Boston College Eagles
Last year: 6-7 (4-4 ACC), lost to Cincinnati, 38-6, in Birmingham Bowl Best win: at Pittsburgh, 26-19 Worst loss: Kansas at home, 48-24
Coach: Jeff Hafley (first year, 0-0 career)
Starters returning: 16 (5 offense, 9 defense, 2 specialists)
Offensive player to watch: RB David Bailey. Bailey was quietly really good last season playing in the shadow of A.J. Dillon, who declared for the NFL draft after his junior year and was picked by the Packers. Bailey, a sophomore in 2019, rushed 148 times for 844 yards (5.7 ypc) and seven TDs. He also caught 10 passes and recorded one receiving TD. It will be important for Bailey to be good behind an experienced offensive line because of the uncertainty at QB.
Special teams player to watch: P Grant Carlson. Fifth-year punter Carlson averaged 42.7 yards per punt in 2019.
Schedule: open, at Duke, bye, vs. North Carolina, vs. Pittsburgh, at Virginia Tech, vs. Georgia Tech, at Clemson, at Syracuse, vs. Notre Dame, bye, vs. Louisville, at Virginia.
Win-loss prediction: 2-8 or 3-7. Right now, the Eagles have 10 games scheduled rather than 11. For Week 1, I wrote "open" rather than "bye," because BC originally was going to host Ohio in the opener, but then the MAC canceled football. Presumably, the Eagles will try to find someone else to play, but it is hard to know who that would be at this point, with so many teams postponing football. Then again, I'm not sure BC has to play anyone Week 1 in this topsy-turvy season, so perhaps it is just as likely BC keeps the schedule at 10 games and saves whatever money it would have paid an opponent. The Eagles got somewhat screwed with the new schedule, because they had potential victories lined up against Ohio, Holy Cross, and Kansas (though the Jayhawks took it to them last year), but now have to face Notre Dame, Pitt, and Virginia instead (UNC and Virginia Tech were already on the schedule). Like Syracuse, BC is breaking in new coaches, in this case almost a whole new staff, with first-time head coach Hafley taking over for Steve Addazio, who went 44-44 in seven years in Chestnut Hill before being fired and heading to Colorado State. Hafley is a defensive guy who most recently was the co-defensive coordinator and secondary coach at Ohio State in 2019. Before that, he spent 2012-18 in the NFL, coaching the secondary of the 49ers for two seasons before coming to OSU. Offensive coordinator Frank Cignetti was most recently the Packers QBs coach in 2018 and the Giants QBs coach from 2016-17. Boston College has a question at QB after three-year starter but oft-injured Anthony Brown transferred to Oregon. Junior Dennis Grosel was just OK taking over after Brown got hurt last year. Sophomore Phil Jurkovec is a big-time transfer from Notre Dame who was a former four-star recruit, and he will have a chance to be under center for sure. It could be a rough year for BC with the lack of spring football practice, but tack on a win or two to my guess if the Eagles pick up a weak opponent for Week 1 and if Jurkovec ends up as the guy and lives up to the hype.
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