Game Analysis. Unfortunately that raw information was interpreted, and qualitative adjectives like "allowed" and "gave up" were inserted, misrepresenting raw information as analysis.

Crane's departure shook up Boston College's play calling. Replacement quarterback Dominique Davis is more rusher than quarterback, or so's the party line. In 2008, he averaged 1.1 yards per rush attempt in 48 attempts. He totaled -22 yards rushing against Wake Forest. Somehow, BC still won.

  1. (Left) Curry contains but does not otherwise factor.
  2. (Right) Curry contains but does not initially attack the rusher. Haden rushes for four on 2nd and 5.
  3. (Left) Curry jams then drives back Lars Anderson before cutting in and tackling Haden. Haden rushes for three and the first.
  4. (Right) Curry takes a wide-angled rush into the backfield. BC runs it up the middle. Curry does not factor.
  5. (Left) Aside from being, maybe, too patient at times, this is Curry's first true mistake. BC runs a zone read. Davis begins running wide left. Curry shadows but does not initially commit. Davis is a bit faster than Crane, and Curry miscalculates his speed, cutting in too fast and breaking outside containment. Davis continues wide and having the angle and initiative easily runs away from Curry. It's a three yard play, but it nets the first.
  6. (RIght) Play-by-play can misplace blame but also credit. In this play, Curry records one of his 16 tackles for a loss, but had he not taken the field at all, Kyle Wilber and Kevin Patterson would have one less player to share a tackle with. Curry discards tight end Ryan Purvis in an unusually dominant push-off, but from there Curry apes Brian Russell: joining a stacked pile on an already tackled foe.
  7. (Right) Curry covers Purvis, but neither player impacts this play's outcome. Davis does his Seneca Wallace-thing, rolling right despite a sound pocket and thus nullifying all but one easily covered route. Chip Vaughn swats away a wobbler targeting Anderson.
  8. (Right) We end with something uncertain. Purvis is aligned a little off the tackle and a little back in a now common tight end position that's probably closer to a slotback position. Curry plays over Purvis and after the snap looks to keep good cover, but then both vanish off-camera and Davis decides to run.