Get Over It: Boston College Comes Off a Sky-High Season

This past bowl season, there was a game that epitomized what college football is all about—the electric thrill of competition, the rabid pursuit of victory, the mindless celebration of inconsequential achievements.

I'm referring, of course, to Boston College's 25-24 win over Navy.

I admit it: I underestimated the Midshipmen. With just a month to strategize for a team that runs only one play—the triple option—we all knew the Golden Eagles would have their hands full. But the gang from Chestnut Hill proved they'd used their prep time wisely, allowing just 322 yards on the ground.

Bend but don't break, as the old saying goes.

Trailing 24-16 late in the second half, BC could have rolled over and let the Midshipmen have their 10th win of the season. But that’s when we were all reminded that the Eagles don't blink in the face of adversity—and would stop at nothing en route to the prestigious Meineke Car Care title.

Even that esteemed honor wasn't the extent of the glory for BC—the Eagles were also looking for their seventh-straight bowl victory.

After all, nothing would top wins in the Aloha Bowl, Music City Bowl, Motor City Bowl, San Francisco Bowl, Continental Tire Bowl, and MPC Computers Bowl like the bright red cherry that is the Meineke Car Care Bowl championship.

And so our heroes pressed on.

As with Doug Flutie’s Hail Mary in 1984, blind luck shone down on BC when Navy fumbled a pitch with 1:15 left in the fourth quarter—and the magic continued as Steve Aponavicius punched through a 37-yard field goal with no time remaining.

BC’s impressively irrelevant bowl streak was still alive. And oh how the Eagles celebrated.

The fans, the players, the coach, and of course Baldwin the Eagle all shit themselves with sublimity and squeals of delight. This was their day.

It was then that I realized the real meaning of college football. It didn’t matter that BC had never won a national title—or even an outright conference title—in its 100-year history. All that counted was the boundless splendor of a victory over a 9-4 Independent powerhouse.

It must have been a wonderful feeling.

I wondered how it would feel to have my team beat Navy—but then I remembered that Notre Dame has beaten Navy 43 straight times. 

However, I can’t remember the players ever celebrating with such a lack of emotional composure. 

In the end, the 2006 BC Golden Eagles had the Meineke Car Care title—and nothing could pry that, or the discounts on all lube and oil filters until May 2007, from their talons.

Not now, not ever.

Congratulations, BC, your accomplishment will echo in the hearts and minds of college football fans for all eternity.

Or then again maybe not.