Is it possible to have a moral victory amid a 1-8 season?
I hesitate to say “yes,” but Saturday might’ve been just that with Boston College (1-8, 0-5) hanging around against No. 12 Notre Dame (6-2) - the football program’s biggest rival by virtue of the two schools being the only Catholic universities at the FBS level.
The final score was 25-10, but make no mistake about it - this was a competitive football game into the fourth quarter, with the scoreboard reading 18-10 with just over 11 minutes to play.
Then Heisman Trophy candidate Jeremiyah Love decided it was time to show why he’s considered one of the best players in the country, ripping off a 94-yard touchdown run that all but sucked the life out of the BC fans scattered around Alumni Stadium (by my view, it was a nearly majority Notre Dame crowd).
This made it a 25-10 ballgame, which ultimately was too many points for the Eagles to come back from despite having almost a full quarter left to make a comeback.
Candidly, both teams played poorly.
Their rivalry game is unofficially called the “Holy War,” but there was nothing holy about what we witnessed in Chestnut Hill on Saturday afternoon.
Notre Dame committed 7 penalties for a loss of 67 yards, with multiple flags being thrown at moments that kept BC drives alive throughout the afternoon. They also amazingly went through three kickers on the day, going 1-4 on kicks between field goal attempts (0-1) and extra point attempts (1-3).
BC was worse in the flag department, accounting for 9 penalties of their own for a loss of 80 yards. On top of the flags, the Eagles turned the ball over 3 times, and only managed 281 yards of total offense despite dominating the time of possession 35:27 to 24:33. The main reason for that number finishing as low as it did was BC’s inability to get the run game going, finishing with just 12 rushing yards on 33 attempts, good for an average of 0.4 yards per carry.
It was a gross, ugly football game that was not an enjoyable watch for either fanbase. And while Notre Dame might want to burn these tapes before the College Football Playoff committee can get their hands on them, BC players and coaches are likely holding their heads a little higher on Sunday morning for hanging around with the Fighting Irish for 49 of the 60 minutes of game action.
I guess it’s moral victory season when you’re in the midst of your school’s longest losing streak in 10 years.
“I thought these guys fought,” BC head football coach Bill O’Brien said postgame. “I just told them in the locker room, [I’m] really proud of these guys. It might not be a memorable team to anybody on the outside, but it'll be a memorable team to me, because they fight, they fight hard, they compete, they show up to practice. They're awesome guys.
“Just couldn't do anything in the running game on offense. Just could not move the ball consistently, turn the ball over, and then defensively, I thought we fought, we gave up the one big run, gave up that drive, the first drive of the second half. But I thought, overall, that's a good team. That's the No. 12 team in the country. They got a really good offensive line. They got really good backs. Our guys fought hard. So, you know, I'm proud of the team. Losing is not good, but I'm very proud of the football team.”
Boston College’s losing streak has now reached eight games, as they’ve dropped every single game they’ve played this season against FBS competition. Their lone win came in Week 1, as they beat an FCS team in Fordham who sits at 1-8 in the Patriot League. And unfortunately for Eagles fans, it doesn’t get any easier with three games to go, as they’ll host an SMU team (6-3, 4-1) fresh off an upset win over No. 10 Miami (6-2, 2-2), a Georgia Tech team (8-1, 5-1) ranked No. 8 in the country as of publishing, and then hit the road for their final game of the season at rival Syracuse (3-6, 1-5).
And while the Orange feel like an opponent BC has a chance against, it’s important to consider that the Eagles will likely be walking into that road game having lost 10 in a row. On top of the W-L record, that game is the Saturday of Thanksgiving weekend. None of those kids are going to want to be there.
The last time BC lost eight straight games was in 2015, when they dropped the final eight games of that season after a 3-1 start that included wins over two FCS schools and a team from the MAC. That losing streak ended up stretching to nine games, as the Eagles dropped their opener in 2016 to Georgia Tech 17-14 in Dublin (another incredibly ugly game, in case you were wondering).
The last time BC lost double digit games was 2012, with the Eagles finishing 2-10 in Frank Spaziani’s final season as head football coach. His longest losing streak that season was only five games.
If the Eagles do, indeed, finish the season 1-11, it will be the first time the program has lost 11 games in one season since 1978. That all-time bad Eagles team went 0-11 that season in Ed Chlebek’s first year as head football coach. Shockingly, he retained employment, and manned the sidelines at Chestnut Hill for two more years.
That 0-11 season was the middle part of a 13-game losing streak that stretched across three seasons for BC from 1977 to 1979 - without a doubt the “modern day” low point in program history.
The fact that the O’Brien Era is getting close to that moniker is shocking, to say the least. With how much enthusiasm there was around the program after winning seven games in his first season on the job, fans were excited about the future of their program under a former NFL head coach who seemed invested in making Boston College his long term football home.
At 1-8 and staring 1-11 right in the face, the mood of an already scarce local fan base has changed dramatically.
In the 91-year history of Boston College football, the program has never finished with one-win. They had that aforementioned winless season in 1978, along with two other winless seasons (0-9-1 in 1950 and 0-9 in 1902).
Pardon the pun, but a one-win season would be singular for a program that’s long-prided itself on being the class of college football in the northeast. So while O’Brien might be right to say this team won’t be “memorable” to those outside the program, it certainly will be infamous to anyone who cares about college football.
“If this is the most adversity you deal with in your life, you're going to have a pretty good life,” O’Brien said towards the end of his press conference on Saturday. “And so, these guys, they keep showing up, and they don't quit, and they have a ‘never say die’ attitude.
“And there's been a lot of teams - not a lot, I haven't been involved in this situation too many times. But there's been teams that I've been involved with that they shut it down, they're checked out. Keys are in the ignition. They're ready to drive away. This team's not like that. This team has good leadership, and they're going to keep fighting all the way. They have three guaranteed opportunities. They're going to keep fighting all the way.”
As of publishing, the Eagles are 12.5-point home dog with SMU coming to town.
Let’s hope their moral victory in Week 10 leads to an actual victory in Week 11.
And for those keeping score at home, Notre Dame has now won each of their last 10 meetings against Boston College dating back to 2009, as they retained ownership on Saturday of the Frank Leahy Memorial Bowl - a rivalry trophy named for the late head coach who spent two seasons at BC (1939-40) before winning 4 National Championships at Notre Dame (1943, 1946-47, 1949).
Not too long ago, BC owned this rivalry, winning seven of eight against the Fighting Irish between 1999 and 2008.
But with the disparity in money flowing through these two programs on opposite ends of the NIL spectrum, I don’t see BC regaining top-dog status in this rivalry again any time soon.
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