Are you feeling it yet? The excitement in the air? Boston College football upset Florida State in Tallahassee on Monday night, their first win down there since 2008, and it has BC fans abuzz with excitement for this new era. Bill O’Brien, after taking over the program late in the 2024 coaching cycle, has already revitalized a fanbase and a team that was stuck in the muddy middle of the road with little optimism for improvement. He already has a bigger signature win than his predecessor, just one game into his tenure.
The newest top-25 AP poll came out on Tuesday, and it has Boston College receiving the 27th-most votes in the country, just two slots out of being ranked. That’s how good the Eagles looked on Monday night. It wasn’t just that FSU played a bad game, it was that BC looked well-disciplined, tough, and consistent. It’s amazing how something so simple, like coaching basic fundamentals and toughness, can make a huge impact on a team. It’s something that was so clearly lacking from these players the past few seasons and has already raised the bar in what they can do. We knew players like Donovan Ezeiruaku were talented, but this new coaching staff has immediately gotten more out of him than we saw from him a few months ago.
The road ahead will not be a cakewalk, but you could’ve hardly asked for a better start to the 2024 season than this. After a short week and a home game against Duquesne on Saturday, BC will once again travel to face a top-10 opponent, the #9 Missouri Tigers. The pure talent on BC’s roster is limited and it will be hard to contend with one of the best teams the SEC has to offer, but I do know one thing: it will not be difficult to replicate the performance BC had on Monday night.
The toughness and discipline they showed against FSU is something that is not going away. Bill O’Brien has already established a culture here that will raise the competitive floor of this team and will allow them to compete with anybody. So while another huge top-10 win may or may not be in the cards, we at least know that BC will go out there and fight hard and play smart, physical football. Something that led them to victory over FSU and will hopefully lead them to many more victories in the weeks and months and years to come.