The team is inconsistent, but they’re playing winning football.
Well, that’s four in a row! Boston College football played mostly dominant football against UConn on Saturday, with plenty of unforced errors to make it close, to improve to a 5-3 record. The Eagles are now one win away from securing their first bowl game appearance since the 2019 season and their upcoming schedule does not look particularly daunting.
This week: Syracuse
- The Orange are falling apart. They’ve lost four in a row and they’ve looked terrible while doing it. Their defense has given up 31, 38, 40, and 41 points in each game while their offense hasn’t scored more than 14 points in any contest. BC is not as good of a team as some of the ones Syracuse has faced these past few weeks, but a win here is still very possible.
Next week: Virginia Tech
- This is a team whose outlook has shifted dramatically in the past few weeks. After I identified them two weeks ago as one of the likeliest wins left on BC’s schedule, VT went on to blow out Wake Forest and Syracuse. I’m still not 100% confident in the Hokies, though, and a good game from Castellanos could make this a close one
November 16th: Pitt
- Here’s another team that just keeps collapsing. The Panthers are 2-6 with their only ACC win coming over Louisville back on October 14th. Their defense just gave up 58 points to Notre Dame and new starting QB Christian Veileux has thrown more INTs than TDs. This is definitely a winnable game for BC, and I’ll be keeping an eye on how Pitt does against FSU and Syracuse these next two weeks.
November 24th: Miami
- Miami plays a lot of close games. After losing to Georgia Tech and UNC by 3 and 10 points, respectively, the Hurricanes defeated Clemson and Virginia by 8 and 3 points, respectively. I don’t expect BC to be much of a threat here, but they could make it competitive and find themselves with a win if the late November weather helps them out.
Will Boston College win out? Highly unlikely. But I would not be shocked if the Eagles pulled out a win against any of these teams. Two wins would get them to 7 total, and I can definitely see that happening in their games against Syracuse and Pitt at least. Even if the BC defense continues to perform inconsistently, Castellanos and the offense have figured things out enough to put up a large amount of points against middling ACC squads. They’ve already done so against Georgia Tech.
Despite the 1-3 start, Jeff Hafley’s team has found ways to win through these four games. I haven’t exactly been impressed with wins over these lousy teams, but if they finish with 7+ wins and an ACC record of .500 or better, I will have to admit that this staff has adapted well to adversity.