Back To Work After Work Didn't Stop

It would've been easy to look at Boston College's bye week last week and envision the Eagles sitting around with nothing to do. The run-up to having time off included two consecutive wins, and a Saturday without a game felt much-needed after September and the start of October offered a chaotic and frenetic chaos. Stepping away from that to go home and rest while cleaning up any physical rehab or academic requirements tempted even the most hardened person with a good, long deep breath after the raw emotion of the first six weeks.

Indeed, moments of levity existed, but head coach Jeff Hafley didn't exactly take an Odell Beckham boat trip to the Caribbean. His coaches weren't following Travis Kelce's trip to New York City with Taylor Swift, nor were they getting caught up on the most recent music album releases (side note: Darius Rucker and Bad Bunny both had music drop this past week).

The clock rolled forward even as no game existed on Saturday, but working through the week struck the right balance to recharge the Eagles for their upcoming return to the gridiron, on Saturday at Georgia Tech.

"I worked pretty hard [throughout the week] and spent Saturday apple picking, pumpkin picking, and all the fall stuff that you do with your family," Hafley said. "I watched a little bit of college football, and if you watched those games, man, you better show up. Even watching the NFL [on Sunday night], you better show up every week because on any day anybody can beat anybody. That was very evident by what happened this week, [but] I spent some good family time on Saturday, refreshed, and we got back in here [to start the week]. We're excited to get back to this now."

Not much changed during the bye week, but Boston College is heading to Atlanta with a very different feel from the squad that rallied through both the Virginia and Army games. Once 1-3 on the season, the Eagles simply found their identity in the two games prior to last week's time off, and the Northern Illinois loss, the Holy Cross win, and the Florida State loss appeared further in the rearview mirror than the calendar indicates. Even the Louisville loss, less than a month ago, was a lifetime ago after the two wins added a little extra surge to BC's season.

Simply put, BC is on its way back, and the offense once defined by its offensive line and ability to crush opponents is running through teams to the tune of 120 more yards per game this year. The team that averaged under 63.2 yards per game last year is now one of the 25 best running offenses in the country, and a unit that gained 400 yards in a quarter of its games last year is already matching its entire total through the first of this year. The Army game included 321 rushing yards and was the third 200-yard game for an offense that went over 100 yards twice last year.

It offset a defense that added a stingy mindset to a throwback, hair-on-fire style after the first two games. Since then, the Louisville game aside, the remaining teams - FSU, Virginia and Army - all were held to 40 yards or more under their average, and the Black Knights, in particular, fell well short of their option offense's expectations.

"I think if you look back at Florida State, who might be the best team in the country and looks like it's heading to the playoffs, we were down 21 points in the second half and were a missed extra point away from tying the game," Hafley said. "The Virginia game, I thought defensively we held them, and I thought going into the Army game, we were better. So can you point to one moment? I'm not sure. I feel like our guys competed for 60 minutes of every single game. There are some [games] where I could turn on the tape and we could discuss and think otherwise…I think there's a confidence that's building, and I think when you talk about a winning culture, it takes wins."

Confidence is booming within Chestnut Hill, and the single division format within the ACC very much means that a two-loss conference program has plenty left on the table. It would likely take a mathematical miracle to make the conference championship game with three undefeated teams and three one-loss programs, but BC starts its second half within one game of no fewer than five conference teams. Eight league teams have three or four overall wins, but the six teams with two ACC losses are scattered throughout the landscape.

Florida State and North Carolina are unquestionably the class of the conference, but BC's remaining ACC schedule includes Georgia Tech, which is 3-3 overall and 2-1 in league play, and Virginia Tech, which likewise has one ACC loss but carries an extra overall defeat. Pittsburgh, Miami and Syracuse are all fighting for bowl positioning, and all remain on BC's schedule.

"The key right now is to not take a step back," Hafley said. "We've fixed our penalty problems, and [we need to] continue to go forward and be a disciplined team. That's how we coach them. Right now, we need to stop turning the ball over. In the last two games, in my opinion, we've done that a little too much, and we can't continue to do that if we're going to win. So there are certain things that we need to correct and fix, but there are good things going on right now."

The road to six wins and a bowl game is opening for a BC team that's been snakebitten by the postseason over the past five years, but any hope of taking a trip for the holidays requires the same mindset that's existed over the past month. There is no game more important than this Saturday's game in Georgia, and the Yellow Jackets are more of a familiar opponent than other former Coastal Division opponents like Virginia.

The teams haven't played often enough to warrant rivalry status, but two of the 11 previous matchups occurred during Hafley's first years with BC. Offensive breakouts for a combined 89 points were part of getting the Eagles over .500 in both the 2020 and 2021, but Georgia Tech is also a changed team under head coach Brent Key, who had previously been the assistant head coach during those years.

"I gave the coach cliche that we had to go '1-0' [when we were 1-3] before we worried about anything else," Hafley said. "I think as a coach, in your mind, when I sat in front of the staff, it was 'Guys, we've got to get this one, we've got to get to 3-3 for the bye.' It was really important for us as a staff to get to, but I think the players can't think about it like that. It sounds like everybody else in America, but that's what our players can handle, and if you're going to compete in any game, you've got to pour everything into it. We did that, and I think we've showed real good improvement."

BC and Georgia Tech kick off on Saturday at 12 p.m. from Bobby Dodd Stadium in Atlanta, Georgia. The game can be seen on national television via the ACC Network with online streaming available through ESPN's platform of online and mobile apps.

Related News

Related Videos