State of the Program: Boston College Eagles

Head Coach: Bill O’Brien is in his first year as the head coach of the Eagles. He comes in with a very colorful past that tells us this definitely won’t be boring. You can read more about him and our hire grade here: https://updogsportstalk.com/2024/04/11/college-football-coach-hire-grades-boston-college/

Program Outlook: It’s been a struggle for Boston College football to be relevant. The Northeast is really a market that College Football just hasn’t captured, it’s a very pro sports heavy area and when it comes to college sports it’s an area where Hockey is more relevant than football. This is what Boston College is battling with, and simply put they need to win to get the fans to care. It’s not impossible, we can never forget the magical 2007 season where they spent a couple weeks in 2nd place in the polls and they had a stud QB in Matt Ryan. It’s been a struggle to reach such heights since they but the division-less ACC at least means they’re no longer guaranteed to have to face Florida State and Clemson every year.

How does the 2024 Roster look?: Boston College surprisingly has a lot of production back despite the coaching change. Their offense is headlined by Thomas Castellanos who is an absolute blast to watch, at least if you’re a neutral observer. He can make incredible plays especially on the ground, but the key to this year will be cutting down on the bad ones, he throws way too many picks. Castellanos will have some skill talent around to help him out, they have good returnees at both receiver and running back plus they dipped into the portal for additional options in both areas. Last season marked a return to strong Oline play for the Eagles and with 3 starters back we can expect that to continue. In the past you would also identify Boston College as a team with a strong defense, but that hasn’t been the case the last few years. The main culprit is the Eagles were basically non-existent up front, providing no pass rush and hardly any resistance against the run, leaving the linebackers chasing to clean up the mess and the secondary exposed. There’s experience back up front at least and their new DC Tim Lewis who’s coached in about every form of football imaginable will try to force the issue. If they can improve up front you can see this defense come together especially with some really impactful transfers coming in the secondary with Cam Martinez from Ohio State and Bryquice Brown from Georgia State.

Screenshot from fbschedules.com¹

2024 Schedule Thoughts: Boston College’s non-conference schedule is wild. Normally they schedule a lot of regional opponents but this year’s schedule is a complete shift from that. They play at Missouri who is a playoff contender, vs Michigan State who is rebuilding and vs a tough Western Kentucky team. Fortunately the Duquesne Dukes from FCS shouldn’t pose too much of a challenge. The conference schedule brings a pretty good mix of contenders and teams expected to be toward the bottom of the conference so there’s some winnable games but this isn’t the easiest ACC slate. Two playoff contenders on the road in the first 3 weeks is going to be rough.

Vegas Projection: Boston College’s win total is set at 4.5 with the odds heavily geared toward the over.

2024 Best Case: The Eagles are ready to fly in Bill O’Brien’s first year. Thomas Castellanos makes improvements and becomes must see TV each week. He shows that on the big stage against Florida State in the opener with some amazing plays and avoiding turnovers. They come up just short of the upset, but it’s clear this team will be good. They roll past Duquesne, before losing another tight game, this time at Missouri. They’re 1-2 but ready to not lose the rest of the way. The Eagles take down Michigan State, beat Western Kentucky and handle Virginia. That sets up a showdown with Virginia Tech and using their run game the Eagles get past the Hokies for a huge win. That win clears the way for them to win out for an incredible 10-2 regular season. They don’t make the ACC championship because Florida State has the tiebreaker but the Eagles win their bowl game, the Patriots make a surprise run to the playoffs and things look good as ever for the Bruins and Celtics.

2024 Worst Case: The brutal early schedule proves to be too much. They’re beaten soundly by both Florida State and Missouri in a 1-2 start, but it gets worse when they suffer back to back losses at the hands of Michigan State and Western Kentucky. There’s really no room to recover for the Eagles either, they lose at Virginia and it eventually cascades to a 1-11 finish. UConn and UMass both win bowl games, while BC sits at home. There’s no NFL to turn to as the Patriots struggle miserably all season and Drake Maye throws more picks than touchdowns.