Boston College finished 2-6 in ACC regular-season play this fall, but the Eagles’ road victories over NC State and Wake Forest vaulted Steve Addazio’s program back to bowl eligibility.
BC’s offense has been led by graduate transfer quarterback Patrick Towles, who left Kentucky for Chestnut Hill in the offseason. Towles didn’t put up earth-shattering numbers this fall; he completed just 51 percent of his passes for 1,579 yards and 10 touchdowns (with six interceptions). But coming off a season in which the Eagles juggled three inexperienced quarterbacks following a season-ending injury to starter Darius Wade, Towles provided at least some stability.
Of the ACC’s starting quarterbacks, only UNC’s Mitch Trubisky, Virginia Tech’s Jerod Evans and Georgia Tech’s Justin Thomas threw fewer interceptions than Towles.
Wade appeared in nine games as Towles’ backup, completing nine of 19 passes for 100 yards with no touchdown passes and one interception. Heading into last season, he was Boston College’s quarterback of the present and future. But when he went down to a broken left ankle in a September loss to Florida State, the Eagles’ season went down with it. In December, BC brought over Towles, who beat out Wade for the starting job.
Wade offers dual-threat capability, similar to former BC signal-caller Tyler Murphy. But with an old-school, conventional head coach like Addazio, perhaps it shouldn’t be surprising that the Eagles stuck with Towles and avoided another multi-quarterback rotation.
Addazio and offensive coordinator Scot Loeffler chose to play the hot hand in Towles. And given the fact that the Eagles managed to beat NCSU and Wake Forest to return to bowl eligibility, it proved to be the right move.
The Eagles can look ahead to the 2017 season — with Wade back at the helm as the projected starting quarterback — immediately after the clock runs out in BC’s bowl game.