Boston College Athletics
Photo by: Anthony Garro
Once Again, Here Comes Louisville To The Crossroads
October 23, 2024 | Football, #ForBoston Files
This team sure seems to show up at key points of a season, doesn't it?
The Boston College football team and its supporters awoke on Monday morning to find their program at a crossroads within the 2024 season. Memories from a 4-1 start to the year still hung fresh for many who witnessed the immediate renaissance of a dormant northeast power, but the last two losses and the more immediate, 42-21 decision against Virginia Tech clouded the previous, more positive vibes with a sense of bitter disappointment.
The Eagles, for their part, sought to correct mistakes that arose from both the loss to the Hokies and the previous trip to Virginia's 24-14 defeat. Both the team and head coach Bill O'Brien collectively spoke about inward-facing approaches and looking in the mirror after those losses, but the intensity and weighted determination now displayed on the practice field escalated the efforts.
They sought to accept lost opportunities while alternatively blasting away at the rock formations preventing them from moving forward, but with it all came an embrace of a moment that somehow always includes Friday's opponent from Louisville.
"It's just getting back to fundamentals," said running back Kye Robichaux. "Coming in each and every day, going over the things that we messed up on, and really just focusing on our next opponent. But the biggest thing is just getting back to our fundamentals."
Louisville doesn't constitute a natural rivalry for the Boston College football program. It didn't play the Eagles regularly before it replaced outgoing Maryland in the Atlantic Coast Conference in 2014, and neither program likely fomented hatred for one another over nine seasons in the old Atlantic Division. Kentucky and Massachusetts don't carry much in common, and thrusting them together occurred more out of happenstance than anything else after Maryland's departure left a gaping hole on one side of the league.
It was a confusing time in college football in particular because the shifting parts began making less and less sense. The Terrapins had been one of the ACC's original tent poles before opting into the Big Ten after spending 60-plus years in the "southern league," but few teams in the conference merry-go-round remained available after a bulk of power leagues plucked the Big East's most notable franchises. Syracuse and Pittsburgh were in the ACC, and Notre Dame's agreement to join the league as an all-sports member included a caveat surrounding its team's independent status. Rutgers was headed for the Big Ten after shocking the nation with the revival of a once-moribound program, and West Virginia joined the Big 12 in 2012 after winning three Bowl Championship Series games in less than a decade.
Louisville temporarily remained in the American Athletic Conference after its split from the Big East, but the Cardinals felt like a second-best choice compared to the previous years' choices. They geographically aligned with the Big 12, but lost the spot to the Mountaineers and previously represented Conference USA despite internal opposition from its membership. A decade's worth of work to rebuild the athletics program began when John Smith won consecutive championships in 2000 and 2001, after which Bobby Petrino took the team into the Big East in 2005 after an 11-1 season.
The strength of those years - and the subsequent Sugar Bowl win to cap an 11-win season in 2012 - made Louisville the best available football program after Connecticut's downturn following the Huskies' 8-5, Fiesta Bowl season. As the seas parted throughout realignment, the last team at the party subsequently offered the perfect option from both a geographic and athletic perspective.
"The University of Louisville and what they've been able to accomplish, specifically the last 15 years, is remarkable," said then-commissioner John Swofford about adding the Cardinals. "There's no question they continue to be on an upward trajectory. The Louisville fan and alumni base brings a lot of energy, and that will fit in well with our collective institutions."
Simply bringing Louisville into the fold had the intended consequence of pairing the Cardinals with a BC team in flux after a two-win season in 2012. A third place finish in the Atlantic Division in Steve Addazio's first year rebuilt part of that reputation, but their arrival somehow coincided with the teams finding one another at key intervals during their respective ascension or fall. In 2016, for example, the height of Louisville's arrival to the ACC occurred over a three-game stretch spanning NC State, Virginia and Boston College, after which Lamar Jackson's seven-touchdown game against the Eagles was credited as a Heisman-clinching performance.
The next year, Addazio's infamous line proclaimed, "It'll come together, and it'll be beautiful" before BC outgunned Louisville in a 45-42 victory that shot the Eagles into a stratosphere with five wins in six games. One year after that, the 2018 Eagles were 4-2 ahead of their mid-October matchup against the Cardinals but used dueling 100-yard games from David Bailey and Ben Glines to overcome A.J. Dillon's absence in the first of three straight wins, a span culminating with ESPN College GameDay's visit to Chestnut Hill.
The 2019 season likewise offered a crossroads after quarterback Anthony Brown injured his knee on the Cardinal Stadium turf, and the last victory of 2020's COVID season occurred when BC won its Senior Day game over Louisville in an empty Alumni Stadium. In 2022, the 34-33 win over the Cardinals was the last victory before a four-game losing streak prevented BC from bowl eligibility, and last year's "Path" started after quarterback Jack Plummer threw five touchdowns to defeat the Eagles, 56-28.
Much in that vein, BC once again arose this week to a crossroads week against Louisville. There is no Atlantic Division championship floating over Friday night's Homecoming kickoff, but there's a sense that both teams need this win after producing bitter results. Having already lost to Notre Dame and SMU, last week's 52-45 shootout loss to Miami inflicted damage on a 4-3 Louisville side that needs this win to inch closer to bowl eligibility, while BC likewise needs to avoid a third ACC loss while simultaneously improving to 4-0 on home turf.
"This is the first time in my career that I've lost two in a row," said defensive back Cam Martinez. "It's definitely a wake-up call. When you lose, you get to look in the mirror and see your flaws. You see what you need to work on and get better at. As a team, we've been able to see that, but now we just have to apply it and keep putting the work in to make a push. Louisville's a really good team."
BC and Louisville kick off on Friday night at 7:30 p.m. from Alumni Stadium in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts. The game can be seen on national television via ESPN2 with online streaming available through the network's family of Internet and mobile device apps.
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The Eagles, for their part, sought to correct mistakes that arose from both the loss to the Hokies and the previous trip to Virginia's 24-14 defeat. Both the team and head coach Bill O'Brien collectively spoke about inward-facing approaches and looking in the mirror after those losses, but the intensity and weighted determination now displayed on the practice field escalated the efforts.
They sought to accept lost opportunities while alternatively blasting away at the rock formations preventing them from moving forward, but with it all came an embrace of a moment that somehow always includes Friday's opponent from Louisville.
"It's just getting back to fundamentals," said running back Kye Robichaux. "Coming in each and every day, going over the things that we messed up on, and really just focusing on our next opponent. But the biggest thing is just getting back to our fundamentals."
Louisville doesn't constitute a natural rivalry for the Boston College football program. It didn't play the Eagles regularly before it replaced outgoing Maryland in the Atlantic Coast Conference in 2014, and neither program likely fomented hatred for one another over nine seasons in the old Atlantic Division. Kentucky and Massachusetts don't carry much in common, and thrusting them together occurred more out of happenstance than anything else after Maryland's departure left a gaping hole on one side of the league.
It was a confusing time in college football in particular because the shifting parts began making less and less sense. The Terrapins had been one of the ACC's original tent poles before opting into the Big Ten after spending 60-plus years in the "southern league," but few teams in the conference merry-go-round remained available after a bulk of power leagues plucked the Big East's most notable franchises. Syracuse and Pittsburgh were in the ACC, and Notre Dame's agreement to join the league as an all-sports member included a caveat surrounding its team's independent status. Rutgers was headed for the Big Ten after shocking the nation with the revival of a once-moribound program, and West Virginia joined the Big 12 in 2012 after winning three Bowl Championship Series games in less than a decade.
Louisville temporarily remained in the American Athletic Conference after its split from the Big East, but the Cardinals felt like a second-best choice compared to the previous years' choices. They geographically aligned with the Big 12, but lost the spot to the Mountaineers and previously represented Conference USA despite internal opposition from its membership. A decade's worth of work to rebuild the athletics program began when John Smith won consecutive championships in 2000 and 2001, after which Bobby Petrino took the team into the Big East in 2005 after an 11-1 season.
The strength of those years - and the subsequent Sugar Bowl win to cap an 11-win season in 2012 - made Louisville the best available football program after Connecticut's downturn following the Huskies' 8-5, Fiesta Bowl season. As the seas parted throughout realignment, the last team at the party subsequently offered the perfect option from both a geographic and athletic perspective.
"The University of Louisville and what they've been able to accomplish, specifically the last 15 years, is remarkable," said then-commissioner John Swofford about adding the Cardinals. "There's no question they continue to be on an upward trajectory. The Louisville fan and alumni base brings a lot of energy, and that will fit in well with our collective institutions."
Simply bringing Louisville into the fold had the intended consequence of pairing the Cardinals with a BC team in flux after a two-win season in 2012. A third place finish in the Atlantic Division in Steve Addazio's first year rebuilt part of that reputation, but their arrival somehow coincided with the teams finding one another at key intervals during their respective ascension or fall. In 2016, for example, the height of Louisville's arrival to the ACC occurred over a three-game stretch spanning NC State, Virginia and Boston College, after which Lamar Jackson's seven-touchdown game against the Eagles was credited as a Heisman-clinching performance.
The next year, Addazio's infamous line proclaimed, "It'll come together, and it'll be beautiful" before BC outgunned Louisville in a 45-42 victory that shot the Eagles into a stratosphere with five wins in six games. One year after that, the 2018 Eagles were 4-2 ahead of their mid-October matchup against the Cardinals but used dueling 100-yard games from David Bailey and Ben Glines to overcome A.J. Dillon's absence in the first of three straight wins, a span culminating with ESPN College GameDay's visit to Chestnut Hill.
The 2019 season likewise offered a crossroads after quarterback Anthony Brown injured his knee on the Cardinal Stadium turf, and the last victory of 2020's COVID season occurred when BC won its Senior Day game over Louisville in an empty Alumni Stadium. In 2022, the 34-33 win over the Cardinals was the last victory before a four-game losing streak prevented BC from bowl eligibility, and last year's "Path" started after quarterback Jack Plummer threw five touchdowns to defeat the Eagles, 56-28.
Much in that vein, BC once again arose this week to a crossroads week against Louisville. There is no Atlantic Division championship floating over Friday night's Homecoming kickoff, but there's a sense that both teams need this win after producing bitter results. Having already lost to Notre Dame and SMU, last week's 52-45 shootout loss to Miami inflicted damage on a 4-3 Louisville side that needs this win to inch closer to bowl eligibility, while BC likewise needs to avoid a third ACC loss while simultaneously improving to 4-0 on home turf.
"This is the first time in my career that I've lost two in a row," said defensive back Cam Martinez. "It's definitely a wake-up call. When you lose, you get to look in the mirror and see your flaws. You see what you need to work on and get better at. As a team, we've been able to see that, but now we just have to apply it and keep putting the work in to make a push. Louisville's a really good team."
BC and Louisville kick off on Friday night at 7:30 p.m. from Alumni Stadium in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts. The game can be seen on national television via ESPN2 with online streaming available through the network's family of Internet and mobile device apps.
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