Boston College Athletics
Season Preparation Goes From Optimism To Reality
September 05, 2020 | Football, #ForBoston Files
Eagles enter next stage of preseason with game one on the horizon.
Back in June, the arrival and return to campus of the Boston College football team trumpeted hope and optimism of an upcoming season. A long wait through the COVID-19 health crisis finally cracked, and players dispersed throughout the country breaking their 15-week darkness with a shred of light. The endless possibility of a season crested on the horizon and offered conversational excitement after weathering months-long waters.
The happiness ricocheted through the fan base, through the team, and through observers, but it overshadowed the sacrifices necessary to make football even happen in the first place. COVID-19 wasn't anywhere near being over - it still isn't - so moving back onto campus would only start the first session of a long, difficult journey.Â
Even now, as college football marches towards its first full week of games, the atmosphere dubbed the "BC Bubble" is receiving reinforcement. A larger goal of playing a game in less than two week's time is within grasp, but that only means the team's commitment to itself is undergoing a similar fortification.
"It's like hitting the reset button," head coach Jeff Hafley said. "We've been in the bubble on our own, so we feel safer than we would anywhere else. (But) everyone needs to make sure they are wearing their mask, social distancing, and washing hands a million times per day. There are going to be more people around (on campus), and people are going to be in the dorms and around campus. We just have to be really smart and safe to make sure we do the little things that we started off doing, so we can continue to progress."
When Boston College steps foot on the field on September 19 against Duke, it will mark the latest date of a season opener since a 1981 win over Texas A&M. That win kicked off the Jack Bicknell era on September 19 and is only marginally earlier than the September 28, 1968 and September 27, 1969 wins over Navy.Â
More than a half dozen season openers in the past decade kicked off on September 1 or earlier, a reminder that this college football year is nothing like its predecessors. This year's "training camp" started earlier than ever when the Eagles arrived back on campus in June; though workouts didn't begin until the end of the 14-day quarantine period. A full-blown training camp kicked off weeks later in August.
It's a road paved by the unlikely and murky waters of the COVID-19 pandemic. BC's arrival on campus kicked off a 14-day quarantine period, during which the team received an initial round of coronavirus testing. Over the succeeding weeks, more tests piled up as part of the team's new protocols, though only one positive case returned. Discovered during the initial round of testing, the player has since recovered, and the team has had no further positive cases during its camp.
It was part of the intense preparation and commitment overlaying the sun-splashed images of football players practicing in the summer heat, and the continued stress on the team's protocols served as the backdrop for the on-field efforts. BC still needed to install a new scheme, and the lack of spring practice forced coaches to reboot some of their efforts from the negated spring session. It meant continual evaluation on how to ratchet up and dial back intensity of drills.
In the end, the entire BC program was left with a dueling sense of pride and anticipation. The team could be proud of what it accomplished within its bubble, but it knew the road would only increase its degree of difficulty as the season would draw nearer and nearer.
"It's a great feeling to have put in a lot of work," quarterback Phil Jurkovec said. "We're prepared in a lot of ways, but we had some time (to practice). This has been the longest camp that any of us have done, and it's full. We've gotten a ton of great work in, but now we know we can't slack. We have to push and step every day. There are tendencies to take steps back once the grind steps back."
Everything happened while COVID-19 continued to wreak havoc on the college football universe. Initially, BC's 12-game schedule featured four non-conference opponents, including anticipated rematches with both Kansas and Purdue. That schedule blew up immediately when the ACC announced its "10+1" schedule devoid of divisional alignments.
It restricted the Eagles to one non-conference opponent, but the expected game against Ohio further went into the abyss when the Mid-American Conference announced a cancellation of its fall schedule. It further pushed college football to the brink when the Big Ten and Pac-12 lowered hammers on their power conference schedules.Â
"Our players want to play," Hafley said at the time. "My job is to coach them as best as I can and as hard as I can, and I want them to be as safe as they can. I have to follow the guidelines of our medical people. They're giving us protocols to follow, and we're doing it as best as we can. Until they tell us otherwise, we're going to go as best as we can."
In the end, the ACC remained on the docket for the fall, and the 10-game schedule remained intact. The conference added Notre Dame to the fold by offering a one-season conference affiliation to the Fighting Irish, a first in program history, and further realigned into one, 15-team league. The BC schedule offered some of the most stark alterations with the addition of six "Coastal Division teams," plus its longtime rival from South Bend.
Even having the conversation of playing a football season remains a debate without a perfect, straightforward answer, but continuing forward is the result of BC's commitment and sacrifice as a team. The players, coaches, staff members, and families all dedicated themselves to a lifestyle isolated from the frills of whatever normal can happen in a COVID world. The formation of the "BC Bubble" reflected the team's pledge to collective self while illustrating what football meant to the soul of the locker room.
"The guys on this team are my best friends," offensive lineman Ben Petrula said. "I love spending time with them, and football is my life. I love every second of being out there, and I get to hang out with my best friends every day. I'm around great coaches, and I get to do the things that I love to do. It makes it easier (to sacrifice)."
That all now exists solely in the past and further marks the start of the difficult portion of the team's journey. BC is adjusting to a new world, and the reimagining of on-campus life is built around unchartered waters. It's an unclear future requiring more perspective, thoughtfulness, and focus as the team's goals intensify and buoy them through the most challenging piece of its schedule.
All of that, though, is now in the past and means the difficult road is now beginning. After months of focusing just on football, BC is now adjusting to a new world and a campus built around uncharted waters. It's an unclear future that requires more perspective built around football and the intensification of a team's focus on upcoming goals.
"Our guys are doing everything they can to keep each other safe," Hafley said in mid-August. "They care about and love each other in doing everything we ask. It's not easy, and there are times it's going to get hard. We have to keep moving forward and work hard to keep it that way."
The happiness ricocheted through the fan base, through the team, and through observers, but it overshadowed the sacrifices necessary to make football even happen in the first place. COVID-19 wasn't anywhere near being over - it still isn't - so moving back onto campus would only start the first session of a long, difficult journey.Â
Even now, as college football marches towards its first full week of games, the atmosphere dubbed the "BC Bubble" is receiving reinforcement. A larger goal of playing a game in less than two week's time is within grasp, but that only means the team's commitment to itself is undergoing a similar fortification.
"It's like hitting the reset button," head coach Jeff Hafley said. "We've been in the bubble on our own, so we feel safer than we would anywhere else. (But) everyone needs to make sure they are wearing their mask, social distancing, and washing hands a million times per day. There are going to be more people around (on campus), and people are going to be in the dorms and around campus. We just have to be really smart and safe to make sure we do the little things that we started off doing, so we can continue to progress."
When Boston College steps foot on the field on September 19 against Duke, it will mark the latest date of a season opener since a 1981 win over Texas A&M. That win kicked off the Jack Bicknell era on September 19 and is only marginally earlier than the September 28, 1968 and September 27, 1969 wins over Navy.Â
More than a half dozen season openers in the past decade kicked off on September 1 or earlier, a reminder that this college football year is nothing like its predecessors. This year's "training camp" started earlier than ever when the Eagles arrived back on campus in June; though workouts didn't begin until the end of the 14-day quarantine period. A full-blown training camp kicked off weeks later in August.
It's a road paved by the unlikely and murky waters of the COVID-19 pandemic. BC's arrival on campus kicked off a 14-day quarantine period, during which the team received an initial round of coronavirus testing. Over the succeeding weeks, more tests piled up as part of the team's new protocols, though only one positive case returned. Discovered during the initial round of testing, the player has since recovered, and the team has had no further positive cases during its camp.
It was part of the intense preparation and commitment overlaying the sun-splashed images of football players practicing in the summer heat, and the continued stress on the team's protocols served as the backdrop for the on-field efforts. BC still needed to install a new scheme, and the lack of spring practice forced coaches to reboot some of their efforts from the negated spring session. It meant continual evaluation on how to ratchet up and dial back intensity of drills.
In the end, the entire BC program was left with a dueling sense of pride and anticipation. The team could be proud of what it accomplished within its bubble, but it knew the road would only increase its degree of difficulty as the season would draw nearer and nearer.
"It's a great feeling to have put in a lot of work," quarterback Phil Jurkovec said. "We're prepared in a lot of ways, but we had some time (to practice). This has been the longest camp that any of us have done, and it's full. We've gotten a ton of great work in, but now we know we can't slack. We have to push and step every day. There are tendencies to take steps back once the grind steps back."
Everything happened while COVID-19 continued to wreak havoc on the college football universe. Initially, BC's 12-game schedule featured four non-conference opponents, including anticipated rematches with both Kansas and Purdue. That schedule blew up immediately when the ACC announced its "10+1" schedule devoid of divisional alignments.
It restricted the Eagles to one non-conference opponent, but the expected game against Ohio further went into the abyss when the Mid-American Conference announced a cancellation of its fall schedule. It further pushed college football to the brink when the Big Ten and Pac-12 lowered hammers on their power conference schedules.Â
"Our players want to play," Hafley said at the time. "My job is to coach them as best as I can and as hard as I can, and I want them to be as safe as they can. I have to follow the guidelines of our medical people. They're giving us protocols to follow, and we're doing it as best as we can. Until they tell us otherwise, we're going to go as best as we can."
In the end, the ACC remained on the docket for the fall, and the 10-game schedule remained intact. The conference added Notre Dame to the fold by offering a one-season conference affiliation to the Fighting Irish, a first in program history, and further realigned into one, 15-team league. The BC schedule offered some of the most stark alterations with the addition of six "Coastal Division teams," plus its longtime rival from South Bend.
Even having the conversation of playing a football season remains a debate without a perfect, straightforward answer, but continuing forward is the result of BC's commitment and sacrifice as a team. The players, coaches, staff members, and families all dedicated themselves to a lifestyle isolated from the frills of whatever normal can happen in a COVID world. The formation of the "BC Bubble" reflected the team's pledge to collective self while illustrating what football meant to the soul of the locker room.
"The guys on this team are my best friends," offensive lineman Ben Petrula said. "I love spending time with them, and football is my life. I love every second of being out there, and I get to hang out with my best friends every day. I'm around great coaches, and I get to do the things that I love to do. It makes it easier (to sacrifice)."
That all now exists solely in the past and further marks the start of the difficult portion of the team's journey. BC is adjusting to a new world, and the reimagining of on-campus life is built around unchartered waters. It's an unclear future requiring more perspective, thoughtfulness, and focus as the team's goals intensify and buoy them through the most challenging piece of its schedule.
All of that, though, is now in the past and means the difficult road is now beginning. After months of focusing just on football, BC is now adjusting to a new world and a campus built around uncharted waters. It's an unclear future that requires more perspective built around football and the intensification of a team's focus on upcoming goals.
"Our guys are doing everything they can to keep each other safe," Hafley said in mid-August. "They care about and love each other in doing everything we ask. It's not easy, and there are times it's going to get hard. We have to keep moving forward and work hard to keep it that way."
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