Boston College football to face Nebraska in Pinstripe Bowl at Yankee Stadium

Boston College football will face Nebraska in the Pinstripe Bowl at Yankee Stadium at noon on Dec. 28.

The game will be televised nationally on ABC.

It’s the second straight bowl game at a baseball stadium for the Eagles (7-5, 4-4 Atlantic Coast Conference), who outlasted Southern Methodist, 23-14, in the Fenway Bowl last year.

“I am excited for our team to be heading to New York for the Bad Boy Mowers Pinstripe Bowl,” BC first-year head coach Bill O’Brien said in a release. “Boston College is well-represented in New York City and the tri-state area, so to have the opportunity to play in the Northeast, where so many of our fans and alumni call home, is an honor. 

“We look forward to the challenge of competing against the storied Nebraska program.”

BC bolted out to a 4-1 start this season, earning a spot in the Associated Press Top 25 poll for the first time since 2018. The Eagles lost three straight, then beat Syracuse, North Carolina, and Pittsburgh to cement their first seven-win regular season since that 2018 campaign.

The Cornhuskers (6-6, 3-6) finished 12th in the Big Ten, dropping five of their final six games after starting 5-1. Nebraska hung around with Ohio State, USC, and Iowa late in the year, losing each game by single digits, but still managed to secure its first bowl berth since 2016.

“This is a great connection between two iconic brands in Nebraska football and Yankee Stadium, and it will be a memorable experience for our players,” Nebraska coach Matt Rhule said in a release. “I have great respect for the Boston College program and the success Coach O’Brien has had in his first season.”

O’Brien and Rhule, who both spent time coaching at Penn State, have been head coaches in the NFL — O’Brien with the Texans, and Rhule with the Panthers — plus each has served as an assistant coach at both levels, as well. It will be a homecoming for Rhule, who was born and raised in New York City.

This will be the first meeting between Boston College and Nebraska in football. The Eagles previously fell to Penn State (2014) and Iowa (2017) in the Pinstripe Bowl. A win would give BC its first eight-win season since 2009.

Boston College is bowl eligible for the eighth time in the last nine years and 32nd time in program history. All-time, the Eagles are 15-13 in bowl games, with games having been cancelled in 2018 and 2021 and BC opting out of the 2020 bowl season due to COVID concerns.

The Eagles appeared in danger of missing a bowl this season, but received a jolt when O’Brien switched to Grayson James at quarterback. Previous starter Thomas Castellanos left the program as a result, and BC played inspired football to finish the regular season convincingly.

Donovan Ezeiruaku, who led the nation with 16½ regular-season sacks, earned ACC Defensive Player of the Year honors. He’s the first Eagle to garner the award since Luke Kuechly in 2011.

Offensive tackle Ozzy Trapilo and center Drew Kendall joined Ezeiruaku as first-team ACC selections. Defensive tackle Cam Horsley earned a spot on the third team, and guards Jack Conley and Logan Taylor, as well as wide receiver Lewis Bond, claimed honorable mention picks. 

The Eagles have the fourth-best run defense in the ACC, at 113.6 yards per game. They’ve also accumulated the 12th-fewest penalties per game in the nation at 4.5.

The Cornhuskers are in the middle of the pack in the majority of Big Ten statistics. They, too, excel at stopping the run, holding opponents to 105.8 yards per game (sixth in the Big Ten).

Quarterback Dylan Raiola, who has declared he plans to enter the transfer portal, is seventh in the conference in completion percentage (66.6), but has thrown the third-most interceptions at 10.

Dante Dowdell has a team-high 614 yards and 12 touchdowns rushing on 143 carries, and Jacory Barney Jr. (52 receptions, 431 yards) and Jahmal Banks (40-508-3 TDs) highlight a balanced receiving corps. BC fans may remember Banks, who torched the Eagles for two scoring grabs while with Wake Forest in 2022. 

Cornhuskers defensive back Isaac Gifford leads the team with 69 tackles, defensive lineman Ty Robinson is tops with 6 sacks, and defensive back Malcolm Hartzog Jr. has 4 interceptions. 

One trend to monitor is that Nebraska tends to excel in the second quarter. Opponents have outscored the Cornhuskers in the first, third, and fourth frames, but Nebraska has dominated in the second, outscoring foes, 116-51.

Nebraska is one of college football’s winningest programs, with five national championships and 26 bowl victories.