DUBLIN — Coach Steve Addazio was confident that the ghost of the Eagles’ woeful kicking game from a year ago wouldn’t be an issue going into Saturday’s season opener against Georgia Tech.
That was before sophomore Colton Lichtenberg had one field goal attempt blocked and struck the left upright with another in BC’s 17-14 loss.
After leaving points on the field, consistency is again a concern.
“We had a great spring and a great preseason. That’s all I can tell you,’’ Addazio said. “Now, that’s not a game, but all I can do is judge off of what I saw. And our percentage of kicking field goals this training camp was really high. Yeah, I’m concerned. We didn’t make two field goals out here, you know? But that’s not what I saw.’’
Lichtenberg missed three of his six field goal attempts last season. One was a potential go-ahead kick in a 9-7 loss to Duke. The other two came in a 3-0 loss to Wake Forest that defined BC’s season. Lichtenberg worked with former Eagles kicker Nate Freese in the offseason, building confidence coming into the year.
His first attempt of the season was a 43-yarder in the second quarter with the Eagles trailing, 7-0. He set up on the right hash mark, the snap and hold were solid, but Yellow Jackets defensive end Rod Rook-Chungong got a piece of it.
With the game tied at 7 in the third quarter, the Eagles were facing fourth and 1 at the Georgia Tech 18. Addazio decided against going for the first down and called on Lichtenberg, but he yanked the 35-yard attempt left.
“I had a tough decision to make,’’ Addazio said. “I decided to kick that field goal from the 18 because it was the right thing to do. It didn’t end up being the right decision. It was [fourth and 1], I said I’ve got to find out what’s going on here and we’ve got to do the right thing right now and we’ll see.’’
In hindsight, Addazio said he would have given the offense a chance to get the first down.
“If I had another [fourth and 1], I would have went for it at that point. But at that time, that place, it was the right decision. It didn’t end up being the right call, but it was the right decision.’’
Landry limited
Still recovering from a leg injury that hindered him for much of preseason camp, junior defensive end Harold Landry wasn’t on the field for the opening series and was limited for much of the game.
For the first time since his freshman year, Landry finished without a tackle. He had 60 tackles and 4½ sacks last season, earning All-ACC honorable mention honors.
Addazio said Landry was cleared to play but still needed to progress after missing so much time.
“Harold’s been hurt all training camp. He just got cleared this week,’’ Addazio said. “So just trying to get him back to full speed. He was cleared full speed, but he hasn’t really had any reps all preseason camp. So hopefully we’re going to see him start to really come back around this week now that he’s been cleared.’’
Safety John Johnson said the injury didn’t have a glaring affect on Landry’s performance, but he understood the coaching staff wanting to be cautious.
“I don’t think it’s noticeable,’’ Johnson said. “But I don’t think the coaches wanted him to hit it again to mess him up for the rest of the season, so I just think they took the foot off the gas.’’
Numbers are down
Official attendance was 40,562, which fell dramatically short of the last college football games hosted in Dublin. In 2014, Penn State and Central Florida drew 53,304 fans for the Croke Park Classic. In 2012, Notre Dame and Navy drew 48,820 to Aviva Stadium for the Emerald Isle Classic . . . Junior Charlie Callinan caught four passes for a career-high 92 yards, including a 54-yard grab near the end of the game . . . Junior linebacker Ty Schwab finished with a career-high nine tackles. Senior defensive lineman Truman Gutapfel had career-high eight.
Julian Benbow can be reached at jbenbow@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @julianbenbow.
