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Extra Point: What Does Success Look Like For Bill O'Brien and Boston College Football This Season?
Sep 14, 2024; Columbia, Missouri, USA; Boston College Eagles head coach Bill O'Brien watches the replay board against the Missouri Tigers during the first half at Faurot Field at Memorial Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Denny Medley-Imagn Images Denny Medley-Imagn Images

The second year of any new coaching staff is always a pivotal point, and it usually goes one of two ways.

The first, the staff has completed a roster turnover through the portal and other avenues (welcome to the modern era), and in doing so have an entirely fresh roster to build around in the staff's second year at the helm. They know what worked and didn't last season, and they can now adjust with a group more suited to their system.

The second is the camp in which Boston College falls into. As the school isn't necessarily a marquee transfer portal destination, although O'Brien and his staff have performed well in that regard, the roster is still in a bit of a turnover phase, with many players from last year's team being retained and O'Brien and company looking to fill gaps where they can. This creates an interesting dynamic in terms of what success will look like for BC in 2025.

The schedule is no cake walk, either. Early on, BC has a chance to wrack up some wins against the likes of Fordham and Stanford, but the rest of the season has the Eagles squaring off with teams that are looking to make serious jumps in 2025.

All in all, the target for BC has to be bowl eligibility. Nobody needs to fool themselves into thinking that this is an 8-win team with the current situation and the schedule for this season with the likes of Clemson, Notre Dame and SMU on deck. To get to that sixth win, though, Boston College will likely have to beat one higher-ranked ACC foe as the underdog, and that will give O'Brien and company enough to hang their hat on for 2025 before dipping into the portal for what should be the final retool of this roster.

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This article first appeared on Boston College Eagles on SI and was syndicated with permission.

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