Bill O'Brien talks starting QB, seniors & more at Thursday press conference

For the final time before a home game this season, Bill O’Brien met with the media after practice on Thursday.

Here’s what stood out ahead of the matchup with No. 14 Georgia Tech on Saturday:

On the starting QB

“Dylan will start the game. Yeah, Dylan will start the game…both guys are working at it. I thought Dylan did some good things in the game, so I think he’s earned the right to start this game.”

On any particular memories with the seniors that stand out

“These guys have given us everything. You think about guys like Bryce Steele, who overcame cancer. You think about Logan Taylor when that horrible shooting took place and then transferred to Boston College and brought a great mentality to this offensive line. Lewis Bond, hopefully he gets a chance to break a record within the next two games. Hopefully he does it at home. Owen McGowan, a local guy. I tell them all the time, ‘we have a losing record, but none of these guys are losers. They’re winners.’ They’re winners in everything that they do. They’ve given us everything that they’ve got. From the weight room, to the practice field, to the to the meeting rooms. They’ve always been on time. Not one guy’s ever been a problem. They go to class. They do the right things and I really enjoy coaching them, I really do. I love coaching them.”

On having a bye week with one week to go in the regular season and how they’ll approach it

“We’ve got a lot of older guys that are banged up, so we’ll take care of them. Obviously, we’re not going to a bowl, so we have to use that as a bowl preparation type of week. So, we’ve got to do a great job of scrimmaging with the guys who have not played a lot. But, including some guys that have played a lot that maybe are younger players that need to continue to get better. So, it’s a great opportunity for those guys. The other guys will lift and run and do things like that. But, we’ll approach it pretty much the same way we always do, but obviously without a bowl game, we’ll use it in that way too.”

On if there’s anything internally happening that reflect O’Brien’s push to building a winning program

“I think those questions are for people higher up than me. I’m just the coach. I do, I enjoy working here. I enjoy working with the people I work with. Everybody from Father Lahey to Father Jack to Blake James to all the people that I work with in administration. But, I think at the end of the day, that’s probably a question for them.”

On Haynes King

“I think I said this on Tuesday, the more you watch him…they have a lot of good players. Good speed, Brent’s done a great job with that program. Brent has done a hell of a job with that program and to be able to get Haynes King to come there from Texas A&M was a big get for them because he changed the program. He himself, he carries that team. He brings the emotion, the fire, the competitiveness. He’s a badass. That’s the best way I can put it.”

On if winning one or both of the final two games can carry over into 2026

“I do think so. I do think so. I think these games are going to be very, very difficult, right? Georgia Tech’s the 14th ranked team in the country. They’re 8-1 and have a chance to go to the playoff if they win out, so they have a lot to play for. But, I believe we have a lot to play for too. I think these guys will play hard. I think they’ll show up and be ready to go. I’m glad it’s a home game. But, yeah I do think there’s something to that, no doubt.”

On if Georgia Tech’s success could be a blueprint for BC going forward

“Yeah, I think there’s a lot of models around the country. We’re different. We’re a Catholic, Jesuit school in Boston – which is a great thing – it’s an awesome thing, smaller school, things like that. But, there’s a lot of models. Whether it’s Georgia Tech, Vanderbilt, Duke to a certain degree. Even Indiana, which I know is a big state school, but Indiana, Arizona State, those teams…I think, I want to say in 2023 Vanderbilt was 2-10. So, those are schools you can kind of look at and look at some of the things they did, how they did things. But, in the end, you’ve got to do what’s right for BC. But, yeah, there’s definitely examples out there that have shown you can turn it around.”

On the idea of bringing in former BC players for higher roles

“First of all, the answer’s yes. We have Sean Guthrie here, who’s…you guys probably see him, he was a great player here. He’s our player development guy. He does a great job. Then, over the course of the next couple months, yeah, there’ll be some things we do that I think will help the program. But, some of that doesn’t have a whole lot to do with me either, if that makes sense. I don’t want to get into all that right now, but yeah, there’s definitely former players out there…I don’t know if Flutie and Matt Ryan…Matt Ryan seems to be doing very well for himself. And I think Doug Flutie’s doing really well for himself, I don’t think it’ll be those two guys. But, there are a lot of guys out there who played here that take a lot of pride in this program.”