2024 Boston Eagles Guide to What's New in College Football
He was born in Dorchester, raised in Andover and graduated from St. John's Prep in Danvers. If he had also gone to one of the many universities and colleges in the area, Bill O'Brien would pretty much bleed Boston regardless of having a couple of coaching stints with the New England Patriots. You can't blame him for attending a Ivy League school (Brown), and he even took a turn coaching the northeast's biggest powerhouse, Penn State. So yes, this was a homecoming for the the man who was once the head coach of the Houston Texans and one of Nick Saban's offensive coordinators at Alabama.
What does it mean for Boston College in 2024? Considering that the Eagles are coming off a winning season under Jeff Hafley, who left to be the defensive coordinator of the Green Bay Packers, and the roster includes a lot of veterans, they could be a surprise team. Remember, when O'Brien took over Penn State in the middle of a huge scandal, he still led the Nittany Lions to an 8-4 record, and then after turning down opportunities to leave guided the program to another winning season (before the NFL lured him away).
Can he do something similar this season? Don't bet against O'Brien as the Eagles have 17 returning starters.
So there's optimism, albeit cautious optimism, as Boston College hasn't finished in the AP Top 25 since 2007. While having a veteran group is often a major advantage during any season, it may be especially important this fall due to the changes in college football. As a general rule, the more craziness, the more coaches want veterans leading the way for how to deal with things.
Already the ACC is off to an unusual start as Florida State, Boston College's opponent on Labor Day, opened the season last weekend with a high-profile loss against Georgia Tech in Dublin, Ireland. Many took it as a strong sign that we're in for a crazy regular season and wide open conference, if not more. It could be one of those years in which every league will be unpredictable and surprising.
Welcome to the longest season in college football history, starting earlier and ending later, with plenty to fill in between. Here's a primer to get you through the changes minus all the player movement through the transfer portal:
Boston College Eagles
• New head coach, new coordinators, new schemes, new players, new opponents ... you get the idea.
• Quarterback Tomas Castellanos is back as a junior, and he's playing behind a veteran line that might have three future NFL players. The two key newcomers to watch on offense are wide receiver Jerand Bradley from Texas Tech and tight end Kamari Morales from North Carolina. Meanwhile, he defense doesn't have any new arrivals out of the transfer portal.
• Led by defensive back Elijah Jones in the third round, the Eagles had two players selected in the 2024 NFL Draft. There's more in this team, and O'Brien knows how to develop talent for the next level.
• Like usual with a coaching change, Boston College lost some significant depth through the transfer portal, but picked up 10 players who will be relied upon to contribute this season. Nevertheless, the depth chart has a lot of familiar names on it.
• There's no easing into things as Boston College opens at Florida State on Labor Day, visits Missouri on Week 3 and then hosts Michigan State before getting ino the heart of the ACC schedule. By the time it visits Virginia and Virginia Tech on Oct. 5 and 17, O'Brien will have more than a good feel for this team before a stretch run that includes four of is final five games at home.
Television
• The SEC game of the week is no longer on CBS, those games will now be seen on ESPN and ABC.
• The Big Ten will have three national windows with a game on Fox at 11 a.m. CT), CBS at 2:30 p.m., and NBC for a prime time game.
• Fox is breaking the unwritten rule of leaving high school football along on Friday nights and will broadcast a national game.
• The remaining teams in the Pac-12 have a broadcast deal with The CW, and the Mountain West will have games on truTV.
Saban beiung on College GameDay is great for fans in gneral in that everyhone else gets to hear many of the stories he's been telling in Tuscaloosa since 2007. Another major plus for fans is that kickoff times for most games will be announced well in advance, unlike previous seasons.
Rule changes
• The two-minute warning has been added to college football, during the second and fourth quarters, just like in the NFL.
• Teams have the option to use coach-to-player communications through the helmet to one player on the field. That player will be identified by having a green dot on the back midline of the player's helmet. The communication will be cut off when the play clock reaches 15 seconds or at the snap, whichever comes first.
• Coaches will be allowed to conduct broadcast TV interviews at the end of the first and third quarters of games.
• Video tablets will be allowed on the sideline. Video may include coach's sideline, coach's end zone, and a program feed per play from the current game only and may also display "game circumstances," including down / distance, time, quarter, play-number and score. A team may have up to 18 standard tablets active,
• Horse-collar tackles that occur within the tackle box will be penalized as a 15-yard personal foul penalty. Previously, a horse-collar tackle within the tackle box is not a foul.
Also, the limit on the number of coaches who can do hands-on, on-field coaching during practice and games has been lifted. Previously, only the 10 assistant coaches were allowed (analysts, etc, were banned).
Re-alignment
• SEC: Added Texas and Oklahoma.
• Big Ten: The 18-team league added Oregon, USC, UCLA and Washington.
• Big 12: The 16-team league now includes Arizona, Arizona State, Colorado and Utah.
• ACC: The 16-team league goes coast-to-coast after adding Cal and Stanford, along with SMU. The travel alone is going to take some getting used to.
• Pac-12: All that’s left are Oregon State and Washington State.
• Army has joined the American Athletic Conference. However, the Army-Navy game will remain a non-conference game.
No more divisions
The one exception is the Sun Belt, which still has an East and West Division. Meanwhile, the SEC recently announced the following tiebreakers:
1. Head-to-head competition among the tied teams.
2. Record versus all common conference opponents among the tied teams.
3. Record against highest-placed common conference opponent in the conference standings, and proceeding through the conference standings among the tied teams.
4. Cumulative conference winning percentage of all conference opponents among the tied teams.
5. Capped relative total scoring margin versus all conference opponents among the tied teams.
6. Random draw of the tied teams.
College Football Playoff
• The playoff is expanding from four to 12 teams.
• First round games will be Dec. 20-21 on college campuses. The quarterfinals will be at the Fiesta, Peach, Rose and Sugar Bowls on Dec. 31-Jan. 1. The semifinals will be at the Orange and Cotton Bowls on Jan. 9-10. The National Championship Game is set for Jan. 20 in Atlanta.
• The first CFP rankings will be revealed on Nov. 5, at 7 p.m. ET on ESPN. The subsequent rankings will be announced on every Tuesday through the Dec. 3, with the selection show set for Sunday, Dec. 8, the day after the final conference championship games are played.
The selection committee members are:
Chris Ault (former head coach and athletics director, University of Nevada)
Chet Gladchuk (athletics director, U.S. Naval Academy)
Jim Grobe (former head coach, Ohio University, Wake Forest and Baylor)
Warde Manuel (chair) (athletics director, University of Michigan)
Randall McDaniel (College and Pro Football Hall of Fame member and former All-American offensive lineman, Arizona State University)
Gary Pinkel (former head coach, University of Toledo and University of Missouri)
Mack Rhoades (athletics director, Baylor University)
Mike Riley (former college head coach, Oregon State and Nebraska, as well as head coach in the NFL, CFL, WLAF, AAF and USFL; played collegiately at Alabama 1971-74)
David Sayler (athletics director, Miami University, OH)
Will Shields (College and Pro Football Hall of Fame member and former All-American offensive lineman, University of Nebraska)
Kelly Whiteside (professor in Sports Media and Journalism, Montclair State University; longtime sportswriter, USA Today, Sports Illustrated and Newsday)
Carla Williams (athletics director, University of Virginia)
Hunter Yurachek (athletics director, University of Arkansas).
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CHRISTOPHER WALSH