A smattering of Reddit posts on Coach Jake, FWIW. The first two are from the thread announcing his recent hire:
GoBostonCollege
I would not be too thrilled if I were a Northwestern fan. This guy was propped up by talent and the offensive rankings are deceptive. His offense was predictable, bland and atrocious against the two talented teams we played. I am glad both he and Addazio are gone.
Some more context:
BC had a top 15 offensive line (4 lineman made an all ACC team and one was honorable mention), arguably a top 3 RB in all of NCAA football (AJ Dillon), deceptively good WRs and TEs, and this offense was still maddening to watch. Yes, the defense on this team was absolute garbage, but there were at least 2 games that a good offensive coordinator would have been able to win simply because of the talent on this offensive unit. Some of the offensive game plans that were thrown out were simply inexcusable.
Furthermore, second half adjustments were never really made and if the original game-plan fell flat, BC was 100% going to lose the game. And this is to say nothing of any clutch offensive drives late in the game, which were non-existent.
So in sum, unless you are going to put together a line that has 5 players that will be playing in the NFL and a top running back talent in the nation, I would expect a middling, bland offense out of coach Jake at Northwestern. Enjoy!
baugamania
We had him at Tennessee for Butch's first two years.
He inherited a stacked OL but few skill position players in 2013. We went 5-7, and the offense was poor. Freshman Josh Dobbs took over late due to injuries to Justin Worley, Nathan Peterman, and Riley Ferguson. What irked me about him was how often he called jet sweeps and WR screens. That felt like 70% of the offense.
In 2014, pretty much the entire OL graduated or declared for the draft, so we returned around 8 starts (a player who played some in 2012 had been injured in 2013 IIRC). They struggled early until once again injuries forced Dobbs into action. He was a totally different player, leading us to a big finish (7-6 after bowl).
He left after that for the Bucs. Mike DeBord drastically improved the scoring the next year.
Take all that for what it's worth. He's "just ok".
These are reactions from UT fans when he left UT 4 years ago:
Mythic514
His play calling, in my opinion (and I see the same criticism from a lot of other fans), was pretty lackluster, especially toward the end of games. Florida and Georgia games immediately come to mind. I was also a bit worried that he was unable to get any improvement from the O-Line (although I don't really blame him for that...it was a REALLY young line). But considering the weapons he had on offense, especially in the receivers, I thought he didn't really utilize them to their best potential enough. We had a good end of season on offense, but I think most of that is attributable to Dobbs, and less so to Bajakian, considering our spark came when he began to start.
I am interested to see who we get as a replacement. My main concern is how this will affect our recruiting so close to NSD. I am not too worried, but it's hard to imagine this isn't a major point of concern with some of our offensive recruits.
danimal_deg
I think he made the absolute best out of a bad situation. Losses on an already poor offensive line, a quarterback switch, multiple wide receiver injuries, and a collectively inexperienced team kept the offense from clicking until the end of the year. The loss of Bajakian will be understated by everyone, but it should not be taken lightly.
nickknx865
I don't like the idea of him leaving, but I don't think it'd be a huge loss in terms of offensive playcalling if he did leave.
Brometheus-Pound
Shit. I can't say I'm really upset given that Jake's offense was dumbfounding at times, but did this have to happen within a month of NSD? Even if he wasn't a top recruiter, instability still hurts.
LakerBaker
Don't be a prideful douche, the play calling was bad. No offense for most of the season. Did better with Dobbs, but not a great coach. The replacement will be much better.
NOTPattyBarr
Bajakian was really up and down play calling wise. He had some games he had that were almost unbearably bad even for UT fanatics. But he had a couple moments (like the 2nd half of the 2013 Georgia game) where he seemed to always have the perfect play called for the perfect situation.
Honestly, I was still on the fence about him. His play calling seemed bad at times, but also he never really had a team that was built to be super successful on offense though. In 2013 we were basically unexperienced at WR, TE, and QB. In 2014 we had to replace all of our OL. Only one of the guys had ever started before.
I was waiting until 2015 until I made my mind up about him as a coordinator. Oh well.
boxjellyfishing
Bajakian's playcalling was hot garbage at times. His ability to make adjustments was extremely poor. I never felt like he was calling plays for the quality of players he had on the field, it always felt like he was calling plays for the players he wanted.
Take it for FWIW, but I guess this confirms why I don't see this as a homerun hire.
I'll end on a more positive note:
2019 SP+ Offense Rank Defense Rank
Boston College 37 112
Northwestern 122 27
This I guess is what gives me some hope. It couldn't be worse than with McCall. And maybe we'll even be much better (at least if we get 5 NFL Caliber OL and a top 3 Back). How good would we be with the #37 offense and the #27 defense?
GoBostonCollege
I would not be too thrilled if I were a Northwestern fan. This guy was propped up by talent and the offensive rankings are deceptive. His offense was predictable, bland and atrocious against the two talented teams we played. I am glad both he and Addazio are gone.
Some more context:
BC had a top 15 offensive line (4 lineman made an all ACC team and one was honorable mention), arguably a top 3 RB in all of NCAA football (AJ Dillon), deceptively good WRs and TEs, and this offense was still maddening to watch. Yes, the defense on this team was absolute garbage, but there were at least 2 games that a good offensive coordinator would have been able to win simply because of the talent on this offensive unit. Some of the offensive game plans that were thrown out were simply inexcusable.
Furthermore, second half adjustments were never really made and if the original game-plan fell flat, BC was 100% going to lose the game. And this is to say nothing of any clutch offensive drives late in the game, which were non-existent.
So in sum, unless you are going to put together a line that has 5 players that will be playing in the NFL and a top running back talent in the nation, I would expect a middling, bland offense out of coach Jake at Northwestern. Enjoy!
baugamania
We had him at Tennessee for Butch's first two years.
He inherited a stacked OL but few skill position players in 2013. We went 5-7, and the offense was poor. Freshman Josh Dobbs took over late due to injuries to Justin Worley, Nathan Peterman, and Riley Ferguson. What irked me about him was how often he called jet sweeps and WR screens. That felt like 70% of the offense.
In 2014, pretty much the entire OL graduated or declared for the draft, so we returned around 8 starts (a player who played some in 2012 had been injured in 2013 IIRC). They struggled early until once again injuries forced Dobbs into action. He was a totally different player, leading us to a big finish (7-6 after bowl).
He left after that for the Bucs. Mike DeBord drastically improved the scoring the next year.
Take all that for what it's worth. He's "just ok".
These are reactions from UT fans when he left UT 4 years ago:
Mythic514
His play calling, in my opinion (and I see the same criticism from a lot of other fans), was pretty lackluster, especially toward the end of games. Florida and Georgia games immediately come to mind. I was also a bit worried that he was unable to get any improvement from the O-Line (although I don't really blame him for that...it was a REALLY young line). But considering the weapons he had on offense, especially in the receivers, I thought he didn't really utilize them to their best potential enough. We had a good end of season on offense, but I think most of that is attributable to Dobbs, and less so to Bajakian, considering our spark came when he began to start.
I am interested to see who we get as a replacement. My main concern is how this will affect our recruiting so close to NSD. I am not too worried, but it's hard to imagine this isn't a major point of concern with some of our offensive recruits.
danimal_deg
I think he made the absolute best out of a bad situation. Losses on an already poor offensive line, a quarterback switch, multiple wide receiver injuries, and a collectively inexperienced team kept the offense from clicking until the end of the year. The loss of Bajakian will be understated by everyone, but it should not be taken lightly.
nickknx865
I don't like the idea of him leaving, but I don't think it'd be a huge loss in terms of offensive playcalling if he did leave.
Brometheus-Pound
Shit. I can't say I'm really upset given that Jake's offense was dumbfounding at times, but did this have to happen within a month of NSD? Even if he wasn't a top recruiter, instability still hurts.
LakerBaker
Don't be a prideful douche, the play calling was bad. No offense for most of the season. Did better with Dobbs, but not a great coach. The replacement will be much better.
NOTPattyBarr
Bajakian was really up and down play calling wise. He had some games he had that were almost unbearably bad even for UT fanatics. But he had a couple moments (like the 2nd half of the 2013 Georgia game) where he seemed to always have the perfect play called for the perfect situation.
Honestly, I was still on the fence about him. His play calling seemed bad at times, but also he never really had a team that was built to be super successful on offense though. In 2013 we were basically unexperienced at WR, TE, and QB. In 2014 we had to replace all of our OL. Only one of the guys had ever started before.
I was waiting until 2015 until I made my mind up about him as a coordinator. Oh well.
boxjellyfishing
Bajakian's playcalling was hot garbage at times. His ability to make adjustments was extremely poor. I never felt like he was calling plays for the quality of players he had on the field, it always felt like he was calling plays for the players he wanted.
Take it for FWIW, but I guess this confirms why I don't see this as a homerun hire.
I'll end on a more positive note:
2019 SP+ Offense Rank Defense Rank
Boston College 37 112
Northwestern 122 27
This I guess is what gives me some hope. It couldn't be worse than with McCall. And maybe we'll even be much better (at least if we get 5 NFL Caliber OL and a top 3 Back). How good would we be with the #37 offense and the #27 defense?
