Eagles not bowled over

For the second year in a row, the Boston College football team thought it had done all it needed to do to earn a better bowl bid, going 9-3 overall and 5-3 in its second year in the Atlantic Coast Conference.

But, for the second year in a row, the Eagles felt slighted when they were pushed down the pecking order of the ACC's bowl affiliations after being passed over by bowls that selected Maryland and Clemson -- a pair of Atlantic Division teams BC defeated during the regular season two years straight.

And so, after wrapping up their season with a 17-14 loss at Miami Nov. 23, the 23d-ranked Eagles yesterday accepted a bid to play Navy in the Dec. 30 Meineke Car Care Bowl in Charlotte, N.C.

Navy is BC coach Tom O'Brien's alma mater.

It will mark BC's second appearance in Charlotte in the last three seasons after the Eagles defeated North Carolina, 37-24, in their last bowl appearance as a Big East member in the then-Continental Tire Bowl Dec. 30, 2004.

"I've got nothing against Charlotte, because they did a great job, and it'll be a great game against Navy," said BC athletic director Gene DeFilippo. "But I'm really disappointed for our team."

Maryland (8-4, 5-3), a team BC defeated, 38-16, in its home finale Nov. 18, was selected to play Purdue in the Dec. 29 Champs Sports Bowl in Orlando. Meanwhile, Clemson (8-4, 5-3), a team the Eagles defeated, 34-33, in double overtime Sept. 9 at Alumni Stadium, was picked ahead of BC to play Kentucky in the Dec. 29 Gaylord Hotels Music City Bowl in Nashville.

"I'm disappointed for our team that they weren't selected earlier [than Maryland and Clemson], because they deserved it, but there were other factors involved," DeFilippo said. "With the one-win rule [which the ACC adopted this season to protect bowl-eligible teams with better records from getting leapfrogged by others with lesser records], it's certainly the bowls' right to pick who they want, but I can tell you that I'm disappointed because I thought we earned it."

Last year, BC tied Florida State for first place in the ACC's Atlantic Division but got shuffled off to the league's eighth-place bowl in Boise, Idaho. Clemson, which lost at home to the Eagles, 16-13, in overtime, landed in Orlando, and Virginia, which suffered a 28-17 loss in Chestnut Hill, landed in Nashville after making a ticket guarantee to Music City Bowl officials.

This year, Maryland, which was slotted to land in Charlotte but reportedly did not want to face Navy, wiggled out of the slot when school officials made a similar ticket guarantee.

Asked if any of his disappointment was directed at the league, DeFilippo said, "No, the league doesn't have anything to do with it. The league tightened it down as much as it could and all of us were 5-3 in the league, but bowls are about more than performance on the field."

In the end, it is about how many fans a team brings. Stigmatized by its reputation of not "traveling well" to bowls, BC could encounter a tough sell trying to stimulate ticket sales among a fan base that was not looking to go back to Charlotte.

Asked if he was disappointed about landing in Charlotte after much speculation his team would end up in Nashville or Orlando, O'Brien said, "This team did everything it had to do on the field. We had a great season, a nine-win season. We played eight bowl teams and went 6-2 against bowl teams and we beat two conference champions [Central Michigan of the Mid-American and Brigham Young of the Mountain West] that were 10-win football teams, so our team had a great season.

"The one thing we want to accomplish for these seniors is to win a 10th game and we'd go anywhere to [win] this 10th game ."

Right guard Josh Beekman won the Scanlan Award, the highest honor, at yesterday's awards luncheon. Other winners: quarterback Matt Ryan (William J. Flynn Award, team MVP), cornerback Larry Anam (Gridiron Club Award), left tackle James Marten (Unsung Hero Award), wide receiver Tony Gonzalez (Coaches' Award), strong safety Ryan Glasper (Paul J. Cavanagh and Jay McGillis Scholarship awards), punter Johnny Ayers (Special Teams Award), and wideout Greg Anderson and defensive tackle Damik Scafe (Scout Team Award).