Boston College

ACC Football News & Notes: A look ahead at Boston College

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With a little more than a week before the opening game of the season, the Boston College Eagles are putting the finishing touches on summer camp, with the season closing in. It was at this time a season ago that the Eagles welcomed a new coaching staff to the Heights with the hopes of becoming more of a force in the ACC. Jeff Haffey’s first year as the BC head coach went well by all accounts. Their record of 6-5 overall and 5-5 in league play may look like the records that the previous coaching staff was putting up on a regular basis. Considering that there was leftover talent from that staff, it could be said ‘same old, same old.” However, it was the way they played that looked and felt different. There was no backing down from that group. Every game was a fight from start to finish. The Eagles were serving notice that becoming a first-division program was not just a dream but a goal within reach.

The 2020 season started off with high hopes winning three of their first four games, and two of their first three conference games. Boston College was beginning to get noticed. However, their first game vs a ranked team became a reminder of how much work still needed to be done. The 40-14 loss at Virginia Tech, on October 17 in some ways put the brakes on any kind of special season. In fact, the Eagles would have a difficult time with the ranked teams on their schedule losing all three games to the Hokies, Clemson, and Notre Dame. The losses told the story about the talent level that was on this team and how it stacked up with the other rosters in the conference. For Boston College to be a first-division program in this league recruiting would have to improve.

That is what this coaching staff has done hitting the road once the 2020 season was over. Looking far and wide to bring players in that can give this team a better chance against the stronger teams in this league. Now it must be said that the cupboard was not completely bare last year. There were some very good football players wearing maroon and gold. Just not enough of them. Case in point, the pre-season All ACC Conference teams have been announced. Boston College has three offensive players on the first team. They are WR Jay Flowers, whose nine touchdown receptions led all receivers in the conference a year ago. There are also two members of the offensive line, center Alec Lindstrom and guard Zion Johnson. All three of these players were ranked inside the ACC Top-25 returning players. Flowers also receive a couple of votes for ACC Player Of The Year as did the Eagle quarterback Phil Jurkovec who was on three ballots. This offense has a chance to be pretty explosive this year.

To win in this league you have to be able to stop the other team’s offense. That could end up being the Achilles heel of this team. The Eagles had no Defensive Player of the Week in conference play a season ago which led to no members of that unit being named to the Preseason Defense Conference Team They were ranked 8th in total defense giving up 416 yards a game, 6th in rushing defense allowing 171 yards on the ground, and 7th in pass defense giving up 245 yards a game. They were 10th in pass defense efficiency at 138.3 while giving up 28 points a game. The most glaring numbers for the defense are in the red zone. The Eagles’ defensive unit gave up 26 touchdowns in 42 red zone possessions. That must get better. Remember you are playing in the ACC. You will be challenged every week by some very good teams and coaching staff. If Boston College is doing anything this season, then their defense must improve and stay away from being on the field too long.

The pieces are starting to be put in place for Boston College to be a good football team. More work needs to be done. and the staff knows this. When you look at the whole picture they are not that far away. How long it takes them to complete the picture becomes the most important question the program must answer.

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