Bill O’Brien might know the difference between the FBS and FCS, but the Boston College Eagles head coach knows what he tells people, specifically when meeting with broadcasters in a pregame production meeting. At a time when the importance of those production meetings can’t be overstated, something seemingly got lost in translation with O’Brien and ESPN.
Following his team’s 56-0 drubbing of Duquesne in BC’s home opener Saturday, O’Brien was asked about something shared on the ESPN broadcast. Bill Spaulding and Craig Haubert had the call for ESPN+ (ACCNx) and shared a seemingly innocuous anecdote during the first quarter of Saturday’s game.
The broadcast noted that O’Brien, instead of showing losses by FBS teams to FCS teams, took eight games from Week 1, where FBS teams hammered FCS teams, and said, “‘They handled their business; time for us to handle our business.'”
Here’s ESPN mentioning it on the broadcast👇 pic.twitter.com/6sCep0yd4l
— TommyFreezePops (@yaboiTCfresh) September 8, 2024
In the postgame presser, O’Brien was asked about that and seemed to have no idea what the reporter in question, WEEI’s Tom Carroll, was talking about. O’Brien was seemingly caught off guard by, as he shook his head in confusion before the question could be finished.
O’Brien denied ever sharing the clips mentioned on the broadcast, saying, “I never shared one clip.”
You can certainly take O’Brien at his word here, even if college football head coaches aren’t going to be handed out honesty character awards at the end of the season. The BC first-year coach said that he doesn’t even know the difference between FBS and FCS, so perhaps this was a bad game of telephone played in the production meeting.
“Not one time, I don’t know where they got that from,” he said. “They didn’t get it from me. You’ll always get the truth from me. I’ve never shown one clip to these guys in my life. I’ll be honest with you: I don’t know the difference between FBS, FCS, NCIS, or CIA — I have no idea. I just know that Duquesne is a tough football team, and we had to be ready to play them. I never showed one clip of any of that; never.”
ESPN’s crew said Bill O’Brien showed @BCFootball FBS teams hammering FCS teams from Week 1 to show team how to handle their business vs. DUQ
O’Brien pushed against this postgame:
“I’ll be honest with you – I don’t know the difference between FBS, FCS. NCIS, CIA, I have no… pic.twitter.com/ZgYgHGcNqC
— TommyFreezePops (@yaboiTCfresh) September 8, 2024
At the end of the day, it seems like a simple case of crossed wires. O’Brien took it all in stride, showing he’s more focused on getting his team ready than on any mix-ups in production meetings. With a big win over Duquesne, BC definitely handled their business—no matter what clips were or weren’t shown.
