NC State football schedule early snapshot: Boston College

The NC State football schedule begins Sept. 3 with a road date at East Carolina. That’s the start of four straight non-conference games to start the year. Then it’s all ACC action from that point forward.

The final home game of the season is against Boston College on Nov. 12.

With much anticipation for the upcoming Wolfpack season, here’s an early look at Boston College.

Boston College in 2021

Head coach Jeff Hafley had done an impressive job building excitement going into his second season, and despite an early-season injury to star quarterback Phil Jurkovec, that enthusiasm remained high when NC State traveled to BC on Oct. 16.

At that point in the year, BC was 4-1, including an overtime win over visiting Missouri from the SEC without Jurkovec and a close call in a 19-13 loss at Clemson on the road.

However, that NC State game was a bit of a turning point for Boston College’s season. BC miscues combined with a sharp Wolfpack team led to a lopsided 33-7 win for the visitors in a rare primetime game at home for the Eagles. Boston College would follow up with two-touchdown losses at Louisville and Syracuse.

The return of Jurkovec from his hand injury sparked a home win over Virginia Tech and road triumph at Georgia Tech to help the Eagles reach bowl eligibility with a 6-4 overall record, but it would then lose home games to Florida State and Wake Forest, the latter in a 41-10 rout. BC finished the year with just a 2-6 conference mark in a disappointing campaign for a team that was hailed as a sleeper in the Atlantic Division.

COVID-19 issues led to Boston College pulling out of its Military Bowl assignment against East Carolina.

Spring Outlook

The big news for Boston College was that Jurkovec, who a year ago many expected to be preparing for the NFL Draft at this point, instead is going through spring practices and offseason workouts for Boston College.

Jurkovec will have plenty of returning skill players back on offense, but he will be playing for a new coordinator. John McNulty, the Notre Dame tight ends coach for the past two seasons, was hired to replace Frank Cignetti Jr., who left to take a similar position at Pittsburgh.

McNulty has previously been an offensive coordinator at Rutgers.

One key task for McNulty is rebuilding the line for Boston College. Receiver Zay Flowers has All-American potential, and running back Patrick Garwo rushed for over 1,000 yards (1,045) in 12 games. But Boston College must replace four starters on the offensive line.

Defensively, seven starters are expected back, although Boston College must replace corner Brandon Sebastian, who led the team with four interceptions in nine games, who is expected to be drafted in April.

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