In the End, 2020 Was A Remarkable Accomplishment For Boston College Football
After seven lackluster seasons under Steve Addazio, former athletic director Martin Jarmond decided it was time for a change in the Boston College football program. On December 14, 2019 Boston College officially announced Jeff Hafley as the 36th head coach of the Eagles football program. Being a new head coach in any sport is exciting but also nerve-wracking, and being a new head coach during a pandemic is a frontier no coach no matter how seasoned has ever been asked to manage.
2020 has been a challenging year and with it came COVID-19. After sending the team home, Hafley had them return and asked the team to stick with a strict protocol. The results? Boston College football has administered thousands of COVID tests with just one positive. Because of that amazing feat, the Eagles were one of just a dozen football teams to play 10 or more games in this unprecedented college football season. And most, if not all, of this is thanks to Jeff Hafley, his coaching staff, and selfless players.
While the 6-5 record may be underwhelming to some, the fact that a coach was able to come into a program during a pandemic and make it bowl eligible with a transfer QB is a feat of its own. And while yes, even this author was critical of the coaching and playing at times during this season, it still will never take away from what they were able to accomplish.
With star running back A.J. Dillon leaving early for the draft, uncertainty at quarterback, Kobay White lost to injury before the first game, BC was still able to reach six wins. The Eagles were a two point conversion away from taking then ninth ranked UNC to overtime, had an 18-point halftime lead over former number one ranked Clemson, an unbelieve comeback over Texas St. and nearly shocked Notre Dame.
The team did an incredible job handling adversity on the field. When Jurkovec went down, backup QB Dennis Grosel shined in multiple big moments what potential he has moving forward. The icing on the cake was the final game of the year in which he tied the school record with Boston College legend Doug Flutie for passing yards in a single game with 520 against Virginia in the season finale.
On top of it all, offensive coordinator Frank Cignetti completely changed the offensive identity of this team from a rushing attack to an air attack. Doing that in year one is hard enough, but doing it over Zoom is quite the feat. And yes, BC was able to hold practices to learn the new playbook and schemes.
Also let's not forget what Tem Lukabu has done with the defense. In 2019, BC's defense was ranked 101st according to sports-reference.com. In 2020, BC's defense was ranked 61st. Moving up 40 spots in one year is remarkable, and while being ranked 61st isn't where they want to be, remember other teams rankings are based off as little as two games.
Take all of those challenges and finishing the year with a 6-5 record is pretty remarkable. Could the record have been better? Sure. BC could've easily been 9-2 and a top-25 team and perhaps got a better potential bowl. And would the Eagles have played in that bowl? Who knows. But what we do know is that Boston College absolutely made the correct call in opting out of a bowl. Those who are not directly connected to college athletes will never know what these players had to go through just to not only A.) play a season, but B.) play 11 games. The hard work and sacrifice that was put into this season, it was only right to allow the players to spend the holidays with their families.
The future looks bright for Boston College football. It's early, but the 2022 recruiting class currently ranks sixth in the country and first in the ACC according to 247 sports. So with this, we offer a tip of the cap to Jeff Hafley his coaching staff at BC for a memorable year.