"A Springboard Into The Next Season"

The bowl season is very different than it was 20 years ago. With roughly twice the number of games, there's more teams than ever that compete for the right to hoist a trophy and end their season with a win.

No matter how it's changed, the right to represent its school on neutral ground, with an unfamiliar patch on its jersey, against a team not scheduled at the beginning of the season is a reward for any team. It's a privilege and it's a chance to end the season on a high note in a special way that is only experienced by playing a postseason game.

"We have an opportunity to go get our seventh win and play in a tremendous venue in a bowl game where the hospitality is fantastic," BC's head football coach Steve Addazio said. "So we're excited for our kids. It's another venue, another place they've never been before, and we're going to be playing against Maryland."

Addazio referred to a bowl game as a potential "springboard into the next season." A team gets more practices and another game. It's a further chance to evaluate talent and continue developing the team. It's a chance to end the season on a high note. For the players, it's a chance to spend more time in the locker room, among the guys, with a goal to defeat a common opponent.

"We're just ecstatic to go to a bowl game," senior Truman Gutapfel said. "(I) just get to be with my guys a little bit longer, go out, and try to leave with a winning record and win a bowl game. (I'm) just really excited."

A bowl win can serve as something of a measuring stick, the next logical step. In 1999, the Eagles made their first bowl game in five seasons, but they were demolished by Colorado, 62-28, in the Insight.com Bowl. The next year, they took a step forward by beating Arizona State in the Aloha Bowl, 31-17. That set up a run for the 2001 Music City Bowl, where an unranked Boston College team upset the 16th-ranked Georgia Bulldogs, 20-16.

I still remember that game. William Green ran 35 times for 149 yards and two touchdowns, including the eventual game-winner with 4:43 remaining. I still picture Green's white uniform taking off for a signature long run during that game, though he was eventually chased down by a defender. The win broke a 22-game losing streak to ranked opponents that dated back to 1995. It helped jump start a bowl winning streak that lasted through 2007, when Matt Ryan's Boston College juggernaut bested Michigan State in the Champs Sports Bowl.

Going to a bowl game is great, but a win leaves the program in a position to build on what they left behind. The 2001 team, after all, couldn't have done what it did without the 2000 team, and the '07 Eagles couldn't reach their heights without the 2002 Motor City Bowl or the 2005 MPC Computers Bowl or any other game the program played in.

Similarly, a win this year puts the Eagles on their own individual track. In Addazio's first year, the Eagles went to the Independence Bowl but were blown out by Arizona. The next year, they went to the Pinstripe Bowl and nearly defeated Penn State. Beating Maryland would be a major victory for the seniors and the program, something to look back on as a necessary building block.

"We've fought really hard down the home stretch to get bowl eligible," Addazio said. "Obviously they want to win the bowl game. We all do. (The seniors) feel really strong about the legacy they want to leave as we move this thing forward, and that legacy is going to our third bowl in four years and a chance to win that bowl, get that seventh win, and really push this forward program."

There are also infrastructure impacts. There are extra practices that allow the team to continue its development and build on how it's improved this season. The BC team against Wake Forest looked vastly different from the one that played against Georgia Tech, and it can continue to change and develop with extra practices and one more game.

"It goes back to Georgia Tech," senior John Johnson said. "We had so much time to prepare for Georgia Tech, and I think we played a decent game on defense against (them). So hopefully we can do the same thing in preparation against Maryland, know their schemes and their players, and get after them."

At the end of the day, though, a bowl game is still a reward. By doing what it takes to qualify, a team gets more time to develop, play football and be with teammates longer. There are plenty of teams, including ACC teams, that don't get that chance, meaning a team has to be on some form of special plateau - even if it's not in the College Football Playoff - to earn that reward.

It's also an opportunity. It's a chance to leave the season on a high note, to enter the offseason with a trophy, a victory and a celebration. It's something BC hasn't experienced in nearly a decade. It's what every player craves, and it's what every coach desires for the direction of their program.

"I think we're all excited to go to another bowl game," senior Tyler Rouse said. "I think as seniors and I think even more the younger guys, we all just want to get our seventh win and getting to that bowl game, getting a chance to play again, and get that next win is important to all of us. I think everyone has a little sense of urgency about them."

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