2014 Boston College Football: Roadmap to Bowl Eligibility
By Joe Micik
Mark Konezny-USA TODAY Sports
Fans of the Boston College Eagles want to see the team win every game they can, yet there are some years where bowl eligibility is a noble enough cause.
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If the Eagles are going to make it back-to-back seasons playing beyond November, they will have to rack up six wins. Very few of us in the Boston College sports community will care how they get there, as long as they do.
Taking a look at the schedule, bowl eligibility might not be as difficult a task as it seems, but still far from easy. If one takes their cues from the outside, they might be led to believe that the Eagles are on the outside of the bowl picture looking in at the start of the 2014 season. Plenty of folks on the inside are confident that the actual outcome will be to the contrary.
It will take some time before we know who is right, but if we were to map out Boston College’s possible routes to bowl eligibility, what might be the route?
Boston College Roadmap to Bowl Eligibility: The Non-Negotiables
The top layer are those games Boston College must win, or else. They include Massachusetts, Maine, and Colorado State.
Maine is obvious. If the Eagles cannot beat an FCS opponent at home that they even used to dumptruck during the Dark Period™, then they have little claim to stake to bowl season.
The UMass game looks vitally important to the Minutemen, if only because their coach says so. For Boston College, it is a game against a clearly inferior opponent that they have to win. Boston College has to fatten up on teams like this early in the season while they can.
Finally, Colorado State makes this category. Yes, they won a bowl game last year (granted, Washington State quite literally fumbled it away) and are not a bad team, but they remain quite beatable. If you are the Eagles, you cannot let the Rams go into Alumni Stadium and beat you if there is to be any realistic chance at a bowl.
As for the teams on the other end of the spectrum, proceed.