One of the more interesting stories of this year’s bowl season involves Boston College’s eight straight bowl game victories which is currently the longest, active streak in college football.
If the Eagles are to make it nine in a row, they’ll have to do it by defeating Vanderbilt in the Music City Bowl. The contest will essentially be a home game for the Commodores whose campus is approximately 15 minutes away.
Since 1999, Boston College has been the model of consistency winning no fewer than seven games each season without a losing record. The foundation for this success was built by former head coach and current North Carolina State coach Tom O’Brien.
Jeff Jagodzinsky picked up right where BC left off after O’Brien departed for NC State following the 2006 season. And Coach Jags hasn’t missed a beat as he’s guided the Eagles to back-to-back ACC title game appearances.
While winning eight straight bowl games is a feat to be applauded, delving a little deeper into the streak reveals that it might not be all that it’s cracked up to be.
Only four of the eight opponents (Arizona State, Georgia, North Carolina, and Michigan State) play in BCS conferences. The remaining four opponents (Toledo, Colorado State, Boise State, and Navy) are non-BCS schools, hardly the SEC East or Big 12 South.
The records of the four BCS teams heading into the bowl games weren’t exactly anything to write home about, either.
Only Georgia, at 8-3, wielded a respectable record. Michigan State was two games over .500 at 7-5 while both Arizona State and North Carolina limped into their contests a mere one game up in the win column at 6-5.
The four non-BCS schools fared much better with a combined record of 34-15 pre-bowl game. Colorado State (seven) was the only one of the four that didn’t win nine games during the regular season.
But the level of competition the non-BCS schools face week in and week out during the regular season isn’t nearly as daunting as the lineups that reside in the Pac-10, Big 10, ACC, and SEC.
Nowadays, if it seems like there are way too many bowl games, well, that’s because there are.
This season, there are 34 bowl games to add to your holiday cheer. That’s 68 out of 120 Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) schools, or 57 percent, that will be traveling this winter season.
But just so no one is naïve about the growing number of bowl games, the bottom line is these bowls are about one thing. The almighty dollar.
When a BCS berth carries an eight-figure payout per team, look no further as to why there’s no playoff system. It isn’t because the schools don’t want their players missing class time.
In this day and age of Thursday night games on ESPN and three straight weeks of March Madness for college hoop junkies, the thought of players taking exams at the team hotel doesn’t seem to be too high on the list of concerns for these institutions of academia.
A bowl game, in the opinion of this writer and of many others, should be compensation for a successful season. If a team can only manage to finish one game over .500, or in some cases right at .500, the question of why mediocrity is rewarded needs to be asked.
Vanderbilt, B.C.’s bowl opponent this year, finished the regular season at 6-6. Should the Commodores lose to the Eagles, they’ll complete their season with a losing record, yet, they were bowl eligible. Does that seem right?
So a review of BC’s bowl opponents during the eight-year run shows that in most of the cases, the Eagles were playing inferior competition and in some instances should the opponent even have been afforded the luxury of going bowling after a clunker of a season?
The Eagles certainly have had their chances though to capture BCS glory.
In three of the past five seasons, BC controlled its own destiny. The mission was simple. Win their last game and walk away with BCS-berth bragging rights.
All three times, the Eagles came up short.
A 5-5 Syracuse team drilled BC 43-17 during the Eagles’ 2004 home finale. The Orangemen entered the game without leader rusher Walter Reyes and lost their second best tailback Damien Rhodes to a leg injury in the first quarter.
BC was forced to play freshman Matt Ryan at quarterback due to a hand injury for starter Paul Peterson but that doesn’t excuse the fact that the defense let former tailback and starting Syracuse safety Diamond Ferri rush for 141 yards and two touchdowns.
After leaving the Big East for the Atlantic Coast Conference, BC has played in the league championship game the past two seasons.
Each time they lost to Virginia Tech, after defeating the Hokies in both regular season meetings, thus denying the Eagles a chance to claim that first BCS bowl game and relegating them to spots in lesser bowls against much lower profile opponents.
Those three losses were more costly than they appear.
Eagle fans historically don’t travel in large masses than other fan bases do so BC often finds itself passed over for conference foes with equal or lesser records.
The bowl committees want to sell tickets. A packed stadium equals lots of concession sales, which equals even more dollars, because money is the name of the game.
So if they have to choose between BC and a conference mate such as Clemson, whose fans travel exceptionally well, the Clemson dollars win out every time.
The end result is that BC rarely gets a chance to lock horns with a bowl opponent of its same skill level.
Back-to-back appearances in the ACC title game is certainly an accomplishment to be proud of.
However, it can’t be overlooked that some of BC’s success (and the rest of the ACC for that matter) is due to the lack of success over the past several seasons for college football powerhouses Miami and Florida State.
But both the Hurricanes and the Seminoles showed signs this year that hint at a return to past glory.
BC and their ACC brethren had best make hay now because sooner rather than later, the Canes and the Noles will most certainly resume their mantels as college football elite and chances to earn that coveted BCS berth will become few and far between.
The bottom line is that if Boston College really wants to leave their mark on the college football world, they must take the next step and earn a BCS berth. Then they’ll square off with the likes of a Texas, an LSU, or an Ohio State, all college football royalty.
Until they break down that final barrier, BC’s future holds more wins against second rate competition in second rate bowl games.
But at least they’ll still have their win streak. For whatever that’s worth.
