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As if preparing for the nation’s top-rated rushing attack wasn’t hard enough, the new post-season storyline heading into the Meineke Bowl might be how a young BC Eagles team will adjust after losing 10-year veteran coach Tom O’Brien, who left for N.C. State.

With O’Brien’s departure, defensive coordinator Frank Spaziani takes over as interim head coach.

The Midshipmen dynamic triple-option attack accounted for 3,929 rushing yards and 38 touchdowns this season, but suffered a setback when Adam Ballard broke his leg in the regular season finale against Army.

Senior Matt Hall and Eric Kettani will be relied upon to pick up the slack, while the diminutive but explosive Reggie Campbell is a big-play threat on every down. Sophomore Kaipo-Noa Kaheaku-Enhada has done a great job taking over at quarterback after Brian Hampton was lost with a season-ending knee injury.

Navy head coach Paul Johnson has led the Midshipmen to at least eight wins in each of the last four seasons and an unprecedented four straight bowl games.

Boston College ranked thirteenth in the nation in total defense, allowing just 15 points a game and ranked twelfth against the run allowing only 90.1 yards a game. These stats, and the fact they have two weeks to prepare for Navy’s offense, bode well for the Eagles, but it will still be a difficult task.

If the Eagles defense stacks the box against run, Paul Johnson could always choose to surprise the Eagles with a couple timely deep passes. Savvy Eagles quarterback Matt Ryan completed 61.1% of his passes for 2,700 yards and 14 touchdowns. He is always a big gamer and can connect with speedy receivers Tony Gonzalez and Kevin Challenger.

The Eagles will try to establish a power run game with L.V. Whitworth and Andre Callender against the smaller 3-4 Navy defense, but they’ve struggled to run the ball consistently all year.