The Replay: Pittsburgh
December 01, 2024 | Football, #ForBoston Files
It's on to Bowl Season as eight wins sits on the horizon of possibilities.
For years, the common refrain around the Boston College football program cemented a glass ceiling over the team's window for success. No matter what happened during the season, no matter how anyone perceived good or bad runs, the Eagles would never accomplish more than a seven-win record. They could reboot or reset with a new head coach, install new or different schemes into the offense or defense, and they could change their identity from year to year without changing the outcome.
The sports gods, it seemed, just wanted to toy with the seven-win record and give BC false hope.
Bill O'Brien was never one to believe in ghosts, ghouls or goblins, but the last month of the season brought him face-to-face with the team's propensity for reaching the seven-win mark. Ahead of Saturday's game against Pittsburgh, he recognized the difference between a 6-6 regular season and a 7-5 regular season, and along with his team, he attacked the idea that BC couldn't reach the eight-win season.
Having vanquished Pittsburgh with a 34-23 victory in the team's final regular season game, O'Brien didn't dance around discussing what eight wins would mean to a program that last won more than seven games during the 2009 season. Instead, he stared at it, eye-to-eye, and dared to give BC more than its plateau.
"It's a lot better [to finish 7-5]," said O'Brien. "There's a big difference, and we said that all week. There's a big difference between 6-6 and 7-5. It just sounds better, but the big thing is that we have a chance to win eight games, which hasn't been done here in a while. It's a very big deal for us."
BC never intended to lodge its 2009 season into the high-water marks of its program record book, but time slipped away from the Eagles following their 8-4 regular season and Emerald Bowl loss to a Southern California program led by head coach Pete Carroll and quarterback Matt Barkley. A dip to seven wins in 2010 required five consecutive wins to reach the Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl for a second consecutive season after the San Francisco-based game changed sponsorship, and the next two seasons under head coach Frank Spaziani ended without a postseason game after BC won six combined games. For the next decade, the Steve Addazio era stabilized the program with six- and seven-win seasons, but failure to win a postseason game outside of the 2016 Quick Lane Bowl extended streaks deeply beyond the ACC Championship Game appearances of 2007 and 2008.
The 2020 reboot with Jeff Hafley likewise failed to crack the seven-win barrier after COVID-19 robbed bowl appearances from two straight teams, and last year's Wasabi Fenway Bowl win over Southern Methodist brought BC a seven-win season after a 6-3 team lost its last three regular season games.Â
"All week this week, we were telling ourselves that there's a difference between 6-6 and 7-5," said tight end Kamari Morales. "Ending the regular season with a winning record is great, and now if we can go out and win a bowl game, that's eight wins, and that hasn't been done here in a long time. Just to be able to come here and potentially be able to do that, it means the world to me."
Yet crystallizing that success for the BC program required more than simply putting on the uniform to beat opponents. The team that re-entered the top-25 during the regular season's first month lost three straight games to league opponents before shifting its priority and identity with radical, on-the-fly changes. Instead of folding, the wake and aftermath of the reinvention won the final two games of the regular season to finish with a 7-5 record that hadn't been achieved since the 2018 team narrowly missed an opportunity to win the ACC Atlantic Division after starting 7-2.
"I attribute [the success] to the work ethic," said O'Brien. "[The team] stuck with it. They never quit. There's no quit in Boston College football, and we don't use that word around here. So these guys stuck with it, even though some of the weeks were tough. Losing to Louisville when we were up 20-0 in that game. Losing to SMU was a tough loss because we felt like we were in that game, but at the end of the day, they came back [to work] on every Sunday and were ready to go for the next week. We built some mental toughness throughout the year, and hopefully that'll sustain us into the bowl game and into the offseason."
It's unclear where BC will play its bowl game, but the attractiveness within the program drops the program into one of several different possibilities. With the conference champion likely headed for the College Football Playoff, the chance to play in any game trumped any one particular location. For what it's worth, the Atlantic Coast Conference doesn't necessarily utilize finishing spot to determine its league pecking order, so the Eagles hypothetically could wind up playing anywhere other than Boston's Fenway Bowl, which would have been a repeat performance.
From a timing standpoint, four games are specifically scheduled on December 28, but removing the Fenway Bowl from consideration leaves three afternoon games for the Pinstripe Bowl, the Pop-Tarts Bowl and the Military Bowl. The Sun Bowl's classic matchup in El Paso, Texas is three days later on December 31 with the Gator Bowl and Duke's Mayo Bowl slated for the immediate days after the New Year's Day holiday.
"I've been to a lot of bowls," said O'Brien. "I think the bowl experience is a great experience. You get extra practices and extra time with your team, and college football is a lot better when it comes to that. In college football, you're with your players a lot throughout the year, so to go to a bowl and be around those guys and continue to build a relationship with the players that we have, is a big deal. Whatever bowl we go to, we'll be proud of the fact that we're in that bowl and represent BC to the best of our ability. It's just about being able to get that extra month with your team."
The Bowl Season selection occurs next Sunday, December 8 after the announcement of the College Football Playoff.
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The sports gods, it seemed, just wanted to toy with the seven-win record and give BC false hope.
Bill O'Brien was never one to believe in ghosts, ghouls or goblins, but the last month of the season brought him face-to-face with the team's propensity for reaching the seven-win mark. Ahead of Saturday's game against Pittsburgh, he recognized the difference between a 6-6 regular season and a 7-5 regular season, and along with his team, he attacked the idea that BC couldn't reach the eight-win season.
Having vanquished Pittsburgh with a 34-23 victory in the team's final regular season game, O'Brien didn't dance around discussing what eight wins would mean to a program that last won more than seven games during the 2009 season. Instead, he stared at it, eye-to-eye, and dared to give BC more than its plateau.
"It's a lot better [to finish 7-5]," said O'Brien. "There's a big difference, and we said that all week. There's a big difference between 6-6 and 7-5. It just sounds better, but the big thing is that we have a chance to win eight games, which hasn't been done here in a while. It's a very big deal for us."
BC never intended to lodge its 2009 season into the high-water marks of its program record book, but time slipped away from the Eagles following their 8-4 regular season and Emerald Bowl loss to a Southern California program led by head coach Pete Carroll and quarterback Matt Barkley. A dip to seven wins in 2010 required five consecutive wins to reach the Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl for a second consecutive season after the San Francisco-based game changed sponsorship, and the next two seasons under head coach Frank Spaziani ended without a postseason game after BC won six combined games. For the next decade, the Steve Addazio era stabilized the program with six- and seven-win seasons, but failure to win a postseason game outside of the 2016 Quick Lane Bowl extended streaks deeply beyond the ACC Championship Game appearances of 2007 and 2008.
The 2020 reboot with Jeff Hafley likewise failed to crack the seven-win barrier after COVID-19 robbed bowl appearances from two straight teams, and last year's Wasabi Fenway Bowl win over Southern Methodist brought BC a seven-win season after a 6-3 team lost its last three regular season games.Â
"All week this week, we were telling ourselves that there's a difference between 6-6 and 7-5," said tight end Kamari Morales. "Ending the regular season with a winning record is great, and now if we can go out and win a bowl game, that's eight wins, and that hasn't been done here in a long time. Just to be able to come here and potentially be able to do that, it means the world to me."
Yet crystallizing that success for the BC program required more than simply putting on the uniform to beat opponents. The team that re-entered the top-25 during the regular season's first month lost three straight games to league opponents before shifting its priority and identity with radical, on-the-fly changes. Instead of folding, the wake and aftermath of the reinvention won the final two games of the regular season to finish with a 7-5 record that hadn't been achieved since the 2018 team narrowly missed an opportunity to win the ACC Atlantic Division after starting 7-2.
"I attribute [the success] to the work ethic," said O'Brien. "[The team] stuck with it. They never quit. There's no quit in Boston College football, and we don't use that word around here. So these guys stuck with it, even though some of the weeks were tough. Losing to Louisville when we were up 20-0 in that game. Losing to SMU was a tough loss because we felt like we were in that game, but at the end of the day, they came back [to work] on every Sunday and were ready to go for the next week. We built some mental toughness throughout the year, and hopefully that'll sustain us into the bowl game and into the offseason."
It's unclear where BC will play its bowl game, but the attractiveness within the program drops the program into one of several different possibilities. With the conference champion likely headed for the College Football Playoff, the chance to play in any game trumped any one particular location. For what it's worth, the Atlantic Coast Conference doesn't necessarily utilize finishing spot to determine its league pecking order, so the Eagles hypothetically could wind up playing anywhere other than Boston's Fenway Bowl, which would have been a repeat performance.
From a timing standpoint, four games are specifically scheduled on December 28, but removing the Fenway Bowl from consideration leaves three afternoon games for the Pinstripe Bowl, the Pop-Tarts Bowl and the Military Bowl. The Sun Bowl's classic matchup in El Paso, Texas is three days later on December 31 with the Gator Bowl and Duke's Mayo Bowl slated for the immediate days after the New Year's Day holiday.
"I've been to a lot of bowls," said O'Brien. "I think the bowl experience is a great experience. You get extra practices and extra time with your team, and college football is a lot better when it comes to that. In college football, you're with your players a lot throughout the year, so to go to a bowl and be around those guys and continue to build a relationship with the players that we have, is a big deal. Whatever bowl we go to, we'll be proud of the fact that we're in that bowl and represent BC to the best of our ability. It's just about being able to get that extra month with your team."
The Bowl Season selection occurs next Sunday, December 8 after the announcement of the College Football Playoff.
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