As I was to my wife now nearly eight years ago -- when she was still my dream girl, another guy's girl -- honest about my intentions: I want sports writing to be my career. I want to write until I'm so past my prime I'm an object of ridicule. Sad and content and thinking back to the days I was watching football in May just to watch football in May. I'm sure I'll edit out the bad parts...
Like the BC offense. Because football isn't all confetti and champipple flutes. Sometimes you peel your eyelids back and just watch. Following Chris Crane's injury, Boston College's offense went so conservative you wouldn't recognize it. The zone read is probably, no, is, the most boring play in football. It's elementary and effective and executable by the Dominique Davises of the world. See:
Nursing a lead and nursing a quarterback still in swaddling clothes, the zone read became the foundation of Boston College's offense.
- Wake Forest starts the drive with converted wide receiver Jonathan Jones subbed in for Aaron Curry. Next.
- (Right) Curry contains backside pursuit. BC runs a zone read left. Curry does not otherwise factor.
- (Right) Put to rest the notion that Curry lacked sacks because he lacked opportunities. Defensive coordinator Dean Hood blitzed Curry plenty. He blitzed Curry on this play, and like so many of his blitzes, Curry aligned wide in a nebulous region between a wide outside linebacker spot and a tight nickelback spot. Unpredictability is a basic concept in game theory, but there's unpredictable and then there's foolishly unorthodox. I wouldn't go so far as to call Curry's alignment the latter, but what it added in versatility and surprise was more than negated by lost time. Curry charges but is blown back by right tackle Rich Lapham. He regains but not before Davis has rushed for six and the first. Curry does not factor in the tackle.
- (Left) Curry pops Lars Anderson like a Bop Bag. Davis runs a zone read left. Alphonso Smith screams in from the third level and buries a helmet into the ball forcing a fortuitous fumble that finds Kevin Patterson's open arms. He runs for fifteen and the score.