They came together for the first time last winter. Matt Ryan, Steve Logan, and Jeff Jagodzinski.
Ryan, in his last year at Boston College, the quarterback, cocaptain, and leader of a veteran group that had fallen short of its goals: winning a conference championship and earning the accompanying Bowl Championship Series slot.
Jagodzinski, the first-year coach at BC in his first head coaching job, and Logan, the offensive coordinator who bounced around the last few years, were reunited. Jagodzinski worked for Logan when he was the head man at East Carolina.
Both were starting new phases of their careers at a place where the bar had been set high.
The goal for player and coaches was the same - get to the championship level, something Tom O'Brien had not quite reached in 10 years at The Heights.
When O'Brien exited for North Carolina State last December, he left what he said would have been his best team. A team that won 10 games and was returning 17 starters, particularly Ryan, the Atlantic Coast Conference's top offensive player. O'Brien left a team that had been to eight straight bowl games and won its last seven. He also left a team hungry for a conference championship.
For eight games this season, BC followed a script that created a frenzy for its fans. The Eagles won week after week and several top-20 (and top-10) teams lost, elevating BC to No. 2 in the polls, with talk of a national championship.
"That wasn't us [talking]," said Jagodzinski. "Our goal has always been the same: to win the conference championship.
"That is what these guys have been looking forward to since last December when I took the job."
BC's perfect season ended two weeks ago against Florida State. An easy route to the ACC title game turned difficult with a loss at Maryland last Saturday, the second unranked team to beat the Eagles, who dropped in the polls from No. 2 to No. 8 to No. 18.
But the primary goal is still within reach: a spot in the ACC title game Dec. 1. To reach that goal, however, the Eagles must win at Clemson tomorrow night. Win and they make the game, lose and they don't.
For Ryan, whose Heisman Trophy hopes faded with the losses, it might be the defining game of a career that in many ways started with a dramatic 16-13 overtime win at Clemson two years ago.
For Jagodzinski, a victory will be a milestone on a coaching résumé highlighted by eight years of NFL experience, which includes being the offensive coordinator for Brett Favre and the Packers last season.
For Logan, it might be a steppingstone to a head job in college.
"This is what college football is all about," said Jagodzinski. "If you want to be a champion, you've got to beat one."
Clemson, 8-2 and ranked 15th, is not quite championship material. The Tigers' last conference championship was in 1991 and coach Tommy Bowden's teams have a reputation for underachieving.
Last year's team won seven of its first eight games - a double-overtime loss at BC Sept. 9 was the only blemish - and had visions of a BCS berth, then lost four of its last five.
For the Eagles, their championship failures are well documented. A devastating 43-17 loss to Syracuse at the end of the regular season cost BC the Big East title and a trip to the Fiesta Bowl in 2004. A loss at North Carolina cost BC a division championship in 2005. Last year, BC started 7-1, a loss at North Carolina State in the fourth week preventing an 8-0 start.
Ryan and the fifth-year seniors remember the pain.
"We've worked to get to this point as fifth-year seniors," said wide receiver Kevin Challenger, who has been a consistent offensive presence this season, averaging 12.5 yards per catch with four receiving touchdowns. "We don't have to do anything heroic. But it's important. It's a huge step for us if we can take it to the next level and actually win this game. I think it would say a lot for BC football and the program."
Challenger then added a twist. "To me, personally, in my fifth year, I worked to get to this point," he said. "So basically my five years here come down to this one game. I'm going to give it my all, 100 percent. I'm going to leave nothing in the tank. This is what I came here for. And this Saturday I have a chance to do it.
"All the fifth-year seniors are going to give everything they have."
So there it is. A defining moment for Matt Ryan, Steve Logan, Jeff Jagodzinski, and the Boston College football program.
