4 Bowl games Boston College could find themselves in this December

The Boston College Eagles finished their regular season with a 7-5 record, including a few big wins over Louisville, Florida State, and Syracuse.

Steve Addazio was on the hot seat as the Boston College Eagles head football coach this season, but he may have earned himself another year in The Heights as BC finished with a bowl-eligible record of 7-5.

2017 was Addazio’s fifth season as the leader of the Eagles, and he’s failed to get them bowl-eligible only once, in 2015. In 2013, his first season as the BC head coach, the Eagles lost to Arizona in the Independence Bowl. In 2014, Boston College played in the Pinstripe Bowl in Yankee Stadium in a close game against Penn State. The Nittany Lions came out on top 31-30 in overtime. Last year the Eagles again became bowl-eligible and Addazio got his first Eagles bowl win with a 36-30 victory over Maryland in the Quick Lane Bowl. In 2017, the Eagles will look to take

In 2017, the Eagles will look to take another step forward with another bowl win. The games have not yet been announced, but many sports media outlets have begun their predictions for where they think each team will land. Right now, it looks like there are four possibilities for the Boston College Eagles, and they’ll be playing sometime between December 26th and 28th to close out their season.

Sports Illustrated – Independence Bowl, Shreveport, LA., December 27th v. UCLA

Sports Illustrated has the Boston College football team returning to the Independence Bowl in Louisiana for the first time since 2013. Their predicted opponent, the UCLA Bruins, are just 6-6 overall and they had a 4-5 record in the PAC-12. Their big wins came against Texas A&M, Colorado, and Arizona State. They hung in there with teams like USC and Memphis though. This would be a fun matchup, as Chip Kelly will be taking over as the head coach at UCLA.

ESPN – Quick Lane Bowl, Detroit, MI., December 26th v. Western Michigan

ESPN made two different predictions for the Eagles. The first has them playing in the Quick Lane Bowl, just like last season. This year though, they could have a different opponent in a 6-6 Western Michigan squad. The Broncos ended the season on a downward path with losses to Northern Illinois and Toledo.

ESPN – Independence Bowl, Shreveport, LA., December 27th v. Utah

The second prediction from ESPN is another appearance in the Independence Bowl. They make a different pick for Boston College’s opponent though, with the Utah Utes. They finished the season 6-6 with wins over BYU, Arizona, and UCLA. The Utes had a strange season and could have finished with a much better record as they lost to Stanford by just 3 points, USC by 1 the next week, and Washington by 3 later in the season. The Utes though were blown out in week1 by North Dakota and weren’t close at all against Arizona State or Oregon.

CBS Sports – Military Bowl, Annapolis, MD., December 28th v. Navy

CBS Sports thinks the Eagles could be headed to the U.S. Naval Academy for a Military Bowl clash with Navy. It would be a bit unfair, as this would really be a home game for Navy, but it would still be fun. The Midshipmen beat Pitt in this game in 2015 but lost the 2016 Armed Forces Bowl in Fort Worth to Louisiana Tech. This year, Navy’s signature wins have come over Air Force and SMU, but they still have their game coming up against Army. The Midshipmen are a run-heavy team, but they still hung in games against Memphis, UCF, and Notre Dame.

SB Nation – Pinstripe Bowl, New York, NY., December 27th v. Iowa

Another appearance in the Bronx could be on the table for Boston College. Their BIG-10 opponent this time could be the Iowa Hawkeyes. SB Nation thinks so at least. The Hawkeyes finished 4th in the BIG-10 West with a 7-5 record, with big wins over Iowa State and Ohio State. They nearly upset Penn State, Michigan State, and Northwestern too. Iowa doesn’t mess around, and if you give their offense life, they’ll go off like they did to end their season with 56 points against Nebraska.

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No matter who Boston College plays, it’s going to be fun. Even though these aren’t huge bowl games, they’re a step in the right direction for the Eagles. In 2018, the goal should be to play in an even better game, like the Sun Bowl (ACC and PAC-12), TaxSlayer Bowl (ACC/BIG-10/SEC), or the Belk Bowl (ACC and SEC). Steve Addazio sure hopes he’s in charge of that team as well, and a 2017 bowl win would go a long way towards saving his job.

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