BOSTON, MA – For the second time, Boston’s historical Fenway Park will be host to a college bowl game. This year the two representatives will be SMU from the AAC and Boston College from the ACC.
This will be the second ever matchup between the two programs. The last meeting between these two schools was in 1986, where SMU won 31-29. However, with the recent conference realignment, SMU announced that they will be leaving the AAC after the 2023 season concludes and will be joining the ACC starting in 2024, giving us an exciting preview for a new traditional yearly conference matchup.
SMU is coming off a dominant year in which they finished the season with a nine game winning streak including a victory over Tulane in the AAC Championship game to cap off their undefeated conference run. In the College Football Playoff Ranking, SMU currently sits at 24th.
Boston College comes into this game just at .500 in a rather underwhelming season. However, for Boston College’s coaching staff, three of the four on personnel are in their first season of coaching as the Eagles brought in a new Offensive Coordinator and two Co-Defensive Coordinators to help out fourth year Head Coach Jeff Hafley. Boston College finished with a 3-5 in conference record placing 10th in ACC Conference standings. This will be Boston College’s first bowl appearance since 2020 where they lost to current Atlanta Falcons Quarterback Desmond Ridder and the Cincinnati Bearcats. For Boston College, this game is a virtual home game as the Eagles only have a 15 minute bus ride to the stadium.
Coming into this matchup let’s take a look at the résumés from both Head Coaches.
- Jeff Hafley
- 2001 – WPI Running Back Coach
- 2002-05 – Albany Defensive Assistant and Defensive Back Coach
- 2006-2010 – Pittsburgh Defensive Assistant and Defensive Back Coach
- 2011 – Rutgers Defensive Back Coach
- 2012-13 – Tampa Bay Buccaneers Defensive Back Coach
- 2014-15 – Cleveland Browns Defensive Back Coach
- 2016-18 – San Francisco 49ers Defensive Back Coach
- 2019 – Ohio State Co-Defensive Coordinator and Defensive Back Coach
- 2020-Now – Boston College Head Coach
- Rhett Lashlee
- 2006 – Arkansas Graduate Assistant
- 2009-10 – Auburn Graduate Assistant
- 2011 – Samford Offensive Coordinator and Quarterback Coach
- 2012 – Arkansas State Offensive Coordinator and Quarterback Coach
- 2013-16 – Auburn Offensive Coordinator and Quarterback Coach
- 2017 – UConn Offensive Coordinator and Quarterback Coach
- 2018-19 – SMU Offensive Coordinator and Quarterback Coach
- 2020-21 – University of Miami Offensive Coordinator and Quarterback Coach
- 2022-Now – SMU Head Coach
- 2023 – Won first AAC Championship
As with every bowl game there is usually one player from each team that has officially declared for the NFL Draft, luckily for us, this game will showcase one player that has announced their declaration for the NFL Draft, let’s get to know the future NFL prospect;
- Elijah Jones
- Jones is a first-team All-ACC member this season. The grad student finished his collegiate career with seven interceptions and 156 tackles, five of those interceptions came from this current season. Although Jones has been out for a good portion of the season due to injuries, many believe he will make a great late-round pick for an NFL team and can be easily developed into a great defensive back.
The Wasabi Fenway Bowl will take place on December 28th, at 11am on ESPN. This game will be one of the four bowl games taking place that day.
