It's hard to forget what happened to Boston College during the 1998 college football season.
BC wasn't exactly a Big East powerhouse back then, having gone 4-7 the year before, and nobody expected them to rally back to anything in a top-heavy conference. Syracuse and Virginia Tech harbored championship aspirations, and West Virginia was the preeminent "next team." Miami always felt like a threat on name value, and Pitt was coming off of a strong season.
The Eagles were clearly defined in the next tier with Temple and Rutgers as a construction project. They weren't a contender and needed a visionary coach capable of building a bridge over a chasm and gorge that felt like it widened after a loss to those Owls started the '97 season.