Boston College Athletics
Mirror Images Meet On Saturday
October 21, 2020 | Football, #ForBoston Files
Two programs who rarely see each other have so much in common.
Boston College and Georgia Tech might share a football conference, but the two programs don't exactly have a ton in common. They reside in separate divisions in normal seasons, and their only passing is a quinquennial matchup scheduled during an allotted rotation. The only commonality between their host cities - Boston and Atlanta - is the Braves, but their flight included a 12-year layover in Milwaukee between stops.
That's what makes the metaphysical presence of this matchup so interesting. BC and Georgia Tech have played four games against one another since the Eagles moved to the ACC, and each one increased in importance to the relative state of each individual program. This year, as both teams attempt to fully establish successful new identities, the game is set to mark a turning point for someone's season, while leaving the same questions unanswered for the team unable to grab victory on Saturday.
"I think the most important thing for us this week is to improve," BC head coach Jeff Hafley said. "I have a ton of respect for Georgia Tech and their staff. We need to get better. We need to take care of fundamentals and technique. We need to secure the football, and we need to attack the football. We need to get off blocks, and we need to tackle. I'm excited. I do believe that if our offense continues to take the steps, and we're more disciplined, and not move ourselves backward, I'm excited to see what we'll do for the game."
History backs up the shared links between the two programs. In 2007, Matt Ryan pushed the No. 21 Eagles to 3-0 with a 24-10 victory over the previously-undefeated, No. 15 Yellow Jackets, and it continued BC's eight-game momentum to the No. 2 national ranking. The next year, a return bout in Chestnut Hill galvanized BC after a 19-16 defeat, and the Eagles ripped off four consecutive victories to ascend the ACC Atlantic Division for a second consecutive season.
Four years later, Georgia Tech won an October crossroads game, 37-17, and snapped a three-game losing streak. It previously bookended two ACC losses around a loss to Middle Tennessee, but the BC win lifted the season to three straight league wins and an eventual Coastal Division championship. BC, meanwhile, dropped its sixth game and essentially lost bowl eligibility with a month left in the season.
Four years after that, the two teams opened the season in Dublin, Ireland after coming off of identical, 3-9 records. For Georgia Tech, a 17-14 win at Aviva Stadium reestablished the triple option after an 11-win team dipped in 2015, and it reinforced the rebuilding efforts needed to pull the Eagles out of a similar quagmire.
Now this year, the two teams are once again meeting at that identical crossroads after crashing emotional highs with disappointing blowouts last week. For Georgia Tech, a 46-27 win over Louisville spiked optimism after a loss to Syracuse, but four first half turnovers gifted No. 1 Clemson 24 points. The scoreboard went completely sideways after that, and the Jackets lost, 73-7, in a game where Clemson's punter played quarterback late.
BC, meanwhile, flew into Virginia Tech with an overtime, 31-30 win over Pittsburgh before a slew of turnovers clipped its wings at Lane Stadium. The score didn't wind up as bad as Georgia Tech's, but the bitter disappointment resulted in almost identical sound bites from both coaches about this week's preparation.
"I had to put a lot of things to bed on Sunday," Georgia Tech head coach Geoff Collins said, "and we made corrections from the Saturday game. The guys did a really good job of focusing on what we need to do to get ready to play at a high level on Saturday...we've learned from it. The guys have a great attitude. They're obviously hurt because they invested so much, but now we have to turn the page to do that against a really good Boston College team."
"The cool thing about this team is (that) you wouldn't have known if we won by 50 or lost the way we did," Hafley said. "They come out and they work. That just shows me they're buying into what we're trying to build. If you just get so overwhelmed with a result, and you change who you are, you let circumstances change you. Then you're going to have a team that comes out pouty and doesn't practice hard. But the process is right. I know we didn't play well enough, but I'm very confident in the process, and we're going to get better."
Those mirror images reflect what both coaches are attempting to accomplish and how running into each other, at this very juncture, is the ultimate litmus test. Collins is ushering in a completely new era in Atlanta for a program defined by a decade of triple option. In 2018, Paul Johnson's last season, Georgia Tech attempted 125 passes over the entire season, and TaQuon Marshall led the team with five touchdowns and 900 yards. In contrast, he gained 971 yards on the ground with 11 scores, and four rushers gained more than 500 yards with five touchdowns.
James Graham took over last year and completed less than 50 percent of his 193 passing attempts as Collins attempted to bridge modest passing numbers with both Lucas Johnson and Tobias Oliver. He recruited a quarterback, though, in Jeff Sims and implemented a full, new scheme this year.
The drastic changes were similar to what Hafley did in short order with Boston College when he transitioned the older sledgehammer offense into a high-flying pass attack. Last year's offense averaged 50 carries per game and only attempted 24 passes for 176 yards, and Dennis Grosel led all quarterbacks with 155 throws for nine touchdowns. In five games this year, Phil Jurkovec has eclipsed all of that with 203 attempts and a 62.6 percent completion rate, and his 1,500 yards and 10 touchdowns are on pace to shatter sophomore class records set by Doug Flutie and Glenn Foley.
"We got to do what we have to do, right?" Hafley asked rhetorically. "We play a style of defense that we know, and we play a style of offense (that) our coaches know, and we're going to run it. That's why I hired those guys. To transition is hard. A lot of these kids have never done it. Is it harder because we didn't have a spring ball and training camp? Yeah. That's why I think what you're going to see is progress. I think you'll see stuff start to click.
"I believe the run game will start to click, and I believe we will get better throwing the football," He continued. "But offense is all about reps. It's about experience. It's about jelling. Year one, we need to lay the foundation of what it's going to look like, and I do believe our staff is doing a nice job on both sides of the ball."
Boston College and Georgia tech will kick off at 4 p.m. from Alumni Stadium in Chestnut Hill, Massachusets. The game can be seen on ACC Network and online at WatchESPN.com for subscribers of cable providers carrying the channel. For a full list of ACC Network cable providers, visit www.GetACCN.com.
That's what makes the metaphysical presence of this matchup so interesting. BC and Georgia Tech have played four games against one another since the Eagles moved to the ACC, and each one increased in importance to the relative state of each individual program. This year, as both teams attempt to fully establish successful new identities, the game is set to mark a turning point for someone's season, while leaving the same questions unanswered for the team unable to grab victory on Saturday.
"I think the most important thing for us this week is to improve," BC head coach Jeff Hafley said. "I have a ton of respect for Georgia Tech and their staff. We need to get better. We need to take care of fundamentals and technique. We need to secure the football, and we need to attack the football. We need to get off blocks, and we need to tackle. I'm excited. I do believe that if our offense continues to take the steps, and we're more disciplined, and not move ourselves backward, I'm excited to see what we'll do for the game."
History backs up the shared links between the two programs. In 2007, Matt Ryan pushed the No. 21 Eagles to 3-0 with a 24-10 victory over the previously-undefeated, No. 15 Yellow Jackets, and it continued BC's eight-game momentum to the No. 2 national ranking. The next year, a return bout in Chestnut Hill galvanized BC after a 19-16 defeat, and the Eagles ripped off four consecutive victories to ascend the ACC Atlantic Division for a second consecutive season.
Four years later, Georgia Tech won an October crossroads game, 37-17, and snapped a three-game losing streak. It previously bookended two ACC losses around a loss to Middle Tennessee, but the BC win lifted the season to three straight league wins and an eventual Coastal Division championship. BC, meanwhile, dropped its sixth game and essentially lost bowl eligibility with a month left in the season.
Four years after that, the two teams opened the season in Dublin, Ireland after coming off of identical, 3-9 records. For Georgia Tech, a 17-14 win at Aviva Stadium reestablished the triple option after an 11-win team dipped in 2015, and it reinforced the rebuilding efforts needed to pull the Eagles out of a similar quagmire.
Now this year, the two teams are once again meeting at that identical crossroads after crashing emotional highs with disappointing blowouts last week. For Georgia Tech, a 46-27 win over Louisville spiked optimism after a loss to Syracuse, but four first half turnovers gifted No. 1 Clemson 24 points. The scoreboard went completely sideways after that, and the Jackets lost, 73-7, in a game where Clemson's punter played quarterback late.
BC, meanwhile, flew into Virginia Tech with an overtime, 31-30 win over Pittsburgh before a slew of turnovers clipped its wings at Lane Stadium. The score didn't wind up as bad as Georgia Tech's, but the bitter disappointment resulted in almost identical sound bites from both coaches about this week's preparation.
"I had to put a lot of things to bed on Sunday," Georgia Tech head coach Geoff Collins said, "and we made corrections from the Saturday game. The guys did a really good job of focusing on what we need to do to get ready to play at a high level on Saturday...we've learned from it. The guys have a great attitude. They're obviously hurt because they invested so much, but now we have to turn the page to do that against a really good Boston College team."
"The cool thing about this team is (that) you wouldn't have known if we won by 50 or lost the way we did," Hafley said. "They come out and they work. That just shows me they're buying into what we're trying to build. If you just get so overwhelmed with a result, and you change who you are, you let circumstances change you. Then you're going to have a team that comes out pouty and doesn't practice hard. But the process is right. I know we didn't play well enough, but I'm very confident in the process, and we're going to get better."
Those mirror images reflect what both coaches are attempting to accomplish and how running into each other, at this very juncture, is the ultimate litmus test. Collins is ushering in a completely new era in Atlanta for a program defined by a decade of triple option. In 2018, Paul Johnson's last season, Georgia Tech attempted 125 passes over the entire season, and TaQuon Marshall led the team with five touchdowns and 900 yards. In contrast, he gained 971 yards on the ground with 11 scores, and four rushers gained more than 500 yards with five touchdowns.
James Graham took over last year and completed less than 50 percent of his 193 passing attempts as Collins attempted to bridge modest passing numbers with both Lucas Johnson and Tobias Oliver. He recruited a quarterback, though, in Jeff Sims and implemented a full, new scheme this year.
The drastic changes were similar to what Hafley did in short order with Boston College when he transitioned the older sledgehammer offense into a high-flying pass attack. Last year's offense averaged 50 carries per game and only attempted 24 passes for 176 yards, and Dennis Grosel led all quarterbacks with 155 throws for nine touchdowns. In five games this year, Phil Jurkovec has eclipsed all of that with 203 attempts and a 62.6 percent completion rate, and his 1,500 yards and 10 touchdowns are on pace to shatter sophomore class records set by Doug Flutie and Glenn Foley.
"We got to do what we have to do, right?" Hafley asked rhetorically. "We play a style of defense that we know, and we play a style of offense (that) our coaches know, and we're going to run it. That's why I hired those guys. To transition is hard. A lot of these kids have never done it. Is it harder because we didn't have a spring ball and training camp? Yeah. That's why I think what you're going to see is progress. I think you'll see stuff start to click.
"I believe the run game will start to click, and I believe we will get better throwing the football," He continued. "But offense is all about reps. It's about experience. It's about jelling. Year one, we need to lay the foundation of what it's going to look like, and I do believe our staff is doing a nice job on both sides of the ball."
Boston College and Georgia tech will kick off at 4 p.m. from Alumni Stadium in Chestnut Hill, Massachusets. The game can be seen on ACC Network and online at WatchESPN.com for subscribers of cable providers carrying the channel. For a full list of ACC Network cable providers, visit www.GetACCN.com.
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