After initially cancelling media availability on Monday morning following an earlier-than-expected end to practice, Bill O'Bren ended up speaking with three of us for about 10 minutes inside Yawkey on Monday.

Nice to finally have a game week to talk about again, although it'll be the last one for a while. Anyway, here's everything O'Brien had to say on a bunch of different things:

On if he was willing to say if anyone was opting out

"I would say...I'm not going to comment who's playing or who's not playing in the game. I think the team you'll see on Saturday has practiced very hard, has you know, shown up with great enthusiasm every single day. And, we're excited about the game. We're all very excited about the game. Just not going to go down that road of who's playing, who's not playing. There's guys that are injured coming back, we don't really know yet...so, you'll see when we get there."

On the excitement level for the trip

"These guys are very excited to have an opportunity to play at Yankee Stadium, to take the train down to New York City. To play an opponent like Nebraska, a legendary program. It's a great opportunity for BC. These guys have practiced hard. It's been great to have extra practices with them. They've had extra lifting sessions. I think the team is very close. The chemistry on the team right now is really, really good, so we're excited about the opportunity."

On how valuable the extra work has been

"It's huge. It's a big deal to be able to work with the younger ...work with the all the players, really. In fact, today, we got...seven mid-year guys showed up to practice with us. For example, a guy like Shaker Rising, a quarterback from Oklahoma, he's here. He's had an opportunity to get out there and practice and do some things. All of that, the development of all of these guys...to be able to have extra practices to really work with these guys on an individual basis, a unit basis, a positional basis has been great for our program."

On how the program will celebrate Christmas together

"So we're going to practice tomorrow morning and then we'll get on the train...we'll catch the train at the Westwood station down 128, we'll take the train to NYC and then we'll practice at Columbia while we're there. We'll have Christmas Day, they'll spend Christmas time with their families and things and then we'll have a Christmas mass in the afternoon. We've got a lot of good things planned. A lot of events planned with the Pinstripe Bowl that are going to be fantastic like Radio City Music Hall, ring the bell at the stock exchange, some guys are going to go the Red Cross hospital. It's just a great experience. It's going to be awesome.

On how much winning a bowl game can help momentum into 2025

"I think it's big. I think the game itself...that's the main reason we're going is to go down there and play our best and do our best to win the game. Having a win going into the offseason is good, it's a good thing. I think we've made a lot of strides as a program. If you can win that eighth game, that's good. That really bodes well for 2025. But, at the end of the day I think it's about 2025. Getting those extra practices and being able to go down there and play our best. That's what it's all about. Playing an opponent like Nebraska is a great opportunity for us."

On if this two-week stretch is about ending this year on a good note or putting things into place for 2025

"There's a little bit of both there. It's a great question. There's some guys that are playing their last games. Like, a guy like Joe Marinaro right...playing in his last game, we want to do right by him. We want to make sure we honor those guys, those commitments that they've made. Like Kam Arnold and Joe Marinaro our captains, those guys are playing their last game. So, at the end of the day it's all about those guys. That's the most important thing. But, we've got a lot of younger guys that are going to be here for the '25 season, the bulk of the team is the 2025 team. So, I think that's a big part of it too, giving these guys an opportunity. For instance, all the freshmen that have been here all year, they can play in this game because it doesn't affect their redshirt at all. So, to have the opportunity - again, like an opponent like Nebraska - is great for our program."

On balancing staying busy in the portal and game prep

"I think we've done a good job in the portal. We've worked hard to bring in the right guys. It seems like we've gotten the right guys. You never know until they start playing, but we're very happy with where we are in the portal. It opens up again after spring practice. Like I've said form day one, we''re never going to be a massive portal team. We're going to recruit high school players and develop high school players. But, if we can supplement certain positions, you know, like quarterback, defensive line for instance, tight end for instance, I think that'll help our football team. We feel really good about the guys we've been able to acquire out of the portal."

On Alabama transfer QB Dylan Lonergan

"Dylan was a guy I recruited when I was at Alabama. Played at Brookwood High School outside of Atlanta. Was a really good baseball player, a pitcher. Threw the ball 94, 95 mph. Right-handed quarterback. State champion quarterback. Went to Alabama. You know, the family...when you recruit, right...especially in the SEC, you don't have a lot of guys you're recruiting, so you become close with the families. The families of the people you recruit. So, they stayed in touch and at the end of the season he wanted to make a move. He entered into the portal and he visited BC, had a good visit and we upgraded our quarterback room, no doubt about it."

On the competition in the QB room

"Yeah, no doubt. The guys that are here right now, like Grayson James...what happens in the portal, right, you sign a guy like Dylan, but don't forget about Grayson James. He's had a really good last part of the season and then he's had a really good bowl practice. He's looking forward to playing in this game. He's the starter. He's done a good job. Jacobee Robinson got a ton of reps these last two, three weeks and he's really improved. Then, Shaker - like I said - arrived here the other day and he's getting good reps in practice. So, yeah the quarterback room is just one of the most important rooms - if not the most important - position room on the team and we feel really good about the guys we're going to have in there."

On overall impressions of Nebraska on film

"Very tough. Very well-coached obviously in all three phases. It starts out on special teams. They do a great job with their return units. They're very aggressive with their punt block, so we're going to have to be ready for that. When our return units are out there...we've got to do a great job of standing up to them. They do a great job. They come down, they're very physical and they're going try to nail you as they go to the ball carrier. So, we've got to do a great job standing up to them on that. Defensively - their defense against our offense - they're very good up front. Very good in the back end relative to disguises and things like that. So, you know, it's going to be big challenge for us offensively. Then, their offense obviously starts with (Dylan) Railoa. He's got a lot of Mahomes-type qualities. I'm not saying he's Patrick Mahomes, but he's very, very good. He's an instinctive player that can run. They've got a very big offensive line, good tight ends, good wide receivers. So, it'll be a big challenge for us, but again, we're very excited about the opportunity to go play these guys."

On knowing and coaching against John Butler

"He worked for me at Penn State and then worked for me in Houston. He's a great coach, very smart. We haven't worked together in a long time. I'm sure he's added some things to his repertoire from when he was at Buffalo with Sean McDermott. So, you know, look...John's a great coach. We're going to have to recognize and communicate and they're going to have to do the same thing. It'll be a good football game."

On Ezeiruaku racking up awards

"Donovan has had a ton of awards. I went up to the Gridiron Club of Boston, Boston Gridiron Club last weekend and he won the Bulger award for the best defensive player in New England, which is awesome. The All-American awards, you know, the Hendricks Award, all those things. The guy just had a special, special year. He's a great ambassador for BC football. His picture will be up here soon and he'll be a guy that always comes back to BC. He could have gone anywhere during his time at BC with all the portal things that were going on and he chose to stay at BC. I think that says a lot about him and it says a lot about BC."

On what he'd like to see changed with the portal being open during bowl season

"This is a question we all get asked a lot and it is a great question. It's very complicate, right, because the academic calendar does not line up with the recruiting calendar. So, the reason why the portal's open at this time of the year is that we've got to be able to get these guys to start class. They start class...we start our classes on January 12th or 13th, so, they have to visit the place before they commit to the place. They have to see it and be around us before they commit. So, it doesn't really match up. I guess I don't really know the answer to that. I have one answer that I'm giving a lot. We need a commissioner of college football. He...that person has to have a cabinet underneath him of retired coaches, retired athletic directors that are involved in football. We've gotta be able to...eventually, it won't happen this year. It won't happen next year. But, maybe in the next five years, can we regulate college football? For all of the things, to match up the recruiting calendar with the academic calendar, to understand NIL and all the things that are going on with NIL. I think that would really help the game. The game's at an all-time high, right? You saw the playoff games last week. People are very excited about college football, but, there's certain things we need to get under control."

On Bill Belichick joining the ACC

"I think people that say 'the ACC is third' and all that, look, Bill Belichick just took a job in the ACC. Arguably the greatest coach of all time of any sport and he's the head coach at North Carolina. I think it's great for college football. Great for the competition. I owe a lot to Bill and I sent him a congratulatory text. He hasn't gotten back to me yet because he's probably very busy. But, it's great for the ACC...I mean, Bill's a coach. His dad was a coach. His dad coached in college at North Carolina, at the Naval Academy. I think (his dad) also coached at Vanderbilt. So, Bill grew up around college football. Obviously, he's been in pro football for 40-plus years his whole career, but he's a coach. At the end of the day, coaches coach. So, whatever level he chose to be at...he'll be a college coach now and I'm sure he'll do a great job."