Boston College has clinched bowl eligibility six straight seasons. Except the Eagles have played only three bowl games in that span.
It’s a head scratching stretch for a program that’s 1-7 in postseason play since 2007. That lone victory came in 2016 when the Eagles defeated Maryland in the Quick Lane Bowl.
BC lost the Music City Bowl in 2008 to Vanderbilt, which hadn’t won a bowl game in 53 years and, in ending the drought, registered its first winning season since 1982. The Eagles lost the 2014 Pinstripe Bowl to Penn State in overtime because kicker Mike Knoll shanked a game-tying extra point.
But the last five years have provided arguably more gut wrenching, and weird, outcomes.
2017: BC plays in frozen Yankee Stadium, loses Pinstripe Bowl to Iowa
BC had a bunch of chances to reach the eight-win mark during Steve Addazio’s seven-year tenure. The Eagles could have done it four years ago against Iowa. After starting 2-4 that season, an AJ Dillon-led BC finished the regular season 5-1. Who knows, had Anthony Brown Jr. not gone out against North Carolina State, the Eagles could have even won out. But, even with Darius Wade under center, BC outgained the Hawkeyes, 281-56, in the first half of that year’s Pinstripe Bowl. Three Eagles turnovers, a 72-yard Akrum Wadley kickoff return and a missed Colton Lichtenberg field goal spelled doom for BC. Despite holding Iowa to 200 total yards, the Eagles still lost.
The defeat came in frigid New York weather. It was 23 degrees at kickoff but felt like sub-15 with a wind chill. Players had to switch out of cleats and into sneakers just to gain traction. An odd, odd game.
2018: The First Responder Bowl is canceled because of lightning
The Eagles’ 2018 season was special. For nine games. BC started 7-2, climbed to No. 17 in the AP Poll after having not been ranked since 2008 and hosted “College GameDay” for the first time since 2009. But a three-game slide to end the regular season raised the stakes for the Eagles’ First Responder Bowl matchup against Boise State. BC jumped out to a 7-0 lead with a 75-yard scoring drive on its first series of the game. The Eagles held then-No. 23 Boise State to just 33 total yards of offense in the opening nine and a half minutes of play.
But, after that, a lightning storm within the eight-mile radius of Cotton Bowl Stadium delayed and, ultimately, canceled the game. It went down as the NCAA’s first-ever weather cancellation of a bowl game.
2019: BC falls to Cincinnati in soaked Birmingham Bowl
They say lightning never strikes in the same place twice. It kind of did, though. The next year, BC accepted an invite to the Birmingham Bowl against then-No. 21 Cincinnati. Once again, in the first quarter, BC’s bowl game was put on pause because of lightning. But this time an hour and a half delay didn’t result in cancellation. The Eagles returned to the field but never really stood a chance against a budding Cincinnati team, especially without star running back AJ Dillon. Coached by Rich Gunnell and quarterbacked by Dennis Grosel, BC was blown out by Desmond Ridder and Co., 38-6.
2020: BC becomes first team to voluntarily opt out of bowl game because of COVID-19
Jeff Hafley took over the program ahead of a worldwide pandemic. It was quite the way to start his first-ever head coaching gig. But he established a “For The Team” culture that promoted self discipline and commitment. The Eagles helped set the standard for COVID-19 prevention in college football, going more than 8,000 tests without a positive.
BC didn’t have a practice or game canceled, and the Phil Jurkovec-led Eagles surpassed all expectations, winning five ACC games and giving then-No. 12 North Carolina and then-No. 1 Clemson legit scares. But Hafley, a player’s coach, sought input from his team about its interest in playing in a COVID-19-restricted bowl season. The players decided that they’d rather finally get to spend time with family, and BC became the first of 22 programs to voluntarily opt out of a bowl game in 2020.
2021: COVID-19 outbreak within BC’s program cancels Military Bowl
Before this season, BC mandated everyone in the program be vaccinated for COVID-19, in compliance with the university guidelines. Only one Eagle transferred because of the ruling. BC didn’t have COVID-19 issues all season, although the team had 32 players affected by the flu before its regular season finale against Wake Forest. A month between that game and the Eagles’ Military Bowl matchup with East Carolina gave BC time to recover.
But then, after traveling to Annapolis, Maryland, the Eagles experienced a COVID-19 outbreak that, along with injuries, has sidelined more than 40 players, according to Pete Thamel of Yahoo! Sports. As a result, the Military Bowl was canceled a bit more than 24 hours prior to its scheduled kickoff. It marked the end of an injury-riddled 2021 BC campaign that began with so much optimism.
