For bowl-going teams in college football, destinations don’t get much more exciting around the holiday season than where Boston College football landed a postseason game this year—in the Big Apple.
While on-site preparation of the Bad Boy Mowers Pinstripe Bowl, played at Yankee Stadium in the Bronx, N.Y., got underway for Saturday’s affair between the Eagles and the Cornhuskers, BC’s roster got a taste of New York City’s festive, holiday-season overhaul.
Grayson James, Kye Robichaux, Lewis Bond, and co. first took a direct-line Amtrak from Boston to Grand Central Station, then thronged the streets of Manhattan on Wednesday night, visiting Radio City Music Hall and taking a stroll down Broadway, experiencing the bright lights of New York in up-close, real-time fashion.
Lucky for them, New York City gave first-year head coach Bill O’Brien and his squad the gift of snow-covered streets and blustery weather for the visit, making the trip as authentic as one could have during Christmas time in the city.
The scenes captured from BC football’s social media accounts were straight out of the Home Alone 2 playbook when Kevin stays in the Plaza Hotel and marches around Central Park’s surrounding neighborhoods.
BC has more alumni residing in the New York area than anywhere else outside of Massachusetts. Had BC been selected to play down in El Paso for the Tiger Sun Bowl, for instance, those additional benefits would be vastly more vacant.
This is the type of bowl game, like the Fenway Bowl last year, that can have some meaning to the BC fanbase. What makes this statement even more true is that BC will visit the 9/11 Memorial prior to the game to honor Welles Crowther, to whom the annual Red Bandanna Game is dedicated. That gives the Eagles another opportunity to make alumni proud of the fight they put up on Saturday.
Here is everything you need to know before BC (7–5, 4–4 Atlantic Coast) and Nebraska (6–6, 3–6 Big Ten) square off at the home of one of the oldest sports franchises in the United States.
Who is BC playing?
Nebraska
When is BC playing?
Saturday, Dec. 28 at 12:00 p.m.
Where is BC playing?
Yankee Stadium, the Bronx, N.Y.
How to watch the game:
The game will be broadcast nationally on ABC and you can listen to the game on BC Sports Network (WEEI 93.7 FM) or on national radio at ESPN.
Overcoming Pressure in Year One—O’Brien Takes the Wheel
With a plethora of coaching experience in both professional and college football, there was a good deal of weight put on O’Brien’s shoulders, to say the least, heading into 2024. Looking back on his hire now, it is safe to say he was able to lift up some of that weight and put together a couple more reps on top of what people expected out of him.
Inheriting a team that went 7–6 the year prior and retaining nearly every starter, including the quarterback, Thomas Castellanos—who has since parted ways with the Eagles and transferred to ACC-opponent Florida State—helped O’Brien ease into the position. But there was still work to be done in the recruiting arena.
Since then, and as the Eagles accumulated a seven-win regular season for the first time since 2018, O’Brien has done a terrific job of establishing his own way of football in Chestnut Hill, while also building a brand that has attracted a recruiting class currently ranked 21st in the country.
Castellanos left in large part because of his attitude and immediate decision to quit on the team after getting benched, which O’Brien wanted him to use as an opportunity to fight back. It did not seem to pan out, though, and James as a replacement under center looks to be a Cinderella-esque fit for O’Brien’s offensive scheme.
James is good enough to do just what O’Brien needs him to do in the passing game—get the ball out quickly and efficiently, don’t make bad turnovers, and play with discipline—while also showing some flashes of previously uncharted talent, such as his ability to extend off-schedule plays with his footwork and ability to escape.
James is not the natural runner Castellanos is, but he has shown potential to the point where O’Brien has been left confident that James is the man to beat out next year, while Dylan Lonergan and Shaker Reisig will have to earn the job if they want to start.
This is all to say that while BC fans and college football media may not have known exactly how O’Brien was going to transform the program, now there is a very clear vision. Time will tell how it pans out, but eclipsing the eight-win mark this season can only help, and the Pinstripe Bowl features an opportunity to do so.
Dylan Raiola, Matt Rhule, and the Nebraska Cornhuskers—who is BC’s opponent?
Dylan Raiola is as close to an anomaly as one can be in today’s college football landscape. And he has shocked the world not once, not twice, but three times.
The first shock happened when Raiola committed to play for Matt Rhule and Nebraska in the first place and de-committed from Georgia as a five-star, 99-rated recruit in high school on 247sports and the No. 2 quarterback in the country.
Cornhusker football runs in the Raiola bloodline, which helped him cement his decision to start his college career in Lincoln, but then he actually became the starter as a true freshman—the second shock.
With comparisons being linked between Raiola and three-time Super Bowl winner Patrick Mahomes due to their play styles—especially with their ability to throw the ball out of any arm slot—Raiola put Nebraska on the map with some impressive starts in the first half of the year. But since then, his progression has slowed down because of the increasing intensity in Big Ten conference play, which has been a detriment to the entire offense. And BC is catching Raiola at the tail end of it all.
Raiola impressed with eight touchdown passes in the first four games of his young career—Raiola is still just 19 years old—and only threw two interceptions in that span. Since then, Raiola has not passed for more than one touchdown pass in any game and his eight interceptions outnumber his scores.
The running game is not impressive, either, with Dante Dowdell owning the most individual rushing yards on the season with just 614 yards. Jahmal Banks is Nebraska’s leading pass catcher with 508 receiving yards.
The defense features defensive back Malcolm Hartzog Jr., who accumulated four interceptions this year, and defensive back Isaac Gifford, who is the school’s leading tackler with 69. The interior defensive line does not present a single player in the top-five tacklers on the team, and linebacker MJ Sherman has the most sacks with 3.5.
Rhule has been in a head-coaching stint longer than O’Brien at this level, but with Raiola being a true freshman, there is still very little noise the Cornhuskers can manage to create.
While there has been speculation that Raiola, whose NIL value is estimated to be near $1 million, would transfer out of Lincoln for a top-tier program without the limitations of meddling performance over the last decade or so, he has remained committed to the program, which is the third shock.
There is so much obscurity connected with college sports in general nowadays, but remaining a constant under one program, and one program only, is a testament to Raiola’s character, if anything. That is something both O’Brien and Rhule look for in recruiting, and O’Brien praised Raiola in this regard.
King of the [Chestnut] Hill—How Donovan Ezeiruaku Transformed Himself into a Legend
There was not a single week this season where Donovan Ezeiruaku and BC football were not synonymous. He defined its entire trajectory as a team, and in the process, became a program legend.
Ezeiruaku racked up numerous awards following a season in which the edge rusher racked up a team-high, and career-high 16.5 sacks, 20.5 tackles for loss, and 80 tackles, making him a consensus All-American, including an AP First-Team All-American.
He is the first BC player to win an ACC “of the Year” award as its 2024 Defensive Player of the Year, ranks second all-time in program sacks with 30—tied with Harold Landry and second to Mathias Kiwanuka (37.5)—and was a semifinalist for national awards such as the Bednarik (Defensive Player of the Year), Lombardi Award (Lineman of the Year), and Walter Camp Award (National Player of the Year).
That all started when Ezeiruaku opened the season with a two-sack game against the Seminoles, which matched his 2023 total, and he proceeded to record at least one sack in eight games the rest of the year.
Above all, though, his play and leadership elevated the rest of the team as well, and new players who produced consistent results emerged as a result. His play especially uplifted the play of Quintayvious Hutchins, who stepped in to start the final six games of the season on the opposite side of the defensive line, mirroring Ezeiruaku.
Hutchins produced four tackles, a forced fumble and recovery, and an interception against Louisville to become the sixth BC player since 2009 with two takeaways on an interception and a fumble recovery in the same game, and he never looked back after that.
Hutchins finished the regular season with 3.5 sacks, eight quarterback hits, and 5.5 tackles for loss—all good for second on the team despite playing in six fewer games.
KP Price, Daveon Crouch, Carter Davis, and Khari Johnson were others who made a large impact to complement Ezeiruaku’s dominance and made BC’s defense into a force to be reckoned with up front and in short-yardage situations.
Outlook
BC severely outmatches the Cornhuskers, in my opinion. It also completely depends on who decides to play in the bowl game and who does not. Ezeiruaku might forego that chance to start his preparation for the 2025 NFL Draft, which would be a huge blow for the Eagles—but by the numbers, BC stacks up much higher than Nebraska.
The run game was prolific for BC this season, with four players capable of handling carries, but Robichaux spearheaded the unit once again. The second-year starter collected 725 yards on the ground and 10 rushing touchdowns as well, making him the alpha of the pack.
Treshaun Ward, Jordan McDonald, and Turbo Richard, when healthy, received a decent workload depending on how the opponent defended the run and short-pass game, with each showing off different skill sets and versatility.
James’ 6–2 touchdown-to-interception ratio was impressive for a mid-year starter who had somewhat of a rocky road to the front seat—his first start was due to a Castellanos concussion—and his big arm made for some exciting connections with the 6-foot-5 wideout Reed Harris.
Unless Raiola has some extra, breakout performance stored up for the final game of this season, there is no reason BC can’t have a big day as long as it plays with control and stays away from the penalty game.
Final score prediction
27–14 BC
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