Eagles searching for eighth win
Boston College-Maryland Preview
CHESTNUT HILL, Mass. -- Roderick Rollins didn't plan on talking all that much about eight wins as he prepared for Boston College's season finale at Maryland. If the Eagles senior cornerback had his way, all the talk this week would be about his team's chances of earning its third straight bid to the ACC title game. The Eagles' win total would have taken care of itself.
But a loss to North Carolina a week ago eliminated Boston College from contention for an Atlantic Division title -- and that means the Eagles (7-4, 4-3 ACC) have had to set their sights a little bit lower.
"You have to re-evaluate your goals every week," Rollins said. "It's kind of like if you're on a GPS and you make a wrong turn, it'll say, 'Recalculating route.' We're not playing for the ACC championship, so the next big thing is to get that eighth win.
"An 8-4 season is a separation from 7-5. A lot of teams go 7-5, but when you go 8-4 with a chance for a ninth win in a bowl game -- and since I've been here, we've won at least nine games every year -- that would be a tremendous goal to achieve."
Playing for wins week to week is something with which Maryland is all too familiar. The Terrapins started the season with a 52-13 rout at the hands of Cal and have lost nine of the 10 games they've played against Football Bowl Subdivision opponents this season -- including each of their last six. The Terrapins rank at or near the bottom of the ACC in scoring offense (21.7 points per game), scoring defense (32.4 points per game), total offense (320.1 yards per game), total defense (400.3 yards per game) and turnover margin (minus-6).
But Maryland led Florida State entering the final minute of their game Saturday, a gift for Boston College coaches trying to prevent their team from taking the Terrapins too lightly.
"They're playing hard," BC coach Frank Spaziani said. "You look at that [Florida State] game and how they're playing and how they're executing, they don't look like a team that has that record. You start analyzing their situation, and you understand they're a very capable football team with good football players and good coaches."
Boston College should know that as well as anyone. The last time the Eagles traveled to Maryland, a Terrapins team with just one win in the ACC intercepted two Matt Ryan passes and upset a team that had been 8-0 and ranked No. 2 just two weeks earlier.
Maryland quarterback Chris Turner threw for 337 yards and three touchdowns in that game and has a chance to return on Saturday from a knee injury that has sidelined him for the last two weeks. Turner ranks sixth in the ACC this season in passing yards per game (218.7) but has thrown as many interceptions (10) as touchdown passes.
Against Florida State, though, sophomore quarterback Jamarr Robinson completed 20 of his 27 passes for 213 yards and a touchdown -- and he rushed 12 times for 58 yards, too.
The dual possibilities at quarterback make Maryland a difficult team for which to prepare, anyway. But the Terrapins will be playing at home with nothing to lose in their final game of the season.
"Their season is really over," linebacker Mike McLaughlin said. "They're done. So why not go out on a high note?"
Realistically, the Eagles can't do much to improve their standing for bowl selection with a victory at Maryland. Five ACC teams have eight wins already, and if Florida State can keep pace, history suggests the Seminoles are a more attractive option to bowl organizers than Boston College. That likely leaves the Eagles destined for the Emerald Bowl in San Francisco -- with an outside shot at the Meineke Care Care Bowl in Charlotte, N.C. -- whether they finish the regular season 8-4 or 7-5.
That's not what Boston College is used to at this time of year. A year ago, the Eagles hosted Maryland in their final regular-season game needing a win to clinch a trip to the ACC title game. The year before that, the Eagles already had locked up a spot in the ACC title game and could focus on snapping a losing streak to Miami that dated back to the days of Doug Flutie.
It's all enough to make Saturday's game feel a little bit anticlimactic.
"Mentally, you have to block it out because you want it to feel different," Rollins said. "You want to start to feel sorry for yourself, like, 'Oh, we're not playing for the ACC championship,' but you have to be mentally strong and come together and grow up and really show your maturity out here to go for that eighth win."
Said McLaughlin, "Anything less than an unbelievable effort, that's shame on us."
Brian MacPherson is a special correspondent for ESPNBoston.com.
