Ahead of Louisville Trip, BC Not Looking Back

Boston College really dropped the ball.

Like, actually. The Eagles were 4-0 for the first time since 2007 and were one play away from ending Clemson’s 30-game home win streak and BC’s seven-year drought without a win over an AP-ranked opponent. A dropped snap spoiled the Eagles’ upset plans.

And another last Saturday was the catalyst for a complete Homecoming Weekend collapse against North Carolina State, where BC went from trailing, 10-7, at intermission to being down, 31-7, at the start of the fourth quarter in a wet, subdued Alumni Stadium.

“When the game got away from us, we fell apart a little bit, and that, internally, is on the leaders of the team,” Eagles quarterback Dennis Grosel said. “I take that personally that we didn't do a good enough job for that.

“I guess the beauty of football is you get to come in the next day and get to play.”

Second-year BC head coach Jeff Hafley maintained this week that it’s important to block out the noise, now more than ever with the prominence of social media. Hafley discussed how his players have each other’s backs, which is all the more necessary in today’s digital age.

“If one of our players picks up Twitter after the game,” Hafley said, “and he didn't have a good game, what do you think it's all talking about? How he's not a good player. And if he has a good game the next game, and he looks at it—what do you think they're talking about? How good of a player he is. That's an emotional roller coaster for a player.”

Hafley said that last weekend’s loss, which reminded him of BC’s 40-14 defeat to then-No. 23 Virginia Tech in Blacksburg last year, was a teaching moment. He assured reporters that there will be ups and downs during his tenure in Chestnut Hill, but the 42-year-old player’s coach also declared that “we’re going to win here” by continuing to build the program “the right way.”

“I need to learn from a moment like that, when things kind of unraveled,” Hafley said. “And, if I don’t, then I’ve lost a great opportunity. That’s how I see that right now.”

Grosel shared a similar perspective. While BC is focused on turning the page, the veteran quarterback conceded that you can’t leave everything behind. You have to realize that what you did the previous game, or games, can’t happen again, he said.

“Gotta have some stuff stick around but still be able to move forward on that,” Grosel said, “and that's the balance that we need to take into this week.”

Grosel is heading back to where it all started: Louisville, where he saw his first extended action at the collegiate level. He was asked about how much he’s grown since that 2019 game, during which he came in for an injured Anthony Brown Jr. and threw three touchdowns in a valiant loss.

But the redshirt senior reinforced that, while he had thought about that, he was dialed in on the 2021 Cardinals and coming up with a gameplan to get the Eagles back on track.

Center Alec Lindstrom, a mid-year enrollee with Grosel in 2017, said that the team is worried about playing Louisville and nothing else right now.

“I gotta studying everything,” Lindstrom said. “I gotta memorize everything that nose guard does. And then I’ve also gotta study and memorize everything they do as a defense.”

He continued: “On offense, we're gonna put on a show. That's what we're there for up front.”

BC has scored just 20 combined points in its last two games after putting up 41 in a thrilling overtime win over Missouri in Week 4. The Eagles will have to get the wheels spinning again in Louisville if they’re to keep pace with a Cardinals team that ranks 26th nationally in total offense.

Hafley said that Louisville might have the most athletic offense that he’s seen on tape this year. Even after losing Tutu Atwell and Dez Fitzpatrick to the NFL this past offseason, Louisville has five wide receivers with 10 or more catches, not to mention tight end Marshon Ford, who leads the team and all ACC players at his position with 27 receptions.

Hafley said that, with Ford on the field, it’s as if the Cardinals are playing 10-personnel football. He’s 6-foot-2 and 240 pounds with dynamic speed.

Speed is the name of the game for the Louisville offense, which ranks fifth in the ACC in total yards per game (452.2). Malik Cunningham is the center of it all.

He’s piled up 18 touchdowns, 10 of which have come on the ground. Meanwhile, he’s registering the best Pro Football Focus passing grade (79.9) of his career, with 262.8 yards per game through the air and no interceptions since Week 2.

Hafley believes that had it not been for a couple narrow defeats—Louisville lost to Wake Forest and Virginia by a combined four points—Cunningham would probably be in the ACC Player of the Year conversation. The Cardinals would also be 5-1 and a perfect 3-0 in league play.

“They're close,” Hafley said. “I mean, they've lost two heartbreakers in a row. That's what the ACC is this year, right? It's anybody on any day, so you better get ready to play.”

Hafley is confident his team will turn it around. BC bounced back after last year’s loss to Virginia Tech with a resounding win over Georgia Tech and then a near upset in Death Valley.

The Eagles will need a similar response this time around.

“The guys have a ton of energy,” Hafley said. “They're positive, they're having fun. We got a great group. We got a damn good team that's 4-2.”