Things may not have gone as he would have preferred last weekend, but former Penn State head coach [autotag]Bill O’Brien[/autotag] should be feeling good about the way things have started off at Boston College in his return to head coaching. O’Brien and Boston College are coming off their first loss of the season, a 27-21 setback at Missouri, but two wins to start the season have already placed the Eagles in a favorable position as the ACC championship race gets going.
And O’Brien’s successor at Penn State says it’s been fun to see play out early on.
Penn State head coach [autotag]James Franklin[/autotag] was asked about O’Brien’s return to head coaching at Boston College and the early success experienced during his Monday press conference.
“For a lot of those guys from that part of the country, BC is like a dream job,” Franklin said when referring to O’Brien being named the head coach at Boston College earlier this year. “It’s interesting. I talked to a ton of guys. That BC job is a very desirable job.”
So, naturally, Franklin thinks O’Brien was the perfect hire for the Boston College program.
“If you know Bill, his background, it makes a ton of sense,” Franklin said. “So when that hire happened, when that whole thing went down, I thought it was a win-win for both BC and Billy.”
O’Brien got his Boston College tenure off to a great start with a road win at Florida State in Week 1. Of course, the win may have lost some value as the Seminoles fell to 0-3 this past weekend, but it was a nice statement opportunity for O’Brien and Boston College, and it helped put Boston College in a driver’s seat for a run to the ACC Championship Game thanks to a favorable schedule in conference play. It helps having a quarterback who can make plays like Thomas Castellanos, who has already accounted for 10 total touchdowns with his arm and his feet.
“He’s got a really mobile, dynamic quarterback that has done some nice things last year,” Franklin noted. “When he got that piece of the puzzle, you can build from there. Billy has tremendous experience doing that. It’s been cool to watch it, and happy for those guys and not surprised.”
Perhaps we could be on a collision path to a possible Penn State-Boston College clash in a College Football Playoff pairing if things continue to go well for both programs. That would be pretty cool too.
Boston College will host Michigan State in Chestnut Hill, Mass. this weekend in a game that may be of some interest to Penn State fans. Meanwhile, Penn State will be hosting Kent State for a 3:30 p.m. ET kickoff.
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