Short But Blistering History Leads BC To Virginia

October 8, 2005 was a critical inflection point to the ACC's football history. The league had just completed its first full growth, and the addition of a 12th team allowed the conference to split into two divisions for the first time in its history. A lucrative conference championship game was on the horizon, and the radical realignment induced by the turn of the century was on the verge of showcasing its first true national spotlight.

Boston College was the last team to join the ACC at that point, but the Eagles unquestionably arrived as the league's wild card tent pole. Miami, the first candidate, was always part of the league's expansion plans, and Virginia Tech earned its invitation due to Virginia governor Mark Warner's shrewd maneuvering. Both made geographic sense.

The new kid on the block was a unicorn to the rest of the conference, but BC announced its arrival by beating Clemson in Death Valley in its second ACC game. The earlier loss to Florida State in the first-ever ACC game made it a little bit more difficult for the Eagles to find a path to the conference championship, but beating the Tigers both inserted BC into the national polls and raised eyebrows across the country.

Things were particularly tense amidst the old southern guard. Miami and Virginia Tech made sense, but Boston College was the outsider to the ACC. It was the nomadic program, the one that was part of the Big East's lawsuit until it was admitted. It had gotten into the league because it sold its package at an administrative level, or at least that's how it felt to the popular public.

Virginia was the next target, and on the cold, wet, rainy day in Boston, the Cavaliers, for whatever reason, chose to make a stand that ultimately galvanized the Eagles into an ACC contender.

"[Loyalty] is what makes BC special," said head coach Jeff Hafley. "I think BC is different. [Fans] can be vocal, I get it. We're not winning. But it doesn't mean to turn your back on your team and these kids because they deserve it. [This weekend] is Parents' Weekend, so I expect it to be a great crowd, and we need to give them a lot to cheer about."

Hafley obviously wasn't around BC or the ACC when the Eagles and Cavaliers literally fought on that October afternoon, but the memory of the 2005 meeting between the two new conference foes still echoes within the history of a relatively young matchup. It's infamous for a variety of reasons, but the biggest highlight started when offensive lineman Brad Butler dove at BC's Mathias Kiwanuka's legs.

It's still unclear why Butler chose to submarine the future first-round draft pick, but the ensuing fight - both literal and figurative - spurred BC to a 28-17 win.

"I guess we're the new team in the ACC," linebacker Ray Henderson said after the game, "and I think we got a bull's eye on our back. Everybody wants to smack us around and welcome us to the ACC in a negative way, but I think so far we've proved that we belong in this conference and we can play with any team in the country."

Butler's chop on Kiwanuka drew a response from defensive tackle Al Washington, to which Washington was summarily ejected from the game, but the explosive energy highlighted the differences between BC and one of its new conference mates. That game marked the first matchup since the Carquest Bowl game on New Year's Day in 1994, and they hadn't played a regular season game since the independent Eagles hosted UVA for a one-off game in 1963.

Quarterback Jack Concannon played that game as his final appearance at home, but it was lost to the annals one week later when President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas, Texas. Somewhat coincidentally, that game also experienced a fight when Virginia's Duane Bickers threw a punch against a BC offensive player. A skirmish broke out, and another errant swing caught referee Charles Kelly, who was then sent to the hospital with a stiff neck.

"I was going one way and was hit from the other side," Kelly said after the game. "It was not intentional by any means. It just occurred when players from both teams were caught in the action. I was dazed, and I heard something snap in my neck and shoulder."

Memories between BC and Virginia are few and far between, but Saturday is the first edition since the Cavaliers' 2020 win during the COVID season marked the first-ever program win over the Eagles. That game was notable for Dennis Grosel's 520 yards passing, which tied Doug Flutie's all-time single-game record in the final regular season game of Jeff Hafley's first year in Chestnut Hill.

"The mindset going in was, 'What do we got to lose at this point?'" Grosel said. "Leave all the bullets out of the chamber, let it fly, and whatever happens happens."

BC and Virginia still don't have much of a storied history on the gridiron, at least not compared to either program's more longstanding matchups, but Saturday carries a bit of that same devil-may-care attitude. Both teams are in need of a win, and both likely identified each other as a possible stepping stone back into the middle of the ACC's single division standings.

The Cavaliers are winless at 0-4 but lost two of their games by a combined four points. BC is 1-3 but very easily could have both beaten Florida State or not been blown away in last week's loss to Louisville. It's hard to judge either team by its first month, but two programs capable of playing good football are going to need to call upon all of their ghosts - the hard-fought past, the gritty present, and the successful future - to defeat the other.

"We have some really loyal fans," Hafley said. "I get the disappointment right now. They want us to win, and there's no one who wants to win more than this team, myself, and this staff. There's a lot of support that we've gotten, and I appreciate it. In life, you go through adversity. You ever have a family member, a friend, go through something hard? You stick by them, right? And then all of a sudden they come out of the storm and you stuck with them, and you grow closer. The kids need the support. I understand the frustration, but I am going to do something about it, as is this team."

Short But Blistering History Leads BC To Virginia

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