As the clock ran out on a cold Thursday night, the Boston College Eagles lost more than just a game againstFloridaState. By dropping the contest by a score of 38-7, the Eagles fell to a record of 2-7, including a 1-5 mark in conference play. This ensures that the Eagles can finish no better than 5-7, and as a resultBostonCollegeis ineligible for postseason play for the first time since 1999. This twelve-year bowl streak was tied for the sixth longest streak in college football coming into this season, longer than programs likeOhioState, LSU, and Notre Dame.
This streak was a great accomplishment for the program. It was something for the school to be proud about. It displayed just how consistentBostonCollegehad been for over a decade. Despite holding its student athletes to higher standards than other big time football schools,BostonCollegewas able to field a competitive team year in and year out without having an off year. This was something only a handful of schools could boast.
However,BostonCollegeis no longer one of those schools. These are dark times for the program. It was only four seasons ago that Coach Jagodzinski and Matt Ryan lead the Eagles to an eleven-win season. Unfortunately Coach Jags was let go after that season for interviewing for the New York Jets coaching job, and since then Coach Spaziani has coached the Eagles to seasons of nine, eight, seven, and now three wins. This is not progress. The program is regressing.
This is disconcerting forBostonCollegefootball, as the team had a great chance to boost itself into the next tier of college football programs. BC had all kinds of momentum following Matt Ryan’s eleven-win season. The Eagles should have been able to use this national success to attract better recruits, and in turn slowly continue to improve the program until it could compete with perennial powers Virginia Tech andFloridaStatein the battle for ACC supremacy.
This has not happened forBostonCollege. They have seen their win total decline every season since they recorded double digit wins in both 2006 and 2007, the first seasons the Eagles had reached double-digit wins since Doug Flutie was on campus. Those seasons unfortunately seem to have been the peak of the Eagles recent success. For eight consecutive years the Eagles consistently racked up seven or eight wins a season. Then in 2006, thanks in large part to great coaching and sound quarterback play; BC reached an uncharted level of success.
Flash-forward to today, andBostonCollegeis lacking in both categories. They have been playing musical quarterbacks since Ryan left, using four starters, Chris Crane, Dominique Davis, Dave Shinskie, and Chase Rettig, in four seasons. Along with the question mark in the backfield, the Eagles also have a question mark on the sidelines. Coach Spaziani appears to have squandered the golden opportunity of an eleven-win team that fell into his lap. He has mismanaged talent, and his conservative style has all but undone the confident aura that Ryan and Jagodzinski brought to the Heights mid-way through the decade.
Looking back, it’s hard to imagine that the Eagles achieved a #2 ranking only four seasons ago. Since then the Eagle’s have not given Alumni Stadium much to cheer about, with the loss of the bowl streak being the latest heartache. But although it is gone, Boston College’s bowl streak was an outstanding display of the school’s strength and consistency, and is something that Eagle’s fans can look back on to cheer themselves up during these depressing times around campus.
