What Boston College Football Coach, Players Said About Missouri Ahead of Matchup

The No. 24 Boston College Eagles (2-0, 1-0 ACC) football team is gearing up to face its toughest opponent yet in the No. 6 Missouri Tigers (2-0, 0-0 SEC) on Saturday afternoon in Columbia, Mo. 

Throughout the week, head coach Bill O’Brien and multiple players have spoken about the matchup and how they are preparing for it. 

Below is a compilation of what O’Brien and the players have said about the Tigers ahead of the game. 

Q: Hey Bill, just some thoughts on kinda of going into a road environment like this. Just how do you prepare your guys mentally… What’s the approach mentally to prepare them for a game like this? 

O’BRIEN: Yeah, I think that’s a good thing that we’ve already had a road trip, relative to crowd noise, relative to the routine, the routine of traveling on Friday and getting there and meetings and getting up. Now, it’s an early game which I think is good because we’re a morning program. Florida State was a night game, this is an 11:45 kickoff. So, big challenge at Missouri, will be a great atmosphere and our guys are excited about it. 

Q: I wanted to ask you about Missouri’s run game. They rank seventh in how often they run outside zone in the country on 46.5-percent of up to their designed runs. I wanted to ask you, when you’re preparing for an opponent that uses one specific run scheme over the other, how do you prepare for that and also just specifically, when faced with a team that uses so much outside zone, what are some of the specifics that go into preparing the defense that are different from other type of run games?

O’BRIEN: Look, I agree with you, they do run a lot of outside zone, they have a very unique way of doing it, that’s probably about where I’ll go, I’m not gonna tell you how we prepare for it, that wouldn’t be very smart on my end. They do a great job. They have a very athletic offensive line, they know how to run it, they’ve been running it that way for a long time so it’s going to be difficult to stop but I think we’ve got a decent plan, we’ll see how we execute. We gotta execute it at a high level. 

Q: We talked about Luther Burden yesterday, obviously one of the best receivers in the country. You’ve had the chance to see a lot of great receivers in your time both through college and the NFL. Where does he kind of stack up in terms of being a receiver prospect and how do you go about preparing for a threat like him throughout the week? 

O’BRIEN: He’s a top NFL prospect. The guy from the Bengals, Ja’Marr Chase, he reminds me of that. Not saying he’s as good as Ja’Marr Chase but has that type of skill set, like this guy is a very, very good, dynamic player, ball in hand, tough guy, tough guy to stop. We gotta do the best job we can. I think the big thing we’ve gotta do is really try not to let him get behind us, we gotta tackle him, they do a lot to get him the ball, they do a great job of that. He’s probably the best receiver in the country but I know there’s a lot of good ones. There’s a kid at, the freshman at Ohio State, excellent, excellent player. I understand Luther’s a little older that’s all but great player. 

Q: Coach, Eli Drinkwitz is an offensive coach- offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach, kind of the same tree that you’d come off… When you face another coach, are there times that you look and see things that they do that you can adapt into and not necessarily a trading of ideas because you’re obviously competing, but what’s it like for you going up against another offensive coach versus maybe a defensive-minded coach? 

O’BRIEN: There’s no doubt that even if it’s a defensive, you’re looking at a well-coached team, offense or defense, and you see something you think fits your team, fits what you do, man that’s what it’s all about, the coaching. Coaching is all about research and trying to drill down and find things and think of your own things obviously but also if you see something on film that you think that’s really good and you’re like man we don’t do that, then yeah, we definitely do a lot of research on all the teams we play but on teams all around the country, that’s definitely a big part of what we do. 

Q: Just in terms of scouting Missouri, what have you seen from them in terms of their strengths and what are you kind of scouting for this week?

O’BRIEN: Yeah, no question. Not going to really get into what I’m scouting for, but they’re a really good team. Offensively, very, very good offensive line, very athletic, tough quarterback, Brady Cook, very, very good player. Can throw and run. Two really good running backs and very, very good at wide receiver. I’d say at least three or four of their wide receivers will play in the NFL. So we got a big challenge ahead of us, big, big challenge. Defensively, they’re an aggressive defense. They can run. They swarm to the ball. Their DBS are very, very physical, good cover players, play a lot of man coverage, so we got to be ready.

Q: You were talking about their receivers. Burden, is one of the best in the country. With an experienced quarterback, what kind of challenge does that bring? 

O’BRIEN: Yeah, big time challenge, he’s really good. He can run all the routes. Got good size, good speed, great hands, big time challenge. They have other guys too that are very challenging. So it’s going to be, I mean, it’s the best team we’ve played, no question about it, probably best team we played, BC-wise in a couple years, to be honest with you. So yes, it’s gonna be a big challenge. These guys will bring good energy. Our guys are good. They’re tough, and when I say they’re good, they’re good to go right. They’re showing up every day, they’ll be ready to go, but it’ll be a big challenge for us. 

Q: It’s a Top 25 matchup, doesn’t happen too often around here. Just what’s the excitement level like and how do you guys kind of stay focused on the task at hand knowing it is a big game but it’s just another game at the same time though. 

TRAPILO: Yeah, we’re super excited. The number’s cool and all but we’re focused on the game this week. Working super hard in practice, like any other week, watching film. We’ve got a lot of respect for this team, we know it’s gonna be a good matchup and we’re fired up to get out there. 

Q: Ozzy, kind of a two-parter for you. This defensive line is known for its disruptiveness, also fantastic nickname “Death Row.” For you, what have you seen out of this defense and as an offensive lineman, do you take anything away from facing a defense that maybe helps you develop as a player?

TRAPILO: Yeah. We’ve won against good defenses this year, defensive lines. This is definitely a good one, like you said. They have a good reputation, they’re hard players, we got a lot of respect for them, and I think we can definitely take away just in general, playing a defensive line of this caliber, it’s just gonna make us all better. We’re gonna see moves that are high quality, NFL level moves. It’s good for the whole O-Line as a unit to face such a good D-Line. So yeah, we’re excited for the challenge. 

Q: Missouri’s defense hasn’t allowed a point which is pretty good. What makes your defense so good? 

BOND: They got tough guys up front, their secondaries physical, we just got to bring it. Like if we do what we’re supposed to do, everything will handle itself. 

Q: The SEC just being what it is and getting the level of attention they get in college football, in any way do you view this game as a No. 6 team in the country, we can really prove a point for our program? 

BOND: The only other time I played an SEC school, we beat them. I don’t see them as nothing [more] than a football team. They’re another football team on the schedule that we gotta play. 

Q: From kind of  the focus in practice this week with obviously a Top 10 team coming up and I know coach talked about not necessarily focusing too much on the number that’s next to your name right now but you guys do have a Top 25 matchup, what’s that like? 

PRICE: Well the focus is just moving ahead, focusing on the next week, day-by-day, play-by-play. We obviously focus on Missouri cause that’s the people ahead of us but we just taking it a practice at a time, making sure we have our fundamentals right first and just stacking it, stacking it until we get to Saturday. 

Q: Got Luther Burden on Saturday, how does he stack up compared to what you’ve seen so far in terms of receivers in both your career and this season? 

PRICE: Yeah, he’s definitely a great player, he’s a good player. It’s a good matchup to go against but at the end of the day, it’s a faceless opponent. Obviously, we studying them, we studying him but at the end of the day, we got to win our 1-on-1’s, we have to line up how we do, no matter if it’s Luther Burden or anybody that we going to go against for the rest of the season. 

Q: What’s it like walking into a road environment, a Top 10 team, and the place is loud. It’s kind of packed. Everyone’s going crazy. What’s that like as an opponent, and how do you kind of block that noise out to focus on the game?

ROOKS: We just gotta treat like any other game. They’re a good team but at the end of the day it’s football. We just got to play our style football, play our style of defense and execute.

Q: The offensive line for this Missouri team runs pretty big on the interior in particular. What are some of the things that you have to do if you’re running against it, a bigger guard or a bigger center, that maybe, if you have a smaller guard, smaller center, that you might be able to do.

ROOKS: I mean, bigger guys, you just gotta play fast, play free, gotta play low, gotta play leverage. It’s basically like executing your technique at the highest level because they are a good offensive line, so we just got to keep on playing our style football, playing fast, been playing confident, and at the end of the day, just go out there and win. 

Q: I’m just wondering, so far on film, what you’re kind of seeing out of their quarterback, Brady Cook. I know he scrambled last game for about 60 yards, two touchdowns on the ground, when you got a passer who’s pretty versatile but also can scramble pretty well. How do you guys kind of contain that?

ROOKS: Yeah, you said it. I mean, he can move in the pocket pretty well so we just gotta keep him contained. We just gotta rush with leverage, rush with length, and keep him in the pocket and get to him in the backfield. So we just got to keep on rushing, playing fast, get in the backfield and shuffling his throws and then playing with good rush lanes.