Weekly Kickoff: What the Heck Do We Think Now About Boston College Football?

So, what’s happening to Boston College football right now?

Just 2 weeks after a humiliating loss to UConn, Jeff Hafley and his team marched into Carter-Finley Stadium and knocked off the #16 NC State Wolfpack in their own house.

NC State could very well have been a paper tiger undeserving of their national rank, but the win still signifies an unthinkable improvement and BC’s first ranked win since they took down #9 USC in 2014. NCSU is a higher quality team than the likes of the Rutgers, Virginia Tech, and UConn teams that the Eagles lost to earlier this season. So, sitting at 3-7, what are we to make of this season right now?

The obvious change from the ugly beginning and this recent win was the starting quarterback. Emmett Morehead replaced an injured Phil Jurkovec as the starter after Jurk went down in the 3rd quarter against UConn, and he hasn’t looked back since. It’s obvious that Morehead is still a struggling young QB with certain aspects of his game that need improvement, but his play is already improving with each game and the Boston College offense looks completely different as a result. With Morehead at QB, the Eagles have scored 20+ points in both contests, something Jurkovec was only able to do against Rutgers, Maine, and Louisville.

This leads one to wonder… where would this team be if Morehead had been the starter since Day 1? I was ringing the alarm bells on Jurkovec’s poor play since Week 2 against Virginia Tech. It was clear then that he was not performing up to expectations, but no switch was made at QB until injury made it necessary. Among all of the questionable coaching behavior of Jeff Hafley and his staff, this one now sticks out like a sore thumb.

Nonetheless, the switch was made, the offense got into gear, and the defense performed spectacularly as well. Hafley deserves a lot of credit for that.

This week, Boston College is set to face a chaotic Notre Dame squad that has defeated great teams like Clemson and UNC, but dropped games against struggling teams Stanford and Marshall. After that, the Eagles close out the season against a spiraling Syracuse in the midst of a 4-game losing streak (likely to become 5). If Morehead continues to play promising football and BC ekes out at least 1 win, perhaps the outlook on the future of Jeff Hafley’s tenure begins to change.