The last month shows why every win matters for Boston College football

One month ago this morning, Boston College football was 4-6, coming off yet another brutal loss to Florida State, and with just about everything feeling lost: BC had lost some recruiting battles and had a top recruit flip to Michigan.

Make no mistake: the problems that existed with this team and this administration a month ago still exist now. Everyone who watched this team closely this season knows that the progress reflected in the improvement from 3-9 to 6-6 was in many ways illusory.

But in college football, perception is reality. And the perception of the program now seems to point to some semblance of momentum.

Steve Addazio just picked up his biggest recruiting wins of the year, adding solid New Jersey athlete Jahmin Muse shortly after flipping four-star RB AJ Dillon from Michigan to BC.

Would those recruiting wins have happened without BC’s two wins down the stretch and trip to a bowl game? Maybe. But it’s got to be a lot easier to sell the program right now following a bowl bid than it was after a winless ACC season.

Addazio now has something resembling momentum, on the trail and on the field. Monday’s bowl game may be one of the first bowls people would get rid of if they could trim down the number of bowls, but that doesn’t really matter - it’s a game, and it’s a game BC can win. If they do, they get to carry forth that momentum in to the offseason.

Every win matters, and this bowl game really matters for Steve Addazio. Maryland is, like Wake Forest and NC State, a peer-level program that struggled through to bowl eligibility this season. A win over Maryland would make BC 3-2 in peer level/”toss-up” games this season.

You are certainly entitled not to like Steve Addazio or have much faith in his administration. We’ve called for his ouster here.

But ultimately, every win matters for BC. It’s not in BC’s interest to be viewed as a joke. Even if you don’t think Steve Addazio is “the man” to achieve long-term, high level success with the Eagles, a building block of modest success gives BC a better chance of finding that coach in the future than yet another bottoming out. That’s why you didn’t see us rooting for a bottoming out the way some were.

Winning is better than losing. Every time. So while nobody is going to confuse this upcoming bowl game for the Orange Bowl, it matters. A whole offseason’s worth of changed narrative around BC football could hinge upon it. It’s very important to the program to pick up the win.

Kickoff is one week from today. Will BC keep up the momentum?