By Dave Holcomb
SouthernPigskin.com

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Dave Holcomb takes talks season two for Jeff Hafley at Boston College.

First seasons can sometimes be rough for first-time college football coaches. The pandemic obviously made 2020 even more difficult.

But Jeff Hafley at Boston College prevailed, winning more games than any other first-year head coach in the FBS.

Now entering the 2021 season, Hafley will encounter fresh challenges and will even have an extra advantage or two this fall.

Boston College won six games last year, which usually doesnt give a program much of a reason to brag. But going 6-5 with a 10-game ACC slate and virtually (pun intended) no in-person practices during fall camp was an accomplishment for Hafley and the Eagles. They were also competitive in losses against North Carolina and Clemson.

The Boston College athletic department hired Hafley to improve the defense. Hafley successfully did that at Ohio State, helping lead the Buckeyes to the top defensive ranking in the country (based on yards allowed) during his final season as defensive coordinator in 2019.

In 2018 when Hafley was on the San Francisco 49ers coaching staff, Ohio State finished 71st in the country in yards allowed.

The Eagles didnt experience that drastic of a jump but still had considerable improvement defensively. Boston College was third-to-last in points allowed and last in yards allowed per game during 2019 in the ACC. Boston College improved to sixth in points allowed and eighth in yards allowed per contest in Hafleys first season.

Offensively, the Eagles werent quite as good statistically, but the unit did a great job of changing its identity on the fly. Former 4-star quarterback Phil Jurkovec won the job behind center and became one of the better passers in the ACC not named Trevor Lawrence or Sam Howell.

To do that without a normal offseason and almost entirely against ACC competition is mighty impressive.

This year, Boston College wont play an ACC opponent until October 2 when the Eagles visit Clemson. In its first four games, Boston College will only play one Power 5 school — Missouri — on Sept. 25.

If the Eagles arent 3-0 when they host the Tigers that day, something probably went very wrong. Boston Colleges first three opponents (Colgate, UMass and Temple) went a combined 1-12 in the 2020 season.

Temple has been a very competitive program outside of the 2020 pandemic season, so the Owls wont be a guaranteed cake walk. Still, Hafley has to love seeing Temple, UMass and Colgate on the schedule instead of Notre Dame, North Carolina, and Virginia. Boston College lost to all three of those schools last season but wont play them this year. The Eagles also wont have to face Pitt, who they beat by just a point in 2020.

The other big advantage Hafley will have this season is fans at Alumni Stadium. There are no new ACC head coaches this fall, and the only other first-year coach in the conference with Hafley last season was Florida States Mike Norvell. Since the Seminoles had fans at home games last year, Hafley is the only ACC coach yet to experience a true home game.

Boston College will get six of those this season, including three in November when the Eagles hope to be pushing for their first eight-win season since 2009.

Theres always a lot of parody in the ACC, and success as a rookie head coach doesnt guarantee more of the same will come during the sophomore campaign — just look at Scott Satterfield as an example.

But every game on the Boston College 2021 schedule (except probably at Clemson in Week 5) is a winnable game. With Jurkovec returning, perhaps an improved running game and another step forward defensively, Hafley will be ready to pass the 2021 seasons new challenges.