Eagles Must Make Alumni Stadium Tough Place To Play

If BC is going to live up the expectations in 2024, they need to create a home field advantage,

This will never be Clemson, FSU, Georgia or 'Bama. But, it can certainly be a bigger factor than it's been.I decided to take a look back at the home record over the last 10 years and simply put, it's the definition of average.

Literally.

The Eagles are 32-32 at Alumni since the 2014 season.

I'm also well aware that the tailgating set up just layout/traffic wise isn't conducive to massive throngs of people walking around with a High Noon or red solo cup in hand, but if this team shows it's worth showing up for, then I think fans will too because of the Bill O'Brien effect as a local guy. The average person with no BC ties may not care that BC is doing well, but they will care about the local coach's success story. It writes and promotes itself.

Here's a look at each home record over the last decade...

2014 - (3-4)

BC finished 7-6 and infamously upset No. 9 USC at home. The Eagles lost to Pitt, Colorado State, Clemson and Lousiville in Chestnut Hill. All of those were close games except for the game against the Cardinals. BC also beat UMass, but the game was at Gillette Stadium. Maine and Syracuse were the other home victories.

2015 - (3-4)

I forgot how brutal some of the scores were this season. Finished 3-9 overall with home wins over Maine, Howard and Northern Illinois. Losses at Alumni to No. 9 FSU (14-0), Wake Forest (3-0), V-Tech and NC State. This offense would've given the 2022 and 2023 Patriots a run for their money.

2016 - (3-3)

7-6 season and the shootout Quick Lane Bowl win over Maryland. Only beat Wagner, Buffalo and UConn at home that year though. Lost by 46 to No. No. 3 Clemson, lost by eight to Syracuse then lost by 37 to No. 20 FSU. I know that Clemson team was a wagon, but you can't give up 56 and 47 at home to conference rivals. Just can't.

2017 - (3-3)

Once again 7-6 overall, but only home wins came against Central Michigan and a down Florida State team. Blowout losses against Wake Forest and Notre Dame. 35-3 over FSU and then 17-14 against the Wolfpack. Also smoked UConn at Fenway and lost the Pinstripe Bowl.

2018 - (5-2)

Really, really good season at home. UMass, Holy Cross. Temple, Louisville and Miami all at home. Obviously, Miami and Louisville are the ones that stand out. Lost to No. 2 Clemson and No. 19 'Cuse. Finished 7-5 and no bowl game.

2019 - (3-3)

My first year covering the team. I remember how important the opening win against V-Tech felt and how embarrassing the Kansas loss on a Friday night felt. Lost to Wake Forest, beat NC State, lost by seven to Florida State. Also beat Richmond. Finished 6-7, lost Birmingham Bowl to Cincy.

2020 - (4-2)

I will never forget how weird it looked and sounded inside the empty stadium. I still can't believe that was a real thing we all experienced. They had an uncalled for squeaker against Texas State, close ABC game loss to No. 12 North Carolina, walk off win vs. Pitt, blowout over Georgia Tech, loss to No. 2 Notre Dame (which I believe was the Red Bandana game on ABC) and got the shootout win over Louisville Finished 6-5.

2021 - (3-3)

Blew out Colgate then we had the field storming against unranked Missouri, which in hindsight may have been really lame, but cool at the time. Blown out by No. 23 NC State, low scoring win over V-Tech on a Friday night, losses to FSU (26-23) and Wake Forest (41-10). Eagles went 6-6 overall and had to back out of the Military Bowl.

2022 - (2-4)

Disaster 3-9 season. Lost to Rutgers at home in the opener by one, beat Maine in a slog of a game, great shootout victory over Louisville but that was it. Losses to No. 5 Clemson (31-3), Duke (38-31), and 'Cuse (32-23) where the score wasn't really indicative of how ugly it was. Still don't understand why that was a night game.

2023 - (3-4)

The Path was fun last year, but the team realistically probably should have started 0-2 at home. If Matt Sluka doesn't fumble after the delay (where the entire BC fan base left), the Eagles lose to Northern Illinois and Holy Cross beats them. The loss to No. 3 FSU in the Red Bandana game on ABC was the Tommy Castellanos arriving on the map game in the loss. Good comeback over UVA after the early no-show. Barely got by UConn and were blown out by V-Tech and Miami. Fenway Bowl felt like a minor step forward and now the entire landscape has changed. Crazy.

So, first of all, am I crazy for thinking maybe Addazio wasn't really that bad? There's a lot of consistency in those 7-6's.

But, the biggest takeaway for me going back through these games was the lopsided scores in the big , primetime moments. Those national TV games where you can really get your fan base invested and recruits watching you on major networks can't be blowouts by halftime. The stadium isn't usually full to begin with and often times it's felt like a wake in there from about the 11-minute mark in the third quarter onward.

This program absolutely needs to give fans a reason to be in there at kickoff and staying until the final whistle if things are truly going to change. That hasn't been the case in quite a while aside from the occasional upset here or there.

There's also no excuse not to be blowing out FCS teams at home. Is the gap between FBS and FCS as narrow as it's ever been? Absolutely, but given BC's competition at the level, taking care of these early season 'automatics' at home needs to be a regularity moving forward if you're going to be a true contender.

Alumni Stadium can be great again like it was during the '07 days, but fans need a reason to show up and be loud. Can this new regime make it happen?