O’Brien has Boston College on the Right Track

Written by Joseph Medeiros

Boston College ended their 2024 regular season campaign with a 34 – 23 win against Pittsburgh on November 30^th, notching their 7^th win of the season and going on a 3-1 run to end the season.

There could be more to come as the Eagles could win 8 games for the first time since 2009 when Frank Spaziani went 8-5 with the team in his first season at the helm. However, in that season Boston College lost the Emerald Bowl to Southern California 24-13.

Boston College goes Bowling

Their 7-5 record has seen Boston College become bowl-eligible and although their opponent may not be known yet, looking at what the team is good at will give a good guess at how they’ll do.

The defense is the cornerstone of the team, more specifically their pass rush. Donovan Ezeiruaku leads the nation in sacks and has been a game-breaker for the Eagles. The ACC DPOY could elect to sit out the game as he is a possible Day-1 draft pick, but his presence puts the defense on another level.

The offense has seen a considerable uptick in production ever since Grayson James took over, but in general, they are a ball-control offense that gets the occasional big play. If they go against a good defense do not expect many points. Another player to look out for is red-shirt junior Lewis Bond, the 5’11 wide receiver has been a good part of the wide receiver room and has shown flashes when targeted.

The special teams are by far the weakest area of the team as the unit has frustrated O’Brien this year. Reliable punting was hard to find as the Eagles have used 4 different punters and none averaged over 40 yards a punt. The kicking unit has only attempted 4 field goals the year, with their one miss coming from inside the 30.

Whoever Boston College does end up playing expect an interesting game as Grayson James will be looking to prove to Bill O’Brien why he deserves to be the starter next season.

What Happened in the Past

When looking back at that 2009 season from the Eagles, there are a few interesting similarities between the teams. Both teams started 4-1 and both teams ended the season with 3-1 runs. The offense started with multiple quarterbacks and both defenses were the main part of the team, most notably the 2009 defense had former Panther Luke Kuechly at linebacker.

Season in Review

There was a lot of hope at the start of the season for this Boston College team with Bill O’Brien taking over as head coach. That seemed to be the case with BC starting 4-1 and their only loss being a close one to Missouri (22).

The Eagles would struggle going into their next series of games going 3 games without a win, all frustrating losses; a close loss to Virginia where Castellanos had multiple turnovers, a Virginia Tech game where the Eagles failed to convert a 4^th&1 late stalling the comeback, and an abysmal loss to Louisville being up 27-17 in the 4^th.

At 4-4, Bill O’Brien made the controversial decision to start backup Grayson James over Thomas Castellanos, a decision that would pay off with O’Brien’s Eagles winning against Syracuse (23), UNC, and Pittsburgh.

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