Photo by: Kait Devir
Four Downs: Virginia Tech
November 07, 2021 | Football, #ForBoston Files
Jurkovec returned, and BC beat the Hokies in the annual Red Bandana Game
During September's game against UMass, a play nobody remembered and an injury nobody saw unexpectedly derailed the start of the Boston College football season. The Eagles were only 1-0 and won their next two games against Temple and Missouri, but their high-powered offense led by quarterback Phil Jurkovec missed its edge after Jurkovec, a player touted as one of the best in the ACC, went down with a wrist injury. His surgery and subsequent absence zapped BC of some of its explosiveness, and after the Eagles upended the SEC's Tigers, a four-game losing streak led to questions about the position and its future in a season that gradually slipped away.
On Friday night, that story bookended itself when Jurkovec unexpectedly stepped out of the locker room wearing equipment, pads and a helmet. It was BC's annual Red Bandana Game against Virginia Tech, and the quarterback who had been injured while wearing the signature motif uniform when it was worn on the anniversary of 9/11 instead looked like he'd been unfrozen from some stasis in time.
Jurkovec was back, and while he wasn't at his absolute best, his leadership and threat returned some of the explosiveness to the BC offense, and the Eagles bullied their way past the Hokies with a 17-3 victory at Alumni Stadium.
"This wasn't something that we were hiding or planned," head coach Jeff Hafley said of the quarterback's return. "He was cleared Friday [of the week before] and had not really practiced. I called him in and said at best, he had a 50/50 chance with the amount of reps he was going to be able to check to play. I didn't want to jeopardize getting him hurt [again].
"So we really wanted to guide him but let him make the decision," he explained, "[but] he walked in to Coach Cignetti and said, 'I'm playing.' It was like that. When Phil looks you in the eye and says that, you listen to him. He brought a lot of juice, I thought."
The lingering effects of Jurkovec's rehab limited his passing to 7-for-13 for 112 yards with no touchdowns, and he did throw one interception that was promptly fumbled by the Hokies' defense, but he ran for 65 yards and catapulted into the end zone for an eight-yard touchdown to give BC a lead it never surrendered.Â
Measuring those limitations physically paled in comparison to the intangibles he brought in his command of the offense. His vision on the read option sprung Patrick Garwo on more than one occasion, and Garwo, who carried 30 times for a career high, finished with 116 yards with a backbreaking touchdown in the third quarter that capped an 11-play, 93-yard drive.
"It wasn't a very pretty game throwing the ball," Jurkovec admitted, "but really what carried us was the offensive line. They drove [Virginia Tech] off the line, and our running backs made great cuts. And then the defense holding them to no touchdowns. It was an all-around tough game by our guys, and I'm just proud of how tough they are."
Here's more as BC improved back over .500 to 5-4 on the season.
*****
First Down: Tough As Steel
Having Jurkovec back in the lineup changes the entire dynamic of the Boston College season. He started the year as arguably one of the top three players in the league, and many considered him a dark horse for both the ACC Offensive Player of the Year as a potential NFL first round draft pick. His personal success intended to ride the coattails of an ACC championship-level season after Clemson sagged early in the season, but his injury partially derailed all of that as the Eagles lost to the Tigers, NC State, Louisville and Syracuse.
Activating Jurkovec during the Syracuse week enabled him to play with a short week of preparation for a Friday game, but it also helped BC address some of the issues plaguing the offense over a three-game slide that extended into a fourth game against the Orange. It was his responsibility to get game ready, but nobody really knew what to expect until he took his first contact against Virginia Tech.
"Whenever the injury first happened, I thought it was only going to be a couple of games," Jurkovec said. "The surgery went really well. Dr. Leibman at Newton-Wellesley Hospital did a great job, and the way the bone broke, it was good for blood supply. It was a 'good break,' and it healed really well. A few weeks ago, we thought I could come back, and it just progressed every week."
"We wouldn't have let him play if we didn't feel confident about him getting hit and [not] getting hurt," Jeff Hafley said. "We were very confident in that. Maybe part of me, but when I saw him bounce up and the look in his eye, we felt good about that.
"Monday was a short week, which made it even harder," Hafley reiterated. "Monday was just like a legitimate walkthrough. Tuesday was our only real day, so he didn't even get the normal amount of reps he would get in a normal week. He didn't take them all, either. He split them the first two days, and the last two days, we let him take all the reps when we knew he was playing. So very minimal reps to come out playing the way he did is impressive."
As is the case in sports and, more specifically, football, one player in one game can change the entire perception of a season. Before Friday night, BC was a 4-4 team without a league win, and thoughts of bowl ineligibility dangerously crept into the conversation for a team that needed to find two victories in its last four games, a stretch that included the two Techs in the Coastal Division and both Florida State and Wake Forest, this year's surprise leader. Losing to Virginia Tech would only give BC one more do-over opportunity, which is an inherently dangerous situation.
Despite the individual successes offered by both Dennis Grosel, who started the four games without Jurkovec, or Emmett Morehead, who played and led a scoring drive for a field goal against Syracuse, there is no replacing Jurkovec's ceiling. Having him in the lineup with a win in his back pocket changes the dynamic moving forward for a team that now only needs one more win to clinch a bowl game.
"It was probably the most confident, fearless, and the best leadership I've seen from him since we've been here," Hafley said. "It was not his best performance, but he threw some good balls. He had a different way about him today, and we all felt it."
*****
Second Down: Stone Cold Stoppages
Jurkovec's return led every headline out of Friday night, but BC's defense won the game by executing its most complete performance of the 2021 season. The unit, which was under fire this week after its lights out game against Syracuse was lost on three explosive plays, limited those breakout plays by the Hokies and tied a school record for points allowed in the ACC era.
"We tied an ACC record allowed for us with three points scored in the game," Jeff Hafley said. "I think [Virginia Tech] had 350 total yards, and they had under 80 yards passing. The defensive staff and players did a great job putting that together and with how hard they played. We took the ball away. We almost had a touchdown off of it and had a really big stop."
The Hokies left Chestnut Hill in chaos after they lost quarterback Braxton Burmeister to injury, but the entire offensive scheme failed in its effort to generate traction against the BC front. Knox Kadum came off the bench to go 7-for-16 for 73 yards with a 22-yard pass, but neither Malachi Thomas or Raheem Blackshear, the two running backs, were able to match the output provided by both Patrick Garwo and Alec Sinkfield. They finished with a combined 141 yards and averaged five yards per carry, but neither broke the end zone after they fell victim to a similar story to what BC experienced over its losing streak.
Blackshear, for example, pounded a 27-yard carry from his own 20-yard line in the third quarter, but the Hokies went three-and-out after the chains moved out to midfield. On the next drive, they engineered a start from their own 12-yard line and again made it out to midfield, but Kadum threw two incomplete passes to force Peter Moore to drop a punt onto the BC goal line. None of that included Mike Palmer's fumble recovery.
"All week, we told guys to step up," Jaiden Lars-Woodbey said. "We told everyone that they were only one play away from making a big impact on the team. Everyone had that mindset this week, and everybody honed in on it. It was a major responsibility on me, and I felt like there was a weight on my shoulders to carry. I feel like I did a good job, and my teammates did a good job as well."
*****
HAF-time Hits
-Watching Jurkovec run out of the tunnel reminded me of a scene in the 1991 NBA Playoffs when Larry Bird came charging back out of the tunnel at the old Boston Garden. Bird had slammed his head on the parquet earlier in the game against the Pacers, and the Celtics were listless in his absence as Chuck Person dominated. Later in the game, though, Larry charged out of the locker room and electrified the Garden crowd as he checked back into the game. He eventually scored 32 points and added to his growing legend as the aging Celtics won the series.
-It maybe wasn't that dramatic, but it also reminded me of the 2005 Major League Baseball trade deadline when Manny Ramirez was thought to be leaving Boston. The Red Sox were tired of his act, but Fenway Park still erupted when, 45 minutes after the deadline, he emerged from the Boston dugout and pinch hit in the late stages. He promptly delivered a victory and added to his also-growing legend, even though he was traded the next year in 2006.
-Maybe it wasn't at that level, and I'm admittedly prone to hyperbole whenever a player returns from an injury or a bad break in a game, but this absolutely was his moment from the minute the news broke on social media. It sent the Boston College fan base into a tizzy, and the ESPN broadcast told everyone to buckle up on a night known for its built-in drama by the appearance of the red bandana uniforms.
-Watching Welles' teammates walk out onto the field with Alison Crowther reminded me of an older time when Boston College's lacrosse program played in Alumni Stadium in a sport that was much more fractured and segmented than it is today. There was no Big East, and the sport was primarily ruled by schools like Princeton and Syracuse. Only a dozen teams made the national tournament, four less than the qualifying number last year and five less than the 2019 tournament. A regional sport that was huge in New England, New York and the Maryland/Mid-Atlantic area, it still had the passion and dedication of the players, parents and coaches who built it into the national growth sport now enjoyed by both men and women. BC dropped its men's program shortly in 2002, just three years after Crowther graduated, but the women's program carried his torch and won the national championship last season.
-There's a case for a rivalry with any opponent, but the Virginia Tech matchup added a new layer when a member of the Hokies pushed Jeff Hafley on the sidelines yesterday. It was at the end of a late hit out of bounds on Phil Jurkovec, and the player, who bumped Hafley once on his first way by the coach, came back and brushed through as he attempted to exchange words with the quarterback. Hafley wound up in the middle of the skirmish and helped separate players, but the clear dislike from the two teams emphasized and stamped the matchup.
-For what it's worth, as Jurkovec tried to get up and go at the Virginia Tech player, Hafley found himself between two players who were both bigger and wearing pads. Credit the coach for getting out of there, though in the middle of it, there was some humor to be had at the sight of the smaller head coach engulfed by these monsters wearing pounds of equipment.
*****
Third Down: Back in the Mud
Quarterback discussions typically own center stage conversations, but BC's offensive line came under fire during the team's four-game losing streak when it failed to accurately protect whoever was under center. After losing Tyler Vrabel to injury, Hafley and position coach Matt Applebaum moved Zion Johnson from guard to left tackle and inserted freshman Ozzy Trapilo into the lineup against Virginia Tech for his first career start.
"With Vrabel out, you move Zion to left tackle," Jeff Hafley said, "so credit to him for showing his versatility. You put Ozzy in at guard, and [when] we rush the way we do and protect the field the way we did, that's a really good night. I'm really fired up for Ozzy. He's going to be a really good football player, and Zion, I know we trust him to play center, guard and tackle."
Getting Trapilo into the lineup is one of those moments that might be looked back upon in a few years when he's the centerpiece of the line. The six-foot, eight-inch guard is a local product from BC High, and his dad, Steve Trapilo, was an All-American offensive lineman who played for BC and in the NFL with the New Orleans Saints. Ozzy was a four-star recruit and the No. 2 overall prospect in Massachusetts and No. 19 overall offensive line recruit in the nation for his class, and the 2019 MIAA All-State First Team player was a household name on Friday nights in the Catholic Conference.
He didn't play last year but was heralded as one of those athletes who would eventually form the nucleus of a future line. Playing him at guard on Friday was the equivalent of when Ben Petrula started at center during the 2017 season or when Anthony Castonzo stepped into his freshman year on the line in 2007.
"Credit to the O-line," Hafley said, "and the cool part is to finish our four-minute offense. To get those downs when the whole world knew we were rushing, the backs got it done. That's the way you finish a football game, and that's really cool to see."
*****
Fourth Down: Back in the Bowl Picture
Going to a bowl game is easy to take for granted when it only requires a .500 record to qualify, but missing those extra practices and an opportunity to play one more game can severely hamper programs looking to build for their future. It's almost more critical to "not miss" a game as it is to qualify, though last year is an exception after the COVID season wiped eligibility requirements from the record and teams sought to rest after the emotionally-draining year.
With its win on Friday, BC is now 5-4 and needs one more victory to become bowl eligible. The Eagles head to Georgia Tech next week to play their final road game before wrapping up with two home games against Florida State and Wake Forest, which means this week now becomes even larger in importance given what's available for postseason spoils.
As mentioned over the last couple of weeks, the ACC bowl structure is unique in its placement of its eligible teams. The ACC champion automatically qualifies for the New Year's Six, but the Orange Bowl's automatic bid isn't available this year because of its turn in the College Football Playoff rotation. That means the ACC champion is treated as an at-large team for the NY6 games, and a second bid isn't automatically granted if the champion is selected for the CFP.
The CFP likely isn't in the conversation anyways given Wake Forest's 58-55 loss to North Carolina on Saturday, but the ongoing race through the Atlantic Division will impact what happens during the Bowl Season selection process. Both NC State and Clemson are within striking distance of the Demon Deacons with games scheduled against Wake over the next two weeks before BC finishes the season at home against the leading Atlantic Division club.
That adds the aforementioned layer into the process, assuming BC can get to six wins at some point over the next three weeks, though that's far from guaranteed. The rest of the ACC games are considered equal value and determine berths based on a discussion of geographical proximity, an avoidance of repeat appearances, and matchups with leagues based on win-loss records.Â
Discussion about which game fits BC is useless until the Eagles actually qualify, though a five-win season can get the team into a game anyways since they have a high-enough APR to backfill bowl games if a league doesn't have enough bowl teams, but it's worth noting that the win over Virginia Tech changed the entire conversation.
*****
Point After: The Ramblin' Wreck
BC heads to Atlanta next week to play a Georgia Tech team on the verge of bowl ineligibility after its 33-30 loss to Miami on Saturday. The Yellow Jackets were 3-3 at one point during the season after alternating wins and losses through the first six games, but their subsequent losses to Virginia and Virginia Tech exposed secondary and pass defense issues prior to this week's game against the Hurricanes.Â
The loss was their third in a row and dropped them to 3-6 on the season with games remaining against both Notre Dame and Georgia in the Clean, Old-Fashioned Hate rivalry game. As cross-divisional opponents, this is actually BC's first trip to Bobby Dodd Stadium in almost a decade, having last appeared in the arena in 2012. It's also the Eagles' third overall trip to Atlanta since joining the ACC, having traveled there during the 2007 season.
On Friday night, that story bookended itself when Jurkovec unexpectedly stepped out of the locker room wearing equipment, pads and a helmet. It was BC's annual Red Bandana Game against Virginia Tech, and the quarterback who had been injured while wearing the signature motif uniform when it was worn on the anniversary of 9/11 instead looked like he'd been unfrozen from some stasis in time.
Jurkovec was back, and while he wasn't at his absolute best, his leadership and threat returned some of the explosiveness to the BC offense, and the Eagles bullied their way past the Hokies with a 17-3 victory at Alumni Stadium.
"This wasn't something that we were hiding or planned," head coach Jeff Hafley said of the quarterback's return. "He was cleared Friday [of the week before] and had not really practiced. I called him in and said at best, he had a 50/50 chance with the amount of reps he was going to be able to check to play. I didn't want to jeopardize getting him hurt [again].
"So we really wanted to guide him but let him make the decision," he explained, "[but] he walked in to Coach Cignetti and said, 'I'm playing.' It was like that. When Phil looks you in the eye and says that, you listen to him. He brought a lot of juice, I thought."
The lingering effects of Jurkovec's rehab limited his passing to 7-for-13 for 112 yards with no touchdowns, and he did throw one interception that was promptly fumbled by the Hokies' defense, but he ran for 65 yards and catapulted into the end zone for an eight-yard touchdown to give BC a lead it never surrendered.Â
Measuring those limitations physically paled in comparison to the intangibles he brought in his command of the offense. His vision on the read option sprung Patrick Garwo on more than one occasion, and Garwo, who carried 30 times for a career high, finished with 116 yards with a backbreaking touchdown in the third quarter that capped an 11-play, 93-yard drive.
"It wasn't a very pretty game throwing the ball," Jurkovec admitted, "but really what carried us was the offensive line. They drove [Virginia Tech] off the line, and our running backs made great cuts. And then the defense holding them to no touchdowns. It was an all-around tough game by our guys, and I'm just proud of how tough they are."
Here's more as BC improved back over .500 to 5-4 on the season.
*****
First Down: Tough As Steel
Having Jurkovec back in the lineup changes the entire dynamic of the Boston College season. He started the year as arguably one of the top three players in the league, and many considered him a dark horse for both the ACC Offensive Player of the Year as a potential NFL first round draft pick. His personal success intended to ride the coattails of an ACC championship-level season after Clemson sagged early in the season, but his injury partially derailed all of that as the Eagles lost to the Tigers, NC State, Louisville and Syracuse.
Activating Jurkovec during the Syracuse week enabled him to play with a short week of preparation for a Friday game, but it also helped BC address some of the issues plaguing the offense over a three-game slide that extended into a fourth game against the Orange. It was his responsibility to get game ready, but nobody really knew what to expect until he took his first contact against Virginia Tech.
"Whenever the injury first happened, I thought it was only going to be a couple of games," Jurkovec said. "The surgery went really well. Dr. Leibman at Newton-Wellesley Hospital did a great job, and the way the bone broke, it was good for blood supply. It was a 'good break,' and it healed really well. A few weeks ago, we thought I could come back, and it just progressed every week."
"We wouldn't have let him play if we didn't feel confident about him getting hit and [not] getting hurt," Jeff Hafley said. "We were very confident in that. Maybe part of me, but when I saw him bounce up and the look in his eye, we felt good about that.
"Monday was a short week, which made it even harder," Hafley reiterated. "Monday was just like a legitimate walkthrough. Tuesday was our only real day, so he didn't even get the normal amount of reps he would get in a normal week. He didn't take them all, either. He split them the first two days, and the last two days, we let him take all the reps when we knew he was playing. So very minimal reps to come out playing the way he did is impressive."
As is the case in sports and, more specifically, football, one player in one game can change the entire perception of a season. Before Friday night, BC was a 4-4 team without a league win, and thoughts of bowl ineligibility dangerously crept into the conversation for a team that needed to find two victories in its last four games, a stretch that included the two Techs in the Coastal Division and both Florida State and Wake Forest, this year's surprise leader. Losing to Virginia Tech would only give BC one more do-over opportunity, which is an inherently dangerous situation.
Despite the individual successes offered by both Dennis Grosel, who started the four games without Jurkovec, or Emmett Morehead, who played and led a scoring drive for a field goal against Syracuse, there is no replacing Jurkovec's ceiling. Having him in the lineup with a win in his back pocket changes the dynamic moving forward for a team that now only needs one more win to clinch a bowl game.
"It was probably the most confident, fearless, and the best leadership I've seen from him since we've been here," Hafley said. "It was not his best performance, but he threw some good balls. He had a different way about him today, and we all felt it."
*****
Second Down: Stone Cold Stoppages
Jurkovec's return led every headline out of Friday night, but BC's defense won the game by executing its most complete performance of the 2021 season. The unit, which was under fire this week after its lights out game against Syracuse was lost on three explosive plays, limited those breakout plays by the Hokies and tied a school record for points allowed in the ACC era.
"We tied an ACC record allowed for us with three points scored in the game," Jeff Hafley said. "I think [Virginia Tech] had 350 total yards, and they had under 80 yards passing. The defensive staff and players did a great job putting that together and with how hard they played. We took the ball away. We almost had a touchdown off of it and had a really big stop."
The Hokies left Chestnut Hill in chaos after they lost quarterback Braxton Burmeister to injury, but the entire offensive scheme failed in its effort to generate traction against the BC front. Knox Kadum came off the bench to go 7-for-16 for 73 yards with a 22-yard pass, but neither Malachi Thomas or Raheem Blackshear, the two running backs, were able to match the output provided by both Patrick Garwo and Alec Sinkfield. They finished with a combined 141 yards and averaged five yards per carry, but neither broke the end zone after they fell victim to a similar story to what BC experienced over its losing streak.
Blackshear, for example, pounded a 27-yard carry from his own 20-yard line in the third quarter, but the Hokies went three-and-out after the chains moved out to midfield. On the next drive, they engineered a start from their own 12-yard line and again made it out to midfield, but Kadum threw two incomplete passes to force Peter Moore to drop a punt onto the BC goal line. None of that included Mike Palmer's fumble recovery.
"All week, we told guys to step up," Jaiden Lars-Woodbey said. "We told everyone that they were only one play away from making a big impact on the team. Everyone had that mindset this week, and everybody honed in on it. It was a major responsibility on me, and I felt like there was a weight on my shoulders to carry. I feel like I did a good job, and my teammates did a good job as well."
*****
HAF-time Hits
-Watching Jurkovec run out of the tunnel reminded me of a scene in the 1991 NBA Playoffs when Larry Bird came charging back out of the tunnel at the old Boston Garden. Bird had slammed his head on the parquet earlier in the game against the Pacers, and the Celtics were listless in his absence as Chuck Person dominated. Later in the game, though, Larry charged out of the locker room and electrified the Garden crowd as he checked back into the game. He eventually scored 32 points and added to his growing legend as the aging Celtics won the series.
-It maybe wasn't that dramatic, but it also reminded me of the 2005 Major League Baseball trade deadline when Manny Ramirez was thought to be leaving Boston. The Red Sox were tired of his act, but Fenway Park still erupted when, 45 minutes after the deadline, he emerged from the Boston dugout and pinch hit in the late stages. He promptly delivered a victory and added to his also-growing legend, even though he was traded the next year in 2006.
-Maybe it wasn't at that level, and I'm admittedly prone to hyperbole whenever a player returns from an injury or a bad break in a game, but this absolutely was his moment from the minute the news broke on social media. It sent the Boston College fan base into a tizzy, and the ESPN broadcast told everyone to buckle up on a night known for its built-in drama by the appearance of the red bandana uniforms.
-Watching Welles' teammates walk out onto the field with Alison Crowther reminded me of an older time when Boston College's lacrosse program played in Alumni Stadium in a sport that was much more fractured and segmented than it is today. There was no Big East, and the sport was primarily ruled by schools like Princeton and Syracuse. Only a dozen teams made the national tournament, four less than the qualifying number last year and five less than the 2019 tournament. A regional sport that was huge in New England, New York and the Maryland/Mid-Atlantic area, it still had the passion and dedication of the players, parents and coaches who built it into the national growth sport now enjoyed by both men and women. BC dropped its men's program shortly in 2002, just three years after Crowther graduated, but the women's program carried his torch and won the national championship last season.
-There's a case for a rivalry with any opponent, but the Virginia Tech matchup added a new layer when a member of the Hokies pushed Jeff Hafley on the sidelines yesterday. It was at the end of a late hit out of bounds on Phil Jurkovec, and the player, who bumped Hafley once on his first way by the coach, came back and brushed through as he attempted to exchange words with the quarterback. Hafley wound up in the middle of the skirmish and helped separate players, but the clear dislike from the two teams emphasized and stamped the matchup.
-For what it's worth, as Jurkovec tried to get up and go at the Virginia Tech player, Hafley found himself between two players who were both bigger and wearing pads. Credit the coach for getting out of there, though in the middle of it, there was some humor to be had at the sight of the smaller head coach engulfed by these monsters wearing pounds of equipment.
*****
Third Down: Back in the Mud
Quarterback discussions typically own center stage conversations, but BC's offensive line came under fire during the team's four-game losing streak when it failed to accurately protect whoever was under center. After losing Tyler Vrabel to injury, Hafley and position coach Matt Applebaum moved Zion Johnson from guard to left tackle and inserted freshman Ozzy Trapilo into the lineup against Virginia Tech for his first career start.
"With Vrabel out, you move Zion to left tackle," Jeff Hafley said, "so credit to him for showing his versatility. You put Ozzy in at guard, and [when] we rush the way we do and protect the field the way we did, that's a really good night. I'm really fired up for Ozzy. He's going to be a really good football player, and Zion, I know we trust him to play center, guard and tackle."
Getting Trapilo into the lineup is one of those moments that might be looked back upon in a few years when he's the centerpiece of the line. The six-foot, eight-inch guard is a local product from BC High, and his dad, Steve Trapilo, was an All-American offensive lineman who played for BC and in the NFL with the New Orleans Saints. Ozzy was a four-star recruit and the No. 2 overall prospect in Massachusetts and No. 19 overall offensive line recruit in the nation for his class, and the 2019 MIAA All-State First Team player was a household name on Friday nights in the Catholic Conference.
He didn't play last year but was heralded as one of those athletes who would eventually form the nucleus of a future line. Playing him at guard on Friday was the equivalent of when Ben Petrula started at center during the 2017 season or when Anthony Castonzo stepped into his freshman year on the line in 2007.
"Credit to the O-line," Hafley said, "and the cool part is to finish our four-minute offense. To get those downs when the whole world knew we were rushing, the backs got it done. That's the way you finish a football game, and that's really cool to see."
*****
Fourth Down: Back in the Bowl Picture
Going to a bowl game is easy to take for granted when it only requires a .500 record to qualify, but missing those extra practices and an opportunity to play one more game can severely hamper programs looking to build for their future. It's almost more critical to "not miss" a game as it is to qualify, though last year is an exception after the COVID season wiped eligibility requirements from the record and teams sought to rest after the emotionally-draining year.
With its win on Friday, BC is now 5-4 and needs one more victory to become bowl eligible. The Eagles head to Georgia Tech next week to play their final road game before wrapping up with two home games against Florida State and Wake Forest, which means this week now becomes even larger in importance given what's available for postseason spoils.
As mentioned over the last couple of weeks, the ACC bowl structure is unique in its placement of its eligible teams. The ACC champion automatically qualifies for the New Year's Six, but the Orange Bowl's automatic bid isn't available this year because of its turn in the College Football Playoff rotation. That means the ACC champion is treated as an at-large team for the NY6 games, and a second bid isn't automatically granted if the champion is selected for the CFP.
The CFP likely isn't in the conversation anyways given Wake Forest's 58-55 loss to North Carolina on Saturday, but the ongoing race through the Atlantic Division will impact what happens during the Bowl Season selection process. Both NC State and Clemson are within striking distance of the Demon Deacons with games scheduled against Wake over the next two weeks before BC finishes the season at home against the leading Atlantic Division club.
That adds the aforementioned layer into the process, assuming BC can get to six wins at some point over the next three weeks, though that's far from guaranteed. The rest of the ACC games are considered equal value and determine berths based on a discussion of geographical proximity, an avoidance of repeat appearances, and matchups with leagues based on win-loss records.Â
Discussion about which game fits BC is useless until the Eagles actually qualify, though a five-win season can get the team into a game anyways since they have a high-enough APR to backfill bowl games if a league doesn't have enough bowl teams, but it's worth noting that the win over Virginia Tech changed the entire conversation.
*****
Point After: The Ramblin' Wreck
BC heads to Atlanta next week to play a Georgia Tech team on the verge of bowl ineligibility after its 33-30 loss to Miami on Saturday. The Yellow Jackets were 3-3 at one point during the season after alternating wins and losses through the first six games, but their subsequent losses to Virginia and Virginia Tech exposed secondary and pass defense issues prior to this week's game against the Hurricanes.Â
The loss was their third in a row and dropped them to 3-6 on the season with games remaining against both Notre Dame and Georgia in the Clean, Old-Fashioned Hate rivalry game. As cross-divisional opponents, this is actually BC's first trip to Bobby Dodd Stadium in almost a decade, having last appeared in the arena in 2012. It's also the Eagles' third overall trip to Atlanta since joining the ACC, having traveled there during the 2007 season.
Players Mentioned
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