Boston College vs. Duke: Weekly Kickoff
It has been over six month since any Boston College sport has competed competitively, and nine months since the football team lost in the Birmingham Bowl to a far superior Cincinnati squad. In the time since then, seemingly everything has changed.
New head coach Jeff Hafley officially took the reigns in Chestnut Hill in early January after his Ohio State squad was bounced by Clemson in the College Football Playoffs. He hired and brought with him a staff, filled with new faces from the college ranks and the NFL. Hafley shook the Boston College fanbase with the acquisition of transfer blue chip quarterback Phil Jurkovec from Notre Dame.
And then as they started their fifth spring practice, the COVID-19 pandemic hit.
Everything changed.
The Boston College campus was closed and almost everyone was sent home. The football team, trying to make due, came up with innovative ways to work around this. They gave players customized training plans for home, they met on Zoom as a team and by position groups and studied film. No one knew what was going to happen, when anyone would return to campus, let alone play a football game.
June came, and by the end of the month the team returned to campus as the team went into a mandatory two week quarantine. Hafley and his staff met with professionals to put together a plan to keep their team safe. The first COVID-19 test results were announced, the program held it's breath. One positive. That player recovered, and since then the Eagles have practiced, bonded, spoke for social justice, and most importantly have not had a single positive test since. A credit to the coaching staff, student leaders on the team, and the players themselves for showing discipline and self control.
Now it is game week. Boston College will leave the safety of the Fish Field & Alumni Stadium to head to open their season in Durham, North Carolina against the Duke Blue Devils. Head coach David Cutcliffe, now in his 13th season at the helm, has a head start on Hafley's squad. The team got a chance to shake their rust off last weekend in a nationally televised game against #10 Notre Dame. Led by quarterback Chase Brice, a grad transfer from Clemson, Duke held their own for three quarters before the Fighting Irish pulled away in the final frame to win 27-13.
No one really knows what to expect from the Eagles. On one hand there is the popular belief that a new coach with a new team needs time, and will take a step back. But on the other, there is loads of talent on this offense, and Hafley should be able to fix the defense. Hafley has said that he has held back on the amount of the playbook he has given his team to prevent them from being overwhelmed, will this negatively impact them? Or is this team going to be a sneaky dark horse that could open eyes as they shine under their new head coach.
The answers to so many questions may start to trickle in on Saturday against the Blue Devils. Stay tuned, the start of a new era of Boston College football begins on Saturday.
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