BC Goes Bowling: One Last Good-On-Good Sends Eagles On Their Way

The last week before Christmas heightens the anticipation for any frantic child dreaming of how Santa Claus intends to thunder down their chimney. They panic a bit while wondering if they've been naughty or nice, but by Christmas Eve, their confidence is sky high when they plate the cookies and milk for the big man in the red suit. Their emotions keep them up all night, and they hope Santa grabs the carrot sticks left out for his reindeer after they patter across the roof for a soft landing.

They know that doing all of that ensures the moment when they can tear open the perfect gift lasting a lifetime. For some, it's a video game system or the perfect action figure. For others, clothes make the moment, especially if it's a sought after football jersey. For Jeff Hafley, it was what he found underneath his tree one morning in New Jersey as a child of the 1980s: a Rambo train set.

"I love Rambo," Hafley joked on Monday afternoon. "Like, I wanted to be Rambo when I grew up. I don't look anything like him, but I got a Rambo train set, and I remember just playing with that thing. It was the coolest thing I ever got in my life... that and a basketball or football when I was younger, and I was good to go."

Hafley might have been all laughs on Monday when he talked about Sylvester Stallone's iconic character, but it was because the mood inside the Fish Field House filled him with good cheer over the previous week as his Boston College Eagles wrapped what they hope is a present worth delivering to their fans in next week's Military Bowl against East Carolina.

"The last two days have been probably our most competitive practices," Hafley said more seriously. "We're getting ready for a game, and we kind of changed things around. We're doing more good-on-good, and there's been a ton of energy. I think our last two practices preparing for an opponent have been as good as we've had it, and maybe we'll even make some changes like this going forward for next year."

It offered the perfect culmination to an interim, two-week time period between the game's announcement and the flight to Washington, D.C. later this week. Over that interval, Hafley and his coaches fanned out throughout the country to close their recruiting class in time for the start of the NCAA's Early Signing Period, and their bowl preparation started with the focus on the future development of younger players. As the letters of intent rolled in on Wednesday, though, the attention was shifting in the practice facility to a more immediate schedule, and Monday closed out with the team's top units battling as if the other wore ECU's signature purple and white.

"It's been great," linebacker Bryce Steele said, "just being out, being able to get back out on the field and be with my teammates, we love the game of football. So for any opportunity for me to get out there and play the game I love, it's an amazing opportunity."

Going full bore against one another locked the Eagles onto their preparations for the Pirates, but keeping that viewpoint internal established the combination of patience and urgency needed for the sense of renewal on the field. There was urgency, but the players who largely hadn't played since the regular season finale against Wake Forest were rediscovering their edge in a necessary step taken before leaving Massachusetts for the final time this season. In turn, that edge helped level set the game plan for an ECU team that went 7-5 but earned its way to the bowl game by winning four straight games between Halloween and Thanksgiving.

The latter two of those games were on the road, and the seventh win came at the Naval Academy, which hosts the Military Bowl at its Navy-Marine Corps Stadium. The second game of that streak, meanwhile, was against Temple, a common opponent with BC that was blasted by both teams over the course of the season.

Those storylines are part of a centerpiece attraction to the bowl game, but the experience runs deeper than simply playing a team for the first time in program history. There's a balancing act between the determination needed to play football and the enjoyment of a Christmas holiday in the nation's capital. Hafley unquestionably understood that and, with the help of his office, made sure families could travel with the team to maximize the time spent in the DMV.

"There are people who are doing a great job," Hafley said. "Our operations people have been working countless hours to organize all of this, and I didn't know how much work went into it. There's a lot of hard work, and I'm fortunate to have them, so I can focus on coaching the football game. I'm excited. It'll be our first [bowl] together, and I'm sure there will be things that we might want to do differently the next time we get to one, but I appreciate their hard work.

"It's no different [for the team]," he added. "We're just practicing with guys getting reps and watching film. It feels like we're back in the season, which is nice."

In the meantime, the sense of normalcy in Massachusetts ended with the security blanket approach of a tough, physical practice. BC hasn't been to a bowl game for two years and hasn't won a postseason game since the 2016 Quick Lane Bowl, but merely attending this game isn't enough for Hafley or a team that started the year with ACC championship aspirations. They will play looser and more carefree than a regular season game because it's the end, but they know there's a prize that hangs in the balance more than just a token appearance against a good team.

"We've had two really good days," Hafley said. "We'll slow down [on Tuesday] and get on the plane [on Wednesday]. That will be an off day, but we'll have three more practices down [at the bowl site]. Then we'll have a walkthrough the day before the game."

Boston College and East Carolina will play in the 2021 Military Bowl on December 27 from the Navy-Marine Corps Stadium in Annapolis, Maryland. The game can be seen on ESPN with kickoff starting at 2:30 p.m.

BC Goes Bowling: One Last Good-On-Good Sends Eagles On Their Way

Players Mentioned

Bryce Steele

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