Boston College’s first trip to Tallahassee as an ACC member did more than give the Eagles a road win. It helped strip away the label that had followed them into the league.
BC had spent its early ACC days fighting the same old story: a New England school dropped into a conference built on Southern football, still trying to prove it belonged. That tension was real after the Eagles left the Big East in 2005, and it only sharpened when Florida State showed up on the schedule. The Seminoles carried the kind of reputation that could settle an argument all by itself.
By the time BC got to Doak Campbell Stadium in 2006, the matchup already had some weight behind it. Florida State had beaten the Eagles the previous year in Chestnut Hill, taking a 28-17 win after AJ Nicholson returned a Quinton Porter interception for a touchdown on the game’s first play.
BC then finished 8-3, but the loss to the Seminoles kept the Eagles out of the first ACC Championship Game because of the head-to-head tiebreaker. Even with wins over Virginia, Wake Forest and later Virginia Tech, the message around the league still felt familiar: Florida State was Florida State, and BC still had something to prove.
That changed fast in Tallahassee.
BC entered the rematch ranked No. 22 and carrying a 5-1 record. Florida State was dealing with losses to Clemson and NC State, while the Eagles had just stacked back-to-back defensive shutouts against Maine and Virginia Tech.
They were also coming off a double-overtime win over Clemson, their second straight victory over the Tigers, and the mood around the program was clear. This was not a team interested in being treated like a novelty.
“Florida State is still one of the powerhouses in the country,” said Jolonn Dunbar ahead of the trip to Doak Campbell Stadium. “There’s no way you can underestimate Florida State.
In no way, shape, or form can you underestimate a team like that. They have great athletes and great coaches, and they come to play every week.”
BC backed that up in a hurry. The Eagles were already up 14-10 when L.V.
Whitworth scored on a six-yard touchdown run, and then came the play that flipped everything. Cornerback DeJuan Tribble picked off Drew Weatherford and returned it 36 yards for a touchdown before halftime, a strike that landed like a hammer and left Florida State’s crowd stunned.
Steve Aponavicious later added a third-quarter field goal to push BC’s lead to two touchdowns, and the Eagles finished off a 24-19 win.
“This was a statement game,” said defensive back Larry Anam. “I mean, coming here and watching the horse go on the field and planting the spear, it was neat to see all that. But this was a huge win for our program, a huge win.”
Brian Toal said the result changed how BC should be viewed inside the league.
“I think it’s a big win,” said Brian Toal after the win. “To come down to Tallahassee and beat Florida State, not too many teams have done that before.
I think that makes us real in the ACC. I think people are going to start to respect us more.
We beat Clemson two years in a row, we beat Florida State, and we beat Virginia Tech last week. I think teams are going to start to realize that, hey, BC’s not that bad.”
The Eagles kept rolling after that, reaching 7-1 before a win over Buffalo. Their trip to Wake Forest turned into a de facto division title game, though BC dropped a 21-14 decision.
Even so, the old outsider label was gone by then. The Eagles followed that loss by hammering Duke and Maryland, while Matt Ryan continued to establish himself as one of the ACC’s top quarterbacks.
The defense, especially in those road games, helped lay the foundation for the 2007 season that followed.
“He’s our Tom Brady,” said Whitworth. “He’s cool under pressure and he knows all the defenses, and he knew all the looks that we got [from Florida State]. He’s a great quarterback.”
Now the Seminoles are back on BC’s schedule again, and this one arrives with a very different Florida State team. The program has parted ways with head coach Mike Norvell and is coming in wounded.
It’s not the same power it was when it won three straight ACC championships in the mid-2010s, and the 2023 season - which ended in a New Year’s Six game against Georgia after an undefeated run - already feels far away. The last two seasons ended without a bowl game, though Florida State still opened last year with a win over No.
8 Alabama and finished 5-7 after a season that could have looked very different early on.
BC and Florida State have not played since the 2024 season began with a 28-13 loss, which remains the Eagles’ most recent win over a team ranked in the top 10. The 2019 meeting is also still part of the conversation, when Florida State came into Alumni Stadium and left with a win behind interim head coach Odell Haggins, who remains on staff as an associate head coach.
“We definitely have to execute better,” said Bo MacCormack during Tuesday’s media session. “This week in practice and in the games and everything, and we know that.
We prepare for every game to win, no matter what. So we’re just going to prepare to win and try to come out and execute to the best level that we can, each day.”
BC and Florida State are set for a 12 p.m. kickoff on Saturday, November 7, 2026, at Alumni Stadium in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts. The game will air on the ACC Network and be available through the ESPN family of Internet and mobile device apps for cable subscribers with access to the channel.
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